How To Keep Your Hair Healthy As You Get Older

Hair loss is something that many people will have to contend with at some point as they age.

And though hair loss is a natural part of life for most, it’s not entirely out of your control.

In fact, there are lots of different practices, techniques, and products you can use to preserve your hair’s health.

With this in mind, read on to learn about four ways you can keep your hair healthy as you age.

1. Maintain A Healthy Lifestyle

It may seem obvious, or redundant, to say that living a healthy lifestyle will help keep your hair healthy.

But part of living a healthy life is repeatedly making decisions that lead to long-term benefits.

And, in this case, one of those long-term benefits may be keeping your hair strong too.

Three core pillars of health for nearly everyone are exercise, eating nutritious foods, and getting good sleep.

While there are no exercises for your hair per se, there are things you can do to improve scalp health. The better your scalp’s blood flow, the healthier your hair follicles tend to be.

And the stronger your follicles, the stronger your hair. By incorporating scalp massages and gentle hair brushes into your weekly routine, you’ll stimulate your blood vessels and encourage hair growth.

When it comes to nutrition, make sure you’re eating foods that contain protein, iron, and omega-3 fatty acids.

Fish, eggs, and leafy greens provide plenty of the above. And seeds, nuts, and citrus fruits will provide you with necessary vitamins A, C, and E.

As for sleep, make sure you’re getting lots of it. Consistent, full nights of sleep will help your hair heal and grow to the best of its ability.

And you might consider sleeping with a silk or satin pillowcase. These slippery fabrics are more gentle on hair, which leads to less frizz and breakage.

2. Consider Medications

Healthy living helps lead to naturally healthy hair. But what if you want to strengthen your hair beyond its natural ability?

Or what if you’re dealing with hair loss? Well, the good news is that there are plenty of medications that can help you.

When it comes to simple, once-a-day style pills, it’s hard to get much better than finasteride. Oral finasteride tablets reduce your body’s ability to convert testosterone into dihydrotestosterone, or DHT.

And DHT is a hormone that binds to your hair follicles, causing them to shrink over time. So the less DHT in your body, the longer your hair follicles will be able to produce hair.

Alternatively, or additionally, you go the topical route with minoxidil. Minoxidil promotes hair growth by widening the blood vessels on your scalp.

Just like a scalp massage, minoxidil helps reinforce the strength of your hair’s natural growth cycle.

You could even kill two birds with one stone by giving yourself a scalp massage with a minoxidil foam. Use either finasteride, minoxidil, or both together, to help augment your hair’s natural fullness.

3. Be Mindful When Hairstyling

Taking care of your hair isn’t only about what food you eat or what products you use. It’s also about how you wear your hair on a daily basis.

That’s because certain hairstyles and styling habits can cause more harm than good. They might help you look good today, but wear them too often and you might run out of hair to style.

For those of you with longer hair, it may be tempting to put it back into a ponytail. This practical hairstyle is a great way to get intrusive hair out of your face, afterall.

However, wearing a ponytail too tightly or too often can actually damage your hair follicles. And while wearing one once in a while won’t cause you to go bald, wearing one every day might.

Bleaching, coloring, or blow drying your hair with excessive heat can also damage your hair. Most bleach and coloring products use harsh chemicals to strip your hair of its natural pigmentation.

Repeated exposure to these chemicals can weaken your follicles, making them prone to breakage.

Similarly, blow drying on high temperatures can damage necessary hair proteins, making it brittle over time.

4. Protect Your Hair From The Sun

Speaking of repeated forms of damaging exposure, consider the sun. Is it a big beautiful light in the sky or a large nuclear reactor silently pummeling you with waves of radiation?

When it comes to hair health, it’s the latter. Sure, a bit of sun is good for vitamin D. But more than a few minutes of full sun on your head each day will do more harm than good.

That said, this disagreement between hair and sun doesn’t mean you have to become a vampire. Just make sure you provide your follicles with some shade when you do go out.

You could find yourself a nice hat to wear on your outdoor excursions. A good hat will also shade your face, preserving your skin’s health too.

There are also many hair-protection products you can apply before you go out. You could use a leave-in conditioner designed to block harmful UV rays or hair mist with SPF.

Just be sure to reapply them regularly, as most of these products only last a few hours at a time!

Tend To Your Garden

Taking care of your hair as you age is like tending to a garden. It takes planning, effort, and a good deal of work.

But you’ll reap the benefits of the seeds you sow now when your hair is still blooming in your golden years.