Maintaining a Good Scalp and Treating Dandruff at Bayside Make Up
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Did you know that your skin is the largest organ in your body – and one that’s constantly replen It’s made up of four layers. Finally, pat your hair dry. Kate
Did you know that your skin is the largest organ in your body – and one that’s constantly replenishing itself? New cells are created at the base layer and move up through the four layers over a period of 25-30 days. When they reach the surface, we shed the cells. This never stops: each day, you shed thousands of microscopic flakes of skin known as ‘squames’. Over a year, these add up to around 4kg
in total! As an area of skin, the scalp is a bit different. It produces the most visible hairs – you’d find between 100,000 – 150,000 if you counted them. And if you were to measure shoulder-length hair as a single strand, it would stretch up to 30km! This warm, sheltered environment made up of loose skin flakes and hair makes an ideal home for micro-organisms. And here’s where the scalp differs again: it has a natural defence system against these organisms called sebum (oil), a lightly greasy substance. However, one organism, Malassezia, has adapted to live off sebum. It’s as a consequence of this that it causes the shedding process to speed up – as quickly as seven days in extreme cases. When this happens, the small flakes clump together and we see them as the flakes associated with dandruff. Hints and Tips
You may notice that, some days, your dandruff seems worse than others. There are a number of reasons for this. Environmental conditions, diet, stress and other factors can make the condition worse. Zinc has an important role in the health of skin and hair. So the best way to look after your scalp and hair is to make sure your diet includes zinc as it’s a definite essential for looking your best. When you eat food with zinc in, it can help your whole body, your hair’s only living when it’s beneath the scalp – when it’s left your body, there’s not much you can do internally to help. You can also benefit from leading a healthy lifestyle and eating well. Sleep well, get regular exercise and eat foods rich in zinc. These include oysters (with ten times the zinc content of other foods), hard cheeses, liver, canned fish, wholemeal bread, eggs and organic meats. Treating dandruff
Use anti-dandruff shampoos and conditioners, which restores the scalp to good condition, fights dandruff and leaves hair soft and manageable. When used together they become even more effective at fighting dandruff. In fact, by replacing your conditioner with an anti-dandruff conditioner, you could increase this effectiveness by up to 50%
While shampooing your hair, ensure that the lather spreads over your entire scalp area. Make sure you use a matching anti-dandruff conditioner, as mixing with conditioners without anti-dandruff properties means some of the anti-dandruff ingredients are washed away at rinsing. Non anti-dandruff conditioners wash away up to 70% of the dandruff-fighting ingredient, ZPT. Vigorous rubbing can damage it. And go easy on the heat when drying as too much can also damage hair. Follow these steps regularly and you’ll soon forget about an itchy, flaky scalp: all you’ll notice is gorgeous, healthy-looking hair.
