8 Scalp Health Tips for Healthy Hair
In the hair and beauty space, there is often a large emphasis on surface-level support for the skin or hair. Little attention is paid to the interface between the two and the foundation of truly healthy hair: the scalp, playing an important role in both skin health and hair health.
Every inch of your body deserves to be cared for. Let’s take a closer look at the scalp — why it’s so important as the bedrock for thriving, nourished hair, and how to best support its health.
Why Is Scalp Health Important?
The scalp is similar to the skin on the rest of your body, but it contains a higher density of hair follicles and sebaceous glands. Most people follow a skincare regimen but hardly ever include their scalp in the routines they have created to help support the skin barrier.
Let’s dive into why proper scalp care is important.
Maintain Healthy Hair
Every hair attached to your head is embedded into the skin of the scalp. The hair root is embedded deep into the skin.
This is where your hair strand grows from and where your hair is anchored to. Maintaining scalp health can help strengthen the attachment of hair to the follicle and prevent breakage or forced detachment from the scalp.
Each hair follicle also has a sebaceous gland that helps nourish the hair with natural oils known as sebum. These natural nourishing oils help the hair strand by preventing them from drying out, which can contribute to premature breakage of hair strands. An unhealthy scalp could produce too much or too little of these oils and cause its own issues.
Avoid Scalp Dryness
Skin dryness can cause a number of issues, including cracking, itchiness and discomfort, and can significantly compromise the integrity of the skin barrier. A dry scalp is not all that different, but this dryness can also contribute to hair that is not adequately supported by the natural oils of the scalp.
Taking the time to nurture your scalp can help to avoid dryness of the scalp.
Help With Flakes
Scalp flakes are mostly composed of dead skin cells and oil buildup. They can occur even if you have a healthy scalp, but taking the time to support your scalp through gentle scalp exfoliation, dandruff shampoo and proper scalp care may help with this flakiness.
If you have an underlying condition, you should seek the professional advice of a dermatologist or trichologist to find the right scalp treatment option for you.
Help Combat Sun Damage
The scalp can get sunburnt like the rest of your body, and it is often forgotten about. Fortunately, even if you don’t apply scalp-safe sunscreen, your scalp is mostly protected from sun rays thanks to your hair.
If you’ve overlooked your scalp health, this could lead to thinning hair and more vulnerability to damage from external stressors such as ultraviolet (UV) damage from the sun.
Tips for Supporting a Healthy Scalp
The scalp is worth supporting to maintain healthy-looking hair and to help bolster the skin barrier on top of your head. Here are eight helpful tips to support your scalp:
1. Use Gentle Hair Care Products
Hair care products can be extremely helpful in styling your hair, but at the same time, some hair care products can contain harsh ingredients that can strip the hair of its natural oils, damage your hair and cause scalp inflammation.
Using gentle hair care products formulated for your hair type can help ensure that your hair stays healthy and that harsh ingredients are not causing irritation to the scalp.
2. Use a Vitamin Shampoo and Conditioner
The products you use to wash the top of your head play an important role in your scalp health. Our 2-Step Vitamin Haircare System is carefully designed to help provide your hair and scalp with the science-backed natural nutrients it deserves.
Formulated by leading hair biochemists, our signature JSHealth blend of nutrients helps to support the scalp's health and microbiome. Infused with Pro-Vitamin B5, Vitamin C and Vitamin E, we’ve included Vegan Keratin, an essential molecule for hair growth, and Aloe Vera and Argan Oil to keep the scalp and hair moisturised.
3. Cleanse Your Hair Gently
The scalp, like any part of your skin, can benefit from some light exfoliation, but too much friction on the scalp can cause irritation and dislodge hairs from the root. When you shampoo and condition with gentle products, you should gently massage these products into the scalp.
There really is no reason to use scalp scrubs, as a gentle cleanse tends to be more than enough to remove buildup.
4. Opt for Relaxed Hair Styles
A tightly pulled ponytail may look sleek, but it’s important to be conscious of how often you wear hairstyles that may apply high levels of tension to the hair. Tight braids, hard parted and slicked hair, and tight buns all slightly pull on your hair and cause tension at the hair root.
Hairstyles that pull on the hair root can contribute to a form of hair loss referred to as traction alopecia. Opting for more relaxed hairstyles can reduce the likelihood of alopecia associated with traction and can help to support the health of the follicles on your scalp.
5. Don’t Sleep With Wet Hair
Many people make showering a part of their nighttime routine but sleeping with wet hair may be less than ideal for the health of your scalp. Sleeping with wet hair causes wet hair to be pinned up against the scalp, and depending on the environmental humidity, this could cause the scalp to stay damp and warm for hours on end.
The best thing you can do is to try and let your hair air dry before going to sleep. Air drying is the gentlest method of drying your hair; having it dry before sleep may help support the health of your scalp.
6. Wash Your Hair Every Two to Four Days
Many people associate poor scalp health with a lack of showering, but the reality is that overwashing your scalp can be just as detrimental to the health of your scalp. The scalp produces natural oils to support your hair, and washing too frequently can strip the scalp of these oils.
This can cause the sebaceous glands to kick into overdrive to produce more oil. Greasy and oily hair can actually come as a result of over-showering. Additionally, washing your hair can cause you to lose some strands, and while this isn’t really noticeable if you are overwashing your hair, these few strands can start to add up.
Many people shower daily or every other day, but you should consider only washing your hair every two to four days. This can help to support a healthy rate of sebum production and helps to eliminate unnecessary agitation of the hair during bathing that can dislodge hairs.
7. Scalp Mask
Facial masks have been around for quite some time to help provide your face with a little extra moisture and support, so why not extend this to the health of your scalp? Scalp masks can help to deliver nutrients directly to the surface of your scalp and help support optimal hydration and protection of the scalp.
Check out our DIY Nourishing Hair Mask, rich in plant-based fatty acids to help nourish the hair shaft and scalp.
8. UV Protection for the Scalp
Getting outside and enjoying mother nature can be a stress-relieving experience, but you should ensure that your skin is adequately protected from UV radiation. This includes your scalp. The scalp is lightly protected from the sun by your hair, but you should try your best to still protect it from the sun.
Protecting your scalp from UV radiation can be achieved through specially formulated gel sunscreens to help reach the scalp or by wearing SPF hats.
Summary
In summary, the skin on the top of your head is responsible for supporting a healthy head of hair and maintaining the skin barrier protection underneath. Like your skin, the scalp deserves to be supported, and the tips above are a great starting point.
Sources:
How to treat dandruff | American Academy of Dermatology Association
Dry Scalp: Causes, Treatment & Prevention | Cleveland Clinic