I can sit here and tell you all the facts but it must be hard to believe them when you have been hearing these tales since you were young! It is even harder when media continue to publish articles that are in fact wrong and somewhat misleading to the consumer.
Age-old traditions may not be as effective today
I think of some of the natural remedies that my mother told me or my grandmother shared with my mother. Surely sometimes they seemed to work but we also have to remember that a hundred years back, the world was not what it is today, the food we eat is different, the pollution levels have increased, colouring was not a done thing, the scientific understanding of hair was not present, climbing up the corporate ladder to improve one’s lifestyle was not even thought of.
Oil applied to the hair and scalp will do very little other than make you feel good and relax, yes I am sure everyone has their “family remedy†for this or that but it is simply not true. The vast majority of natural oils contain long grain silicons, which once applied to the hair do not come off using regular methods of shampooing. They attach to the hair shaft and build up the more you use them, making the hair look shiny. However, they also dehydrate your hair and cause it to be brittle.The other side effect of using oil on your scalp is that it may put the natural PH balance of your scalp out of order, thereby making your scalp excessively dry or oily.
The Best Way
The best way to care for your hair is to use a good quality shampoo and conditioner (conditioner HAS to be applied every time you shampoo). If you think that the conditioner makes your hair flat, then you are using the wrong one. Products have to be specific for your hair and scalp type and not just picked up because a celebrity uses it. Do your research and then get professional advice on it. There are sodium laurethsulphate free shampoos in the market in India, which contain no detergent. However good they are, you have to be aware that the amount of bubbles you will get will be less as there is no detergent. This does not mean that it is not cleaning your hair. It means that it is not stripping your hair of the essential protective layers of the Ph film that surrounds our scalp.
Can you delay the effects of hair going grey?
Well, sorry to say people there is nothing in the world that can do that! Nothing! Get yourself a kimrobinsoncolourist and you can cover it up. However delaying is not something we have any control over. It is partly hereditary as well as dependent on the environment, i.e. work, life, pressure, stress.
The best thing anyone can do for their hair is to follow a balanced diet that includes fresh fruit and vegetables, exercise regularly, follow a quality hair care regime together with consulting a professional stylist who will inform you along the way what suits, what works and what does not.
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