A Hairy Adventure - Part 1

Contributing writer for this week is my dear friend Teresa Lee. Teresa has beautiful thick and dark hair so I asked her to share with us her hair care regiment. Below Teresa's article for thelovely.ca readers.

...We’ve been friends for around 6 years now. In many ways we grew up together and watched each other go through our crazy 20s of love, career aspirations, and self-improvement. And now we glide, with the occasional stumble, into our 30s. And bless our Asian heritage for allowing us to look younger than our age and feel less guilty for pre-cougar tendencies ;-) So after many dinners and coffee chats of what I did to revive my hair, she asked me to write about it.

My hair has always been a big part of my self-expression. It has gone through various lengths, cuts, and shades with each big change signifying a turning point in my life. In some ways, updating my ‘do has always felt cathartic. Early last year I went through another phase where my hair went through different shades of purple and blue. But one particular dye job took the cake. My hair fell out faster than expected and because I dyed it so many times the colour faded more quickly. The end result is my tresses thinned out and became dry and damaged.

I was on a mission to get my long healthy mane back. Like a diet, I knew it was not an overnight fix and I would need to do more than find the right shampoo. So after nearly a year of trials and errors, my black locks are back and resurrected from the limp and lifeless. So here is what I learned from my hair experiments:

Starting from the insides…

1) Eat well, especially load up on food rich with protein, iron, vitamin A and B, and omega 3:

a. Go for salmon as your seafood of choice as it’s packed with the omega 3 (the ‘in’ nutrient), iron, and vitamin B-12

b. Bulk up your salad with dark leafy greens especially spinach, kale, and broccoli

c. Start your day with whole grains as it’s packed with the above mentioned vitamins and nutrients

2) Take supplements. I can only each so many pills before I feel in the morning. So with breakfast I take:

a. Biotin – Vitamin B complex which is also becoming a popular ingredient in shampoos. It helps prevent graying of the hair and hair loss

b. Omega 3 – This has become very popular over the years as it keeps your skin and scalp healthy, and proven to help with weight loss

c. Niacin – Another type of Vitamin B which helps promote scalp circulation. It has some odd side effects such as tingling sensations of the skin (due to its blood circulation effects) but there are ‘no flush’ types you can purchase

In general taking any type of Vitamin B helps prevent hair loss. There are also other vitamins which health specialists recommend, such Vitamins A, C, and E. But I focused on the Vitamin Bs because I found my regular diet isn’t rich with it. From my personal experience, after taking the Vitamin Bs for a few months I definitely noticed a positive difference to my hair.

3) And of course drink lots of water to keep you hydrated

Stayed tuned for part 2 on hair maintenance and products.

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Contributing writer & friend Teresa Lee