All of the changes you’ve made so far to your diet and self-care routine will result in stronger, more naturally beautiful hair and nails. Like your skin, the strength and vitality of your hair and nails is a reflection of all that is happening inside your body, and there are many ways to nourish them both internally and externally.
If you want strong, healthy hair, it’s essential to nourish the hair follicles that grow your actual hair strands. Go ahead right now and touch your scalp with your fingers. Give yourself a little head massage. It feels good, right? Your scalp is rich in nerves and blood vessels. Get familiar with touching your scalp more than just when you are shampooing. It likes it and will respond! Every part of your body needs love and attention to flourish, and that includes your scalp. If you want lovely hair, you have to give some love to your hair. This includes attention from your hands, not just from products you buy. In all areas of life, love can’t just be bought.
Fluctuations in hormones and nutrition, as well as your good old genes, can influence the quality and thickness of your hair. The dietary advice in Pillar 1, Internal Nourishment, will help you grow more beautiful hair over time. However, there are also manual, external methods that you can combine with your dietary shifts to help create beautifully healthy, shiny hair. Incorporating these methods from the outside and the inside will help you grow the beautiful hair that is your birthright.
Here are some of the most effective ways to externally nourish your hair.
Unless your hair is incredibly oily, it doesn’t need to be washed every day. Washing a few times a week will keep your hair clean but prevent overdrying, allowing more time for the natural oils in your hair to moisturize down to the tips of your strands.
This is a fantastic and highly effective way to stimulate your hair follicles and foster healthy new growth. This can be incorporated easily into your daily routine as part of your abhyanga practice (see this page). When you are doing your daily oil massage, be sure to take a few minutes to massage the coconut oil, sesame oil, or specialized herbal formula oil into all areas of your scalp to help stimulate circulation to your hair follicles. If you want to add a few drops of essential oil specifically for the scalp-massage part of your treatment, a few that are extra stimulating to your hair follicles include lemon, peppermint, lavender, basil, and rosemary pure essential oils. Just adding a few drops into the oil will suffice. (If you are new to these oils, and especially if you have sensitive skin, be sure to check with your dermatologist or test a tiny area to see if they irritate your skin.)
Brushing your hair with a natural bristle brush can help stimulate your hair follicles and produce more natural oils that lubricate your entire head and all your beautiful hair strands. Start from the top of your head and work systematically down the length of your hair. Gently work out tangles rather than being aggressive; you’re not plowing through an overgrown hiking trail. Avoid breakage by being patient and using even strokes.
It’s important to occasionally deep clean your scalp from any dirt and oils that can build up and block your hair follicles. Try periodically using a cleansing shampoo made from natural ingredients or applying an apple cider vinegar rinse. Apple cider vinegar is an excellent rinse to use occasionally to remove impurities from hard water, accumulated sebum, and waxy buildup from products. Pour the apple cider vinegar over your moistened scalp in the shower, massage it in for a couple of minutes, and rinse very well. Then proceed to shampooing and conditioning. You are rinsing it out fairly quickly, but as your scalp can absorb so much, it’s a great idea to try to source organic vinegar.
Vinegar can also help balance the pH of your hair, which affects the appearance and overall health of your hair. The strands of your hair are made up of keratin protein. When the pH of your hair is properly balanced, your hair will be a sealed, flat cuticle layer on the outside of the strand, which makes your hair more shiny and bouncy. If your hair’s pH is imbalanced from lots of heat or chemical treatments, your hair will look dull and frizzy and become brittle and susceptible to more breakage. Try the following pH-Balancing Hair Rinse once every six to eight weeks or so (depending on your hair type), or whenever you feel excessive buildup in your hair. Don’t do it too often, however, or it will dry out your hair.
To pinpoint the best possible ingredients in shampoos and conditioners to help nourish your hair, it’s important to look beyond the slogans and pretty packaging devised by marketing companies. Of course, the products you choose must match your individual hair type, but there are some ingredients that are known to work universally well for different types of hair. Products including these ingredients can be sourced at health stores, but they also are increasingly common and easy to find at your local grocery store or pharmacy.
This is a great natural emollient. It coats the surface of your hair strands with oil, reducing the amount of water that is lost so that your hair stays hydrated and luscious.
This is a perfect fatty emollient to seal moisture into your hair. Coconut oil helps make your hair shiny and healthier.
Great for soothing your scalp and hair follicles, aloe vera is said to also contain an enzyme that stimulates hair follicles, helping to promote healthy hair growth.
This acts as a natural humectant, meaning it attracts water and acts as a protective moisture layer, which will help your hair stay moisturized while avoiding frizziness.
This is a great natural hair oil, which can soothe damaged ends and make your hair look shiny but not greasy by balancing your hair’s oil production.
This is a humectant and an antifungal that helps prepare the hair for better growth.
Ceramides mend damaged and broken hair fibers by “gluing” them back together and reinforcing your hair’s structure. They also help to smooth out frizzy or unmanageable hair.
Antioxidants work great inside your body and also help to nourish your hair from the outside. Applied topically, antioxidants can help protect your hair from free radicals and even protect the integrity of your hair’s vital color.
Popularly used in skin care (see this page), hyaluronic acid is also useful for beautiful hair, as it helps to lock hydration into your hair strands.
In this case, acidity can be a good thing! Just as applying apple cider vinegar can cleanse your hair follicles of debris and balance your hair’s natural pH, other natural acids in shampoo, such as sodium citrate or citric acid, perform the same functions on a milder, more regular basis.
Panthenol is a form of vitamin B that treats and prevents damage to your hair from pollution, free radicals, and sun exposure. It’s water soluble, penetrating the hair and acting as a great moisturizer that locks moisture into your hair after cleansing.
You can ingest the essential trace element zinc from eating nuts and seeds, such as pumpkin seeds. In shampoo, zinc can soothe the scalp, fight chronic dandruff, and regulate excess sebum, thereby preventing excessively oily hair and even hair loss that results from clogged hair follicles.
Your hair follicles are very vacuolated, meaning they are rich in blood vessels that are close to the surface of your scalp. Therefore, whatever is in your hair products is quickly absorbed into your bloodstream and into your system. Being aware of the toxic additives in many common hair products and avoiding them goes hand in hand with eating organic foods. It’s important to avoid toxins from entering and circulating around your precious body from any source so they do not in any way, shape, or form detract from your natural beauty. Unfortunately, there are thousands of chemicals used in different hair-care products, so it’s up to you to scan ingredient labels and be on the lookout. Here are some of the most common harmful ingredients that are important to avoid.
Ugh. These nasty, cheaply produced chemicals, which include sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), sodium laureth sulfate (SLES), and other forms of sulfate, are used in shampoos (as well as floor cleaners, engine degreasers, and kitchen degreasers like dishwasher soaps) to create foam. It’s easy to love a foamy shampoo and feel like you’re really cleaning your hair, right? But sulfates can be considered a toxin that creates irritation and itching, as well as more serious issues. A report from the Journal of the American College of Toxicology notes that this ingredient has a “degenerative effect on the cell membranes because of its protein denaturing properties,”1 and that “high levels of skin penetration may occur at even low use concentration.”2 Some studies have noted that sulfates can enter and maintain residual levels in the heart, liver, lungs, and brain from skin contact, and by depositing on the skin surface and in the hair follicles, they can cause damage to the hair follicle.3,4 Other research has shown that sulfates can create irritation to and impair your immune system.5
These petroleum-based alcohols can be very dehydrating to your hair, leaving it dry and eventually leading to breakage. Certain nonvolatile or fatty alcohols, however, such as cetyl alcohol, are okay, as they have a higher carbon count so they are oily and actually condition hair. Be sure to check labels for specific names.
Commonly used as a preservative (you might recall the lab rat you dissected in high school biology was embalmed in this), it irritates the skin and can cause inflammation, joint pain, allergies, chronic fatigue, and dizziness.6 It is also considered a potential carcinogen. Stay away! (Be sure to avoid nail polishes that contain formaldehyde, too.)
On that note, these two ingredients are preservatives that release formaldehyde, so look for them as well on ingredient lists.
PG is a form of mineral oil. This is a controversial ingredient that some believe has some immunotoxicity concerns.7 It comes in different grades, including an industrial grade that is part of commercial products such as engine coolants, antifreeze, and various enamels and varnishes. For beauty products, it helps to drive ingredients down into the hair (or skin) for deeper penetration. It may break down the proteins that make up your hair in the process (obviously the opposite of what you want!), and also may create allergic reactions or irritations.8
PEG is included in shampoos to help dissolve oils, but it can overstrip your hair, leaving it vulnerable and weak.
Does this remind you of the song “Do-Re-Mi” from The Sound of Music? These rhyming ingredients are not happy like the song. They are, in fact, potential hormone disruptors and irritants9 and can be absorbed into your hair follicles and enter your body. These ingredients are “foamers,” so they’re not necessarily even great for your hair, per se, but are included solely for the experience of using them. But really, you should never have to choose between foaming shampoo and your health. Got a shampoo with any of these three-letter acronyms? Into the trash it goes!
This is a tough one because we understand that you want your hair to smell awesome. But fragrance is a generic term for up to 3,100 stock chemical ingredients,10 many of which are synthetic and toxic. You really don’t know exactly what is in your shampoo or conditioner with just “fragrance” on the ingredient list, so you risk getting headaches, dizziness, rashes, and a number of allergic reactions. Tests of fragrance ingredients have found an average of fourteen hidden compounds per formulation, including ingredients linked to hormone disruption and sperm damage.11 Exposure to these types of chemicals can adversely affect your central nervous system and even affect your mood, making you more irritable. No good-smelling shampoo is worth being moody! Check out products with essential oils, which smell great and are nontoxic.
It’s important to take care of your hands and nails, which are an extension of your beauty. They undergo a great deal of daily wear and tear, from relentless exposure to heat and cold to abrasive soaps and excessive water from hand washing and detergents.
Your nails are largely made of a tough protective coating called keratin. A proper diet and excellent circulation are of utmost importance for growing healthy, strong nails. There are also great external ways to support nail health:
• Rather than cutting cuticles, soak your nails in warm water to soften cuticles and then gently push them back. Only trim off hanging, dead skin when necessary.
• Look for polishes free of the “toxic trio”: dibutyl phthalate (DBP), toluene, and formaldehyde, which have been associated with development and reproductive issues and dizziness and are potential hormone disruptors and carcinogens.13 Look for brands labeled “DBP-, toluene-, and formaldehyde-free” or, specifically, “three-free.” There are even vegan polishes free of solvents and other toxins, including some that are “ten-free,” and some that are water-based. (You may need to reapply these more often due to chipping.)
• Avoid frequent use of nail polish removers, which can dry your nail bed, leading to potential splits. Also look for nail polish removers that are free of acetone.
• Avoid quick-dry nail polishes that contain a great deal of acetone, which can dry out your nails.
• Use gloves when washing the dishes, and otherwise try to keep your hands out of hot water as much as possible.
• Before going out into the cold, always moisturize your hands and protect them with gloves. Avoid direct exposure to cold air.
• Massage and moisturize your nails and cuticles with almond, jojoba, or coconut oil often.