Good hair is hair that is elastic, shiny in appearance, soft, strong with unbroken bonds, so there is no brittleness or flaking, undamaged by heat, chemicals or weather, and with cuticles that lay flat and smooth.
To check your hair health, you can take a few clean strands of hair and drop them in a glass of water. Healthy hair will float or sink very slowly, as it absorbs the water. This means your hair has low porosity. Damaged hair is porous and allows water to sink in and weigh it down. In other words, if the hair drowns it is damaged. So, if your hair floats, it means porosity is low, and it is healthy. If your hair immediately sinks it indicates high porosity or that your hair is damaged.
How do you maintain healthy hair? Well, outside of eating well, you should keep your scalp clean, wash at least once per week to remove build up and dirt which can damage the scalp, definitely use a conditioner to give nutrients which can maintain hair elasticity, softness, and unbroken bonds, and minimise the use of heat. Hair masks are also good ways of cleansing, exfoliating, or giving nutrients to the scalp.
Hair are a five ingredients that can help to maintain healthy hair:
1. Shampoos with antioxidant ingredients that stimulate hair growth such as tea tree, green tea, tomato lycopene, rosemary, biotin, or peppermint.
2. Conditioners on their own boost moisture, reduces static electricity, and flattens your cuticles. This ensures your hair is smooth, elastic, and does not become dry and brittle leading to hair flaking and split ends.
3. Allantoin is excellent for scalp care because it reduces inflammation and eliminates irritation. It is effective in clearing up scaly scalp, something that is a common cause of dandruff, eczema, and psoriasis. Improving scalp health automatically improves hair health.
4. Hair Masks can be made with herbs, clays, oils, conditioning agents, carrier oils, and essential oils. Depending on the ingredients in the masks it can be used for clarifying the hair and exfoliating scalp or for giving antioxidant boost and moisture to the hair. Hair masks help to thicken the hair, reduce breakage, and promote hair growth. Look for fenugreek, rosemary, nettle leaf, amla, goji berry, green tea, red clay and bentonite clay in hair maks.
5. Glycerites. Vegetable glycerin is one of the best ingredients for to keep hair hydrated as it attracts water to the hair. When glycerin and water are infused with herbs, vegetables, or fruits, cosmetic ingredient makers are actually infusing the good nutrients like vitamins and minerals and also antioxidants into the glycerin and water. This is called a glycerite or extract. And they are great ingredients that are added to shampoos, conditioners, or other hair care products. Glycerites are hydration aids and are beneficial for hair, scalp, and skin (and even internal organs like the lungs).