Best Way to Treat Problem Hair

If your hair is sending out an S.O.S. – if it’s greasy, oily, or it is looking rather thin and lackluster – discover these ultimate botanical hairsavers to help put back some natural bounce.

Oily hair

Does your hair tend to be greasy? Do you need to wash it every day? Does it rarely feel clean for more than a few hours? If so, you have oily hair.

• Give your scalp a treatment every 10 days with 4 teaspoons of jojoba oil (which helps control overactive sebaceous glands) to which you’ve added 20 drops of juniper oil, sage oil, or tea tree oil (or any combination of the three). Apply the oil to dry, unwashed hair, starting at the ends and moving up, always working the oil into the hair in a downward motion, to make the hair cuticle lie flat. Comb it through. To spread the oils, blow-dry your hair for approximately five minutes. For optimum results, leave the treatment on the hair for between 20 minutes and overnight. To cleanse, apply a dollop of shampoo to your palms and massage into the scalp, slowly adding water to lather up. Rinse with lukewarm water, repeat, and apply conditioner; rinse again.
• Scalp massage encourages sebaceous glands to normalize and helps prevent clogging of hair follicles.
• Wash hair daily, but use a very gentle shampoo: harsh shampoos send the sebaceous glands into overdrive. Look for shampoos with plant-based astringents such as peppermint, sage, tea tree, juniper, and lemon. Dilute one teaspoon of shampoo in one teaspoon of water to make it more gentle.
• Condition the ends of the hair only; this keeps hair healthy but stops product buildup.
• Keep your hands out of your hair. Sweaty palms make it more greasy.
• Honeydew melon works wonders on oily hair. Mash or blend a quarter of a melon, then run the juice through your hair. Leave on for 10 minutes, then shampoo and rinse out.
• Eat plenty of vitamin B2 (in eggs, brewer’s yeast, whole grains, liver, and spinach), and avoid fatty, greasy foods. In particular, avoid hydrogenated fat, because it interferes with the body’s own innate ability to regulate the activity of fats and oils in the body.

Dandruff

Do you suffer from dandruff? Does your scalp itch and flake? Once this was called dandruff. Nowadays, hairdressers prefer to call it dry scalp, which in most cases is really the cause. Dry scalp may occur more in winter, when air indoors is dry. (Sebhorraic dermatitis and psoriasis can also cause dandruff; if the following treatments don’t work, consult your natural health practitioner or doctor.)

• Blend two tablespoons each of mineral water, olive oil, and lemon juice, then massage into the scalp. Leave for 15 minutes, shampoo, and rinse. Olive oil helps remoisturize the scalp and prevents buildup of dead skin cells; lemon juice is antibacterial and helps the skin exfoliate.

• Simple changes such as eating more oily fish and sprinkling olive oil on your salads (or using it on bread in place of butter) will greatly improve the condition of your scalp.
• Massage a cup of fresh or bottled apple juice into the hair, from roots to tips, after each shampoo. Rinse with 2 tablespoons of apple juice diluted in a quart of water.