Now, that we live in the modern times, it's undeniable that women of our era rely greatly on hair spas and treatments which most often than not, are costly, and time consuming. Due to a fast paced and competitive lifestyle, it maybe good to know how to take care of our crowning glory naturally. One simple way to consider would be enriching our diet with the following foods as they help in keeping a heavenly hair.
I - FRUITS AND VEGGIES:
One word that this sets of foods are known of: RADIANCE.
Fruits and vegetables help our INTEGUMENTARY SYSTEM (skin, nails, hair, sweat and oil glands) by containing antioxidants that enhance its reproduction. We change skin overtime (thus, the myth that DUST is composed mostly of it). Our hair and nail-beds are composed of dead skin cells as it grows distant from our core, making it hard for the heart to be supply it with nutrition and oxygen. This together with our sweat and oil glands serve as part of the initial protection of our body from harm. All of them work hand in hand in preserving our outward looks. Our hair specifically stays healthy and shiny depending on how healthy our scalp is. Vitamin E is of essential factor in keeping our scalp healthy. You can got a lot of it from various fruits and vegetables namely:
1. STRAWBERRY:
Besides being the 4th among all fruits that are leading when it comes to its total antioxidant capacity, it contains ELLAGIC ACID, which is a polyphenol that was searched by the European Research Society. This is used to delay androgenic alopecia, thus preventing your hair from being dry and brittle.
2. BANANAS:
I love everything natural and organic. And I've come across a "Natural Hair and Lifestyle Blog" that shared benefits from BANANAS when consuming and/or applying it on hair. It wrote that bananas are rich in potassium, carbohydrates and natural oils that help the scalp and skin stay moisturized, thus keeping it from being brittle and dry.
* Additional Information:Bananas and Beauty Sleep:
We all know how essential a good night sleep is for maintaining the health of your skin and hair. MELATONIN is the sleep inducing hormone that is necessary for the production of this sleep hormone. Bananas not only contain large amounts of tryptophan and serotonin but also have a very high carbohydrate content in them that helps the brain to utilize tryptophan and serotonin to produce the sleeping hormone. Eating a banana few hours before you go to bed will help you in getting that essential beauty sleep and thus, a refreshed and healthy skin.
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3. SWEET POTATOES:
Sweet Potatoes are also known as YAMS. Packed with a lot of vitamins and minerals, I'd like to focus on the combination of three specific nutrients: Beta-Carotene, Vitamin E and Vitamin C.
Beta-Carotene is a group of natural chemicals known as carotenes or carotenoids. People who include vegetables that are rich in carotenoids in their diet daily have reduced risk to having cancer, sever chronic heart disease and age-related macular degeneration and cataracts. That's why your mom always encourages you to eat yellow and orange food while saying, "It's good for your eyes." So, this property of the sweet potatoes combined with Vitamin E and Vitamin C provides good protection to your hair. Vitamin E is a good antioxidant and Vitamin C keeps your skin intact and prevents the scalp from breaking and also prevents it from developing bald spots/alopecia.
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| Bad hair day? Or Big swirl day? |
Sweet potatoes are a good source of manganese which helps regulating blood flow all over the body. It helps these antioxidants to get fully utilized rendering a healthy release of natural oils from the scalp, enhancing regeneration. It is used for the treatment of anemia and is useful as a treatment for several premenstrual symptoms in women as well. These points should not be ignored as they may have a direct affectation to the growth of your hair. Usually, anemia (lack of iron in the body) can be a hindrance to having good hair since the essential cells that are located nearest to the blood vessels themselves lack oxygen that they need. What more the distant ones? For example, the blood vessels that supply the heart are needed to be supplied of nutrients compared to the cells of your hair that are far less important for the human body's survival. Hence, the brain detects this and prioritizes the need of the heart muscles rather than the aesthetic benefit from your crowning glory leaving it so dry and almost dead. On the other hand, when you are experiencing premenstrual symptoms, stress adds up to hair fall. So, yams helps the hormones get balanced out accordingly. Samantha of Sex and the City 2 movie had been depending on these greatly as aging also induces hormonal imbalance.
As mentioned above, good supply of iron plays a great role in keeping the oxygen supply well disseminated to the different parts of the body. EGGS provide us with IRON greatly along with numerous other nutrients.
For one, it is a good source of PROTEIN. Protein helps to strengthen hair follicles that hold your strands. It makes your hair strong until the tip preventing it from gaining split ends. When applied to hair (make sure you're not allergic of some sort to eggs!), the eggs help your hair get moisturized without stripping the scalp of its natural oils unlike the usual side effect of shampoo usage. It acts as a conditioner that smoothens your hair and makes it glow and shine.
If you plan to apply it directly, give it 2-3 weeks before any changes may be obvious. This cost effective way of giving your hair a home-made protein treatment may turn out messy so it's better if you'd do it in the bathroom sink. Allow 15 minutes for your hair to absorb the eggs then follow it up with your regular shampooing but just with COLD water. (Hot water may cook the eggs on your head, get the picture?)
III - NUTS:
Nuts are good sources of ZINC. Deficiency in zinc usually makes the hair shed off. We don't want this to happen so charge up with nuts as it is a world-wide-known snack that is handy to bring anywhere you need to be. Have a handful of BRAZIL NUTS, that are rich with SELENIUM (most shampoos have this in the contents) that helps the scalp stay healthy.
IV - FISH:
Personally, I love fish. And I'm so glad to share this to you.
One essential nutrient BENEFICIAL to your hair from fish is OMEGA-3 fatty acids that are optimal to your scalp's health. Increase this in your diet and you'll never go wrong. From the healthy dose of iodine, healthy oil and protein, you could never go wrong. Fish (ex.: mackerel, salmon, tuna, herring, sardines, blue fish), canola oil, pumpkin seeds, and walnuts altogether helps the scalp to give out that essential oil to keep your scalp healthy and moisturized.
V - BEANS:
These are usually alienated from at least 6 out of 10 people's plates of a good meal. You may neglect it all you want but these small but mighty ones are superb in giving out protein, iron and zinc. If you're allergic to egg, this could be a good source of protein. Reminding you once again that protein is an essential nutrient for optimal hair growth and so are iron and zinc. Legumes which include kidney beans, pinto beans, lima beans, etc.,. may serve you very well being rich with these minerals. Beans are rich in BIOTIN, which prevents the hair from staying brittle.
It may be good to know that any damage to your hair are irreversible. The easiest way of dealing with damaged hair is to prevent damage to reach its roots (be mindful of bald spots - have it checked out once noticed), or just grow the damaged part off then take care of the part that is nearest to the scalp as this usually couldn't possibly be that affected. Remember, you are what you eat. If you decide to eat right, your hair, skin and overall health would be undeniably radiant. Also, get ample rest and avoid extreme exposure to the sun. Be abreast with usage of wide-rimmed hats or umbrellas if you have to. Have a trim at least every 3 months for severe split ends to be prevented.