Healthy Hair

The majority of the people you interact with every day desire having healthy hair.  Whether it lacks shine, is dry and brittle, or seems to be shedding at an alarming rate, these are all concerns that can be improved.  All three of these problems may be targeted with a healthy diet for your hair.

Consuming Omega-3 fatty acids can greatly improve the health of your hair.  These can be ingested directly from eating specific foods high in Omega-3 or through supplements purchased from your local vitamin store.  Many people, initially, will do both of these things to get a jumpstart on improving their hair.

These essential fatty acids can be found in foods such as tuna, sardines, mackerel, salmon, lobster, scallops, olive oil, flaxseed, walnuts, spinach, and turnip to name the most popular.  If you are consuming the fish products, it is very important to eat wild varieties and not farm raised.  Remember, also, nuts have a high polyunsaturated and mono-saturated fat content.  Although these are the healthy types of fat, it is still best to consume small portions such as a handful a day.

If you choose to use supplements you may want to discuss it with your doctor to make sure you don’t cause any minor health problems.  Also, supplements may cause a repeating effect, which makes you belch up the taste of fish.

Daily habits such as over washing your hair, using heat instruments like blow dryers and flat irons, and even opening an oven door and allowing the high heat to hit you in the face can cause dry hair.  If you are concerned with dry hair it is suggested to use a moisturizing shampoo and conditioner.  You may also want to wash your hair every other day, allowing the natural oils from your scalp to distribute onto your hair.  If you choose to blow dry your hair each day, you can rinse your hair well and condition it without washing it.  This will allow the oils to remain on your hair.

One product I would like to recommend is It’s a Ten Miracle Leave in spray treatment.  I have seen it dramatically improve over-stressed hair in just weeks.  It’s a Ten is manufactured with three formulas; the original formula, one for blondes, and a formula which contains Keratin for those of you who like to straighten your hair.

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References

  *Webmd.com

  *Livestrong.com

Balayage vs Ombre’

     Balayage and Ombre’ are both hair lightening techniques.  Ombre’ can also be used as a hair deepening effect.  As a lightening effect, both techniques produce a sun kissed result.  Neither technique places the entire lightening process to the root of the hair. 

     Balayage hair lightning technique made its first debut in the hair industry in the 1980’s.  Women and men sought out hair salons that could produce a “beachy” natural highlighted result.  These subtle highlights are created by painting a high lift lightener or high lift color onto the hair in a sweeping motion.  They can be painted on the top layer only of the hair or a few layers deep, separated with cotton strips.  The advantage of this technique is that the highlights can literally be painted exactly where desired.  Generally at the front part hairline area the product is painted starting at the root.  Towards the back of the head the product is painted gradually lower so only the mid-shaft to ends are painted.  The highlights have spacing between them.

     Ombre’ hair color technique is a more solid application.  The word Ombre’ actually means “shaded.”  It can be produced in two ways, either darker at the roots and lighter ends or lighter at the root and darker ends.  The most common application is darker roots to light ends.  The ends of the hair, with this application, have that sun kissed result with a more solid effect than that of the Balayage technique.  The line of demarcation or separation of colors starts no higher than the ear and down to the ends.  The separation of colors is a staggered one that is produced by back combing the hair of each section, before the lightener or color is applied.  At times, when hair colorists Ombre’ the hair, they will also Balayage the front fringe area at the part line producing a subtle softening and natural effect around the face. 

     Both Balayage and Ombre' are very popular at this time.  These techniques allow the client fewer visits to the salon to help manage a busy lifestyle.  The techniques are also very interesting to watch and often create a buzz about the salon when stylists are creating these effects.

     If you are in South Florida and would like to receive one of these services, give me a call at Yossi Salon and Spa in Boynton Beach Florida.  I would be happy to provide the service for you!

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How Often Should You Wash Your Hair?

     There are many opinions as to how often you should wash your hair.  History denotes that it was very acceptable to only wash your hair once a month.  Of course this was back in the 1800's!  In the 1970's the common woman would frequent the beauty salon once a week and would attempt to manage that hairstyle all week long.  Today, people associate unwashed, greasy hair as being uneducated and unclean.

     Your scalp is covered with sebaceous glands that are attached to each hair follicle.  These sebaceous glands are constantly secreting sebum (oil) which is the direct component for the natural ability to moisturize your skin and hair.  We all have secretory cells that absorb fats from our body and expel these fats up through the hair follicle and onto the scalp.  These fats are pushed up onto the scalp in the form of sebum.

     Now to answer the question at hand.  Generally most people wash their hair every other day.  People with fine hair tend to wash their hair more often, because the oil they produce on their scalp can make their hair feel heavy and clumpy.  People with thick, curly hair can go a week or longer because their hair has a harder time pushing the sebum up onto the hair shaft.  Allowing the sebum to distribute into thick course hair will actually make the hair healthier, more manageable, and lustrous.

       What about the shampoo?  Shampoo's that lather really well contain sulfates that contribute to unhealthy, dull hair.  It's the sulfates in the shampoo that create the lather.  Many people associate the lather of the shampoo as to how clean their hair is after shampooing.  There are many shampoo's out there that do not contain sulfates, of course you will have little to no lather depending on the manufacturer.

     People who do not shampoo their hair every day often condition their hair even though they haven't applied shampoo.  This makes their hair have less tangles and makes the hair smell nice and clean.  There are also dry shampoo's that are actually sprayed onto the root of the hair.  They absorb the oil and then the product is brushed out of the hair dragging the excess oil with it.  Two products that come to mind are Redken's "Powder Refresh" and L'oreal's "Fresh Dust".

     So you determine how often you wash your hair as to how clean you feel.  I personally wash my hair each day, as I can't stand the littlest amount of oil on my scalp or face.  As a result, my hair does lack the luster it could potentially have, but that is a problem I am will to face each day when I look in the mirror.    

Check out this video for Powder Refresh by Redken