Do you have little white flakes on your shoulders when you wear dark clothes?
Does your scalp itch or does your hair appear dull and dry?
Does your hair take a long time to grow out?
Consider exfoliation and scalp stimulation!
Exfoliation. It is a well-known skin care concept, but our scalps are also in need of it. One of the best things we can do for the health of our hair is to brush and massage our scalps. We need to remove that buildup of old, dry, flaky skin cells on our scalps that are found in between our strands of hair, because the hair helps to retain those shed cells and causes them to build up.
Our hair will be more shiny and our scalps will be more healthy if we do!
This removal can be done by regularly brushing and massaging our scalps thoroughly. It can be done during shampooing with a palm brush, or during pre-shampoo dry brushing using an old-fashioned bristle brush. Be gentle with the actual hair strands, and focus pressure on the scalp.
When the scalp is brushed, it also causes the blood to circulate faster and that brings nutrients to the papilla of the hair.
Some people even enjoy faster hair growth when they regularly stimulate their scalps!
It is also important to remember that a good scalp massage needs to be done on a regular basis, because the skin of our scalp is always regenerating- turning over completely every month to six weeks or so. That means that we always have a completely new layer of fresh skin cells that need to be uncovered. We don't need to give the legendary 100 strokes like the old days, just a few minutes of stimulating brushing or massage will do the trick!
If you have a dry, tight, itchy, or flaky scalp , or you just can't remember the last time you used a bristle brush or a shampoo massager on your scalp, maybe it's time to consider adding this important step to your hair care routine.
NOTE: Clinical dandruff must be treated by a doctor and whether or not brushing is appropriate must be determined with an exam and done under a doctors's care.
The type of brushes do make a difference. A shampoo palm brush is fairly simple and just about any type will be great, but modern blowdrying or styling brushes don't concentrate the bristles enough to do a thorough job of getting the blood flowing and to remove the most debris.
There are a couple links below to show what kind of brushes I am referring to.
Thank you for reading, and best wishes to you as you add this step to your self-care routine!
If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at studiorollers@gmail.com
Cynthia
Bristle Brush
Shampoo Palm Brush