Wash, Condition, Rinse Your Hair for a Healthier Shinier Look

Three Home Remedies for Shinier Hair

Beer. Rinsing your hair in beer will create a shinier mystic for your hair. While many will think this is a perfect waste of a good beer, it can help in keeping the luster wanted for a head of hair.

Mayonnaise. Massage the mayonnaise into your hair and rinse out. This will help with the sheen of the hair due to the proteins in the egg whites and other ingredients in the mayonnaise.

Cold Water Rinse. While there is a debate over cold water being used to rinse your hair, many people swear by it because of the shine it leaves. There is also another advantage to a cold water rinse. It helps in the detangling of the hair.

The third home remedy leads to the rest of this article as to why a cold water rinse is not a good thing to do. Which also can make the third home remedy a myth in itself.

Using cold water to rinse out the shampoo and conditioner can leave the shampoo, conditioner, and dirt in your hair. By doing this you are defeating the purpose of washing your hair.

Using too hot of water to shampoo or condition your hair, you can scald your scalp and hair. Using too hot of water for shampooing and rinsing your hair has the same effects of hot curlers, curling irons, and hair irons. These hair appliances will leave your hair dull, dry, and brittle.

When rinsing your hair in cold water after applying a conditioner, the hair will look shinier, but it won't be any healthier. When doing this with thinner hair and a conditioner, the hair will look greasy and weighed down. This is due to locking the conditioner into the hair folicals. This makes your hair unhealthy. By rinsing and washing hair in this manner, the hair will become dirtier faster. Washing and rinsing your hair less in lukewarm water, the healthier your scalp and hair will become. This is due to the fact the hair needs the oils from the skin secretions to stay healthy. Washing and rinsing the hair in lukewarm water will eliminate any residue from the dirt, shampoo, and conditioners from the hair and scalp.

Washing and rinsing hair in hot or cold water will clog the hair folicals and pores. This can speed up the balding process. Any left over residues from the dirt, shampoo, and conditioners that do not belong in the hair will make styling hair harder.

Hair Nourishment

Poor nutrition, harmonal changes, stress and shock play a major partin affecting the condition and growth of hair.Vitamin A promotes a healthy scalp.

Food sources: Dark green leafy vegetables, orange and yellow fruits andgreen vegetables.

Food sources: Cereals, tomatoes, lean meat, liver, kidney, Brewer's yeast,eggs and green begetables.A severe lack of biotin can lead to hair loss. It works best with Vitamin B5,B12 and folic acid.

Food sources:
Cauliflower, yoghurt, wholemeal bread, bran and bananas.Minerals such as zinc, iron and copper promote healthy hair.

Food sources:
Zinc- lean red meat, chicken, pumpkin seeds and green vegetables.
Iron- Beef, dried apricots, lean red meat, parsley, eggs, wheatgerm and sunflower seeds.
Copper- Animal organs, seafood, egg yolk and whole grains.
A lack of iron is cited to be the cause of hair loss among women who havenot reached menopause.

Proteins:
Hair is made up of 97 per cent protein(keratin), So consumingenough of it gives a natural shine.

Food sources:
Lean meat, grains and soya.

Remedies for Oily Hair

As oily skin needs to be pampered, so does oily hair. Due to excessivesecretion of oil from the sebaceous glands, oily hair attracts dust and hencebecomes more greasy and dirty than normal hair.

Here are three simple steps to take care of oily hair:
a) cleansing
b) toning and
c) conditioning

Cleansing: Oily hair and scalp needs to be washed every second day tokeep it clean and healthy.

You need:
50 gm of shikakai
50 gm amla
1/2 tsp of fenugreek seeds
yolk of 1 egg
Grind all these with a few drops of water. Mix the paste with the egg yolk and apply to hair and scalp and clean thoroughly.

Toning: Apply toning lotion after every wash to keep the exocrine glandsin control.

You need:
2 1/2 tsp of vinegar
1/2 glass of water
Mix both ingredients and apply only on the scalp. Massage with fingertips orbrush for two minutes. Wash off after 10 to 15 minutes. Never use oilon oily hair. Instead, use a toner.

Conditioning:It will help make your hair clean and healthy.

You need:
2 to 3 tbsp of henna
1/2 glass of water
Mix the above ingredients and apply the mixture to hair and wash after15 minutes. Do it once in 15 days.

Nip those grey hairs at the root

Premature greying is becoming more and more common among teens today.Thereasons vary from heridity to emotional disturbances, to health disorders.However there are a few simple and effective home remedies which can be doneto help stop or even reverse the greying process.



Remedies:

Warm castor oil applied well over the whole scalp with your finger tips.Massage in the oil for 15 minutes, leaving it overnight and wash it nextday morning. You can improve the colour of your hair by taking one kilo castoroil and one ounce each of ground coffee and powdered sandalwood. Heatfor 20 minutes, strain and keep in a bottle. Massage well with this oil leaveit overnight and wash in the morning.

Another remedy is to take one tablespoon each of mehendi, amla powder andtea leaves and put in a cup of hot water. Mix in 1/4 teaspoon of saltand juice of one lime and half teaspoon of rose water. Leave it for five hours, then strain and apply on the hair roots. Leave on for 2 hoursand then rinse off. Do this frequently you will never experience prematuregreying.

Amarnath(chaulai ka saag) is useful in hair disorders. Application offresh juice of the leaves helps the hair to retain its black colour andprevents, premature greying. It also helps the growth of hair and keeps itsoft.

Liberal intake of curry leaves is considered beneficial in preventing premature greying of hair.The leaves can be used in the form of chutney(paste) or may be used withbuttermilk. When these leaves are boiled in coconut oil, it forms an excellenthair tonic to stimulate hair growth and bring back hair pigmentation.

Ribbed ground(torai) boiled in coconut oil is another remedy for premature greying of hair. Pieces of this vegetable should be dried in the shade. Thesedried pieces should be soaked in coconut oil and kept aside for 3 or 4 days.The oil should then be boiled till the mass is reduced to blackened residue.This oil should be massaged. This will give dark black hair. This can helpchildren who have brown hair.

(The writer runs the sharon beauty parlour and Training Institute.)