Best Way to Treat Dry and Colored Hair with Fresh Ingredients

Dry and chemically treated hair needs extra-special attention to look its best. The following tips show you how to use fresh ingredients to keep your crowning glory in perfect condition.

Do you dye your hair? Do you blow-dry it every day? Is it brittle and parched, maybe even breaking easily while you’re combing or brushing?

If you answered yes to any of the above, the chances are you’ve got dry hair. The cause may be due to blocked hair follicles that prevent the hair’s natural oils from performing their moisturizing task; alternatively, the problem may stem from hair being overexposed to the sun or chemicals.

Dry hair

The good news is that although, strictly speaking, hair is dead, it is also porous. Think of hair as being like a sponge: apply rich conditioning ingredients, and hair becomes pliant and soft to the touch.

• Wash your hair two to three times a week, and use a mild shampoo.
• Avoid perms and straighteners, all of which are highly chemical hair treatments and savage to hair.
• Eat hair-friendly foods and supplement your diet with one to three teaspoons of flaxseed oil (it can be bought at natural food stores), a good oil that helps nourish from within.
• Vitamin E, in doses of 200 1U to 400 IU per day, can also help with dry hair, but you should always check first with a natural health nutritionist or physician before self-prescribing.
• Stay away from hairdryers, hot rollers, and curling irons, aiming instead for a low-maintenance hairstyle that doesn’t require you to use them.
• Get your hair trimmed regularly. Usually, it is the ends rather than the roots that are dry; having half an inch regularly trimmed keeps the ends from getting damaged further.
• Avoid styling products that contain alcohol ingredients such as isopropyl or ethyl alcohol, both of which dry hair out even more.
• Be good to your hair by giving it regular hot oil treatments.

Banana hair mask

• 1 ripe banana
• 1 tbs olive oil

Mash the ingredients together and smooth onto the hair – from the roots all the way to the ends – with your hands. This procedure may be messy, but it’s well worth it. Massage the mask into your hair and scalp, then wrap your hair in plastic wrap or a hot towel for 15 minutes. Rinse, shampoo, and condition as normal.

Hair mulch

• 1 egg white
• 2 tbs extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tbs natural yogurt
• 1 tsp red wine vinegar

Beat the egg white and place in a bowl with all the other ingredients. Apply to wet hair, massage in well, and leave for 10 minutes. Because the mixture is very runny, use it while you are having a bath.

To remove, shampoo your hair twice, or until the mulch has all washed away. Condition the hair as usual.