How To Keep Your Hair Follicles Healthy

How To Keep Your Hair Follicles Healthy?

1. Dial down the heat

Blow dryers, straightening irons, hot curlers, and other heated styling tools can take a toll on your hair, especially if your hair is fine, dry, or prone to breakage. Too much heat can weaken your hair, resulting in strands that are damaged or frizzy. We recommend holding the blow dryer about 6 inches away from the surface of your hair, and keeping the dryer moving and not concentrated on one spot. Limit your blow-drying and other heated styling sessions to two or three times a week to give your hair time to recover in between each session. Set your dryer and other heated styling tools to a lower heat setting to reduce the chance of hair damage. You may also want to consider using a heat-protectant product on your hair to minimize damage.

2. Boost your vitamin intake

Like the rest of your body, your hair needs specific vitamins and minerals to be healthy and strong. Resources have shown that nutritional deficiencies may be linked to hair loss. The vitamins and minerals that may be most important for hair growth are:
  • Vitamin A: found in sweet potatoes, carrots, pumpkin, spinach, milk, eggs, and yogurt
  • B vitamins, especially biotin: are found in egg yolk, liver, salmon, avocados, nuts and seeds, and dairy products
  • Vitamin C: good sources include citrus fruits, strawberries, and bell peppers
If it’s difficult to get the necessary nutrients from the foods you eat, you may want to consider taking a multivitamin that includes these vitamins and minerals.

3. Go easy on the shampoo

Keeping your hair clean is important. But most shampoos use ingredients that strip away your hair’s natural oils in an effort to reduce oiliness and remove dirt. Unless your hair is extremely oily, you can probably cut back to washing with shampoo two to three times a week instead of every day. Washing your hair too frequently may dry it out and possibly weaken the hair shaft.