How To Restore Shine In Your Dull Hair?

Do you want to transform your dull-looking hair into shiny, bouncy locks? Well, you can easily achieve the desired results by practicing Ayurveda-backed hair care remedies.

“The key is to make the cuticle [1] of your hair strand flat and even so that it reflects light uniformly. The more lightweight your hair is, the bouncier it can get,” says Dr. Zeel Gandhi, Chief Ayurvedic Doctor at Vedix..

Scroll down to know what causes dull hair and how you can restore your hair’s shine with Ayurveda.

Highlights:

• What Does Dull Hair Mean According To Ayurveda?
• What Causes Dull Hair?
• How To Make Dull Hair Shiny?

What Does Dull Hair Mean According To Ayurveda?

Ayurveda believes that your body, mind, and soul are governed by three vital energies: Vata, Pitta, and Kapha doshas. An imbalance occurring in any of these doshas can cause different diseases, including scalp and hair problems. One can acquire healthy hair along with a healthy body, mind, and soul when the Ayurvedic doshas are in equilibrium.

Your hair starts to lose its natural shine when it is dehydrated. As per Ayurveda, elevation in Vata doshas increases the dryness in your scalp tissues, whereas the synthesis of scalp oils and sebum[2] decreases. As a result, your hair lacks protein nourishment. This leads to an increase in your hair porosity caused by elevated cuticles.

Different elements such as used hair products, hard water minerals, dust, and other pollutants build up in your dry and porous hair, weighing it down and turning the texture rough and matte. This is what we call ‘dull hair’.

What Causes Dull Hair?

As discussed above, dull hair is the result of product residues and pollutants build up in extremely dry and porous hair.

Factors causing dryness and porosity in your hair (increase in Vata levels):

1. Lack of nutritional diet

2. Heat styling

3. Harsh chemicals in hair products such as sulfates and alcohol

4. Overexposure to UV radiation

5. Stress and anxiety[3]

6. Poor lifestyle such as working late night, smoking, and alcohol consumption

Factors causing product and pollutant build-up in your hair:

A. Not washing your hair properly and regularly

B. Using hair products that contain silicones that are not water-soluble

C. Washing your hair with hard water

D. Excessive use of chemical hair products that are gummy and greasy such as gels, sprays, serums, and conditioners

How To Make Dull Hair Shiny?

Transforming your dull hair to shiny hair involves two steps:

1. Hair Detoxification: Eliminating the buildup of products, sweat, dust, and other pollutants from your hair with deep cleansing.

2. Nourishment & Hydration: Moisturizing and enclosing your hair cuticles with nourishing treatments that bring your aggravated Vata dosha to balance.

1. Hair Detoxification

A. Regular Hair Wash

Dirt and grime from the environment along with product residues ruin your hair texture if you do not wash your hair regularly. Ensure you wash your hair at least twice a week with lukewarm water, which works to dissolve the greasy particles accumulated in your hair.

“After working on your scalp, allocate a few minutes to massage your hair shaft gently with the shampoo,” says Dr. Zeel.

B. Rinsing Properly

The situation worsens if you do not rinse your hair thoroughly during hair wash. It leaves shampoo and conditioner residues, otherwise. After a point when you think that you have rinsed your hair enough, give it a final rinse with slightly colder water to enclose your hair cuticles. This locks the absorbed water molecules in your hair tissues which keeps them hydrated and shiny.

C. Using Right Shampoo

For better hair detoxification, it is necessary to choose the right shampoo based on your hair type. Especially when you have extremely dry hair, you need to pick the shampoo that not only cleans your hair but works to nourish your scalp and hair with rich vitamin, mineral, and protein content.

Stay away from shampoo containing sulfates or sulfonates as they can be harsh on your hair. “Herbs such as shikakai, reetha, bhringraj, hibiscus, aloe vera, triphala, amla, etc. have natural saponins and shampoos made of these ingredients give your hair a gentle yet deep cleanse,” says Dr. Zeel.

Vedix Tip: If the toxin build-up is more, then you can go for herbal clarifying shampoos or detox shampoos that have natural ingredients such as activated charcoal to clean your hair.

D. Herbal Hair Products

While the harsh chemicals in hair products aggravate the hair damage, the silicones and parabens present in them increase the product build up over time. It is always better to prefer natural herbal hair serums, sprays, and conditioners that are lighter and gentler on your hair.

E. Home Remedies

• Blend equal parts of apple cider vinegar, aloe vera gel, and bentonite clay powder into a fine paste as required for your hair length. Spread this paste generously on your hair and put on a shower cap. Leave it for half an hour and rinse it with a cup of white vinegar before the paste dries out. Wait for a couple of minutes and then wash your hair using a clarifying shampoo. Use bentonite clay powder in lesser amounts if you have extremely dry hair.
• Add a spoonful of baking soda to a cup of warm water and mix it. Run the solution through your wet hair. Massage your hair gently from roots to tips for a few minutes. Wait for 15-20 minutes and then wash your hair with a mild herbal shampoo.
• Squeeze a lemon into a half liter of warm water. Run the solution through your hair and let your scalp and hair soak in it for about 20 minutes. Finally, wash your hair properly with water.

F. Keeping Hair Tangle Free

The tangles in your hair trap more dust and pollutants from the environment. Make a habit of brushing your hair twice a day to keep it tangle-free, especially when you step out.

G. Shielding Hair From Environmental Pollutants

You need to protect your scalp and hair by wearing a cotton scarf whenever possible if you are outside your home. This not only shields your hair from environmental pollutants but also heat damage caused by UV radiation.

2. Nourishment & Hydration Of Hair

A. Regular Oil Treatment

Lubricating your hair shafts with oil treatments is necessary to prevent any hair damage. Oiling reduces the friction between hair strands, enhances shine while reducing hair breakage. Massage your scalp and hair at least 20 minutes before your hair wash. You can use hair oils with protein-rich herbal ingredients that specifically work to balance your elevated Vata dosha.

“Herbs such as shatavari, vidarikand, ashwagandha, guduchi, brahmi, kapikachhu, gokshura, etc. in your hair oil help to provide deep nourishment and conditioning to your hair while pacifying Vata dosha,” says Dr. Zeel.

B. Conditioning Hair Masks

• Blend ½ cup of yogurt, a spoon of apple cider vinegar, and a spoon of honey into a fine mask. Apply it thoroughly across your scalp and hair. Wait for half an hour and rinse it off with a herbal shampoo.
• Add ¼ cup of aloe vera gel into ¼ cup of any carrier oil such as argan, coconut, or almond oil. Apply this mask over your scalp and hair and wash it off with a herbal shampoo after half an hour.
• Smash a banana and add half cup of coconut milk to it. Apply this paste to your scalp and hair. Wash it off properly with cold water after half an hour.

D. Ayurvedic Diet

Lack of necessary nutrients in your diet is one of the predominant factors that cause an imbalance in Vata dosha. Your hair follicles need vitamins, minerals, proteins, and other nutrients for healthy growth. However, you need to ensure that you have a well-balanced meal with Vata-dosha-specific foods (which do not aggravate Vata dosha but keep it in balance).

Organic oils, apples, bananas, coconuts, oranges, carrots, onions, garlic, sweet potatoes, almonds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, eggs, fish, chicken (usually, white meat), paneer, soy milk, etc. are some of the Vata dosha balancing foods you can incorporate into your daily meals.

Also, avoid processed, fried, or baked foods as they tend to raise your Vata levels, which in turn aggravate your dry hair problems.

E. Ayurvedic Lifestyle

You need to have a stress free lifestyle to keep your doshas in balance.

• Avoid smoking and alcohol consumption [4]
• Drink adequate water in a day
• Get adequate sound sleep
• Maintain your mental and physical balance with yoga, exercise, and meditation

E. Avoiding Heat Styling

Heat styling dehydrates your hair and makes it extremely frizzy. You need to minimize the usage of flat irons, curling rods, and hair dryers on your hair. If possible, avoid using them completely and let your hair air dry naturally.

F. Avoid Chemical Treatments

Chemical treatments such as bleaching, coloring, and hair smoothening can damage your strands over time. Hence, it is best to avoid such treatments or seek natural or herbal alternatives.

G. Trimming Split Ends

Even after detoxification and conditioning, your hair cannot reflect the light properly if you have messy split ends. Hence, it looks dull. Trim your split ends regularly to achieve more shine and style to your manes.

H. Gentle Towel Drying

Avoid rubbing your hair vigorously with a towel after your hair wash as it can disrupt the integrity of cuticles. Use your hands to squeeze off the water from your hair gently as much as possible. Then, wrap your hair slightly loose using a cotton towel, which absorbs the leftover moisture.

The Last Word

You need to find the root cause to address your dull hair problems with usage of right products and treatment. You can easily restore your hair’s shine with simple Ayurvedic remedies that have no side effects. Ayurveda has a vast range of herbs that helps you bring your elevated doshas to balance while deep cleansing your scalp and hair gently. At Vedix, we formulate a customized Ayurvedic hair care regimen that works for your unique hair problems by pacifying your aggravated doshas.