Hair care is a major part of your hygiene and personal care and a lot of care needs to be taken of your hair, although hair is only consists of dead skin cells. Unhygienic and neglected hair can be a cause of social embarrassment and furthermore, could lead to hair loss and balding. If you follow a few simple guidelines to hair care, you can have great hair too.
Hair is nested in hair follicles that lie just beneath our skin. On an average, a human head has about 100,000 strands of hair. Each hair has an independent growth cycle.
There are three stages in normal hair growth – anagen, catagen, and telogen. Anagen is the growth stage followed by Catagen which is the transitional phase and then comes Telogen, the resting stage. Anagen or the growth stage of a hair can go on for as long as seven years.
In order to speed up hair growth, it is important that you get the right amount of nutrients and vitamins from your diet. An improper diet without the essential nutrients can lead to dull hair, and at times, hair loss. Eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia also cause abnormal hair loss. A well balanced diet with proper nutrients is vital in the prevention of baldness.
Several vitamins help in hair growth and deficiency of these vitamins can lead to hair problems. Hair growth is helped along when you have an adequate amount of vitamins in your diet. Vitamin B as well as zinc and biotin are important for healthy hair. Zinc is commonly found in meat and eggs, and biotin is found in most protein rich foods.
A dry scalp is one of the major causes of hair problems. Inadequate fat in your diet could cause you to have a dry scalp so you must have enough fat in your diet. People on low fat and no-fat diets often suffer from a dry scalp syndrome leading to hair problems. Omega 3 fatty acids usually present in fish are very good for healthy hair.
An important aspect of your hair care regime is hygiene. Wash your hair regularly with a good quality shampoo and conditioner. In case you suffer from hair conditions such as dandruff, use a special medicated shampoo that will treat the condition. Do not blow dry or flat-iron your hair too frequently. These procedures dry and damage hair.
It is essential that you follow healthy nutrition and personal hygiene basics in order to have a great head of hair. Your hair speaks volumes about your personality, your health habits and your attention to personal appearance.