May 20, 2021

After writing my article Skincare Generation (The Darker And Lighter Shade Of Me), I decided to write this one and share with you guys how I maintain my long and healthy hair.

I have sensitive skin and as I mentioned in my previous article, I easily get dark skin exposed to too much sunlight. When I was a kid, I had lice on my head which I got I guess from my playmates. And since I have sensitive skin, I easily got sores and scabs on my head especially when I'm scratching it due to itchiness.

I rather have sores on my skin than on my head, because I don't like how my mother treated them. Head lice are contagious and the infestation was what my mother worried about the most as they might transfer to other family members.

Having head lice is not a sign of poor hygiene nor poor environment they don't even carry infectious diseases. It's just, I was too fond of sleeping with my playmates in a tiny house we have made as our playground.

Every time I have lice on my head, my mother will treat them right away because I easily got sores and scabs. She will grate coconut and juice out the milk. She will apply it to my head and leave it for an hour. After an hour, she will gonna comb my hair using a hair comb with tiny bristles just like in the photo below.

The brushing process was so hurting especially when she's scraping the scabs. And after brushing, she will shampoo my head and scrub it well to remove the dead lice and scabs. After washing, my scalp was so red and I felt like my head will explode as it was too painful.

My elementary days were like that, but in high school, I started to learn how to take more care of my hair. I always clean my comb and don't use other's comb. I also make sure that my hair was always clean. And I guess the coconut milk treatment every time I have head lice made my hair stronger and thicker.

The shampoo I used for too long was Sunsilk pink partnered with cream silk pink conditioner.

This combination is suitable for my hair type. And for many years of using, I have maintained my hair thick, long, and strong. I also don't like cutting my hair short, only when I need to, because it becomes fizzy and curly. My hair easily grows, and I like the wavy type of it.

But one time I have tried to rebond my hair and that was what I regretted the most. The effect after rebonding my hair wasn't good, it made my hair thinner and weak. And last 2015 when I worked as Caregiver in the Philippines, I suffered from extreme hair loss due to always tying my hair even if it's wet associated with stress and sleepless nights. Every day I was losing, I guess hundreds of hair strands.

My treatment to hair loss:

• Olive Oil: every night before sleeping I always put olive oil on my scalp and massage it for a few minutes and wash it the next day.

• Aloe Vera Extract: because Olive Oil is quite expensive, I have planted aloe vera on a pot and at night before sleeping, I was extracting aloe vera gel and applied it to my hair.

For a few weeks of applying this treatment, I've seen lesser hair loss but I still need to bun my hair, especially at work even if it's still wet. And because of that, I did not try rebonding my hair again as it just made my hair thinner. I continued applying olive oil or aloe vera gel until my hair gets better.

Tips to maintain your hair strong and healthy:

• Choose a shampoo and conditioner suitable for your hair type. In my case, I like using Sunsilk pink and cream silk pink conditioner. But here in HK, I find it hard to look for these two, so I go with other mild shampoos like Dove and Pantene. I also don't like using strong anti-dandruff shampoos as they made my scalp and hair dry.

• Use hair comb accordingly. There are different types of hair comb, the big bristles hair comb is recommended to use for wet hair to avoid too much hair fall, and I use a small bristles hair comb for dry hair.

• Stimulate your natural hair oil. We have natural oil to keep our hair healthy and keep our scalp moist, and one way to stimulate it is by brushing our hair at night before sleeping. Some are lazy to do this especially if they are tired from whole day work but giving a small amount of time to give your hair a few strokes is helpful for its health. I prefer using a boar bristle hairbrush for this, starting from the scalp to the tip of my hair to evenly distribute the natural oil and keep it naturally moisturized.

• Give your scalp a massage. Massaging also helps to stimulate help growth and release natural oil. I'm doing this every bathing, I spend more or less 5 minutes massaging my scalp and at night as well before bedtime.

• Avoid tying your hair when it's still wet. Just I have mentioned above, I was doing this when I worked as a Caregiver as I need to bun my hair. Tying hair when it's wet can cause hair loss.

• Avoid coloring and rebonding your hair. Hair coloring and rebonding can make our hair dry and can make our hair brittle if we overdo it on chemical processes. Just like what happened to my hair, rebonding causes hair fall that made my hair thinner.

• Go for frequent trims than long hair cut. If you want long and healthy hair, having frequent trims is helpful. It is also important to get rid of split ends that break your hair to get longer and healthier hair.

Maintaining strong and long hair seems like forever, and women must tweak a day-to-day hair care regimen because this is a part of us. When we have healthy and long hair, it seems like we are beautiful, and I guess that's one of the factors that make us beautiful. 😊

Keep your hair long and fabulous!

So what's your haircare story? Share it below 😉