After using coconut oil.
Funny, just a couple of days ago I wrote about men’s aging issues, and baldness was one of the topics of discussion. This morning I read an interesting article about the loss of hair in both men and women in an article from the Haaretz newspaper, in Israel. It seems that hair loss is one of those nagging issues that scientist are eager to solve for once and for all.A few years ago, I watched on the news the discovery of a new gene that scientists now believe to be associated with hereditary baldness. The gene is 21Sox, but the treatment for this has yet to be developed. Hair loss is something that is very difficult or impossible to combat, especially if it’s due to a hormonal problem. However, the Haaretz article reveals that a new study conducted by Dr. Alexander Kiderman, from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem suggest that too much brushing can indeed accelerate the loss of hair!
This comes as a complete contrast to dermatologists who believe that some sort of massaging of the scalp actually enhances the blood flow and thus reduces hair loss. Dr. Kideraman based some of his new research on the behavior of mentally ill patients who tore their hair out, resulting in bald patches on their scalp. That type of behavior is pretty rare to come by, so the doctor decided to compare the action of tearing out hair, to combing it. After all, when you comb your hair you are inadvertently stretching it. He then embarked on what he calls an unsophisticated experiment; it was simple, they took a group of women and instructed them to comb their hair a certain amount of times per day, for a one month period of time. After each session the hairs on the brush were meticulously counted, and the results were then published in the Journal of Dermatological Treatment. The finds suggested that the more the women brushed, the more hair they lost.
It is believed that women who use fine-tooth combs, or fix their hair in a tight pony tail, or braids, or any other hairdo that stretches the hair, will also suffer from accelerated hair loss. The doctor’s message was simple: don’t tinker with your hair, brush less and let it loose. Alright, it all makes perfectly good sense to me, pulling tugging will eventually create hair loss, but I must add that as I have aged, I too have lost some of that impressive mane of hair I used to have, even without abusing my hair too much. So naturally, I have looked for solutions to help me regain that healthy head of hair. Recently, I’ve started using coconut oil, massaging it into my scalp and hair, and I must say that I am very happy with the results. It’s believed that coconut oil, has tremendous health benefits including skin care, cholesterol level maintenance, weight loss, stress relief, boosted immune system, proper digestion and regulated metabolism. Additionally, it provides relief from kidney problems, heart diseases, high blood pressure, diabetes, HIV, and cancer, while helping to improve dental quality and bone strength. These benefits of oil can be attributed to the presence of lauric acid, capric acid and caprylic acid, and their respective properties, such as antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-fungal, antibacterial and soothing qualities.
Alright, so incorporating coconut oil into your daily diet will procure wonderful benefits to your health, but in terms of hair—coconut oil is just about one of the best nutrients for its overall health. It promotes healthy growth as well as gives you that extra shine. It effectively reduces protein loss, which leads to dull looking hair. In coastal regions around the world, where there is an abundance of coconut trees, places such as Sri Lanka, Indonesia Malaysia etc., people have been using this oil for the treatment of their hair for thousands of years with a very positive outcome. In the West it takes us time to adopt these sorts of treatments, especially when they do not come in a pretty package and a commercial name, but I have a feeling that this too will eventually change when we’ve realized how much money we routinely spend on ineffective, expensive products. Coconut oil is extremely cheap!
A word of warning, when you massage coconut oil into your hair, be sure to use a good quality shampoo to wash out the oil, and repeat at least twice otherwise you will leave an oily residue that will weigh down your hair. Also, make sure to purchase the best quality coconut oil, organic and extra virgin oil will give you the best results. In countries such as India for instance, it is used by most people, where they have appreciated the medicinal qualities coconut can provide for their hair. When you start massaging the oil into your hair on a regular basis, you will definitely see some surprising results.