My Hairy Crown!

Hair is the richest ornament a woman has! Who does not love beautiful, shiny, healthy hair? Someone wise once said that hair is the only crown you never take off. So true!

Did you know that most people are born with about 100,000 hair follicles on average? The variation in the number of hair follicles in a human head is due to the color of hair; blondes are generally born with 150,000 hair follicles, black and brown with 110, 000 hair follicles, and redheads about 90,000 hair follicles. So why does it seem that some people have more hair than others? It’s a complicated answer. There are multiple reasons, and some of them are out of our control, like genetics, medical conditions, the thickness of each hair strand, and your hair type. The most important part, and also the only aspect you have in your control, is how you have maintained the health of your scalp.

To have healthy hair, you have to consistently take care of your hair. There are simple habits that I have learned from my mother, so I thought I would share my knowledge and my experience on maintaining good, healthy hair. I stay away from harsh shampoos and conditioners, avoid hair dryers, flat irons, and hot curlers. I do not use hair products like mousse, sprays, or synthetic hair colors, and instead, I regularly oil my hair.

I wash my hair only once a week, twice at the most. Washing your hair every day is a bad choice. You are stripping your scalp and hair of natural oils secreted by the sebaceous glands in the scalp. This makes your hair strands and scalp dry, which triggers your glands to make more sebum to moisten your scalp and that causes oiliness in the roots. Therefore, only wash once or twice a week. Make sure you give your scalp oil therapy before washing. I generally oil overnight. I use a blend of different natural oils infused with herbs and flowers. This is an oil I have perfected to make for myself. In case you are interested, you can buy it at https://www.flowersandoils.com/product-page/hair-oil.

Use natural shampoos and avoid shampoos with parabens, sulfates, heavy fragrances. These shampoos cause damage and thin down your hair. Since childhood, I have washed my hair with Amla, Shikakai, and Reetha. I still remember my mom would buy these dry fruits and I would soak them overnight. The next morning, I would grind them to a paste and put them in my hair for an hour. After that, I would wash them away with water. It took a lot of water, but my hair would feel so soft and clean afterward.

Amla is a superfood, and using it in hair gives tons of vitamin C.

Shikakai makes your hair shiny and fights dandruff. It has alkaloids and saponin characteristics, so it is a mild cleanser and acts as a shampoo. It keeps the natural pH of the scalp and does not strip oils away.

Reetha, also called soap nut, has been used for washing hair for a long time. It also maintains the natural pH of the scalp and hair.

I have this natural shampoo perfected, and if you’d like, you can buy it at https://www.flowersandoils.com/product-page/powder-shampoo. Since we live a fast-paced life, I have created a premix powder for these and all you need to do is mix in water and use it.

The conditioner I use is apple cider vinegar or lemon juice. All I do is take 1 tablespoon of organic apple cider vinegar, dilute it in cold water at least 10 times, and rinse my hair with it. You can replace apple cider vinegar with lemon juice. If you do not like the smell, you could add a drop of any essential oil to the diluted mix.

Another thing that I would suggest is washing hair with lukewarm water; hot water is not good for hair. If you are using hot water, make sure you end your hair wash with cold water, at least for one last rinse. If you are not into all-natural products, at least look for mild shampoos without parabens and sulfates before buying.

I always air and sun dry my hair. It is not that I never style my hair. I do every six months or so, but regularly I do not let my hair even come close to any electric heating tool!

Another thing you should do every day is flip your hair down and brush or comb slowly from scalp to hair tips. This brings blood flow to your hair roots and helps energize hair follicles. I used to get so flustered when my mom used to do that for me, but now, I understand why she did it.

As I indicated earlier, I do not use synthetic colors. I have not used them even once in my lifetime. I use natural hair color made using henna powder, natural flowers, leaves, and husk, but no added colors. I do not even use indigo powder. Most henna-based hair colors in the market include indigo in the henna powder, but, honestly, overtime indigo makes hair grey faster and damages hair quality. So, the henna coloring I fix at home has lots of plants, but not Indigo. If you’d like to try my hair coloring, you can buy it from here: https://www.flowersandoils.com/product-page/all-natural-hair-color.

Here is a picture that shows hair growth for my daughter and myself in last 2 years.