Hair Care for Men: How to Look Your Best
Hare care professionals come up with lots of tips and strategies for maintaining healthy hair. People suggest various hair creams, straighteners, and conditioners for styling hair and looking beautiful. But, how many of these tactics are targeted to men?
Unfortunately, very few.
That’s why I decided to write this article. My hope is to provide you valuable insight as a man on proper hair care from the perspective of an expert. Not only am I a professional hairs stylist, I also run the website Flat Iron Pro.
What follows are six simple hair care tips for men, specifically designed for the guy on the move. Are you ready? Let’s jump right in!
1. Purchase and Use the Right Shampoos
Before purchasing shampoos, you need to consider various things. You need to know your hair texture. Run your fingers through your hair. Is it oily or dry? If you have oily hair, you should select shampoos that produce sebum, like Davines Rebalancing Shampoo.
If you have dry hair, you should select shampoos that contain sunflower or argan oil, like Number 4 Hydrating shampoo. Lastly, if you have flat hair, a daily protein shampoo that contains vitamins, keratin, and amino acids is the perfect option for you.
After selecting your shampoo, use them several times a month and track your progress over time. In order to prevent your 3-inches long hair from damage and impairment, you need to use shampoos in the summer and winter. Through amino acids present in shampoos, men can impart growth of their hair and look wonderful.
2. Avoid Harsh Chemicals
Are you aware of the side-effects that are caused by chemicals used in the hair treatment processes? From inorganic chemicals like formaldehyde, borax, P-phenylenediamine, etc. you can acquire various allergies, asthma, and even cancers (1).
So, if you have a habit for undergoing cutting-edge chemical hair treatments for 5 or more times in a year, you need to stop it now. Instead, you should use natural hair ingredients like Jamaican Castor Oil and Aloe Vera for styling your hair. Well, you can also use moisturizing hair gel for avoiding dryness and maintaining shine. In addition to hair treatments, you also need to care about chlorinated water.
People spend huge time in this water for avoiding intense heat and temperature. But, you need to know that too much time in that water only cause problems. Natural ingredients are the best things that you should use for maintaining your better hair.
3. Consume Right Foods
One of the best ways to keep hair healthy is to eat a healthy diet. For improving the appearance and texture of hair, you need to consume foods that contain good proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins and other minerals.
Cysteine, arginine, and methionine are the three amino acids that are required for promoting hair growth (2). You can acquire these nutrients by consuming meats, fish, eggs, dairy products, grains, seeds, and nuts. Carbs are necessary for improving the growth of tissues present in hair. You can avail these nutrients by consuming vegetables, fruits and other whole grain foods like brown rice.
Related: Hair loss prevention tips for receding hairlines
Polyunsaturated fats or healthy fats also help keep hair healthy and shiny. You can get omega-3 fats ( linolenic acid)and omega-6 fats (linoleic acid) by eating salmon, tuna, walnuts, etc. Make a habit of consuming these foods in your daily meals during the summer season.
4. Get Proper Exercise
Along with nutrition, training is also important for keeping hair heathy. Exercises increase the blood flow and deliver all the essential nutrients to the scalp. Tell me the reason why you face hair loss? Well, it is because of stress or pressure. So, by avoiding stress, we can prevent hair loss. Contraction and expansion involved in physical activities lead to the release of happy hormones like serotonin, endorphins, etc. (3).
Also, the sweat releases from exercises remove the hair follicles and allows new hair to grow on that surface. Moreover, huge energy and oxygen evolved from exercises, provides nourishment to the hair roots and promotes hair growth.
So, you need to perform exercises at regular intervals. According to your preference, you can choose low impact cardio workout such as walking, running, swimming or perform yoga like Vajrasana, Ushtrasana.
However, running and swimming are the two best exercises if you are in warm weather climates.
5. Use Oil, but not Hair Dryers
There are two particular reasons why men face hair loss problems – 1. Decrease in the secretion of growth hormones like androgens and testosterone 2. Use of hair dryers on the regular basis. You need to know that when you dry your hair by using blow dryers, the skin pores present in the scalp open up and allows dirt.
As a result, hair falls and hair loss problems occur. If you use hair dryers regularly, you will surely make your hair dull and boring. Some people also use alcohol and other chemicals before hair dryers. This process only leads to negative results. So, you need to avoid the use of blow dryers at regular intervals. Instead, you should use oils for hydrating your hair.
You should use Dove Nourished Shine Hair Oil for conditioning your hair. You should oil your hair for at least 3 times in a week. And for increasing secreting of hormones, men should avoid high sugar and consume foods that contain zinc and fats. (4)
6. Use Good Hair Straighteners and Consume Plenty of Fluids
In the summer season, men commonly lose density of their hair and face dry, flaky scalp. High and intense heat from the sun can burn the scalp and even cause baldness. Along with bad hair straighteners, dehydration also lead to hair fall problems.
Therefore, men need to use better hair straighteners for avoiding moisture and dryness. The Aphrodite Professional Flat Iron is an ideal hair straightener for men's short hair. And for avoiding dehydration, men should drink plenty of water throughout the day.
Related: How to like an attractive older man
According to professionals, men should drink 12 to 15 glasses in a day. If you want to keep your hair healthy, you need to drink water at all times during the summer season. (5)
Conclusion
Like women, men can also keep their hair healthy, regardless of season. You should wash your hair with shampoos that contain oils, vitamins, and amino acids. You should avoid undergoing hair treatments that contain chemicals like keratin and formaldehyde.
By knowing your hair type, selecting the right products and engaging in regular exercise, you will be doing a lot to keep your hair healthy for the here and now – and for the long term.
Author Bio:
Miranda Hicks is a professional hairstylist based in New York. She has been in the fashion industry for the past 10 years and has been graced to work with the some of the top ranking professionals in the field.
References:
1 http://healthscamsexposed.com/2013/05/5-deadly-reasons-to-stop-dying-your-hair/
2 http://www.paulangelo.com/top-nutritional-tips-to-support-healthy-hair-growth-for-gay-men-over-40/
3 http://www.hairbuddha.net/does-exercising-make-your-hair-grow-faster-we-ask-the-expert/
4 http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2012/07/27/increase-testosterone-levels.aspx
5 http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/health-fitness/diet/How-much-water-should-you-drink-every-day/articleshow/20408856.cms
