Hair-related issues

Some of the hair-related issues include:

• Dandruff
• Hairfall
• Early greying of hair
• Early baldness
• Burning of scalp
• Boils and blisters on scalp
• Inflammation of the scalp
• Growths on scalp but without inflammation

Causes of the hair-related issues include:

• Dryness of hair
• Ageing
• Frequent washing of hair
• Common perception that oiled hair are dirty

Recommendations:

• Oiling of hair must be done, especially before shower.
• Oiling of hair should also be done generally daily. The right time to do the oiling is in the middle of the day as at that time our body can absorb the oil the best and get maximum nourishment out of it.
• If you are oiling at night, please use lesser quantity of oil as only little quantity of oil can actually be observed by our body at that time.
• The only time oiling is not recommended is when one wishes to apply hair mask.
• Head bath should be taken during daytime and not at night. Consistent hair washing at night can lead to serious problems such as mucus accumulation. Links to problems as severe as brain tumour have also been found.
• Do not bathe or swim immediately after food. This also leads to mucus formation.
• Keep your sinuses clean. The mucus accumulated in the sinuses reduces the amount of nutrition absorbed by the scalp and hair.
• Always use lukewarm to cool water for taking head bath. Washing the hair with either too hot or too cold water is very harmful to the overall hair health. Both can result in dryness of scalp and hair.
• When bathing both body and hair together, first the body should be washed and then the hair. The temperature of the water used for washing the hair should be lesser than that of water used for washing the body.
• The right way to wash the hair is by lowering the head after having taken a full bath.
• After bath, hair should be wrapped in a thin towel. The hair should be wrapped at the back of the head and never at the top of the scalp.
• After 10-15 minutes, unwrap the towel from the hair and untangle the hair gently only using fingers. Do not use comb on wet hair.
• Do not use modern electric hair dryer. The hair should be dried using fumigation process with herbal smoke only.
• Use herbal teas to wash your hair.
• Do not use chemical laden products for hair wash and hair conditioning.
• The oils to be used for shiroabhyanga (head massage) can be medicated depending on your hair care needs.
• Sleep well at night. Stress and disturbed or less sleep can also lead to a lot of hair health related problems. For example - Stress leads to tightness of scalp resulting in hairfall.
• Diet should be taken as per ones body type. 
• Balancing the tridoshas as per ones prakruti is the best bet to curing any health-related issue including any hair issues.

Making your hair beautiful:

Healthy hair are beautiful hair. All the hair types - like Vata-type hair or Kapha-type hair are very beautiful as long as the doshas are balanced. 

In the modern world, the beauty standards are being pushed and the individual beauty is getting ignored. Also, with the fast-changing world and overall insecurities being pushed through social media platforms, people tend to change their hair using unnatural hair products like chemical dyes, hair colours, hair bleaching etc. Some processes like hair bleaching can do potentially unrepairable damage to your hair. Even if the hair can be repaired to their natural beauty, the process will be too long and would require a lot of dedication on the part of the person taking those treatments.

Ayurveda does suggest some ways to dye the hair using natural powders such as rhubarb can be used to give a reddish tint to the hair. But this colour is not as long lasting as the chemical-based dyes. 

The ideal way to have beautiful hair is to stick to the hair given to us naturally and taking care of them in such a way that their radiance stays as is and the process of ageing of hair can be delayed. This can be done by frequent oiling, massage, application of hair mask, using various Ayurvedic herbs on your hair etc.