Womens Health Australia September 2017

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Beauty&Style hair repair

FINE HAIR

The complaint

Scalp glinting through your strands would

make anyone self-conscious. But according

to regrowth treatment specialist Regaine,

one in three women notice hair thinning or

report hair loss after the age of 30. Yikes!

The quick-fix fail

What hair extensions give with one hand

they take away with the other. They pull out

hair at the roots, causing traction alopecia.

And while you might think a ‘volumiser’

would add guts, adding too much can weigh

down fine hair, leaving it flatter to the head.

Your new strategy

One thing that could be causing lacklustre

locks? Malassezia globosa, a fungus (yep,

fungus) that lives on the scalp, eating sebum

and excreting oleic acid. For 50 per cent of

people it doesn’t pose a problem, but for the

other half it causes clogged pores and follicles

and accelerates hair loss. Kill it with micro-

zinc in head & shoulders 3ActionFormula

range, $12.49 (4+5, see over page). A good

diet – including protein, carbs, zinc and

iron – is essential for good hair. Aesthetic

practitioner Natali Kelly says: “Stress or

illness will divert nutrients from the scalp to

the area that needs it most because hair isn’t

essential for survival”. A clinical hair treatment

known as Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) can

help. It uses marine collagen supplements

and a platelet-rich plasma, where the patient’s

own blood is extracted then injected into

the scalp to infuse follicles with nutrient-rich

blood. The results? Increased blood flow

makes hair strands more vertical rather

than lying flat to the head, and follicles are

energised. Want something slightly less

invasive? Use a product which contains five

per cent minoxidil. It causes blood vessels to

dilate at a level proven to make the growth/

shedding cycle work in your favour.

CURLY HAIR

The complaint

Those of us with poker-straight strands

would kill for tumbling curls. The reality?

Far less glossy. “Naturally curly hair is prone

to dryness because of the structure of

the hair,” says Jules Peacocke, owner and

director of Lily Jackson Hair & Makeup,

Sydney. “The natural oils are not able to

travel all the way down the hair strand as

easily.” Kathy Rogerson, P&G’s head of

scientific communications, adds: “Normal

washing and styling can disrupt the layered

outermost cuticle of the hair. Messing up

this usually flat coat can leave hair frizzy and

dull.” Think Sarah Jessica Parker circa 1998.

The quick-fix fail

Most curly hair can’t take the heat from

straighteners. “High temperatures alter the

proteins that give curls their shape, leaving

them limp,” says Rogerson. And the alcohol

in styling mousses and sprays will leave a

crunchy mess like a packet of dried noodles.

The first rule of sculpting your dream body?

Learn to work with what you got. There’s no

point punishing yourself in pursuit of impossible

goals. Same goes for your hair. “By trying to fix a

so-called problem, you can sometimes exacerbate

it,” explains Sally-Ann Tarver, a trichologist (fancy

term for hair and scalp specialist). “Repeatedly

straightening curly hair, for example, makes it drier

and coarser, resulting in more of the frizz you’re

trying to get rid of.” So we asked the pros for the

biggest gripes – and insider tricks to solve them.

SEPTEMBER 2017 womenshealth.com.au 65