I am sad to say that I was not born with amazing, long, luscious and healthy hair. If anything I’ve suffered with bad hair days for most of my life, including as a child. I got a perm before I was in the 5th grade (thank you 1980’s for the trend that started off my afro puff days) and that just caused a downward spiral of my hair. For years I had very frizzy, big, thick out of control hair. I was born with a birth mark on my head that caused my hair on one side to grow in super thick, coarse and brittle while the rest of my head was healthier and straight and shiny. To this day I am still getting tests done to see what that one area of my scalp just is so different than the rest, it’s bizarre but that’s another story for another day.

I have colored my hair since high school, and again it goes back to that patch of hair and birthmark. My hair started to come in grey in that one tiny spot since the 8th grade so I have been a slave to hair dye most of my adult life. I am sure that the constant hot tools, styling and color treated processing did a number to my locks, but here I am today doing all I can to make sure I get my hair as healthy as I possible can. I do take a lot of vitamins and supplements for healthier hair as well as use products on my hair to make it less damaged, so I figure many women suffer from this same concern and wanted to talk about what I take and use to have healthier hair.

When it comes to getting my hair healthier I approach it 3 ways

What goes into my body (vitamins, supplements, food, etc)

What goes onto my head (products, serums, how I wash/condition)

What I do to my hair (styling, heat, etc)

When it comes to what goes into my body I take a few things. I have been taking Viviscal for over 3 years now and while I can’t say for sure any of these items alone achieve amazing results, I can say that I do continue to take all of the items I am listing. I would not recommend something I take for one day and say “wow this is amazing” and I don’t care how much a brand asks to pay me to do that, I am not being paid to talk about ANY of these items in this post at all. I buy Viviscal with my own money and use it every month. It has helped me to reduce thinning in my hair temples and around my hair line. I did notice thinning years ago because I used to always wear hair extensions. They would pull at my natural hair and after doing them for a decade I saw huge issues with the thickness of my hair so I’ve been trying to reverse those things now. I’ve posted about Viviscal before but I do continue to use that daily. I also take NeoCell Beauty Bursts 2 chews a day. They have vitamin c, collagen and hylauronic acid which are all helpful for cell turn over and skin/hair/nails. I also take Vitamin B12 with Folic Acid for hair health, fish oil and BioSil. Since taking all of these together my hair and nails are much stronger and don’t break as often. I used to suffer from hair shedding a lot but it’s slowing down much more.

When it comes to what I put on my hair I have moved more toward natural hair care and cleansing products. For my shampoo I look for one that will remove oil and residue but not dry my hair out. If my hair gets too dry it breaks and sheds, but if it is too moisturized it gets oily and weighed down. As you can imagine this is always a struggle; dry and break, oily and weighed down. For my shampoo and conditioner I am always buying and trying new ones but for me I know that I like something if I buy it a few times and right now the only shampoo I buy over and over is the Degrease by Maple Holistics. This works on my hair by removing oil and sweat and build up but not making it like a brillo pad. I have written about their brand before but I truly love this for making my hair healthy and clean. I also like their Silk 18 Conditioner because it makes my hair soft and smooth and it smells unreal! I also love to give my hair a hair mask treatment 2 times a week (I wash my hair almost every day but if I can swing it I do every other, just depends really if I’m working out everyday and sweating a lot). I like masks that contain argan oil or shea moisture. Right now I just finished up a bottle of Macadamia Professional Hair Mask and it was really good. I also love Aveda Damage Remedy Daily Repair Mask. A mask is a must for my hair at least 2 times a week to put moisture back into it.

As for styling products I am always trying new ones. My goal is to always use something to spray on my hair after it is washed to condition it and protect it from styling and heat products. Right now I use the Miracle 10 spray before I use a wide tooth comb to brush my hair. I then pat it dry with a soft towel and let it air dry for a bit. Once I am ready to blow dry I use a few sprays of Rusk Thickening Spray then use a round brush to manage my bangs and front pieces. I only really care about doing those and try to just let the rest of my hair air dry. My bangs are damaged and unruly so those always have to be tamed! If I can get away with only blow drying those I am a happy camper. I don’t like to blow dry every single day if I don’t have to. If I find the ends of my hair are very fried I will add 1-2 drops of Josie Maran Argan Oil to them and work them in gently.

As for foods to keep your hair healthy it’s important to have a good amount of healthy fats in your diet. I aim to eat wild caught salmon  two times a week for omega sources. You can also get good healthy fats from almonds, peanut butter and avocados. Make sure to be drinking lots of water daily which is good for your hair and skin.

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