Hair Care Tips for Aging Women
When it comes to anti-aging routines, you automatically think of skin care. Anti-aging hair care regimen is equally crucial because hair also changes with age. As you age, hormones and other body mechanisms get slower. Changes in hair texture, color, growth rate, and density may occur. This makes it necessary to have a comprehensive routine to care for your aging hair strands.
What Causes Hair Thinning?
It is no secret that hair growth slows after the age of 40. Many women start seeking hairstylist advice for hair that is thinning, dry, or has lost its youthful swing and luster. However, most people do not realize that thinning hair is caused by slower-than-normal cell renewal and regeneration compared to when we were youth.
Menopause is also a common cause of hair loss in older women. Women experience hair thinning, dullness, graying, and more hair loss as they age, beginning with perimenopause in their 40s. Studies have shown that hair loss in older women is most likely caused by low estrogen and progesterone, which leads to hair follicles thinning and hair falling out.
While most people get worried about thinner hairs, you can still keep your hair healthy using a few aging hair tips and tricks. To get you started, here are some of the measures you can take:
1. Improve Your Diet
Although you cannot control healthy locks with genetics or age, you certainly can through eating a balanced diet. Hair continuously grows and gets replaced. What is important is that the follicles create new hair from nutrients in the body.
The kind of food that you eat can have a significant impact on the quantity and quality of your hair. In addition, maintaining a varied and nutritious diet improves the health of your nails and skin.
After all, a healthy scalp gives you healthy hair. Some of the nutrients necessary for healthy hair growth include:
Protein: Keratin, a hardened protein, is responsible for the structure of your hair. When your protein levels are low, the production of this essential building block (keratin) slows, causing hair to grow slower and weaker. You can include high-protein foods such as chicken and turkey, as well as fish such as tuna, halibut, and tilapia to improve protein levels in your body.
Biotin: When biotin reacts with cell enzymes, it promotes the production of amino acids, which are the building blocks of the previously mentioned proteins (keratin). Missing such a crucial nutrient in your body will lead to weak hair. Adding eggs, carrots, almonds, walnuts, and cauliflower to your diet can improve your biotin levels.
Iron: The iron in your red blood cells provides nourishing oxygen to your hair follicles. While the amount of iron in your blood may be normal, there is still a chance that you have low ferritin (the "bank" of iron that your body draws from when needed). You may increase your ferritin levels by eating iron-rich foods such as lean beef, oysters, clams, eggs, soybeans, tuna, tofu, spinach, and garbanzo beans.
Zinc: Zinc helps to strengthen your follicles and prevent hair loss by binding its proteins. It also helps in the proper functioning of the oil glands, which helps protect your locks from drying and getting dandruff. Oysters, crab, lobster, clams, and mussels are some of the best sources of zinc.
Other nutrients: The nutrients listed above are not the only ones that can help improve the health of your hair. Most vitamins, including A, B, C, D, and E, are essential for hair health. Vitamin A, for example, is well-known for assisting skin glands in the production of sebum, an oily fluid that hydrates the scalp and keeps hair naturally moisturized. (See List of Foods You Should Be Eating For Healthier Hair "Feed Your Hair" and Try Our Healthy Hair Multivitamin)
2. Wash Your Hair Less Often
Washing your hair strips away the natural oils that hydrate it. Washing it less frequently can help reduce dryness and breakages. Between washes, use the shampoo indicated for your hair type to keep your hair fresh and clean. At least once in two weeks is okay. (See Our Refreshing & Moisturizing Shampoo, it stops your hair from being so thirsty dry and softens it too!)
3. The Right Hair Cut
It is not a bad idea to trim your hair as it thins. But it is a false narrative that you must cut your hair short once you get to a certain age. On the contrary, most people only experience thinning hair ends. Therefore, trimming just the ends is usually sufficient. In fact, you can have beautiful long hair by cutting it in layers that move together to create the illusion of fullness. Too many layers emphasize thinning texture, whereas matched layers hold shape and appear full.
4. Be Gentle with Your Hair
Your aging hair, just like your aging skin, needs extra attention and care. It also needs a gentle hairstyling routine (Use This Tangle Abolishing Comb because it helps detangle kinky, coily, afro hair without excessive hair shedding). Rather than tying your hair tightly, try relaxed styles that do not put too much tension on your hair. To avoid friction while sleeping, wrap your head in a silk scarf or use silk pillowcases. (The Wide-Band Satin Bonnet)
5. Avoid Heat Styling
Excessive use of high-heat tools such as hair dryers and flat irons can damage your hair. To prevent heat damage, avoid using heat styling tools. If you must use them, use the minimum heat setting and use a heat protectant.
6. Use the Right Products
As you get older, it is best to use products designed for the needs of aging hair. The most essential step in any hair care routine is cleansing. Avoid sulfate-containing hair products. Sulfates are cleansing agents commonly used to remove the natural oils needed by the hair to stay soft and shiny. They can also remove the color from hair. Instead, cleanse your hair with sulfate-free shampoo and follow with a lightweight conditioner that will seal moisture in without necessarily adding heaviness. To avoid snagging and breakage, use a wide-toothed comb with the hair. ( The Revive & Retain “Ultimate” Haircare System provides the moisturizing hair care products that you need throughout the week for healthy hair care maintenance! )
Takeaway Points
Experts and hairstylists agree that a healthy diet is one of the most crucial steps in combating thinning hair in older women. As you get older, your hair will be as healthy as the kind of food that you eat. Try as much as possible to eat a well-balanced diet rich in lean proteins, vitamins, and minerals. Make sure you have a regular haircare routine, avoid products with harsh and drying ingredients, and trim your ends only when necessary. The more you take care of your hair, the better it will look and feel. (Healthy Hair Multivitamin)
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