Winter is finally here and it comes with the difficult days of managing our hair that often go dry and lose their shine due to the wintry winds and the drop in temperature. Low moisture in the air makes our hair grow dry, frizzy, and dull leading it to breakage. There are many factors behind hair damage during winter season. You can use various natural ingredients to prepare hair masks at home. It will not only help in fighting winter hair care problems, but also improve its natural quality in terms of shine, breakage, etc.
Ayurveda says that the wellbeing of our body is directly related to the level of our Tridoshas which are Vata, Pitta, and Kapha. Their levels can get affected due to several internal and external factors including food habits, weather changes, etc. Onlymyhealth editorial team spoke to Dr. Chandravali Madan, Ayurveda Expert at HairVeda, to know about the causes for hair damage in winters and ayurvedic tips to maintain them.
Causes of hair damage in winters
As per Ayurveda, the Vata Dosha gets serious in winter, causing various problems in hair-like ‘Keshpatan’ i.e., hair fall, ‘Kesh Rukshata’ means dryness, and ‘Darunaka’ meaning dandruff. Therefore, maintaining a regular haircare routine with ‘Shiro Abhyanga’ meaning head massage with Ayurvedic herbal oils can easily smoothen the scalp and strengthen the hair roots. Other factors behind hair damage and dandruff in the winter season are:
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1. Decreased sebum secretion
Our body’s heat mechanism system constantly maintains an optimal temperature for functioning our body enzymes. The cold weather outside thus curbs the body for the subcutaneous blood flow to the skin to decrease the heat escape. The production of sebum from our sebaceous glands thus gets affected due to the lesser heat escape and leads to dryness and create dandruff.
Also read: Winter Hair Care Tips: Must-Know Facts And Myths About Overall Health Of Your Hair
2. Cuticle layer
The dryness in the hair during winter sometimes raises our hair’s cuticle layer and shifts the hair moisture to escape into the air. This raised cuticle makes the hair drier leading to hair damage.
3. Lesser moisture in air
The moisture content in the air goes lower in the winter season. Thus, our hair easily gets dehydrated and the low moisture frizzes the hair making it dull, dry, and static.
Ayurvedic tips to keep hair healthy in winters
All these causes for dull and dry hair require proper care and moisturisation to keep our hair, shiny and damage-free during the winter season. There are a few Ayurvedic treatments that not only nourish the hair during the winter season but keep it strong, healthy, and dirt-free all through the year. Here are a few Ayurvedic remedies to follow to keep healthy and damage-free hair in winter season:
- Increasing the intake of dry fruits and seeds
- Increase using more spices like turmeric, cardamom, pepper, etc. that warm the body
- Teas such as green tea, chamomile tea, or masala chai are good to keep the body warm
- Better not to eat many sweets or sugary foods
- Wash hair with lukewarm water to keep it warm and damage-free
- Apply and massage an Ayurvedic herbal hair oil before every hair wash
In addition to the above solutions, wearing a hat while going out helps that. It is also significant to avoid going out in wet hair and wash the hair only two times a week. Frequent trimming is also needed by removing the split ends at regular intervals. Regular trimming brings the bounce back in hair and prevents hair from breakage due to the split ends. To avoid breakage, it is good to keep the body hydrated to pacify the Vata Dosha. All these tips can keep your hair healthy during winter season.