Keep Your Hair Beautiful and Strong

Think of your hair as a wave that begins with your heart rhythm and passes through your blood, muscles, bones and skin outward through your pores to greet the sunshine. Hair is a living natural fiber that requires protein and minerals. Dull, brittle or thinning hair may indicate poor vitality, unwise health habits, or an inadequate diet. Hair fiber is made of keratin, an insoluble protein that contains high amounts of sulfur as cystine. Aging, stress and junk foods starve hair. Sulphur adds luster and body to hair, helps fight bacterial infections, and works with B-complex vitamins for building tissue.

Foods and Herbs for Beautiful Hair

Foods that nourish hair include dried beans, fish, eggs, foods in the cabbage family, avocado, parsley and watercress. Silicea is very important for strengthening hair, skin and nails. Sprouts (pulses), cooked oatmeal and barley are good sources. A highly nourishing tea for hair is made by simmering for 20 minutes a handful of oat straw in two cups of water. Strain it and sweeten with black cherry concentrate. Oat straw is a source of silicea and black cherry is iron-rich. Homeopathic minerals, including silicea, are another option.

Herbs recommended for the hair are best taken during the afternoon or evening because they are often cooling, relaxing and moistening. Such herbs are neither invigorating nor digestive. Moistening herbs can increase bloating or slow digestion for some people, therefore, they should be used between meals or along with digestive remedies such as ginger or Hingoli tablets made with cumin, pepper, ginger and asafoetida.

You need hair herbs most if you: 

• Live under constant stress
• Live in a polluted area
• Smoke
• Experience peri- or post-menopausal symptoms
• Experience chronic thirst and dry skin
• Have thyroid or liver problems, including cirrhoses or hepatitis
• Are over forty
• Used cancer- or other harsh chemotherapies
• Are a frequent user of harsh chemical hair products.

Several Asian herbal favorites can easily be used to rejuvenate and fortify damaged hair.

Eclipta alba improves hair loss. The popular name of this herb is bhringaraj “ruler of the hair.” Its main components include saponins–natural plant chemicals with antimicrobial, anticancer and anticholesterol effects. The herb is used to rejuvenate bones, teeth, hair, sight, hearing, and memory. It helps prevent burn-out, premature hair graying and hair loss, loose teeth, enlarged liver or spleen, chronic hepatitis, dysentery, anemia, and skin diseases. It reduces internal bleeding such as blood in the urine. Most people can use it unless they have severe chills. When the weather is warm, you can take 1 – 3 capsules once or twice daily between meals. 

Another popular herb recommended for prematurely grey hair is Polygonum multiflori (AKA Fo Ti.) It can be cooked as a tea. The herb has been recommended for replenishing vital body fluids and undernourished hair. This is a moistening herb, which means it will cause bloating and slow digestion if taken with meals. If you feel dry, overworked, stressed, if your palms and soles feel hot, you may benefit from this cooling, moistening herb. It adds nourishment from the bone marrow to the hair tips. Always take moistening pills or teas between meals. You may require a digestive ginger tea to reduce phlegm or bloating when using moistening herbs.

Amla, the wild East Indian cherry, is super-rich in vitamin C. It is recommended as a tea or powdered herb for hair loss, blood shot eyes, water retention, poor memory, and acidity. Amla is useful for diabetes, gout, colitis, osteoporosis, constipation, and anemia. In some food and herb markets you may find amla hair oil, amla powder or the dried fruit used for scalp treatments. If you like putting such things on your head, go ahead. Leave the paste on your scalp for two hours before you thoroughly wash it off. It is easier and less messy to take the powder internally as a vitamin C supplement. You can also simmer 1 tablespoon of the powder in one cup of water for ten minutes, strain the liquid and pour it over your regular tea or drink it alone.

Brahmi (AKA gotu kola) is recommended to reduce stress and improve natural beauty. According to Hindu tradition, brahmi (Hydrocotyle asiatica) increases intelligence and awareness of supreme reality–Brahman. It is used as a nerve tonic for calming anxiety without sedating the body or mind. Athletes and computer users prefer using higher doses (above 1,000 mgs per day) to improve circulation in the legs. Used regularly to reduce stress and improve memory, 1 -2 capsules twice daily have been recommended to improve signs of premature aging, hair loss, chronic nervous skin conditions, epilepsy, and senility. 

Scalp Treatments

Hair oils are great for a gentle scalp massage. They increase circulation to hair roots that nourish and protect hair growth. Apply them gently, allow them to penetrate for twenty minutes, and then wash them off. Jojoba oil is cooling and has a neutral scent. You might add 5 drops of your favorite essential oil to 1 tsp. of jojoba oil. Use pure oregano oil to help reduce hypertension. Vatika hair oil, made by Dabur, contains henna, amla, brahmi, lemon, and neem a highly detoxifying bitter herb used for infections, fungus, and parasites.

For shampoos and conditioners use products that avoid drying alcohol and chemical ingredients especially parabens thought to increase cancer. Apply these products to the hair not the scalp. Dilute shampoos and conditioners with water to avoid making the hair heavy and oily. Rinse thoroughly and allow the hair to dry slightly before combing with a wide-tooth comb to avoid breakage.

Letha Hadady is the author of Asian Health Secrets: The Complete Guide to Asian Herbal Medicine and Healthy Beauty. Her website is www.asianhealthsecrets.com

Do you periodically cook your hair and scalp with chemicals? Protect your beauty and health with a simple, natural scalp treatment. We consume more chemical poisons through the skin and scalp than orally because the skin is highly absorbant.

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