You might have a throbbing headache for a day or two but otherwise little pain. Your head will be bandaged for two or three days, after which you can gently wash your hair, which will probably feel matted after the surgery. Stitches are removed about ten days after the operation, unless they are the dissolving kind. (more…)
Most of the time we take little notice of our hair and nails. During adolescence there may be times we would wish to have different colored or textured hair or curse that our nails break too easily, but after that we pretty well accept our lot. That is until some change occurs. When hair starts to be lost there is not only an immediate cosmetic problem but the scalp may be damaged by sunlight or low doorways. Equally, when finger nails fail to develop properly this problem is both cosmetic and functional: it may become impossible to pick up small objects.
This term is used because it is so much more marked in men than in women. The typical changes of receding hair and thinning on top are well known and often run in families: the process may even start before the age of thirty years. Women are much less severely affected and anyway tend to keep the front hair line. However, with increasing age many women notice some thinning on their scalp. The hair loss, in both sexes, is due to the effect of hormones but not an excess of them. The fault lies in the hair roots which become over-sensitive to existing hormone levels. (more…)
There are many causes. The most simple is that of poor circulation in the scalp, hair breakage from poor treatment or overprocessing, and temporary illness or stress. Other reasons include hormonal imbalance, underactive thyroid, drugs, and poor diet (specifically too little B vitamins, vitamin C, zinc, sulfur, and iron). If you find you are losing your hair at a rapid rate, don’t panic. There is a strong link between anxiety and hair loss, and a temporary excess shedding of hair at the telogen stage can be made much worse by worry about it. Instead, go through the process of elimination to discover possible causes and then seek whatever treatment is necessary to help correct the excess shedding. Start by asking yourself the following questions.
Are you taking any medication? The Pill or estrogen in hormone- replacement therapy is a common cause for thinning hair—thinning that is usually corrected in a few weeks after stopping it. Anti-coagulants, cortisone, and diet pills such as amphetamines are other offenders, as is boric acid, which occurs in many common proprietary products, from ointments for cuts and burns to eye baths. Thyroid medication can also be the culprit. So can simple aspirin, if you take as many as one or two a day. (more…)
Brushing is good for hair, provided you have a good brush and you do not overdo it. It stimulates circulation of the scalp, removes loose scales from the skin on the head, and distributes your hair’s natural oils well, which means it helps protect the cuticles and create shine. The brush you choose should have evenly spaced bristles with rounded ends. The best brushes for your hair are still made from animal bristles.
Nylon bristles have blunt ends, which can cause splits and cracks to the hair. Some brushes have bristles set in rubber. They are particularly good, for they give a massage to the scalp while you brush. About thirty to fifty strokes a day is good—more than that is too much, and with less you are not really doing anything. When you brush, you need to bend at the waist and brush your hair from underneath as well as back from the crown. (more…)
You need to stop any processing you have been doing to it (such as coloring with permanent tints or permanent waving) for several weeks and go on to a pH-balanced protein shampoo plus a protein conditioner. You can use a heavy protein pack on the hair for twenty minutes twice a week. This will close the imbrications of the cuticle and help heal whatever damage you have done to the cortex, which is the cause of fragility. You should have split ends cut off and steer clear of very hot blow drying, overbrushing, and heated rollers. Wear your hair in a simple, easyto-care-for style until it has responded to the treatment and healthy hair is showing at the roots (usually about three months). Then you can consider having a gentle permanent (but it should be professionally done). Stay out of the sun.
This depends on the cause. Some hair has become dull as a result of pigment changes associated with age or illness. Some is dull because of raised cells in the cuticle, which poorly reflect light. Usually dull hair is dry hair, so much of the problem and advice for dryness goes for you, too. If the dullness is a color problem, it is best to seek professional advice, since correcting it is usually easy, provided you know how. The hot oil treatment can help dull hair, as can an intense protein treatment every two weeks. (more…)
That depends on the cause of the dryness. If your hair is naturally dry due to there being fewer than normal oil glands in the scalp, then it will still be strong and healthy hair—not at all the same thing as a head of hair that is dry from overprocessing (permanent waving and coloring), overexposure to the sun, or overuse of hot-air dryers and heated rollers. Then the individual hairs are weak and fragile. Naturally-dry hair needs an occasional oil treatment to coat the cuticle and help protect it from further moisture loss—in other words, to replace the hair’s natural oils, which should be doing the job themselves.
Here’s how to give an oil treatment: Place 2 ounces of olive oil in a blender and add to it the same amount of boiling water. Turn on high for a few seconds, until all the oil has been broken up into little droplets, and then immediately put it on your dry hair, massaging it in well all over. (more…)
250 ml (1 cup) strong rosemary tea, 250 ml (1 cup) herb to 250 ml (1 cup) boiling water
12,5 ml (1 tbsp) sweet almond oil
few drops rosemary or lavender oil
Use as a setting lotion or brush a little into the hair after shampooing.
2 eggs
250 ml (1 cup) freshly made rosewater (boil up 500 ml (2 cups) rose petals in 375 ml (11/2 cups) water for 5 minutes.
Stand, cool, strain)
Whisk eggs and rum into rosewater and massage through the hair. Leave on for 15 minutes. Rinse with a herbal rinse. (more…)
A head of beautifully clean, bouncy, shiny hair is indeed an enviable asset. Once again, in order to achieve those smooth, shiny locks, you need to eat foods that are fresh and healthy — plenty of fruit, vegetables and salads. Drink lots of water and make sure that you get enough sleep — eight hours each night will do wonders for your hair. Regular shampooing, conditioning and brushing will further serve to beautify it and is well worth the effort. Old-fashioned beauty tips like adding egg to shampoo as a protein conditioner for dry hair, and lemon juice in tepid water as a final rinse for oily hair, ‘kill hold good. And rosemary, nettle or yarrow tea rubbed into the scalp will stimulate hair growth.
The vast array of shampoos, conditioners and setting lotions available today can be confusing. The general trend, however, is to the natural shampoos that are now on the market. Take a close look at the ingredients to find a product which is suitable for your particular hair type. To give the shampoo that extra something add a herb tea or infusion, eg chamomile, rosemary or nettle. (more…)
Shelled almonds, ground into a meal and mixed with a herb infusion such as rosemary or sage, make an excellent mild bleaching face pack. They have a deep cleansing and toning effect.
Almond oil is non-drying and has superb emollient or softening properties; it also combines well with creams and, in lotions, with other ingredients. Can be used as a deep cleansing oil.
Most aloes can be used directly on the skin for burns. The juice can be included in various lotions and shampoos for its healing, soothing properties make it appealing. The juice of some aloes has a deep yellow colour which stains the skin, so use the clear fleshy leaves of Aloe vera to be on the safe side.
The seed of anise smells a little like licorice. A brew of crushed seeds and boiling water is used cosmetically in facial steams to open and medicate the pores. The same brew (250 ml (1 cup) seeds to 1-11/2 litres (4-6 cups) boiling water) is excellent for rinsing the hair and enhancing its colour; at the same time it cleanses the pores of the scalp. (more…)
Well circumscribed bald patches on the scalp like miniature skating rinks, usually means alopecia areata, a curious disorder in which the hair follicles switch off production completely but strangely enough can recover at any time. Just what switches them off is debatable but it may be that the body is acting against itself rather than a disease that has been picked up from outside. It is certainly nothing to do with diet or ‘nerves’ and follows its own course despite, rather than because of, the attention directed to it by doctors. When there are only a few patches, recovery can be expected. If the disease becomes more severe a dermatologist may be able to stimulate the hair using steroid creams to rub on or might make the scalp inflamed by deliberately inducing allergy which sometimes helps. (more…)
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