Hair Health Care Guide

The core logic of healthy hair care has never been to "replenish" by piling up expensive essences, but to "stop losses first and then adjust. Type-based care is far better than copying the trend." This is the conclusion I came to after chatting with three senior scalp nurses and two dermatologists in the studio for more than half a year, plus I have been struggling with seborrheic alopecia for five years and walked through nearly 100,000 pitfalls.

When it comes to washing your hair, we have to mention the question of "can you wash it every day?" that everyone has been arguing about for several years. Both schools of thought have their basis: the consensus among dermatologists is that if you have oily skin, get oily every day in summer, or even develop folliculitis, it is absolutely fine to wash your hair every day. Just choose a mild amino acid surfactant shampoo. Instead, blocking the hair follicles with oil is the culprit of hair loss.； However, a master who has been doing traditional hair care for 20 years will advise you not to wash frequently. Frequent cleaning will destroy the water and oil balance of the scalp cuticle. This is especially true for people with dry or normal skin. I used to have a lot of oiliness in the summer, and my mother said that washing my hair too frequently would damage my hair. On the third day, I developed red and swollen folliculitis on my head, which hurt when I touched it. Later, I followed the doctor's advice and washed my hair with mild shampoo every day. It went away in a week, and it never happened again. Oh, by the way, don't believe that "silicone-free oil is good". Silicone oil itself is a safe film-forming agent. If you use it on oily skin, it will easily collapse. But if you use it on dry skin or sofa, it can smooth the hair cuticles. There is no need to smell the silicone oil and change the color.

The two groups were also at loggerheads over the blow-drying step after washing their hair. The mainstream medical view is that hair scales are fully open when hair is wet. If you sleep with wet hair on your head, it is easy for bacteria to suffocate on the pillowcase, which will cause scalp itchiness and dandruff. The best solution is to use a low temperature setting to blow the hair until it is 80% dry, and then blow the hair roots with cold air. ； However, many natural hair bloggers insist that drying naturally is better, saying that hot air can damage the hair scales even at low temperatures. I have verified this with my best friend - she is a natural sofa, and the ends of her hair are already as dry as dry grass. She used to blow dry her hair every day and cut the ends into long split ends. Later, after washing, she used a microfiber towel to press it until no water dripped, and left it to dry naturally in a ventilated place. After half a month, the ends of her hair became much smoother. But it doesn’t work for me with oily hair that is thin and floppy. If it is dried naturally, my hair will stick to my scalp as if I was wearing a greasy hood. I have to blow it to 80% dryness to maintain the volume for half a day. I don’t have to follow the trend and choose a certain one that suits my scalp condition.

In addition to daily care, what can be eaten to maintain hair is also the most frequently asked question, and there are even more controversies here. For example, black sesame has been used for hair care for many years. There is currently no clear clinical evidence that it can directly turn white hair black or stop male hair loss. However, from a nutritional point of view, the vitamin E and unsaturated fatty acids in black sesame are really good for maintaining scalp health. A small spoonful a day is enough. I used to eat it for three months, and my hair did become a little brighter. However, if I ate too much and consumed too much oil, I would suffer from acne. It was not worth the loss. It is also said that quitting sugar and milk can prevent hair loss. I personally tested that it is really useful for seborrheic alopecia: last summer, I drank two cups of iced milk tea every day for a month, and the amount of hair loss increased from 60 to 120 hairs a day. After giving up milk tea and full-fat milk, it dropped back to about 70 hairs in half a month. ； However, my colleague is born with dry skin and has no male baldness problem. He drinks milk tea every day and has not seen any increase in hair loss. There is no need to completely sacrifice food and drink for the sake of maintaining hair.

As for the anti-hair loss products that everyone is most willing to spend money on, I would rather advise you to understand your own situation before taking action. Minoxidil is currently the only FDA-certified topical anti-hair loss ingredient. It is effective against androgenetic alopecia and stress alopecia. However, about 20% of people will experience crazy periods of hair loss after using it, and some people will be allergic to propylene glycol in the solvent. It is best to test the sensitivity behind the ear first, and it must be used for more than 3 months to see the effect. Don't throw it away after half a month without any effect. ； There are also many people who like to use plant ingredients such as ginger and Platycladus orientalis leaves for skin care. Such products can really soothe temporary hair loss caused by poor blood circulation caused by staying up late and being stressed. I used to stay up all night for a week to catch up on projects, and my hair fell a lot. I have been using ginger scalp essence for half a month, and my hair loss has indeed been reduced by half. However, my father has hereditary androgenic alopecia, and he has been using ginger shampoo for more than half a year to no avail. In the end, he relied on oral finasteride and topical minox to stabilize his hair volume.

Oh, by the way, there is another misunderstanding that many people are worried about: as soon as they see a clump of hair falling out after washing their hair, they feel that they are going bald. In fact, it is completely unnecessary. Normal people shed 50-100 strands a day due to normal metabolism. I once washed my hair and lost less than half of it. I squatted on the ground for a long time and counted 82 strands. This was a waste of hundreds of dollars of anti-hair loss essence that I impulsively ordered.

In fact, there are really not that many fancy ways to raise your hair. If you really don’t know where to start, just remember the two most basic ones: perm and dye hair more than twice a year, and don’t stay up until two or three o’clock in a row. If you do these two, it will be more effective than any imported essence you buy for thousands of dollars. After all, your hair is a barometer of your physical condition. If you work and rest comfortably and eat regularly, your hair will naturally not be any worse.