Summer is already here but these awesome tips can be used right now to stop hair damage and can be used all year long! Summer usually means sun, salt, chlorine, wind and drying heat. Short of covering up every inch of our locks, there is no way to get past these summertime pitfalls. However, there are ways to protect hair and scalp from the elements and pleasures of summer.

Sunscreen is a MUST whether we are at the pool, ocean or gardening….and not only for our visible skin, but for our scalp and hair. Hair usually worn down becomes tossed up in a ponytail or off we go in that convertible with our hair flying about. In the meantime, the sun’s rays are drying out our hair and beating down on our scalp. New sprays are out there that protect from the sun and can also protect from breakage and wind damage whether windsurfing or taking a wild convertible ride. Oil treatments can also help for hair after the party if we were just not prepared for the fun!

The scalp also can end up with an extra layer of buildup from sun damage flakes and extra product. There is a fun scrub to make that just screams summer. This scrub lets conditioners work on hair and scalp after they have scrubbed away all of the excess. Just squeeze some shampoo into your palm and add a tablespoon of granulated sugar (it’s better on than IN our bodies!)…then mix and add to your head. Massage into your scalp to exfoliate. As the sugar melts away and the shampoo rinses out, your hair and scalp feel a new type of clean! And, the $ you save can buy you an umbrella drink!

Color is also affected by the elements, but once it starts to fade it is too late. Instead, think ahead and use a raw honey mask instead of conditioner the first time you wash your hair after coloring. All it takes is ¼ cup of raw organic honey and enough water to make a mixture you can easily spread on your hair. Leave it in place for 15 minutes and rinse out thoroughly. Add lavender or chamomile for a lovely scent! You can also research conditioners that are specifically made for color-treated hair. Either way you’ll keep your color and shine longer!

Clarifiers also come in handy to keep strands from looking dull and going flat. The difference between limp and luscious is the removal of the buildup of silicones in shampoos and conditioners. Clarifiers can be used once a week. Just wash twice with a clarifier then condition. Big disclaimer here…do NOT use on color treated hair or you will be back to the salon in no time!

Frizz is another condition that LOVES to come out in the summer months! Heat causes curls to unfurl like a flag on the 4^th of July and straight hair to frizz like fireworks! Style extenders can be applied to damp hair and then you can blow-dry, curl OR straighten. The heat from your device activates the ingredients which hydrate hair and block humidity.

If it’s the AMOUNT of hair that you have or don’t have that bothers you, then the latest in a thinning hair treatment is laser hair therapy. A laser hair brush can be used every other day for 15-20 minutes per treatment to stimulate the scalp’s follicles and allow them to produce a thicker, shinier hair shaft. Any viable follicle will respond to the increased blood flow and added nutrients it receives. Using a laser hair brush for hair loss will increase the volume and the quality of your hair. Head into Summer with confidence and some shiny, healthy locks!

Perusing the internet I come across some crazy ideas to cure all sorts of maladies, and the ones that say they cure balding are as varied as any. First of all, according to science, once a hair follicle is dead, then it will not produce a hair again…ever. However, hair follicles can become dormant or temporarily stop producing due to disease or trauma. In these cases hair may either be coming in at a slowed rate or very wispy and almost invisible and shedding is increased so that balding or thinning is increased even more.

So, taking out the idea that a dead follicle can ever produce a hair again, what do these internet wonders offer us for a balding or thinning hair treatment? In many cases, thinning or balding is caused by an excess of the hormone DHT around the hair follicle base. Natural vinegar rinses, shampoos and conditioners tout the ability to remove this chemical as well as the natural debris and residue buildup that can also clog the pore that the hair a follicle produces comes out of.

A clogged pore can hinder hair size and production. These vinegar rinses also balance the pH of your scalp and the natural acids and enzymes kill off bacteria and fungus as well as providing alpha hydroxyl acids loaded with vitamins and minerals. These are called a natural hair loss treatment as they are free of alcohol, chemicals, Gluten, GMOs, paraben, sulfate and animal products. They are also cruelty free, handmade fresh, made in the USA and guaranteed. Benefits include an anti-fade and color safe promise as they are chloride and sulfate free and it seals in color to protect from sun, wind and pool chlorine. It also claims to protect perms, dyes, straightening and other treatments.

If all this is true, however…why aren’t we all using this vinegar rinse and taking a licorice, comfy root, saw palmetto concoction which can be had for pennies compared to expensive transplant surgeries, dangerous prescription drugs or time sapping laser hair treatments??? Well…I think it’s because parts of the claims are true in that these products are better for your hair and scalp than sulfite and chemical laden products and anything natural will let your hair grow faster and healthier because your whole system is healthier…but as far as curing baldness I believe that those claims cannon be true! Snake oil is a term used “way back when” to sell items using blown up claims.

Well, prescription drugs do work to increase hair production but they are very careful to say that it will only increase production in areas of live follicles. Hair transplant surgeries can take hair from fuller areas and put it in thinner or empty areas…but eventually you run out of “donor” follicles and scarring can overtake your scalp and be unsightly through hair you do have. Laser hair therapy however has come a long way from costly and time consuming production it used to be. Instead of visiting the salon every other day for ½ hour plus using time, gas and scheduling…Nutreve International has come up with a hand-held laser hair brush that works just as well at a fraction of the time and cost. The Nutreve Personal Hair Laser has a curved, smooth surface which houses 35 pulsing lasers that stimulate follicular hair growth. It has rechargeable batteries and is used every other day for 20-30 minutes a treatment and the cool, red wavelength lasers do not interfere with any hairstyle, texture, coloration, shampoos and medicines and is safe for all ethnicities and hair types. It is lightweight, rechargeable, cordless highly portable, and discreet. Check out their website as it has a spectacular guarantee and warranty and sells for around $600. This natural hair loss treatment is the best treatment for thinning hair on the market. See their before and after shots along with the testimonials and see what laser hair therapy is all about. It’s NOT snake oil!

Sunlight is a necessity for plant growth and a certain amount of it helps us get our daily dose of Vitamin D. It also heats our water and creates electricity in the latest solar applications. But what happens when there is no sunlight or not enough? We turn to scientifically created light sources. Starting back to the first Edison created light bulb our research has harnessed various intensities and places on the light spectrum to create light that can substitute for natural light.

Grow Lights

Grow lights were invented and brought into small time use years ago. Folks have been able to produce small crops of the legal and illegal kind for years in their basements or unused rooms of the house. Of course these traditional lights take up a lot of expensive electricity and high electric bills were a sure way to catch illegal farming operations. States and countries where light is not as plentiful as others are now watching the proliferation of grow LEDs which will take much less electricity and are on target to make big steps in major food production. Vertical farming added to LED technology made for a first this year as an indoor farm out produced an outdoor farm of comparable size in the State of Indiana. Scientists are researching crop-specific lighting and are helped by the fact that these lights can be in the cool light spectrum which allows them to be close to the actual foliage itself, saving space and diffusion of light.

Laser Light

Laser light also has made leaps in the growth sector. After being mainstream in the cutting and destroying mode, their cool light or red wavelength is now becoming mainstream for healing and growth. The laser hair comb or laser hair brush has been making waves in the hair industry. Laser hair therapy actually increases blood flow in the scalp area and targets the base of the follicles to stimulate production and length of the hair growing phase. Any viable follicle will then produce a stronger, shinier hair shaft much as plant production is increased with LED light. Pulsing laser light is now the optimum combination of duration and frequency for a natural hair loss treatment.

Folks with the beginnings of balding or thinning hair can purchase a simple laser hair brush that runs on rechargeable batteries and needs to be used only for 15-20 minutes every other day for optimum results. Nutreve Personal Hair Therapy Laser products have the most “in-brush” lasers and they pulse as seen to be most effective for the most growth. Their brush has an ergonomic handle and the company even offers a stand for “hands-free” use! Very clever. A smooth, easy to clean, curved surface on the device makes sure that each laser light is focused at the optimum depth to reach the follicle base for the optimum amount of head coverage per treatment. Priced at about $600 for a one-time fee for this in-home thinning hair treatment device, you can feel good about your hair again and the environment as you use less gas and time than traditional salon treatment types.

Laser light is the new benefit for hair!

As we investigate beauty treatments, we certainly come up with various synthetic products that have been proven to not be as helpful as we once thought. Certainly parabens, sulfates and silica gels have had their bad rap over the last few years. Just as with our food, the products we put on our skin, scalp and in our bodies all can sell for two to four times the amount if they can be labeled organic. Manufacturers for the beauty and cosmetic field are certainly not stupid, and they have jumped on the band wagon of organics as well.

There is, however a huge difference between organic and all-natural. Vitamin C tablets for example can come from natural sources, but require synthetic help to keep them stable enough to be sale-able. Organic vitamin C must be eaten in the form of organic fruit. Almost every one of us takes some type of supplement to fill in the holes in a less than complete diet…and therefore we do depend on synthetics or at least non-organics to keep food supplements fresh and safe for consumption. A raw, organic diet is not possible for the majority of us living and working today…but at least we feel better trying to keep away from potentially harmful products as much as possible.

Taking out all synthetics in our beauty regimen would seem impossible as well. Creams, makeup, hair shampoos, conditioners can easily be organic or all-natural, but if we want to avoid lines and wrinkles we usually use sunscreens and products which have synthetic ingredients or would need to stay completely out of the sun to keep those lines, wrinkles and age spots away. Certainly glycolic acid and peptides are synthetic, but a lot of us use those to undo damage caused by the sun and “natural” aging! Hyaluronic acid and alpha-lipoic acid both occur naturally in the body. They have moisture adding and antioxidant qualities, but we cannot obtain enough naturally to fill our skincare lines, so the synthetic versions are used in production. Perfumes have been fooling our nostrils for years with synthetic scents. Most perfumes use synthetic additives or even those that do use natural floral molecules, find they must go through a chemical process to get rid of the unwanted parts and be fit for atomizing. A visit to Sephora lately however, has new rows of totally organic and all-natural scents for sale. Perhaps the shelf-life is not as good, but they do smell marvelous!

Alternative methods to shampooing in general have popped up on the radar. Although dry shampoos or using baby powder to soak up hair oils have been around for a long time but are making a resurgence along with creams that can be applied and rinsed out…no suds and no need for conditioners. Most of these creams are made from natural (some organic) oils. Keeping our scalps free of debris (oils and dead skin cells) is a must however for healthy follicles and hair shafts. The clearer the path, the easier it is for hair follicles to “breathe” and push out healthy hair. What happens though when our hair’s diameter gets smaller or our follicles weaken? Another natural hair loss treatment to the rescue! Nutreve International promotes it’s Nutreve Personal Hair Therapy Laser as a great alternative to taking or applying medicines (Rogaine or Minoxidil) or having surgery to regain that full, shiny head of hair. Their laser hair brush houses 35 cool light, low level lasers that reach down JUST far enough to target the base of the hair follicles where blood flow is increased and nutrients carried in the blood feeds these follicles and thus stimulates stronger, faster hair growth. As a treatment for thinning hair, the lack of synthetics taken orally or manually applied is appreciated and the body actually uses its own system to replenish what it needs for strength and growth.

Organics and naturals are here to stay and they will gradually sift into the plethora of options we have for trying to stay younger looking and healthy at the same time. We may not be able to totally get away from synthetic material use in all of our products…but options are good…and knowledge is better!

We all want it NOW…whatever IT is. I am reading about “exercise in a pill”, “flabby belly eliminators”, “fat dissolving injections” and now “ cloning hair” to solve the age old need for a thinning hair treatment. Of course I remember when thinking that a botulism toxin being injected into my body was crazy! Now it’s the norm. So these other ideas may not be far off in the future either…including a way to clone our hair!

Men usually lose hair in specific parts of their head. This enables hair transplant companies to “harvest” hair from the thicker parts of the head and transfer them to areas where hair is thinning. Women on the other hand usually lose hair all over the head at the same rate, so it is harder to take hair from an area that is already thinning and producing thinner hair strands. The latest cloning idea allows hair to be grown “off site” (in a lab) and transplanted all over the head. This means that a dime sized area of hair can be turned into a whole head of possible implants.

This sounds like it would be an ideal female hair loss treatment. All of this sounds GREAT until you read the fine print! First of all, that would be very costly. It also seems like it would be a lot of surface area and a lot of pain and it would probably need to be done over a long time span to be tolerated. The success of the actual cloning procedure is not expected to happen for another 2-3 years though…and the actual time frame for FDA approval and use is expected to be 10 years for now.

There HAS to be a faster and an easier way to get a fuller head of hair! I believe the best natural hair loss treatment is laser hair restoration. There are several companies out there that offer a laser hair brush or laser hair comb that uses surface lasers pinpointed to the depth of the hair follicles. The laser energy stimulates blood flow and therefore cellular activity in the region. Hair shafts become thicker, hair fuller and shinier and hair loss lessens. Some devices are time consuming and require that you attend a clinic or treatment center for 15-20 minute treatments every other day. Other devices such as caps can be left on too long (which, like exercise can be counter productive!) and some devices are either uncomfortable or use only LED lights and mirrors to make it seem like they have power. The best device I have found is lightweight, portable, and rechargeable and even comes with a hands-free stand for those of us that like to multi-task. The Nutreve Personal Hand Held Laser also has more power and more actual lasers than any other laser hair restoration device AND now they have pulsed waves which is definitely the latest in effectiveness. So, for the time that you are spending to thicken and beautify your hair, you can multi-task and get more results, faster for your money.