Achieving the hair, you dream of is easier and cheaper than you think, just change your diet and take extra care when washing it
We are on the verge of entering spring, and with the arrival of good weather, our eating habits change and we crave lighter and fresher dishes. In the warmer months we tend to prepare simpler recipes, but no less nutritious and healthy for that. Depending on the ingredients, our menus can be the most beneficial, not only for our health, but also for our image.
Today at Vozpópuli we have set out to discover which foods are the most favorable for achieving healthier and stronger hair. Do you think it is an urban legend? Well, we have confirmation from the hand of Dr. Javier Pedraz, medical director of the Insparya clinic in Madrid: "You can strengthen your hair by including some of the seasonal superfoods in your diet."
If a large part of society knows that stress or bad eating habits are detrimental to hair health, even causing hair loss, now we have a most natural solution.
There are ingredients that provide our hair with the nutrients it needs
We must banish the classic, basic and boring salads composed of lettuce, tomato and onion. There are a great multitude of ingredients in our supermarket to be able to incorporate into our routine and get, not only more appetizing dishes, but recipes that provide our hair with all the nutrients it needs. These essential components are proteins, amino acids, vitamins, minerals and collagen.
The best foods for our hair
In order to know the most beneficial diet for the health of our hair, we have contacted Doctor Carlos Portinha from Insparya, the largest group specialized in hair transplantation with more than 10 years of experience behind him. For him, these are the "superfoods" that cannot be missing from our shopping list if we want to achieve hair with more health and vitality:
1) Salmon
It is a type of fish rich in protein, vitamin D and essential fatty acids. Omega 3 helps to produce correct hair growth and the development of cell membranes, while allowing to strengthen the scalp.
2) Lentils
It is a protein of plant origin, with a high content of zinc, magnesium and biotin, which allow to achieve a balanced hair health.
3) Rice
Within the category of rice, those with the darkest possible color are more recommended, such as basmati, whole wheat or vaporized, since these varieties contain a high level of B vitamins that strengthen cell growth, making hair cells grow stronger and in greater numbers.
4) Eggs
It is a source of proteins with a high biological value. Being a product rich in biotin, it becomes a food of extreme importance for hair growth, since biotin helps it grow stronger and healthier.
5) Carrots
Its main advantage is carotene, a nutrient that supports the health of the skin and the membranes of the tissues. The higher its incidence in the body, the better the prevention of dandruff and hair loss.
6) Spinach
They are a food that provides a large amount of nutrients to our body such as vitamins A and C, zinc, magnesium or iron. The latter is especially important in the case of women.
7) oats
It is very rich in vitamin B and zinc, although its main virtue is that it contains a high content of silicon, a fundamental component of keratin, a nutrient that forms the skeleton of our hair.
8) Avocado
Avocado is an important food for healthy and resistant hair thanks to being a rich source of Vitamin E. It is also rich in essential fatty acids and, as such, acts as a stimulus for the growth of the cells of the follicular unit, making that grow more and healthier hair.
9) walnuts
Walnuts are rich in a number of nutrients that are crucial for healthy hair growth such as vitamin E, vitamin B, zinc, and fatty acids. Nuts in general are a food to consider in the usual diet.
But not everything is in the hands of food. Along with the ingredients that we have mentioned previously, Dr. Carlos Portinha recommends "a healthy lifestyle, with exercise and reduced levels of stress to achieve healthier hair".
The most common mistakes when we wash our hair
Another key to achieving beautiful, shiny, soft and silky hair is, according to the pharmacist Rocío Escalante, owner of Arbosana Farmacia, "to give the necessary care to the scalp and the maximum care to the hair." We make the big mistake of thinking that the scalp and hair are the same, treating and washing them in the same way, which may be putting our health at risk.
Next, we are going to point out the most common mistakes when washing our hair that we should start eradicating from today:
Don't use the same shampoo for your hair and scalp. The scalp must be washed and kept clean, it is the base of the hair, on which it will grow strong and beautiful, and that is why it must be treated as the most important part. If you do not have any pathology, there is no problem in using the same shampoo, but if, for example, you have an oily scalp and dry hair, then you have a problem, if you use the same one. We can have a dry, oily, sensitive or irritated scalp and we must treat them with their corresponding shampoos.
Don't rub your hair when washing it. They do it even in hair salons and this makes it frizzier as the cuticle opens. You have to massage the scalp with the specific shampoo and take advantage of the second soap to clean the hair, letting the shampoo fall, rubbing gently with your hands. When drying, do not rub it either.
Wash oily hair whenever necessary. There is a false myth that is still very popular according to which if you have oily hair you have to wash it less so that the oil is regulated. It is not true. The oil suffocates the follicle and becomes more dirty, so it is better to wash an oily scalp than not to wash it. Wash it whenever you feel dirty, if necessary daily, nothing happens, if you choose the right shampoo.
Do not over wash dry hair. Quite the opposite occurs in the case of dry scalp or dry hair. If we wash it too often, we will make its lipid layer disappear. In this type of pathology, we advise limiting the days of washing to when necessary and using soft and moisturizing products.
Use the specific products for your hair type. The best thing is that you let yourself be advised by professionals who will analyze your hair and its characteristics and inform you of the perfect products for it. These are not the same treatments that we should follow with greasy hair, with sensitive hair, or with dry hair. It also depends on whether we have dyed, fine, straightened, curly hair ...
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