Hair care

Published: 10/24/2005 - Updated: 08/13/2019

Hair and scalp are one of the areas that require greater physical diversity of care cosmetics. Many failures can affect the hair and scalp requires a proper medical treatment and an aesthetic problem that can be treated cosmetics may occur simultaneously.

The continued solar aggression during the summer season can cause damage to the hair, the outer layer undergoes chemical changes that reduce its strength and where the hair ends are damaged, degraded hardcore at home.

Demands in fashion and comfort in the hair style have drought many products that have become indispensable as dyes, perms, bleaching, fixing… which may eventually cause serious problems at the level of the capillary structure.

Combating dandruff, regulating sebaceous secretions and preventing hair loss are some of the major topics of hair cosmetics.

Types of hair

From the standpoint of treatment may be considered three different types of hair:

  • Normal Hair: shiny, velvety, seamless and well-colored. It has all physiological functions normal. Usually the hair of young children or teenagers is normal, it has not yet altered its biological balance by factors on internal or external agents. On a cosmetic point of view, this type of hair care needs only a very mild shampoo (frequently) to avoid compromising the normal physiological balance.
  • Dry Hair: looks dry, cracked, scaly presents dry and is prone to breaking and cracking due to their low elasticity. Its pH is more acidic than normal, this lack of fat and therefore moisture. Should be treated with a revitalizing massage and mask with balsamic effect.
  • Oily hair: it looks greasy and sticky, due to the excessive activity of sebaceous glands. The pH is higher than normal, so this type of hair is more prone to infections of microbial origin. In terms of cosmetic products, we must be careful with disinfectant action, astringent and degreasing.

Hair care

A proper and thorough cleaning of your hair is the first step for a hair shiny and full of life. As important as the frequency of washing and the use of different treatments for their care is the way that your wash hair.

For proper hygiene of your hair, you  should follow some basic steps:

  1. Immediately before wetting your hair, you should brush gently with a comb or brush. In doing so, active blood and undo all the tangles. Disentangled hair is much easier to wash.
  2. Choose a shampoo that suits your hair type, apply a small amount and form concentric circles with your fingers without pressing too hard, but making a gentle massage all over the scalp. Start by massaging the area of the neck, and up toward the crown. Then, making the massage from the front of the temples and also to the crown. (In this way, stimulate blood circulation to the scalp and let the shampoo makes its effect) Let stand a few minutes, rinse thoroughly, preferably fresh, and repeat the operation a second time if you think is necessary. Do not forget to rub all areas several times, without missing any. Care of the tips is as necessary as the root, and the shampoo should also apply to them to regenerate and can avoid problems such as frequent split ends. You can combat this problem by applying a mask after shampooing.
  3. You must pay special attention to rinsing, which should be very careful. A thorough rinsing your hair will look brighter.
  4. Never rub wet hair with the towel, because it may suffer irreparable damage. Wrap it simply as a turban and Press it lightly with the palm of your hand. Whenever possible, let it dry in the open air and dispense with the dryer. When you need to use it, select the minimum power and place it at a safe distance from your hair, roughly about thirty centimeters, not to burn it.

Most common problems

The dandruff is a common alteration that occurs in the scalp. The mechanism of onset is an acceleration in the rate of disordered scaling of the upper layers of the epidermis of the scalp that can be accompanied by an inflammation (dermatitis). This accelerated growth results in a disruption that allows it to install the intercellular spaces between the bacteria responsible for the degradation of the cell walls releasing simple fatty acids, which are responsible for the irritation of the area. In this case, it is advisable to use a Anti-dandruff shampoo, which can be combined with a mild shampoo (frequency), if we wash hair very often, to avoid a rebound effect (in this case, we are greasing the root of the hair)

The fat in the hair is caused by excessive secretion by the sebaceous glands of the root hair. This excess causes the hair appear shiny and moist. Under these conditions bacterial growth is encouraged which breaks down fats into simpler compounds (fatty acids) causing itching and irritation. For fatty, there are also special shampoos, astringent effect. As in the previous case, we can combine it with a mild shampoo for frequent washing, to avoid dry hair.

Hair loss is another common problem that can have different origins:

  • Real causes: hair too dry or too oily.
  • External causes: mechanical booted, ill-treatment (continuous dye, permanent, strong and often discolored, excessive washing with shampoos and inadequate microbial diseases ….).
  • Internal causes: unbalanced diet and deficiency disorders, emotional disorders, hormonal and hereditary factors.

When combining one or more of these factors, the effect on hair is an acceleration of hair growth cycle from a cycle normal 3-7 years to one of 12-18 months. This results in atrophy of hair follicle with the formation of an increasingly fine hair and hair to become discolored or disappear altogether (alopecia). In these cases it is advisable to use a shampoo to revitalize hair, that stimulates blood circulation and oxygenation of the scalp and strengthens hair regeneration of the hair follicle. We may also combine shampoo with specific treatments based on extracts, especially in autumn and spring that are the seasons in which the we have more hair loss.

Normal hair

For normal hair, we must not forget that the continuing assault to submit to the hair affect their health and this is compounded with the need to keep the hair clean. This requires that the shampoo used to wash the hair have to be as less aggressive as possible, in addition to clean and give it force. This is achieved with the use of some non-aggressive detergents and chemicals to revitalize your hair.

About the author
  • Dra. Loredana Lunadei

    Dr. Loredana Lunadei is a specialist in food, dietetics and nutrition. She studied at the University of Milan where she obtained a Master in Food Science and Technology. Subsequently, she continued her studies, completing her PhD also at the University of Milan. Linkedin.

2 Replies to “Hair care”
  • Mary says:

    My hair may be in the dry category even though I have made many things and treatments to improve it, nothing work, but I never changed my shampoo because I have alwasy used that Brand since I was a child but maybe that is the problem, or maybe the diet too?

  • Stacy says:

    Thanks so mcuh for providing a description of hair types. I ‘ve always heard hair classified by “types” but I’ve never been sure what hair type I am, I’m somewhere in between normal and greasy. The hair around my forehead and bangs always gets greasy, but the rest of my hair stays relatively “normal”. Thanks for the wonderful information!