7 Best Hair Habits for Healthy Hair

Are you ready to have the most luscious, healthiest hair of your life? Of course, you are! Who doesn’t want fuller-looking, well-looked-after hair?

The good news is that improving your hair doesn’t have to be a huge challenge, as simply adding a few extra habits to your usual routine can be enough to make a difference. That’s what this article is all about. With these seven healthy hair habits, you can watch your strands transform from dull and lifeless to shiny and full of life.

1: Eat a Nutritious Diet

Healthy hair starts at the dinner table. A healthy, well-balanced diet full of all the essential nutrients will keep your hair strong, whereas missing some of those key vitamins or minerals may result in dry, brittle hair and can even impact hair growth. [1] The best food habits for healthy hair include eating plenty of nutritious foods that contain plenty of protein, enough calories, and all the nutrients to keep your body running effectively.

Some vitamins and minerals you may want to focus on more than others; these are the key ones you absolutely need for healthy strands:

• Zinc
• Iron
• Vitamin D
• Biotin
• Vitamin A
• Vitamin C
• Folic Acid
• Protein
• Omega-3

As part of your healthy hair habits, it’s worth incorporating foods rich in these nutrients into your diet. For example, salmon has plenty of omega-3, which helps give your hair that undeniable shine you’re looking for. Another good example is poultry, which is full of protein that your hair needs to keep up with the hair growth cycle.

2: Use More Oils

The chances are you already have some kind of hair care routine in place, even if that just means using a shampoo and conditioner while in the shower. If you want to up your hair care game, though, it’s always a good idea to throw a hair oil into the mix. The good news is there are tons of great hair oils out there to add shine to your strands, including argan, jojoba, olive, and coconut oil!

Trying to regrow your hair? One oil that might help you thicken those strands is rosemary oil. In fact, one study from 2022 shows that rosemary oil may be just as effective as minoxidil (a hair loss medication) at regrowing the hair! [1] If you’re combatting hair loss, adding this oil to your haircare routine could be the route to enjoying a full head of thick, luscious, and shiny hair, and you can use a hair track app to keep up with progress.

Do keep in mind that some oils work better for some than others. If you have very fine hair, for example, you might find some of the oils too thick and heavy to the point they weigh down your hair. In this case, a lighter oil like aloe oil may be the better option here. It will still provide the hydration and moisture you need without it making your strands feel too greasy.

3: Use Heat Protection – Always

Do you use heat on your hair? If so, you need to be using a heat protectant every single time. Yes, even when you’re quickly blow-drying your hair before dashing out of the door!

Heat is terrible for the hair, causing tons of hair damage over time. To protect your hair from the heat, a good heat protectant will create a protective layer over your strands, ensuring the heat cannot penetrate through. As a result, you can enjoy all the benefits of heat-styling products without worrying about ending up with dry, damaged strands.

There are plenty of excellent heat protectant products out there, some of which are very affordable, so don’t use your curling iron or straighteners without one!

4: Get Your Hair Trimmed Regularly

You’ve probably heard this one before, but it’s so important it’s worth stating it here. Even if you want to grow your hair long, it’s important to trim it regularly to temper all the dry, split ends. Head to the hairdressers every six to twelve weeks for optimal results.

There is a myth that trimming the hair will make it grow faster, which is simply not true. Trimming isn’t beneficial because of its hair-growing abilities; instead, it’s crucial for growing healthy hair. Most people would rather have healthy strands a few inches shorter when compared to long damaged hair!

 

5: Wear a Protective Style While Sleeping

Like most people, you’ve likely woken up to find your strands sticking all over the place. Messy hair is a usual occurrence when you wake up, and it’s because your body moves around sometimes while you sleep. This may seem easy to fix with a hairbrush, but all that movement can actually have negative consequences in the long run, with the tangling and friction leading to breakage.

There is an easy way to combat this, and that’s by wearing a protective style while you sleep. A simple plait works well for most people, as it keeps hair in a consistent style throughout the night. A high bun or two braids can also work well.

If you want to go the extra mile, a satin scarf around your hair will help protect those strands all night, especially if you naturally have curly or frizzy hair. Some people also enjoy using a silk pillow as they do less damage to the strands than cotton.

6: Focus on Scalp Care

It’s easy to focus more on your locks of hair when trying to improve your hair care routine. However, it’s actually more important to focus on the scalp, as the health of your scalp will determine the quality of your hair! If your scalp is dry and itchy, there’s a higher chance your strands will end up dry with split ends.

You’ll find plenty of scalp treatments available. Using a hair oil on your scalp can work really well (as mentioned before, even as a hair loss treatment), as can a cleansing shampoo. Remember – when shampooing, it’s more important to focus on cleaning the scalp to get rid of dead skin cells build-up. The shampoo will run down and clean the rest of your strands as you wash it out.

7: Up Your Brushing Game

If you have never thought about the way you brush your hair before, now is the time to start, as brushing your hair correctly is one of the best healthy hair habits you can incorporate into your life. Begin with the hairbrush itself. Don’t worry – you don’t have to spend a fortune to enjoy a good quality brush. The important thing here is to find one that works best for your hair type. For example, a nylon hairbrush works well for thicker hair, whereas a boar bristle brush can be great for finer hair.

Next, use the brush correctly. Bad hair habits often involve running the brush through the hair without a second thought, frequently taking a bunch of strands with it. Avoid that. Instead, start brushing your hair at the bottom of your strands, slowly working your way up. It’s a technique best for avoiding any form of breakage. It’s also best to only brush your hair when it’s fry, as wet hair is far more fragile.

What if You’re Losing Your Hair?

Sometimes, healthy hair habits aren’t enough. No matter how much you improve your diet or how many times you oil your scalp, you may still notice strands falling in the shower or bald patches on the head. It’s never an easy thing to see. So, what can you do about it?

Thankfully, there are some other ways to boost hair growth. Some popular methods include using hair loss medications such as minoxidil and finasteride – minoxidil is a topical treatment used by women and women, while finasteride is a male-only oral treatment that blocks the production of DHT. One of these may help you regrow your strands.

If your hair loss doesn’t improve with treatments like these, a hair transplant might be the best option. It might seem like a big next step, but hair transplants can come incredibly far over the years; nowadays, recovery time is minimal, and results are very natural. They work particularly well for men or women experiencing androgenetic alopecia.

The Takeaway

Adding any of the seven healthy hair habits into your routine will have a noticeable difference on your strands. An oil can add strength and shine, a good diet can prevent hair loss and brittleness, and knowing how to properly brush your hair will reduce the amount of breakage while keeping your hair soft and tangle-free.

If your hair problems go beyond that, though, our healthy hair tips might not be the only solution. While these hair tips for healthy hair are still worth using, you may also need to invest in a real hair restoration treatment like a hair transplant. At Harley Street Hair Clinic, we understand the complexities of hair loss and can provide a hair treatment plan that truly makes a difference. If you want to see how much we can help, look at our patients gallery, where you’ll see the improvement our procedures make in people’s lives.

Sources:

1. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468227622001302
2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5315033/#:~:text=While%20hair%20follicles%20are%20among,hair%20structure%20and%20hair%20growth.