Hair Anti-Aging Advice from Marie Claire

Your face isn’t the only part of your body that could use a little extra TLC as the years go by. Did you know that there are many things that you can do to keep your luscious locks looking better than ever?

Here are some great ideas from Marie Claire magazine:

Antiaging: It’s pounded into our brains that the sooner we begin to address our skin’s eventual decline (bring on the SPFs, serums, and creams!), the better off we will be years later. But the harsh truth is that our hair and scalp require the same attention.

“As hair ages, we produce less keratin — the protein that renders it strong and healthy — because our bodies can’t absorb essential minerals and vitamins as effectively,” explains Christyn Nawrot, a national educator for haircare brand Phyto. And without adequate or high-quality keratin, strands slowly become porous, hyper-prone to breakage, and scary-skinny. Thankfully, high-maintenance hair extensions aren’t the only option.

Build strength: According to Nawrot, the biggest culprit of aging and keratin depletion is frequent heat styling — with professional-grade (read: hotter and more powerful) tools women now use at home — because it completely zaps moisture from the hair. “Moisture is key,” she says. “It allows minerals to develop more readily and helps to keep free radicals away.” Going beyond your standard deep conditioner, new innovations from Pureology, Redken, and Phyto actually aim to mimic the hair’s missing keratin — with keravis, Keralink, and botanical keratin, respectively — thereby filling in the proverbial gaps created by age and environment.

Scale back stress: Just as stress can cause a breakout to erupt on your chin, it can also encourage hair to revolt. “The second biggest offender for people with density loss and lifeless-looking hair is stress,” adds Nawrot. “Each piece of hair has its own circulatory system, a sweat gland, a sebaceous gland — its own little world. With stress, each follicle becomes tight and rigid.” Essentially, stress spikes adrenaline production, which can convert into androgens (male hormones including testosterone) and cause extra hair to fall out. The best Rx: Chill out. But if yoga and meditation aren’t on the schedule, ask your doctor about prescription anti-androgen treatments. If you’re taking the Pill, switch to a low-androgen one, such as Desogen or Ortho-Cyclen.

Feed your hair: Since hair is a nonessential tissue, that means it’s the last one to have access to any of the nutrients you ingest. “The system will take care of what’s a priority first, which is cardio and lung function, not the hair,” says Liz Cunnane, a Philip Kingsley trichologist. “Hair is always at the bottom of the list, so that’s why what and how much you eat are so important.” Maintaining a well-balanced diet full of protein, iron, zinc, and antioxidant-rich foods, such as berries and leafy green vegetables, and eating regularly will have an effect on hair. And there are a host of helpful supplements: Vitamin K and cysteine aid in the production of keratin and melanin (to delay the appearance of grays), while iron, zinc, biotin, and silica supplements can combat thinning.

Scalp TLC : “Think of how you treat your face, and approach the scalp in the same way,” says Cunnane, pointing out that scalp condition impacts hair health dramatically. Both Philip Kingsley’s Scalp Tonic and Nioxin’s latest three-part systems (cleanser, scalp therapy, and treatment) are focused specifically on rejuvenating the hair by rebalancing pH and rebuilding the scalp. A host of skincare-grade serums from Dove, Sally Hershberger, Kevin Murphy, and Ojon, formulated with powerful nourishers like argan and bur oil, grape-seed extract, and vitamins C and E, quite literally treat the scalp as an extension of the skin.

Bulk up: “L’Oréal Professionel’s Fiberceutic is similar to Restylane or Juvederm in its effect,” says the brand’s celebrity stylist Eva Scrivo. “Similar to how these fillers help to plump and smooth the lines on the face, the product’s star ingredient, Intra-Cylane, fills the hair strand with a flexible soft fiber, increasing the density.” Another good option is to turn to your colorist and stylist for plumping assistance — coloring also bulks up the hair shaft. “The key is to keep color soft around the face,” says Wella colorist Alexandra Matiz. “You want it to have dimension but not be too contrasty.” And as the shape of your face changes as you age, your cut should follow suit. “A side-swept bang and soft layers at the sides and back of the head make a woman look more feminine and help strengthen face shape,” says Scrivo. Even better: “The right cut also has movement, which softens fine lines in the skin.”

Losing Streak: If an alarming number of hairs are piling up on your pillow and in your shower drain, talk to your doctor. Roughly 30 million women in North America experience hair loss, and unlike male balding, which occurs in localized areas, women’s thinning happens all over, so it’s harder to detect. “As you age and estrogen and progesterone decline, something called miniaturization can happen,” says dermatologist Dr. Francesca Fusco. This severe shrinking of the follicles — better known as female pattern thinning — can be treated in a variety of ways. There is minoxidyl, the drug found in Rogaine, which you would need to apply daily for the rest of your life, or a mild diuretic pill called spironolactone (by Rx only; it also works wonders on adult acne). “The FDA also recently approved the HairMax LaserComb [hairmax.com], which you comb through your hair to stimulate growth and follicle regeneration,” Fusco adds.

Many factors contribute to these uncomfortable skin conditions. Environmental factors like lack of humidity in the air and harsh cold wind, home heating, extreme temperatures and very hot showers can wreak havoc on your skin. Especially if you spend a lot of time outdoors.

Your skin has a natural balance that can also be disrupted by using products products that are not ideal. Products that are not pH balanced can make your skin more alkaline and combined with environmental factors can be the perfect recipe for dry itchy or even chapped skin.

If your skin is out of balance you lose components of it’s natural moisturizing factor allowing water loss and resulting in irritated flaky dry skin.

Prevent or treat this condition by:

• Using a humidifier in your home
• Taking luke-warm baths or showers (baths are better for moisture)
• Use a pH balanced body gel (not a soap bar) and enzyme body scrub
• Pat dry with a towel
• Spray your face and body with a humectant toner(sodium pca is a great humectant)
• Moisturize with a lipid based moisturizer on damp skin
• Before going out in extreme weather use an occlusive block to protect your skin from damage.

 
If your skin is chapped dry or itchy use ingredients containing:

• Oatmeal
• Red hogweed
• Ginger
• Lavender
• Evening primrose
• Raspberry
• Aloe
• Red algea

Look what we found on one of our buying trips…

Royal Apothic Eau de Parfum has arrived! Light and fresh, these glam perfume atomizers are a must have.

The fragrances of the collection are inspired by the social clubs of England’s Victorian Age.

There’s sure to be one that you’ll love…

Ever since the total salon renovation got underway last week, I started thinking about how we have become a nation of “do it yourselfers”. I remember as a child my parents calling someone in to hang a picture so I certainly would never have found them hanging drywall. Growing up it seemed to me like the only people that knew how do handyman jobs were, not coincidentally, handymen. So why now is it commonplace to find your retired mother tiling the backsplash in her kitchen? Who do we credit with this remarkable shift in remodeling behavior? I have a theory, and it’s not something you would most likely consider getting people off the couch and inspired…television.

Have you ever lost hours of your weekend to HGTV? I have been sucked into that black hole on several Sunday’s and while that pile of laundry didn’t move, I walked away with a few practical and affordable ideas to execute the following weekend (assuming there wasn’t a House Hunters marathon on). Until 1994 when HGTV first entered our channel lineups, they only notable home improvement shows on TV were Bob Vila’s Home Again and Tim Allen’s 90’s sitcom. Martha Stewart was on the scene then, and while serving root vegetable soup in a hollowed pumpkin is a great way to impress guests, it isn’t something you would call empowering.

What HGTV featured that these programs did not was program lineup in which the design and execution was done by women. A market that hadn’t been tapped and in most cases hadn’t been educated in the ways of home improvement. A little TV inspiration can go a long way in the life of someone who is sick and tired of her avocado green counter tops. Do you remember a little show that aired in the early 00’s called Trading Spaces on TLC? $1000 and 2 days to renovate a room in your neighbor’s home and hopefully remain on speaking terms after the big reveal. For it’s time, this show more than any other demonstrated how two average people could make major changes in a home with some imagination and a limited budget. Most recently Extreme Home Makeover on ABC showcases a community of volunteers (along with trained professionals) building an entire home in seven days for deserving families. If that doesn’t inspire you to at least plant a few mums in your front yard you should check your pulse.

While most of us will never pour a concrete foundation in our lives, we probably will change out that bathroom faucet or take down that old wood paneling (please, take it down, call me I’ll help). Times and technology have changed but one thing remains constant and that is the pride that people want to feel about the place they call home. With the advent of On-Demand programming and Youtube there is an endless 24 hour how-to library at our hands to help us tackle the toughest home project. What are you waiting for, that shag carpet isn’t going to take itself out.

We’ve all been there. One minute your skin is clear and bright and the next there is a volcano brewing just under the surface of your skin. It’s human nature to want to pick and try to get rid of the invader as soon as possible. This scenario leads you to a horrible red lesion that can lead to scarring and cause you to feel horrible about your appearance.

The big picture: 66 million Americans have active acne. Though there are many triggers and 4 different types, chances are that either you or someone you know may be suffering with this condition.  Acne typically is a hereditary disease and can happen to a person whether there skin is oily or not.  For someone with acne the skin on the epidermis sheds more slowly while new dead cells are being created much more rapidly in a process called retention hyperkeratosis. This process keeps the cells from shedding and mixes with sebum which creates a plug. The plug is what is commonly called a blackhead. A blackhead is also known as an open comedone. Congestion in the skin can also be characterized by a bumpy texture, but no opening in the pore. These bumps are called closed comedones. A good home care regimen and regular trips to your skin therapist for customized treatments and gentle extraction can prevent further progression of this condition.

Open and closed comedones combined with triggers like: Stress, cosmetics containing comedogenic ingredients, environmental factors like seasons or work environment as well as nutrition, medications, hormones, friction from synthetic fibers or repetitive rubbing against the skin can lead to enflamed papules and pustules if left untreated. One factor that can contribute to the development of these pustules is the presence of propionibacterium (p. acne bacteria) This bacteria loves life without oxygen which is why is thrives in pores that are congested. A bi-product of this bacteria loving life in our plugged pores is that it creates glycerol and fatty acids which lead to irritation in the pore walls.

At that point our body’s immune response kicks in and sends white blood cells to kill those bacteria. The introduction of white blood cells stretches the pore until it can hold anymore. At this point you will see a white or yellow tip on the top of your pore. The pore keeps swelling and can actually rupture into the dermis ( the live skin under the epidermis which contains important tissue, nerves and immune cells). Picking or squeezing the lesion could make the situation worse because  the infection can inadvertently be pushed further down into the tissue as well. Bacteria under the fingernails can also be introduced. The white blood cells from your bodies immune response do a great job killing bacteria, but don’t know the difference between bacteria which are bad and good things like collagen and other beneficial tissue. The result can lead to red scarring from our pigment cells which is an immune response as well and pitting from the collagen and tissue breaking down.

So with all of this information what is the best way to handle an inflamed lesion you ask? The best thing to do is avoid picking and scratching. Probably easier said than done. What is the alternative? Using ingredients that bring down inflammation and kill bacteria. Salycilic acid is the best tool in this situation. It loves oil and can penetrate down into the poor and kill bacteria while being an anti-inflammatory ingredient. Benzoyl peroxide used sparingly will kill bacteria on an infected lesion. For sensitive skin try tea tree as it acts like Benzoyl Peroxide, but is much more gently. Oat extract, licorice and green tea are all great anti-inflammatory ingredients as well. You can also try icing a lesion 15 minutes at a time. A good rule of thumb is when you see red is to reach for one of those ingredients and try to calm your skin down before it gets out of control. Not sure where to start? A good resource is your skin therapist. They can guide you on what ingredients will work best on your skin and safely remove non-inflamed plugs before they cause a problem for you.