Welcome to a quick blog post on nourishing your hair and scalp to help promote hair growth, treat the scalp and strengthen and beautify your hair. Of course, every hair type and scalp is different, and we all have different needs and objectives. But I hope that I can share a few product tips based on my own experiences over the years. Here are a few tips and products to optimize scalp and hair health!
Let’s start off with a bit of background information about your hair. The hair on your head has three stages in its life cycle: the active growing phase (called anagen phase), the transitional phase (called catagen phase), and finally the resting phase (called telogen phase) in which the hair will stay attached to the scalp for a period of days but eventually the root loosens and shrinks, allowing the hair to be shed. It’s normal to lose hair every day, and depending on where most of your hair is at in its life cycle, you may lose more or less in waves.
Hair loss is totally normal and happens all of the time, and there are reasons for why you might lose significantly more hair than usual. Some examples include certain medications; some health conditions such as cancer, anemia, scalp psoriasis or eczema, thyroid conditions, pregnancy, or hormonal imbalances; overuse of hair dyes, other chemical-laden products or heated tools; and stress. Those are just to name a few, and you should definitely see your doctor to check in if there’s a change to your hair and/or scalp. Oftentimes, if we’ve a big stress in our life, 3-6 months later we may notice a greater amount of hair loss as their cycles come to an end (it’s temporary).
A hair’s porosity, elasticity and even the sheer number of hairs vary from person to person and are mostly determined by genetics. This explains in part why one product or DIY hair formula might work really well for one person, but not for another. Nevertheless, there are a number of things that you can do to help promote hair growth and improve the overall health of your scalp and hair.
I’ve highlighted three simple products that you can use on a regular basis to help your scalp and to promote hair growth.
- Derma Roller. A derma roller can be used on your skin, face and scalp, and creates tiny punctures into the skin as it is rolled over the desired area. It is used by dermatologists and aestheticians to promote collagen production and to stimulate blood flow, which will ultimately encourage more oxygen and nutrients to be transported to the affected area. By assisting in stimulating blood circulation and cell turnover to the scalp, it should help with stimulating hair growth in affected areas. A word of caution: don’t use a derma roller more than twice a week, and always sanitize the device to avoid injury and infection to the scalp. Also, don’t use a derma roller if you are experiencing a flare-up of eczema or psoriasis of the scalp.
- Botanica Calendula oil. Calendula flower is in the same family as Marigolds. It is a beautiful orange to blood-red colour when infused in an oil, and has wonderful properties associated with helping skin conditions. I haven’t found any studies linked calendula specifically to scalp conditions, however studies do exist for skin conditions such as psoriasis, eczema, irritation, minor burns, rashes, and so forth. It is anti-inflammatory and stock-full of antioxidants. I have personally used it as part of my skin and scalp care routine, as needed. In terms of caring for your scalp, you can massage the infused oil into your scalp before bed to leave overnight, and then shower in the morning.
- Yogi’s Gift Neem oil. Neem is a tree that grows in many places but is especially used in India in Ayurvedic medicine. Like Calendula, it has a strong affinity to the skin and is used to treat many of the same topical ailments, including the scalp. Anti-inflammatory, antioxidant-rich, concentrated in vitamin E, and nimbindin (a compound known to help alleviate dandruff). It also has anti-microbial and anti-fungal properties, which is also great for many scalp conditions such as dandruff. I typically use it as part of my overnight scalp formula, and wash my hair the next morning (it smells strong but washes away just fine!). Curious to know more about its uses? Check out my blog post about neem!
Overnight scalp blend
If you’re looking to soothe and nourish your scalp with a formula that is easy to wash out in the morning, look no further. I love to blend the following 3 ingredients on a 1:1:1 ratio: calendula oil, neem oil, and aloe very juice or gel concentrate.
Both the calendula and neem oil will likely be diluted in carrier oils (eg. olive, almond, argan oil), and that’s great because those carrier oils will carry their own health benefits and help to moisturize the scalp without irritation. Make sure that the aloe vera is a concentrate without other filler ingredients, fragrance, colouring, or other additives, because these can potentially aggravate an already irritated or inflamed scalp. I recommend this aloe vera gel for our purpose today.
Mix the three ingredients together. It likely won’t be uniform unless if you use a natural emulsifier (such as vegetable glycerin), but that’s okay, no one’s going to see you since you’re going to bed anyway! All of these ingredients are good for your hair, too, but too much could leave your hair oily the next day so focus on the scalp. Leave the mixture on overnight. You can use a shower cap or towel wrap, or simply tie your hair into a bun and put a towel over your pillow.
Other ingredients for a scalp mask are optional, such as using essential oils. I would only recommend using these if your scalp is not having a flare-up (eg. psoriasis, eczema), because they could otherwise further irritate broken and/or inflamed skin. The next morning, simply shower and wash your hair as usual, with maybe a little extra care to shampoo your hair of the carrier oils. And voilà! Happy scalp happy Spoonie!
30 minute nourishing hair mask
Making a DIY hair mask is kind of like making a smoothie and then slathering it into your hair. It may not sound appealing, but the results are splendid! Some of my favourite nourishing ingredients for hair (and the rest of the body) are olive oil, argan oil, banana, marshmallow powder (the plant, not the squishy white thing to make smores with), honey, apple cider vinegar, cinnamon, chamomile tea, green tea, black tea, eggs, lemon juice, yoghurt, and a variety of essential oils. However, I don’t use all of these at once! The teas and apple cider vinegar are used more as post-shower rinses, or an after the gym rinse, or to spritz up my dry curls, as examples. So I won’t talk about teas today, because they won’t make up our mask recipe!
Part of the reason why I recommend this as a quick daytime mask is because I can’t imagine how comfortable it would feel to leave very sticky, thick substances in your hair all night. But I do like to blend things like banana for dry hair, marshmallow leaf powder for curly or frizzy hair, eggs to strengthen hair, yoghurt and honey to moisturize, and oils to moisturize as well (but not too much!). And yes, you can totally put these ingredients in a blender, or just hand-mix them yourself.
Some essential oils that I love for hair and scalp are the following: sage, peppermint, Moroccan chamomile, cedar leaf, rose, lavender and rosemary. Of course, all essential oils naturally have anti-microbial and anti-fungal properties. Lavender and rosemary were the best studied to promote hair growth. Sage, peppermint, chamomile, rose, cedar leaf and lavender all have soothing effects on the scalp. Cedar leaf and sage in particular are great for scalp imbalances. Just remember, a little goes a long way when it comes to these highly concentrated products, so careful not to add more than 2-5 drops in your smoothied hair mask.
As with the scalp mask, I haven’t yet perfected any recipe with exact ratios (sorry). But I can advise this: after you’ve applied your blend to all of your hair from the roots to the tips, feel free to either wrap your hair in a towel, cover it with a shower cap or whatever other contraption you can find to keep the warmth in. I also suggest leaving a towel on your shoulders and around your neck in case some of that smoothie of yours starts leaking down. But hey, you won’t have this on for more than an hour so sit back, watch a movie, read a book, whatever! Then it’s time to shower as per usual and marvel in your shiny, healthy, and moisturized locks.
P.S. If you use raw egg in your formula, don’t shower with warm water! You will end up combing out scrambled eggs, I promise you. It’s happened to me before, so let me spare you that silly mistake…
Hi Spoonie friend, thanks so much for reading. Feel free to share with us your favourite hair and scalp ingredients, recipes and products! Do you have any special tricks that have worked wonders for your hair? 🙂
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