protect your hair & skin this winter

The health of your body is influenced by tons of factors like genetic makeup, environment (humidity or dryness, etc), nutrition, beliefs and biochemistry.

Your body communicates via signs and symptoms, so when you have dull hair, thinning nails and broken skin, it’s trying to tell you something.

Your body has a hierarchy of needs, and when you're going through a stressful period, with stress hormones through the roof, energy is given priority to our vital functions such as our heart health, brain and other vital organs.

Non-vital processes such as nail strength, hair, brow, and eyelash lush factor are not deemed as important, so they're put on the back burner and nutrients are channelled away from these processes. The bottom line? Stress has a huge impact on our physical appearance.

protect your skin

dry skin

The main culprits for dry skin are not getting enough healthy fats, suffering poor digestion or choosing the wrong skin-care product. With lowering temperatures in the winter, this tends to be more of a common issue.

• Stay hydrated with herbal teas.
• Make sure you've got healthy fats in your diet.
• See a doctor if you're having digestion problems.

oily skin and/or oily scalp

Greasy skin or a greasy scalp tends to be a sign that your sex hormones are out of whack. If your skin is particularly greasy leading up to your time of the month, this can be another indicator of out of balance sex hormones.

• Amp up the veggies and the whole food fat in your diet.
• Looking at reducing sugar.
• Try deep breathing and calming exercise such as meditation and yoga.

dandruff or flaky scalp

On the other end of the spectrum we can have a dry or flaky scalp. Again, this can happen for a number of reasons. Gut dysbiosis could be one of the reasons. This is when your gut environment is out of balance with some less-than-friendly bacterial species living in your large intestine, often due to high levels of sugar in the diet and not enough fibrous and prebiotic foods (such as green leafy vegetables, leeks, onions, and oats).

Alternatively it could be due to a vitamin A or essential fatty acid deficiency. If you believe that for you it is more likely to be your gut health, trial eating zero refined sugar for four weeks, keeping your carbohydrates from whole food sources such as root vegetables.

Four weeks should be long enough to see a noticeable improvement. Amp up the greens and the whole food fat in your diet as well.

Nutrients for skin: vitamin C, A, riboflavin (B5) and zinc all contribute towards healthy skin.

protect your hair

Hair loss

It’s normal to lose hair (just not large amounts), but if you’re noticing that you are losing more hair than usual then it will reflect an internal process that needs support.

Some areas worth seeking the guidance of a health professional about are thyroid health, adrenal function, iron and vitamin D status and sex hormone balance.

Dry hair and/or split ends

Split ends are perfectly natural, but are made more common by bleaching or using heating appliances. To protect your ends from splitting, there are a few habits you can adopt:

1. Use lukewarm water to wash your hair rather than hot.
2. Don't use more than a coin-sized shampoo dollop.
3. Only shampoo the roots - it dries out the ends.
4. Comb in the shower before rinsing out the conditioner.
5. Pat dry with a towel (rubbing breaks it).
6. Use coconut or argan oil on the ends whilst damp.
7. Let it air dry whenever possible.

Thinning eyebrows

If thinning eyebrows is coupled with low energy, anxiety or low mood, this is almost always a sign that the thyroid needs some tlc. Again, seek the help of a health professional.

Nutrients for hair: Zinc, copper and selenium all contribute towards healthy hair.