Friday, November 19, 2010

My Hair Journey-Potholes Included

I always had long hair.My mom used to oil and braid my hair daily and I used soft water from a well to wash my hair(I didn't live in a village we just had a well in our colony :P) weekly.That was the routine I followed for many years and always had silky,thick,shiny,LONG hair.It reached my waist at one point.
But then my mom got sick of seeing me with the same look for the last 13 years of my life and decided to chop of my hair.Till just below my ears.Seriously, how mean is that??!! That day I cried for at least an our like the contestants on America's Next Top Model on makeover day.It was such a drastic change but once I saw that my friends loved it I began to think it was cute too(what do you want from me,I was 13!!).But since my hair was well looked after it grew to many inches below my shoulder in a couple of months.That's what always happened.I cut it and it grew back pretty soon.But like it happens in all long term relationships I took my hair for granted and inflicted many tortures on it.
I went on diet(recommended by a dietitian),started exercising and discovered the blow dryer.If these sound like they should be good habits, read on.Whenever we go on a diet to lose a lot of weight(more than 10kg) it is essential to include multivitamin tablets in your diet because your new restricted diet will not be able to give you all the nutrients you need.Think about it : If your body needs 1600-1800 calories(the avg. 4 women) daily and you are only eating 1200 what about the nutrition from the remaining 600. In fact I would personally use a multivitamin daily regardless of your diet since with todays depleted soil and random eating habits our food does not provide all the nutrients.But at the time I did not know this and hence no multivitamins in my diet.

Also when you exercise a lot its important to wash your hair daily which I didn't do.All the sweat and oil trapped in your can weaken it at the roots and cause breakage and lead to scalp infections(hello dandruff!!).And lastly the hair dryer and okay Ill admit it occasionally the iron.No not the hair straighter but an actual clothes iron(hangs head in shame :(( ).Many girls in the hostel followed this method to straighten their locks and so I decided to do the same.NOT a good idea.Initially my hair was silky and frizz free but unknown to me the damage was occurring.All that heat caused massive split ends along the shaft if my hair and the ends were dry as straw.
And all this w/o even using a heat protectant.

Sooner or later we all have to face our mistakes and I  had to do the same.This time(one year ago) when I cut my hair it refused to grow.Now my hair is lightly wavy with loose curls at the ends so I assumed the curls were hiding the length.But even after many months it had only grown a few inches.Now this may be the normal speed for some of you but since I always had fast growing hair this worried me.So I decided to do some research and come up with some answers and solutions.

Here is what I have been following for a few weeks and plan to continue for a few months to see the difference in my hair.

  1. Eat a low calorie(healthy hair on a fat me is not the goal :P) but high in protein diet.I do this by determining my daily protein needs(GO HERE) and cutting calories by reducing carbs and fat.
  2. I take daily multivitamin supplements with my meals.Also I drink 2 or more liters of water but this is not difficult since I'm a water baby.
  3. I also take cod liver oil capsules daily.Initially I started with one at lunch and dinner and then progressed to 2.The bottle(SevenSeas SEACOD) says we can use 1-2 three times a day.I am already seeing benefits from this.After using them for about two months religiously I saw new short strands on my hairline.I never had bangs so this is new hair guys!!!(If you are planning to use this though just be careful of the amount of vitamin A in your multivitamin since cod liver oil has vitamin A.I would recommend having a nutritionist asses your diet and guide you on the options)
  4. I am on the lookout for flaxseed oil to replace the above since it has no Vitamin A and I can take my multivitamin in peace.
  5. I no longer use the hair dryer daily but only once or maybe twice in case of emergencies and always with a serum.I am working with the natural texture of my hair which just naturally emulates the romantic waves trend :-D
My hair is already growing longer and I will update you on the results and any changes/additions I make to my routine.A deep conditioning mask is next on my list! So tell me what you think and what worked for you. Empathy from other tress -stressed sisters is welcome and appreciated.

8 comments:

  1. Aww you picked what I have been eying since the day I set my eyes on these nail paints.

    Damn, you're a terrific writer.

    ReplyDelete
  2. hey i know abt the iron thingy..........its a common practice in hostels.I would always tell my friends not to do it but it was common among gals who did not have flat irons.ATB in growing ur hair back........stick to ur regime and ur crown of glory will come back.

    ReplyDelete
  3. @Jiya Thats such an awesome complement especially frm someone wid a gr8 blog herself <3

    @indianmakeupways thnx :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. great post Sharon. I'm 'tress-stressed' as well :D

    I've always had straight-ish hair that is naturally not too thick, but very soft & silky. A few years ago I developed a skin aliment called psoriasis which affected my scalp too. I started getting dandruff & shed a lot of hair. In my effort to stop the hair fall, I started using only 'natural products'. Meaning I didn't use any shampoo or condish, but instead used amla/shikakai powders. These things might work for some, but it just didn't work for me. My waist length hair became really weak & I started shedding a LOT. I had to chop my hair off. I was really upset (tho the short hair looked kinda awesome). Since then, I've never grown my hair beyond a point coz I'm scared that my roots are not strong enough to bear the weight of longer hair. Additionally I feel seriously ill a couple of years ago & lost a lot of weight. And last year, I was seriously stressed out at my job & my appetite fell substantially. All this has really messed up my hair. I'm now on medication for my skin ailment & am treating my hair VERY gently. Can totally relate to your hair journey.

    ya I know this is a really long comment, but I just had to write it :P

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Sharon. Glad I was able to share my thoughts with you. Please keep us posted on how things turn out for you.

    ReplyDelete
  6. good luck on your hair care. glad it's working already!

    Thanks for entering my giveaway!

    http://www.ohtobeamuse.com

    ReplyDelete
  7. Sharon, could you suggest me a good hair serum? I've bought a bottle of Matrix Biolage. But I'm not sure if its heat protective. Any idea?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wow, thanks for sharing these..im having the wrst problem with my hair.
    I have hair falling out so bad that its become a medical condition. Its falling out in clumps :( :(

    ReplyDelete