When it comes to looking and feeling good, healthy hair and nails have an important role to play. But caring for them is not just about looks and self-confidence. Their condition is also a barometer of your overall health, so it would be foolish to ignore them. In this chapter you’ll find lots of tips to keep hair and nails in good shape.

Caring for YOUR HAIR

We can all have bad hair days, and styling is not the only problem. Hair can become greasy, dandruff may take a hold and hairlines may recede. But there’s a lot you can do to keep your hair and scalp in top condition, and counter hair loss. Here are some tips.

• Don’t brush your hair or at least don’t brush it too vigorously or for too long. Following the traditional advice of ‘a hundred strokes before bedtime’ is now known to risk damaging the hair. Brushing pulls out hair that isn’t ready to fall out yet, often breaks healthy hairs, and scratches the scalp. Brush gently for styling only – not to stimulate the scalp.
• Dye naturally If you want to colour or lighten your hair without resorting to the chemicals of commercial hair dyes, why not choose herbal preparations such as henna for a shining brown or chamomile to lift mouse to blonde. But be warned, while natural dyes are better for you, they can be messy to apply and the results are not always totally reliable. If you decide to use a commercial hair dye, choose a temporary or semi-permanent one, simply because there is a very small increased risk of breast and bladder cancer associated with the long-term use of permanent dyes. Whatever dye you choose, test a little on an unobtrusive patch before treating your whole head.
• Rinse with herbs Calm over-greasy hair with this ‘leave-in’ herbal conditioner treatment, which can help to reduce the amount of oily sebum produced by the sebaceous glands in hair follicles. Mix a teaspoon each of dried rosemary leaves, dried chamomile flowers and dried stinging nettle leaves in a bowl and pour on 100ml of water and a tablespoon of fruit vinegar. Leave for 10 minutes then strain. Apply this liquid to damp hair after washing and leave it in without rinsing.

Using natural products eliminates the slight risk of cancer associated with permanent dyes

Summary

Article Name

Shining hair, Strong Nails

Description

When it comes to looking and feeling good, healthy hair and nails have an important role to play. But caring for them is not just about looks and self-confidence. Their condition is also a barometer of your overall health, so it would be foolish to ignore them. In this chapter you'll find lots of tips to keep hair and nails in good shape.