From the Archives

From the Archives : Get rid of Split Ends {Hair care}

August 27, 2013 Swati Leave a Comment

Split ends are ugly and make our hair look unhealthy. More than that, they actually make our hair unhealthy by climbing up the hair shaft. The only way to get rid of split ends is by trimming your hair up to the level where you are sure all your damaged hair is gone. Next step is to take care of your hair properly so that there are no split ends in the future.

First is to handle your hair very gently. Do not rub with a towel or use a rough accessory on it. Do not be harsh with it while drying it. Just gently squeeze the excess water out of the hair and let it air dry. Keep your combs and brushes smooth. If they develop jagged edges or get broken at any point, change them. The jagged edges or sharp broken points can rip off the hair.

Proper nutrition and regular exercise is necessary to maintain beautiful hair. Why? As our hair grows from the follicle, it gets old. The tips of our hair is years old actually and due to the lack of proper nutrients and exercise and loss of proper capillary action in the hair, it becomes difficult for the hair follicles to provide proper nutrition to the ends of the hair. This is one of the reasons for even the hair getting dry as it grows past a certain length. Due to the lack of nutrition, the cuticle wears off and the hair strand starts splitting.

Due to the very same reason, we need to provide the ends with extra nutrition on a regular basis. If your hair is extremely dry or is prone to lot of split ends, do a weekly pre-poo on your hair. Egg and honey is especially helpful.

Excess usage of hair products can also bring this calamity to your hair. Use only the most required of the products and make sure they are of the highest quality. Use as minimum amount as possible of any product.

Mix a tea spoon of castor oil with two tea spoons of pure coconut oil and massage in into your hair with special attention to the ends twice a week. Dip a towel into warm water and wrap your hair in it. You can even take a steam for your hair. You can leave it overnight or wait for an hour or two and wash off with a mild shampoo. Do not forget to dilute the shampoo. After washing your hair, apply a intensive hair conditioner to the ends of the hair and stay for 5-10 minutes. Wash off. You can follow with leave-in conditioner.

So, how do you prevent the splits in your hair?

From the Archives : Hair Types and their Hair Care Routine {Hair Care}

August 25, 2013 Swati 10 Comments

Our hair has generally been categorized only in three types: Dry, Normal and Oily. But, have you ever thought that the hair can also be like skin. As skin has many types like dry, sensitive, normal, oily, combination; similarly, our hair can also be categorized in various types:

Normal Hair
Damaged (or Sensitive) Hair
Dry Hair
Oily Hair
Combination Hair

Dry Scalp with Oily body
Oily scalp with dry body

Please remember that I am talking about the condition of hair not the texture of hair. And, the way we care for our hair should be customized depending on the hair condition.

Normal Hair does not require any special care. Normal routine of shampooing and conditioning will keep it in place.

Dry Hair needs a lot of conditioning and deep conditioning treatments. Avoid going into sun too much and do not let your hair get subjected to heat.Always keep your hair moisturized using a leave-in conditioner or aloevera gel. And, of course, do not forget the hot oil treatments for your hair weekly once or twice.

Oily hair does not need oil. It needs something which can soak oil from the hair and neutralize the oil production. For this, you can two things: one is using lemon on your scalp and another is using ~~milk (without cream) or~~ buttermilk on your scalp. Apply fresh lemon juice on your scalp before you shampoo your hair every time. You can also use tomato instead of lemon juice as lemon juice is highly acidic and lead to dryness in the long term. ~~It also has the same effect.~~ You can also experiment with strawberry hair mask but then I would say eat those strawberries instead 😀 And, you can use your clay masks as a hair mask also. ~~After all, clay will absorb oil no matter where it is applied. Right!!~~

Combination Hair really needs a combination of oily and dry hair treatments but not so much in intensity.

– For dry scalp, you can massage a few drops of oil (coconut or olive) every time before you shampoo your hair. And, leave the hair body as it is. If your scalp is dry to the extent of being scaly and itchy, only then use hot oil treatment but use it just for the scalp. And, once in two weeks you can also go for deep conditioning treatments but make it only for the scalp (only if your scalp is scaly and itchy or if you feel a tightness in your scalp).

– For oily scalp, follow up the lemon juice or tomato treatment on the scalp and leave the body as it is. Follow up with a leave-in conditioner. You can also use your favorite conditioner to condition your hair. ~~But, in no case, use hot oil treatments or deep conditioning treatments on your hair.~~ Keep the conditioning treatments to the body of the hair only, especially the ends!!

So, what hair type is yours?

From the Archives : Use “Shaving Oil” to get rid of unwanted hair {Skin Care}

August 24, 2013 Swati 16 Comments

I would like to share an absolutely fabulous home remedy today. Shaving Oil. This is to bring to kind attention of all people who like to shave, you can consider using a shaving oil instead of the shaving gels, creams or hair conditioners or whatever you use.

And, the best part is you do not have to go and hunt for a shaving oil in the market. You can use any oil available in your kitchen. Be sure to use only vegetable oils or pure oils. It might sound weird for you to hear that we can use an oil as an alternative to shave.

But, it works fabulously and gives a much cleaner and safer shave than any richly foaming hair conditioner or shaving creams.

What are the advantages of Shaving Oil over Shaving Creams and other products?

No chemicals. While shaving, any cream or gel might enter your body or react with your skin. It might give you rashes or allergies. Shaving Oil is nothing but a moisturizing ingredient so you would not feel any rash.
Oil moisturizes your skin well so there is no dryness which happens after shaving.
Oil helps the razor to glide smoothly so it gives a much cleaner and closer shave. You would love the way your skin feels afterward. Also, you would not suffer from any nicks and cuts while shaving due to the smooth gliding motion
Oil can be used anywhere on the body safely. You can apply oil on your pubic area also without having second thoughts where as other methods (use of gels and creams) might cause allergic reactions on sensitive parts of the bodies and might become big problems. You can also use this method to shave the genatalia.
You can easily shave a dense growth of hair too after applying the oil.There is a less risk of ingrown hair.
And, lastly, it costs much less so saves your pocket money or you can use the same money to buy something more worthwhile.

What is shaving oil made of?

I am not talking about a particular kind of oil which is known as shaving oil. By Shaving Oil, I mean using oil for shave. You can use any kind of an oil available at home which you are not allergic too. You may even mix 2-3 oils of your choice.

The ideal oils for shaving are: Coconut Oil, Olive Oil, Almond Oil, Sesame Oil, Jojoba Oil, Castor Oil.

You may use them individually. If you would like to blend more than one oil, you can pour equal quantities of all the oils you want to use in a jar for storage. Make an exception while using Castor oil as it is very thick. Always use half quantity of Castor oil as that of other oils.

How to shave using shaving oil?

Do not wet the body part you want to shave.
Apply the oil very generously over the area you want to shave and massage the area well for 5 minutes to make the hair soft.
Now, gently shave with the razor.
After the shave, you can take a bath. Do not use soap on the shaved area. Instead, use enough hot water to wash off the oil.
You may consider sanitizing your razor.

I urge you earnestly to try this once. I have tried it and have fallen in love with it. This method gave me the smoothest shave ever in my life till now. And, the shaved skin does not hurt or irritate the way it used to earlier. I am looking forward to your comments about your experience with this method.

From the Archives : Hair Tips for Monsoon {Hair Care}

July 20, 2013 Swati 13 Comments

PS: Even though this is an old post, the introduction holds true for this year as well 😀

I am loving, adoring and blissfully bathing in Hyderabad weather after the sultry Delhi 🙂 Ok, yes, it is humid and that does increase the suffocation at times but the cool breeze in the evenings and the lovely rains are just too romantic too ignore!!! But, then, monsoons always bring a spate of hair problems with them.

PS: I have nominated Perfect Skin Care for you for Indiblogger awards. If you like the post and my blog, please go on this link and write your reviews about the blog and make the blog one of the winners! You will have my undying gratitude 🙂

Humid Hair

The scalp gets all dirty very soon even though the pollution is in control. The reason for this is because of the amount of humidity which accumulates the dust and sweat in the hair and makes the scalp dirty very quickly. So, hair wash should be frequent, preferably on alternate days and you should always make sure to leave your hair open for at least an hour everyday to let the roots and the scalp get some air through them and get dry.

If you get wet in the rain, let your hair air dry and then go for a hair wash. Immediate washing is generally not preferable as it may lead to diseases and illness.

Hair Fall: This is the most common problem of hair in monsoons and even I can see those effects. One way to control it is to keep the hair and scalp always clean as mentioned above and to keep the hair always dry as even a little wet hair is also prone to a lot breakage. Do not comb your hair immediately on returning home after a long day. Leave your hair untied for a good half hour to an hour and let it dry thoroughly before running a comb.

Dandruff: Even though the weather is humid, the scalp can dry out easily because of the climate changes and weather fluctuations. And, that can lead to a lot of dead skin being accumulated on the scalp and leading to dandruff issues. This also contributes to hair fall in the monsoons. Ultimately, this issue can also be resolved by keeping the scalp and hair clean and dry at all times.

Hair Accessories

Avoid using scarfs and stoles to keep your hair protected from rain or even pollution. Because, lack of air circulation causes the sweat to get entrapped and accumulated on the scalp. Instead, carry an umbrella to protect you in sudden rains. And, pollution is anyway in control in monsoons so don’t worry about that. Btw, it may be necessary for you to wash your hair everyday at times. Go ahead and do it. Only make sure that you use a good quality shampoo, preferably a high-end brand or an SLS-free shampoo like Organic Surge.

Keep your hair tools clean and dry

Clean your comb, hair brush and even the scrunchies and hair clips you use as they gather the sweat when you use them on dirty hair!!!

How do you protect your hair in monsoons? Comment below with your tips!

Image Courtesy:idiva.com

Get from flipkart:

From the Archives : Softening your skin starts from your bath {DIY}

July 14, 2013 Swati 6 Comments

Taking Bath is the best way to unwind yourself from a hectic schedule. You can turn your bathing experience into an invigorating one by adding certain ingredients which help ~~your body to relax and also relaxes your mind~~ both your body and mind to relax. Some ingredients which can be added to your bath water and their effects:

Salt: Relaxes the tensed muscles, makes your skin smooth, detoxes the body, relaxes tired feet, improves circulation, prevents skin disorders, purifies the pores and removes toxins from skin. It is also good for exfoliation. Table salt would be a general choice but you can also go for rock salt. These days you get sea salts and Himalayan rock salts as well apart from the regular bath salts! Also, pair them with your favorite essential oils for a luxurious experience!

Milk: Softens skin, cleans the pores, good for exfoliation, nourishes the skin, improves skin texture and appearance, removes body odor, prevents skin disorders.
Honey: soothes and nourishes the skin, makes skin silky and fragrant, prevents skin disorders, lightens scars and any marks on the skin and removes any bacteria present in the skin.

Oils : You can use coconut oil or almond oil. It lightens complexion, moisturizes and nourish the skin. You can also put a mix of these oils.

Oat meal: soothes and nourishes the skin. Put some oat meal in a cheese cloth and put it under running water. ~~and then, use it for exfoliation.~~ This way you get oat milk in your bath water and the oats in the cheese cloth can be used as a body wash. This is an amazing tip for sensitive skin!

Essential Oils: soothes and softens skin, lightens scars and any marks on the skin, heals wounds and soothes tired muscles and skin and you smell divine.

Floral Water: You can definitely put many flowers into your bath for an aromatherapy. Rose, Jasmine, Rosemary, Lavender, Chamomile, Marigold are some of the flowers which you can go for. They would relax your mind, elevate your senses and provide you the ultimate pleasure of relaxation. They soothe your complete body. You can also use the floral water.

So, go ahead and try putting a combination of various ingredients and enjoy an invigorating bath.

PS: Italicized paragraphs are updates on the original post!