Hair Essentials: 7 Routines To Follow for Healthy Hair

Everyone wants to keep their natural, beautiful hair for as long as possible. But if you aren’t careful, you could experience split ends, dry hair, frequent tangles, or fragile hair strands that fall out more often than not.

What gives? In fact, hair health isn’t all genetic. Certain lifestyle routines or habits can play a significant role in the health of your hair, its strength, and even its texture. With that in mind, let’s break down seven routines you should follow for healthy hair starting today.

Stick to a Healthy Diet

You are what you eat, so it's no surprise that your diet plays a major role in the health of your hair. What you eat can significantly affect the strength and texture of your hair overall.

Protein is the major building block of hair. Technically, keratin is the major protein your hair needs, and you can’t make keratin without regular protein macromolecules. Keratin is also used for your skin and nails. Since hair isn’t an essential organ or system, your body uses most of its protein for maintaining other tissues.

Only when it has enough protein to go around will it divert some to your hair and its maintenance. In addition to ensuring you eat lots of healthy protein, make sure you get plenty of iron in your diet. Iron is even more important for women, who have a higher chance of iron deficiency. In some cases, iron deficiency may be linked to female pattern hair loss.

Bottom line: be sure to eat a well-rounded diet with plenty of protein and iron if you want healthy, natural, and strong hair for years to come.

Try to Use Natural Hair Products

We all use hair products regularly, including shampoo, conditioner, and so on. But many of these products are made with synthetic chemicals or unnecessary additives that stand a chance of damaging your hair and even drying out your scalp.

With that in mind, try to prioritize natural products that use healthy ingredients rather than chemical additives. Natural-based or organic shampoo, conditioner, and other hair care solutions are the way to go. Specifically, you should try to avoid chemicals like parabens, microbeads, and more. Not only are they bad for you, but they’re also bad for the environment at large.

Avoid using hair care products every day if you can. For example, lots of people over-shampoo their hair – most people don't need to shampoo their hair every single day. A simple rinse with water is usually enough to clean out most oil and dirt without removing too much hair oil that you run the risk of drying out your scalp and hair.

Similarly, dry out your hair using air drying or dabbing it with a towel. Using a hot air dryer can feel nice and help you achieve particular hairstyle looks, but using a hot air dryer too often can dry out your scalp and lead to hair care issues later down the road.

Try Hair Care Supplements

Alongside eating a diet and caring for your hair using natural tools and techniques, hair care supplements can do wonders for improving the strength and look of your hair.

Take Hope Health’s Hair, Skin & Nails Tablets, for example. These organic and healthy supplements are packed with biotin, folic acid, and various B vitamins. When taken correctly, this supplement may promote stronger and healthier hair and support the maintenance of smooth, healthy skin and nails.

Haircare supplements aren’t as mainstream as other supplements, but they may play a major role in helping you maintain a full head of hair well into old age. Even better, healthy supplements like Hope Health’s offerings are tasty and easy to take – the above tablets come in a delicious passion fruit flavor, so popping a few tablets each day is enjoyable instead of unpleasant.

Note that hair care supplements can’t restore your hair to its younger glory by themselves. The other routines in this guide are just as – if not more – important!

Get Regular Haircuts

Haircuts aren’t just great for maintaining your perfect hairstyle. They’re also important if you want to grow out your hair. Your hair naturally gets split ends and dries out at the tips as it grows out. So it’s important to visit a salon and get a haircut regularly to trim off any split ends and prevent breakage from affecting hair strands closer to their roots.

What’s the ideal frequency of haircuts? Some evidence suggests that you should get a haircut, even if it’s just a minor trim, every six to eight weeks. This is even more important if you have long hair or want to grow your hair out from a shortcut to longer locks.

Monitor Shower Temperatures

As we touched on above, exposing your hair and scalp to extreme temperatures can be bad for the look and feel of your hair. Similarly, you should try to avoid taking scalding showers and exposing your hair and scalp to super hot water often.

Ultra hot showers can dry out the scalp and weaken hair strands at their roots, making them more likely to break and slowing their growth speed. Warm water is usually more than enough to soothe your muscles and enjoy your shower without harming your hair.

Brush Your Hair – But Not Too Much!

Brushing your hair can also be important for maintaining its texture and strength. In fact, brushing your hair about once per week is a very healthy habit for removing tangles and strengthening your hair roots.

That said, be sure not to brush your hair too much. If you brush your hair in excess, you’ll stretch the hair strands out and break off weak ends, leading to even more breakage and frazzled hair later down the road. You should also try not to brush your hair too roughly to avoid causing the same issues.

Wear Hats!

Last but not least, consider wearing hats frequently if you spend a lot of time in the sun. While some sunshine is great, too much sun can oxidize your hair and dry out individual strands. Hats help protect your face and scalp from burning and prevent your hair from dehydrating during the hot summer months.

Not a hat person? In that case, consider investing in shampoo that includes ingredients that can rejuvenate your hair and provide it with extra nourishment. Of course, the earlier warnings about over-shampooing still apply.

Summary

As you can see, there are lots of ways in which you can improve hair health and ensure you can enjoy your natural locks for years to come. Even better, many of these healthy hair habits are good health habits overall for holistic wellness, not just your hair!

Fortunately, you can always find organic supplements for hair health and other needs at Hope Health. Check out our online store today and contact us if you have any questions!

Sources:

Definition of keratin - NCI Dictionary of Cancer Terms | Cancer.gov

Essentials of Hair Care often Neglected: Hair Cleansing | NCBI

How To Prevent Split Ends, Avoid These Simple Mistakes [Quick Tips] | Our Good Living Formula

Best Ways to Protect Your Hair From Sun Damage | Cleveland Clinic