How to know if your hair is healthy?
Does your hair only feel healthy when it’s freshly cut? If your answer is yes, it’s likely that your hair has always been healthy! If you’re still not convinced, here’s a few tests you can do to test your hair health!
ELASTICITY TEST
Healthy hair can stretch up to 5cm and bounce back like nothing. That’s because of the moisture in the hair, moisture allows the hair to stretch instead of break. You can check if you hair is healthy by stretching a strand of hair. If it stretches too much and does not return to its original form that probably means that your hair lacks protein. If your hair breaks immediately when pulled, it probably means that your hair does not have enough moisture.
POROSITY TEST
Healthy hair has the ability to repel water briefly while unhealthy hair tends to get wet immediately. To test if your hair is healthy or not, you can place a handful of hair into a bowl of water. Healthy hair will float, while unhealthy hair will sink. This is because the lifted cuticles of the damaged unhealthy hair will allow water to seep in, weighing down the hair.
Another tip, if your hair takes a short time to dry it's probably in good health! This is because the closed cuticles on healthy hair fends off water.
SCALP CONDITION
A healthy soil produces healthy crops. Similarly, a healthy scalp is essential for growing healthy hair. One of the most common scalp conditions is dandruff, and it does not only affect your scalp, but also the condition of your hair. When hair is grown from a dandruff-affected scalp, it is likely to have damaged cuticles and lacks protein. This gives your hair a rough appearance and you may notice that your hair breaks off easily. So if you're struggling with some scalp condition, would be unlikely that your hair would be healthy.
Want to find out what is your scalp type and condition like? Find out What is my Scalp Type
HAIR FALL
As mentioned above if you're experiencing scalp conditions (e.g. Ringworms, Scalp Pimples, Dandruff, Oily Scalp, Dry Scalp etc.), it is likely that your hair would be unhealthy A prominent symptom of unhealthy hair is if you're experiencing excessive hair loss.
However, according to the American Academy of Dermatologists, losing around 50-100 strands of hair per day is normal. So, people with long hair, do not panic yet! It may seem intimidating to see the amount of hair on your drain cover after each shower, but it might just be that the piled up long hair gives the impression that you're having excessive hair fall when it’s actually normal.
If you're experiencing hair loss, these article might be just for you! :
TREATMENTS
Hair Oil
When your hair is lacking in elasticity, it’s telling you that it needs more moisture and protein. By applying virgin coconut oil and essential oil to your scalp and hair in the morning, it gives your hair a boost of moisture and protein.
Turn down the heat
It’s no secret that heat tools strips moisture away and damages our hair cuticles, affecting our hair health. However, heat can be beneficial too, you just have to use it right.
If you use heat tools frequently, give your hair a heat break once in a while. This slows down the damage and gives your hair products time to work its magic. A way to beneficially use heat to your advantage is to blow dry your scalp while allowing your hair ends to air dry. This is a good practice to promote healthy hair as this prevents excess moisture from promoting bacteria growth on your scalp and at the same time not damage your hair with heat. Looking for the right blow drying tool for you? Find out more: Which Hair Dryer is the Best?
Scalp Treatments
If this article made you discover that your hair health is not ideal, there are some scalp treatments that I'd like to recommend to you, to aid you in your hair health journey from now onwards. Chanamu Scalp Tonic & Chanamu Scalp Multivitamin are scalp care treatments used by many professionals and salons here in Singapore. They contain natural ingredients that can help eliminate germs and bacteria from your scalp, while providing added vitamins to help rebuild and strengthen the hair follicles.
Want to know more about how you can maintain healthy hair?
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Sources: (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), (6), (7), (8), (9), (10)