Going Through the Changes

Change is one of those words that can go from a meaning to a story, to a topic, then to a song. There are so many adages about change. For example, "Change is the only constant," or "To improve is to change; to perfect is to change often." So as you can see, change is on our minds. 

Change is the norm that humans have to come accept in the many facets of life. And while many fight change, most conclude that change truly is the inevitable and ultimately, they surrender. Except when it comes to hair!

The opportunity to create varying looks on women through hair coloring, hair straightening, hair cutting, hair styling, hair braiding and adding artificial hair to embellish hair is an awesome gift and opportunity. Transforming and enhancing the image of a person does so much to the spirit of the person who is fortunate enough to take on the artistic task. However, when hair starts to change, our canvas or person does not quite share our sentiment. Artistic expression is quickly turned into, "What did you to my hair?"

Hair like art needs to be manipulated in many ways to create something. The challenge to designing hair when it thins or balds is everything interesting with an additional twist to the challenge. The twist to the challenge is creating something that was full and is now thin or gone.

Admittingly, there is nothing so challenging about styling and designing thinning or balding hair that a qualified licensed hair stylist cannot do. However, the mind of the customer whose hair is thinning or balding is another story. 

Thinning and balding hair begins to inform it's recipient of its parting of the ways from the scalp long before the recipient realizes or admits their hair is thinning or balding. To begin with, thinning or balding is a must for just about every human who lives past one breath. Why? Because change will come. 

Change for hair comes in the form of what is called a "life cycle." Each strand of hair has a life cycle. The life cycle of the hair begins below the surface of the scalp in a bulb called a papilla. If you have ever plucked a hair or eyebrow, the bulb is that tiny white ball attached to the strand of hair.  Within that tiny bulb is where the hair receives its nourishment from the arteries in your body that feeds every single strand of hair on your entire body. 

Each strand of hair on the scalp lives approximately 7 years. The life cycle has three stages. The first stage is the anagen. It is during this first stage that hair grows all day every day. By the end of the month, the average head of hair will have grown about 1/4th of an inch. This growth process happens for about 7 years. The next stage is the catagen phase. This phase is where each strand of hair rest for about one month. It is not growing. The last stage is the telogen phase. During this last phase, it takes about two weeks for the hair to release itself from the follicle. Afterward, a new hair grows in it starts its own cycle. Please keep in mind that all the strands of hair are not synchronized. Therefore, you will not see all of your hair fibers coming out and growing back in at the same time. The misnomer that hair has stopped growing simply is not true. The exception is for those who have disorder where the hair will not grow.

When we notice fibers of hair sticking up after our hair is styled, that reflects the varying stages of growth each strand is in. We can determine how old a strand of hair by measuring its length and dividing into those 1/4 growth increments. 

What happens every seven years as each strand of hair grows, come out and a new hair grows in; is the new hair typically grows in thinner. Some people are genetically assigned to bald. If balding is in your genes, then it is inevitable that at some point complete hair loss in a certain area will happen. Balding can be in men and women. 

While thinning and balding for some is the inevitable, one does not want to speed things up. Infrequent shampooing, using heavy creams, lotions, butters, salves and petroleum products can clog follicles. Clogged follicles prevent hair from growing in properly and thinning is the result. If balding is in the gene, using heavy products will speed up the balding process as well. 

Understand the scalp is a microbial habitat. This means the scalp cleanses itself by producing a fungus of sorts that needs to be washed away in an organized fashion depending on how one's body produces the fungus. Most people need to clean their scalps at least every 2-7 days. Anything beyond those seven days may exacerbate unwanted thinning and balding. 

Change, will come to all who have hair. While the fountain of youth offers no such liquid that will yield longer stronger hair as we age; using other liquids such as shampoo, conditioner, technique, and tools will yield magnificent anti-aging results. 

There is a upside and a downside to thinning hair. Balding hair is not something most people look forward to. The predictability of how and when one will thin or go bald has yet to be etched in stone for the masses. But, what is etched in stone is how to slow down the thinning or balding process. For example, keep your scalp clean. Yeast and hair care products can clog the follicle. A dirty scalp is the most common way to speed up the thinning and balding process. Do not use aggressive styling techniques. Loosen up those tight head wraps and caps as to no impede the vital blood flow that nourishes hair. And do not use harsh and heavy products. They will surely dry out scalp and hair, thus resulting in faster thinning and balding. 

Lastly, the upcoming Spring Equinox is upon us on Monday, March 20th. Remember the moon influences blood flow and hormonal activity. Blood flow and hormonal activity are directly responsible for the health of the hair and hair growth. Take advantage of the most powerful equinox. It will to not only balance your life and set the tone for your new year, it will also do the same for your hair. 

Change is inevitable. Yet there are things in nature that compliment the ebb and flow of change. Versus combating change, embrace the potential for goodness in your health and life. Going through the changes is just that. Something you will go through. You will come out on top. If you pay attention and not fight change, you and hair will embrace the process and blossom into what will be, will be.

Herbal Shampoos

Here we go again. Shampoos. Shampoo is one of those words in the hair care industry that I wish they would change. 

Have you ever heard the expression, "Hair is to be shampooed not washed?" In my opinion, people who use that statement or support that school of thought have no clue of how discern shampooing from washing. For the amount of heavy products, infrequent practice of shampooing and what the scalp naturally emits, washing is truly a better verb to use to teach people how to clean their scalp and hair. But, since shampoo is the proper term, let us investigate it!

Sometime during 5000 BC, the Egyptians were using all sorts of herbs, oils and tinctures to apply to hair and scalp for cleansing and beautification. That wasn't working to well due to some little tiny life forces called micro organisms. Mircro organisms resulted in scalp issues, hair bugs of lice and mice that promoted the invention and wearing of wigs. Soon, the invasion of Egypt changed things.During the same time, the Babylonians had their own methods of beautification. The Chinese method of champing was common. Champing is a massage technique using fingers, thumbs and knuckles to massage the entire body. 

During that time an Indian military soldier named Dean Mohamet observed this technique of champing during his military travels working for the elite. After the war, Dean Mohamet became unemployed. He decided to use the art of Champing, now termed Champu to provide body cleansing and massage services for Hindi sultans and nabobs. Tired of the champu technique being exclusively provided to the wealthy, he ventured away from servicing the wealthy and added soap to his champing technique to service everyday people. After being practiced in England for such long time, in 1860 champu spelling was changed to shampoo. Then it was officially recorded and entered into the dictionary as "the soap used for cleansing hair."

Later in 1908 Hans Schwarkzkopf (yes, the maker of the professional hair color) developed a powder to clean hair because he disliked soap and the film it left behind on hair. To promote his new found invention, he took an article out in the New York Times titled, "How to Shampoo Your Hair." It was an instant success. 

Not be outdone by a German, an American doctor, Dr. John Breck (yep, of the Breck girls commercials) invented the first pH shampoo, thus making the experience of shampooing hair more gentle to the touch and less tangles in the hair. 

So, now we are in the new millennium and shampoo is just now making a turn around the corner to be in the spot of hair care where it should be....from the hands, to the hair and back to the hands again!

The shampoos of today gets its the force to make the curve from its ingredients. The force of the ingredients are herbs. What are herbs? Botanists describe an herb as a small, seed bearing plant with fleshy, rather than woody, parts (from which we get the term "herbaceous").   In addition to herbaceous perennials, herbs include trees, shrubs, annuals, vines, and more primitive plants, such as ferns, mosses, algae, lichens, and fungi. So now we see herbs are the good stuff. 

What makes herbs good? Nutrient bioavailability is what makes the herb worth its weight on a shelf in your salon or shower caddy in your bathroom. So what exactly is bioavailability?Bioavailability in hair care is very similar to the process of it when consuming food. The difference is when the product comes into contact with the scalp and where the those vital nutrients from the herbs and essential oils go. For example, when you apply the shampoo to your hands the ingredients are absorbed into your skin. Next you apply it to the customers scalp and the nutrients contained in the shampoo are released from the matrix of the herbs or and essential oil, absorbed into the bloodstream and transported to their respective target tissues. In this case the target tissue would be the, papilla. Bam!

Come on now Aveda, Aryuvedic is a BELIEF in the balance
of mind, body and spirit. Not long volumizing hair. 

However, not all nutrients can be utilized to the same extent. In other words, they differ in their bioavailability. So, the first step in making a nutrient bioavailable is to liberate it from the herb (which is a food too) matrix and turn it into a chemical form that can bind to and enter the follicles (that are on your scalp where the hairs on your head grows from) cells or pass between them and work their magic. 

The question is; does your shampoo do that? Probably not. 

Do not be duped by products claiming to be organic, natural, for natural hair, for women of color, for Black women and for ethnic hair. Those terms mean nothing in the world of bioavailabiity. Bioavailability is how your hair, scalp and other organs receive or not receive what is intended to improve or maintain the health of your hair. 

Not even owned by an African,
let alone has herbs in it. 

Herbal shampoos that tout SLS-Free, Sulfate Free, Petroleum Free, Mineral Oil Free, Vegan, Gluten Free, No Animal Testing, Paraben Free are simply buzz and trending works marketing companies use to promote their client's shampoo.

Instead, look for buzz words in the ingredients or pamphlets that include words like nutraceuticals, enyzmatic activity, bioavailability, absorption, USP (United States Pharmacopeia),follicle care to name a few to spike your interest to grab the bottle, click the mouse or press your finger. 

Herbal shampoos that actually include herbs, essential oils, fruits, vegetables, vitamins and proteins will suffice when coupled with some of the buzz word used above. 

While the word "organic" gets people all warm and fuzzy inside; buyer beware. The results are more often anti-climactic for the masses. Understand that the term "organic" is a term for agriculture not hair care. Organic is all how about how. To know the efficacy of what is organic in you shampoo, look for seals from such caring agencies who test the efficacy of what is supposed to be organic. Agencies such as Ecocert and ICEA (International per la Certificazione Etic de Ambientale) have websites that provide links to hair care companies who they have certified. 

Make your next purchase via ICEA.

The Reverence Design Team Hair Salon located in Cleveland Heights, Ohio prides itself as one of the many salons worldwide who uses USDA Organic, Ecocert and ICEA certified shampoos, conditioners, proteins on their clients' hair as well as a salon who retails soaps, lotions, body butters, deodorants and toothpaste. 

How's that for herbal shampoos.