As the cold snap bites one of the UK’s leading trichologists provides advice on how to keep your hair healthy during this winter spell.
Consultant Trichologist Eva Proudman, FIT IAT, from www.ukhairconsultants.com has spent her career helping men and women to treat their hair loss whilst tackling the taboo around this often complex, condition. Here we ask Eva for advice on how to keep your hair and scalp healthy during the cold weather.
“We all know that winter is harsh on our hands and accept the need to take extra care to ensure that they stay moisturised and supple, but we rarely discuss the effect of winter on our hair. During the cold, the humidity in the outside air plunges, and inside, the atmosphere can even drier, thanks to central heating. This environment can sap whatever natural oils are left in your hair, causing it to become drier and brittle, and in some extreme, even cases fallout. Here are some ways of countering the effect of the cold to keep your locks luscious and healthy:
Washing, cleansing & moisturising
Just like we look after our skin with daily washing, cleansing, and moisturising, we need to do the same for our hair and scalp. Ideally, we should be washing our hair every day and never leave it longer than 3 days to keep the scalp/hair clean and balanced.
Choose a shampoo and conditioner that will work to benefit both your hair and scalp; Tricotain hair retaining shampoo penetrates deep into the hair follicle to reduce oxidative stress to support hair retention, with the conditioner smoothing and hydrating your hair to give it that super glossy healthy shine.
Make sure you dial down the heat! Keep straighteners at 180 or lower and use a good heat protection spray (my personal ‘go to’ is GHD – it really protects and smells great too!) Really try not to put the hairdryer nozzle directly onto wet hair, keeping a gap between the two to avoid overheating and damaging the hair.
Finally, sleeping on a silk pillowcase really does work – the silk reduces static friction to stop the hair from tangling and breaking whilst you sleep.
Keep your brushes clean!
Have a ‘Spring Clean’ of your combs and brushes. Broken teeth in combs and rough bristles in brushes can snag and cause your hair to break. Make sure you clean your hairbrush regularly as it will collect dead hair, skin cells and general debris. Ideally, we should all be cleaning our brushes weekly.
When hair is wet, it’s at its weakest, so always use a wide tooth comb to reduce the friction and any chance of breakage. Or, if you are lucky enough to have a Manta hairbrush you can use this safely too.
Keep an eye on pre-existing scalp conditions
The winter months cause scalp conditions such as seborrheic dermatitis and psoriasis to really flare up, so if you are suffering, treat this as soon as possible to ensure the condition is nipped in the bud before it’s allowed to worsen. I recommend using one of my scalp creams alongside the Juniper Therapy shampoo and conditioner – within just a few treatments you will see and feel the difference.
It’s been said many times, but you really are what you eat!
Healthy hair starts from within. I say this a lot in my blogs and Instagram posts, but our diet really is reflected in the health of both our hair and scalp. If you are going to change your diet to exclude food groups, take up fasting, or to lose weight, then remember that the hair will react to these changes very quickly. To minimise any disruption to a depletion in stored vitamins and minerals I would recommend taking a supplement such as Tricoextra. This will help to provide all of the essential vitamins and minerals necessary for the normal healthy hair growing and shedding cycle and will give a real boost to your hair and scalp health.
If you’re taking all of the above measures, yet your hair is still falling out, receding or your scalp is burning and itching, my best advice is to seek an accurate diagnosis with a Trichologist so that you can understand what the problem is and what you can do to treat it. An accurate personalised consultation, diagnosis and tailored treatment plan can be significantly more cost effective than spending money on different hair care / loss products that simply don’t deliver.
Eva has successfully treated numerous men and women suffering from hair loss and is the resident trichologist on “The Hair Loss Clinic”, which can currently be streamed on Discovery Plus.
“I encourage anyone who is concerned about hair loss and alopecia to check out the information here, where I talk through specific variances of alopecia, causes, and potential treatment options.
As always, if you have any general concerns then please do pop me a question here: www.ukhairconsultants.com/ask-about-symptoms-eva-proudman. I’m always here for you and committed to helping people of all ages with hair and scalp health concerns.”
Or get in touch here!