When talking about hair loss prevention, the conversation will almost always follow with tips for hair growth. They are inseparable because most of the things you do to prevent hair loss will improve your hair growth too, and vice versa.
These topics often pop out of your online searches once you start seeing signs of hair loss. Common signs of hair loss include frequent hair fall, hair shedding, receding hair line, and thinning crown. When these symptoms begin to affect your hair, you may feel that urgent need to do something to stop it. As the old saying goes, “prevention is better than cure.” You want to take action to prevent it from getting worse.
While there are many reasons like genetics, poor diet, stress, bad styling routine, and other external factors that can affect the rate of your hair growth and why it’s thinning, there are also practical ways you can do to help reverse it. Here are 7 good daily habits you can incorporate in your routine starting right now!
Reduce Stress
It is true that stress affects a person in more ways than one, and it can even be the cause of hair loss for some. Sometimes, stress can trigger conditions like alopecia areata, which is an autoimmune disease of the hair and scalp that causes patchy hair loss.
While stress is inevitable (we can’t completely eliminate stress in life), it can be minimized if you can identify your stressors and learn how to manage them. We know, it’s easier said than done. So here are a few tips to help you out.
Tips on how to manage stress:
- Exercise regularly, get at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity every day
- Relax your muscles by stretching or enjoying a body massage
- Deep breathing
- Take a hot bath or shower
- Set aside a few minutes a day to meditate, do yoga, or listen to your favorite music
- Make time for your hobbies like sports, reading, playing board games or doing art
- Hang out with friends and talk about your problems
- Always get restful sleep
Live a More Active Lifestyle
Having an active lifestyle improves your health and overall well-being. It reduces stress and puts you on a happier state of mind.
Minimize the amount of time spent in prolonged sitting or just plain lack of movement. See everyday activities as opportunity to be active. Aim for at least 30 minutes of physical workout daily like simple walking, cycling or running. A regular, vigorous exercise gives you extra health and fitness benefits. Try sports, training at the gym, aerobic exercises, or swimming.
Other health benefits of having an active lifestyle:
- Reduce risk of a heart attack
- Weight management
- Lower blood cholesterol level
- Lower risk of type 2 diabetes
- Strengthen bones, muscles, and joints
- Feel more energized and in a better mood
Eat Healthy and Take Hair Supplements
Bad eating habits make your body weak and affects how it normally functions. The hair growth process starts with proper nutrition that is delivered through the hair roots. The nutrients are absorbed by the hair follicles and this enable your hair to grow. Without proper nutrition, hair becomes weak and can lead to hair loss.
Taking hair supplements enriched with vitamins are well-recommended to give you enough source of nutrients. The enHAIRgy Supplement is a great example. It supports healthy hair growth while blocking hair loss, with only 2 capsules taken daily. Each capsule contains essential ingredients like biotin, saw palmetto, pygeum bark, vitamin A, plus other natural DHT blockers that help nourish the hair.
While taking your hair supplement, you must also stick to a healthy diet. Getting plenty of healthy fats like omega 3s can help with hair growth. Healthy fats are found in fish and nuts. They nourish hair follicles to give strands the strength and shine.
It is important to avoid smoking too. Smoking increases your body’s production of free radicals. Free radicals damage your cells and can potentially damage your hair follicles and increase the risk of developing hair loss.
Best food for healthy hair:
- Salmon
- Tuna
- Walnuts
- Eggs
- Berries
- Spinach
- Avocados
- Vegetable oils like soybean and canola oil
Complete 8-Hour Sleep
If you eat well, exercise regularly, and manage your stress but don’t get enough sleep every night, you may be undermining all of your other efforts. Everyone feels better after a good night’s sleep. But how much is enough?
An adult needs an average of 8 hours of sleep to help you relax and recover. Lack of sleep may affect your mood and productivity for the day. Your energy may be down and you may show lack of enthusiasm because of excessive sleepiness. This also affects your mental condition. Thus, you may find it hard to think, remember, or process information.
Chronic sleep deprivation is often associated with high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart problems.
How Lack of Sleep Affects Hair Loss
Sleep deprivation have shown significant negative effects on the body, which can directly or indirectly lead to conditions of hair loss and thinning hair. This is because lack of proper sleep can result to higher levels of stress, which is one of the major causes of hair loss.
During sleep, the body undergoes numerous activities that help the body recover and develop, including generating new cells for hair growth.
Prolonged stress can have a negative impact on your appearance especially the skin and hair.
Limit Heat Styling
Regular buns and ponytails can sometimes get a little boring. Surprisingly, a simple concept of heat styling is a pretty easy technique that works quite well on changing the hair’s structure temporarily. Heat styling tools like blow-dryers, curling irons, and flat irons are the basic go-to’s. You can transform the shape of your hair from being curly to straight, or vice versa with the help of these tools.
Rocking different hairstyles is fun and creative. But, when using these hot tools, we put our hair under direct contact to high temperatures that range at around 200 to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. That is too hot to burn your skin!
How Does Heat Styling Do Damage?
High temperature from heat styling creates cracks in the cuticle, which is the protective layer of hair. This causes the scales of the cuticle to lift, making hair more vulnerable and easier for damaging chemicals and sunlight to penetrate. Over time, this makes the hair dry, dull, and weak. Hair easily breaks. Split ends and hair fall become more frequent.
If you need to style your hair by heat styling, there are ways you can do to protect your hair from damage caused by heating tools. Below are 5 tips that may come in handy.
Tips to protect hair from heat damage:
- Moisturize and deep condition your hair beforehand
- Apply heat protectant serum, spray or cream
- If using a straightening iron, blow dry your hair first
- Heat-style your hair less frequently
- Use heating tools with adjustable switches for better heat control
Indulge in a Scalp Massage
Just like good soil is essential to growing luscious plants, a healthy scalp is the key for growing thicker hair. A simple way to stimulate hair growth at home is to give yourself a scalp massage. This will increase blood flow to your scalp and help deliver nutrients to your hair follicles better.
We discourage using bare fingers to massage your hair because it may do more damage than good. If you have long fingernails, it could scratch and hurt your scalp. Long nails with sharp edges can also cause the hair to uproot.
Instead, use a gentle scalp brush that is intended for head massage. Look for a shampoo brush that is made with BPA free material and has soft bristles.
You can massage your scalp when washing your hair with your favorite shampoo. If you prefer a scalp massage with dry hair, adding a nutrient-rich oil like the Shiny Leaf Organic Coconut Oil will double the benefits. Coconut oil is known to stimulate the follicles and promote hair growth while giving hair noticeable shine.
Other Benefits of a Scalp Massage Brush:
- Relieves stress and anxiety
- Efficiently removes dead skin cells and product buildup
- Stimulates the scalp and promotes blood circulation
- Helps reduce flakiness of the scalp
Use the Correct Hair Products
The type of hair products you apply to your hair greatly affects more than just how it looks, but its ability to grow healthy as well.
Every person has hair needs that require specific type of haircare products. That’s why companies have created various lines of products that are made with formulas that work for certain hair types, color, texture, or thickness.
Haircare is not a one for all – all for one type of thing. That’s why specialized products are available for particular hair issues. Examples are dandruff shampoos intended to eliminate dandruff. Purple shampoos that brighten blonde hair may not have the same effect when used for brunette hair. There are also color-enhancing hair products for reds, blacks, and other hair colors. A deep conditioning treatment may not be necessary for oily hair as it is much needed to treat dry hair.
When dealing with hair loss, you can easily find DHT-blocking products to help with that. DHT blockers help target the main cause of hair loss, which is the DHT or dihydrotestosterone.
Three things to consider when choosing hair products:
- Your hair type
- Your hair issues
- Your hair goals
Consistency is Key
Have you heard of the 21/90 rule? This rule states that it takes 21 days to build a habit and 90 days to make it a permanent lifestyle change. Just like any habit, these 7 daily habits for hair growth and preventing hair loss takes discipline and one hundred percent full commitment. Consistency is of course the key to reaping good results.
If you will look closely, these good hair habits are interrelated and therefore create a more meaningful effect when practiced altogether. For example, having a good night’s sleep, an active lifestyle, and a head massage all help with stress management. Try to incorporate them into your daily routine. The result will be a holistic healthy lifestyle that will benefit not only your hair but your life as a whole – in mind, body and soul.
