With skincare an ever popular focus in the beauty industry we decided to explore a part of our skin that we all tend to pay the least attention to... the scalp. The scalp is often overlooked on our journey for healthy long hair, but it is the foundation of the very thing we desire. To all our hair enthusiasts out there, if you’re experiencing troubles achieving your hair goals and feel as though you’ve done all the necessary things with your strands and hair products, it may be time to redirect your focus to where it all begins… to your roots so to speak.
Our scalp is an extension of our skin and it plays a vital role in our hair health. Much like our skin on our body or face, our scalp can also experience issues from oiliness and dryness to eczema, dandruff, and psoriasis. Ensuring that your scalp environment is clean, nourished and free from build-up or inflammation, sets it up to produce and support strong resilient hair.
In this post we’re going to share five of our favourite tips for scalp health that you can seamlessly incorporate into your haircare routine.
1. Scalp Exfoliation
Remember we mentioned our scalp is also a part of our skin and just as we exfoliate the skin on our face and body our scalp requires the same attention. We exfoliate our skin to remove dead skin cells and promote cell turnover and believe it or not our scalp experiences the same phenomenon. Incorporating this in your routine will promotes blood circulation to the scalp and unclog any pores which are hindering your hair growth. We recommend doing this at least once a week or according to your scalp sensitivity.
2. Gentle Cleansing
Our scalp already does a good job at regulating itself with the production of natural oils known as sebum. A clean scalp is very vital to our overall hair health; however, we want to retain the natural oils which our scalp produces. To achieve this, we recommend the use of a sulphate free shampoo. Sulphates can easily strip our hair of moisture and its natural oils leaving it dry and healthy.
3. Scalp Massages
Scalp massages not only feel calming but they are also great for stimulating blood circulation which can promote hair growth. You can practice this during your shampooing or when applying hair oils to your scalp using your fingertips to massage in a circular motion. We recommend using a stimulating oil paired with a scalp massager if you would like to give your fingertips a break.
4. Scalp Hydration
Keeping your scalp moisturised with lightweight serums or oil to moisturise and endure a healthy scalp environment for your follicles. A scalp serum is designed to help hydrate and calm your scalp with the use of anti-inflammatory ingredients. While this is a recent technology within the haircare space it is has numerous benefits to our scalp health such as strengthen the scalp skin barrier, moisturisation and balancing the scalp's oil production. It is best to massage this product into your scalp to allow for proper penetration and is usually best applied overnight.
5. Scalp Protection
Our scalp can also be a victim of sunburn especially since it comes in direct contact with the UV rays of the sun. During intensely sunny days, we advise that you keep your scalp protected by doing the following: maintaining a balanced diet, wearing hats or scarfs and reducing heat styling to prevent scalp dehydration and reduce damage.
Incorporating these scalp care practices into your hair care routine can help lead to a healthier more vibrant scalp and in turn lead to better hair health and length as your scalp is now better equipped to support them. If you do feel as though these tips do not work for you, we advise you visit a trichologist such as Untype Salon in London (where you can also pick up one the extremely popular (and now extremely limited) Tropikara Lava Cap!) for a more in-depth scalp analysis. Let’s not forget that scalp care is a part of self-care.
Written by Precious Adekoye, Lava Intern 2024
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