We all want healthy hair and one of the best ways to start is by strengthening our hair follicles so that we have beautiful flowing hair throughout the day.
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Hydrate
We know that keeping ourselves hydrated can have wonderful benefits for our body like clearing up our skin and improving digestion, but did you know that you can also strengthen your hair by drinking lots of water? Staying hydrated ensures that your hair grows long and strong, and it will also be smooth and soft as opposed to being dry or brittle.
Also Read: Learn to fix your broken hair
Diet
Hair comes from protein, so you should look into consuming some high protein food in order to make your hair stronger. Examples of this kind of food are chicken, eggs, turkey, and low-fat dairy. Not only will these make your hair stronger, they would also be healthier.
To help bind protein, you need zinc. And you can find this in seafood and meat. Zinc also helps with hair health because it supports oil glands which keep maintain your hair’s natural beauty. Keep your zinc intake at 11mg per day or less because too much of this mineral can affect your body’s absorption of other minerals.
Oxygenate
Iron helps carry oxygen to our body parts, hair included. A strong hair follicle is properly oxygenated so up your iron intake as well. You can get this from beans, red meat, dark green vegetables, or an iron supplement.
Heat
Heat is hair’s enemy. Too much heat from styling or using hair dryers can severely damage and weaken your hair follicles. As such, you should reduce subjecting your hair to heat if you want to keep it healthy and strong. Limit heating to a minimum, and only use it when really needed.
Hair Products
As much as possible, use hair products made from natural ingredients and avoid those which use harsh chemicals that can damage your hair. Reducing the frequency of using hair products can also reduce the weakening of your hair. Choose the right products that would nourish and protect your hair instead of overloading it with chemicals that would make it dry and brittle.
Handle With Care
You can actually be too harsh on your hair, and this usually happens during the hair drying process after a shower or a bath. If you’re drying your hair with a towel, you might twist it or wring it with the towel in order to dry it more efficiently, but what you may not know is that this can weaken your hair follicles. When hair drying with a towel, simply dab it dry or squeeze it gently with the towel.
Chlorine Filter
Water that comes directly from a water provider can be full of chlorine to keep it clean. As such, this chemical can contribute to the damage that your hair goes through. So apart from using the swimming pool sparingly, you might also want to invest in a chlorine filter for your showerhead. The less exposure your hair gets to harmful chemicals like chlorine, the better.
Change Style
If you’re the sort of person who likes keeping their hair up in a ponytail every day, then you may inadvertently be weakening your hair follicles. This is because hair styles such as ponytails, tight braids, and dreadlocks can put on a lot of stress on your hair strands and thus weaken them. To avoid this, you can change your hairstyle every once in a while to give your hair the chance to breathe. You can just let it down instead of putting it in another tight hairdo for some days.
Happy Scalp, Happy Hair
If you’re not sure where to begin strengthening your hair, then start from the top. The state of your scalp is very likely to affect the state of your hair follicles. If your scalp is dry and flakey, then you have to moisturize it as this can also weaken your hair. Scalp massages also help to keep your scalp clean, relaxed, and therefore healthy.
Hair Treatments
When hair is damaged, you might think that they are beyond help. Luckily, there are a lot of products on the market designed to bring your hair back to its former state of (crowning) glory. Hair masks can help treat your hair to reduce split ends, heat damage, and other common hair problems. Just make sure to look for those that work on your hair type.