Hair Care
QUIBBLER FASHION
- Eldis_
S
o, I have a bone to pick with all of you hair-having people. If you’re reading this and you’re bald, you’re unique and perfect, and I love you. But if you have hair? Long hair, short hair, I don’t care, please listen to me. I have seen you, at the pool or on the beach. Abuse your poor, poor wet hair by violently rubbing it dry with a towel. I have seen people joking about how disgusting it is to remove your hair from the bathroom drain. I have seen it all, and I am here to tell you to treat your hair better. Don’t want to have to call a plumber because your drain is filled with hair? Treat your hair better. Don’t want to have to clean your hairbrush every time you brush? Treat your hair better. How? Let me enlighten you. Before I do, however, let me tell you a bit of your hair. Or, well, about hair in general. All of your hair is dead matter; the only part alive is the part in your skin where it grows and pushes the hair out. Your hair exists out of three layers: the outside is the cuticula, which exists out of little overlapping ‘shields’. If these all lie neatly flat, your hair is wonderfully smooth and shiny. The layer underneath that is the cortex, which ensures the hair’s strength and resilience. The core of the hair is called the medulla, which contains the pigment determining the colour of your hair. The oils your skin produces helps your hair retain its shine as well as fighting off infections. Your hair grows in three stages: the anagen stage, during which your hair actively grows; the catagen stage, during which your hair no longer grows, but the cell activity in your hair papillae continues; and the telogen phase, during which this activity also halts. Eventually, your hair is pushed out of your skin, and the cycle starts anew. The anagen stage takes about two to four years, the catagen phase about 15-20 days and the telogen phase about 90120 days. About 98% of your hair is in the first stage, 1% in the second and 6% in the third. This cycle is repeated about 24 or 25 times during your lifetime. The characteristics of your hair are decided before you are even born. During the 16th week of pregnancy, the baby already has body hair! During the 20th week, head hair starts to arrive, as
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does the pigment, which will eventually decide the child’s hair colour. This hair falls out during the first few weeks of the baby’s life. Frequently alongside the mother’s hair. During pregnancy and breastfeeding, the hormones ensure that the hairs stay in their ‘growth stage’ more extended than usual. About twelve weeks after giving birth, when the mother’s hormones are finally calming down a bit, the hair arrives in the ‘rest’ phase, at the end of which the hair is pushed out of the scalp. What then seems to be excessive hair loss is just the body catching up. So there is no need to worry! It is still wise to avoid getting a perm when pregnant. Your hair is changing during this period so that the results can be unexpected. Once you grow older, the structure of your hair changes. Pigmentation contributes to the softness and subtleness of your hair, so grey hair tends to break more easily and become rougher. This new structure is also more likely to absorb dust and smoke from the air, giving a yellowish or stained look. A chelating or clarifying shampoo can help solve this problem. Richer shampoos will help to prevent your grey hair from drying out. Your hair is a delicate thing. It’s like that one kid in class who is allergic to everything (if you are that one kid, I am sorry, that must suck). Hair can’t handle too much heat and sunshine. During long holidays or sailing trips or otherwise days where your hair is constantly underneath the burning sun, it might be wise to cover your hair with a shawl or scarf. Not just for your hair’s sake, but also because it is kind of impossible to put sunscreen on your scalp and a burnt scalp is, trust me, Not Pleasant. Your hair also isn’t a fan of salt or chlorine, so make sure you properly rinse out your hair after swimming in the sea or pool by showering with clean, sweet water. Tie your hair together during windy days to avoid knots. During winter, make sure your hair is protected against the cold wind and against the drying effects of moving from shallow temperatures outside to very high temperatures inside. Make sure the humidity in your house isn’t too low. WASHING If you, like me, have long hair, you probably know the nightmare of your hair after taking a shower, being impossibly tangled because of the way you have rubbed your shampoo into your hair. And even if you have short hair,
