The health of your hair is determined by the health of your scalp, therefore the healthier your scalp the healthier, thicker, and longer your hair will be. Keep reading for some useful tips on looking after your scalp.
1. Use a sulphate free cleanser
My first tip is to consider making the change to a sulphate free shampoo. Sodium lauryl sulphate (sls) can be found in most traditional shampoos. This ingredient is known to cause skin irritation especially for those suffering with skin conditions. Its main purpose is to strip the hair of oils. As afro hair has curls and kinks, it's not as easy for our natural oils to glide down our hair shafts, so we need them!!
A great alternative would be to try a sulphur free shampoo such as our vita nourish shampoo. It's gentle enough to be used once a week, yet effectively removes product build up leaving your hair feeling clean without stripping its moisture.
2. Cleanse your scalp regularly
We recommend cleansing your hair every 7 to 10 days maybe more (time permitting) if you're active; even when wearing a protective style. Washing your afro hair is just as important as having a routine to keep it moisturised and to style it.
There needs to be a balance between removing products you are using to keep your hair healthy and adding those products in to supplement hair maintenance. The key is to build a healthy hair care regimen that leads to hair growth.
3. Look at Your Diet
The body considers your hair as ‘non-essential’ and will make sure other more important parts of your body have what is needed before directing the left-over nutrients to your scalp to feed your hair. An irritated scalp can be a sign of not getting enough essential fatty acids in your diet.
Increasing your intake of Omega-3 fatty acid rich foods such as fatty fish, flaxseeds, canola oil, soybeans, pumpkin seeds and walnuts, may show an improvement in your scalp condition.
The bottom line is a healthy scalp will lead to healthy hair. Think of your hair like a plant and your scalp like the soil, if the soil isn't rich with nutrients the plant will not grow.
Similarly, if our scalp isn't maintained our hair will not be as thick, luxurious, and healthy as we want.
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