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Repair Chlorine Damaged Hair-DIY Natural Remedies & Products

I’ve been getting compliments on my hair lately and how healthy it looks. I used to swim regularly for years, and took a year break this past year. One upside of that was focusing on getting my hair back to looking healthy after so much chlorine damage.
Below are DIY remedies & products you can use which helped me tremendously to get my hair back to being healthy:
HAIR MASKS ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀

▫️Coconut oil mixed with Castor oil, or coconut oil alone in my hair overnight. Wash it in the AM. I always have the best shine the next day after doing this one. Make sure to put a towel or extra sheet on your pillow.
You can also do this for a few hours if overnight isin’t an option. For those of you not into DIY, or who want to switch it up, I also use really like using Lani Hair
▫️Avocado, Banana, Manuka Honey and Peach. Mix these in a blender (swipe right👉🏼), leave it in your hair for 30+ minutes. The longer the better!
For the non-DIY version, check out Voyage Hair Spa, fresh organic fruit based hair masks.
▫️Mayonese and Egg. Mix these and put it in your hair for at least 30 minutes. Rinse first with cold water (otherwise the egg will cook), then wash normally. ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀

▫HAIR RINSE ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ️ Apple Cider Vinegar – This helps remove to product build up, particulary helpful for me since I had so much chlorine build up. It also can help to keep your hair and scalp healthy, helping to reduce dandruff as an added bonus. Rinse your hair with this after shampooing and conditioning. Let it sit for a couple of minutes, then rinse with water.

▫️Baking Soda. I also would sometimes add baking soda to this mix and really focus on scrubbing my roots to get out extra chlorine residue/build up. ⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀

HAIR MAINTENANCE: From January -June I got a trim 4-5 weeks. Before that, I was getting a trim every few months and now I am in between the two time frames since a fresh trimmed look got pretty addicting.

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Natural Beach Waves Hairspray

The Beach Waves Hairspray gives a beachy, tousled, wavy or curly effect (as seen in photo). Sometimes I will just use it on my roots if I am looking for more volume. image1-2

Ingredients:

  • 2 tbsp sea salt
  • 1 tbsp epsom salt
  • Lemon essential oil (to make hair lighter & for scent)
  • Lavender essentail oil
  • 1 cup filtered water

For more check out my instagram @nychamptonshealth


Why I ditched my mainstream hairspray: Two very common toxic ingredients in hairspray include fragrance and ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate amongst many others.

  • Fragrance: The major concern with fragrance is that it is not required by law to disclose the individual ingredients used to produce it. Companies can add anything into their product and dub it as “fragrance” which could be a mix of synthetic and natural ingredients.
  • Ethylhexyl Methoxycinnamate. Has been nominated to The National Toxicology Program in 2006. It is a known and studied endocrine disruptor, effecting estrogen and thyroid activity. It affects several body functions including body development, brain functionality and metabolic activity. Estrogenic disruption has been linked to breast cancer.

Moisturizing Hair Masks: This hairspray is drying to the hair due to the salt. Below are some good natural combinations you can try.

Coconut Oil Hair Mask

  • Put Coconut oil all over hair
  • Put a towel over your pillow or hair in a shower cap and leave in over night.
  • It takes a good few washes to fully get the coconut oil out of your hair.

Mayonnaise & Egg Yolk Hair Mask

  • 1 cups mayo
  • 1 egg yolks
  • 1 cup of olive oil
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • Put on Shower Cap or Saran Wrap. Wrap in a warm towel to help Mayo penetrate into hair.
  • Leave on for 30 min.
  • Shower

References

“Campaign for Safe Cosmetics-working for Safer Cosmetics.” Safe Cosmetics. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Nov. 2016.

“Home – National Toxicology Program.” U.S National Library of Medicine. U.S. National Library of Medicine, n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2016.

“Household Products Database – Health and Safety Information on Household Products.” U.S National Library of Medicine. U.S. National Library of Medicine, n.d. Web. 8 Nov. 2016.

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Homemade Organic Dry Shampoo

FullSizeRender (1).jpgAbove is a photo of me using my dry shampoo a few days after getting my hair blown out. 

Ingredients:

  • Arrowroot Powder
  • Cacao Powder
  • Lemon essential oil – to get golden highlights
  • Rosemary essential oil- to promote hair growth
  • Eucalyptus- for a dry scalp

Directions:

  • Use more arrowroot powder for lighter hair and cacao powder for darker hair
  • Massage the arrowroot into your scalp & in first couple of inches of hair if desired.
  • Take note: I personally used arrowroot powder because I wanted to make my hair look lighter.
    • If you decide to mix in cacao, be aware some of this residue could come off onto your pillow at night. I am not sure if it would stain or if any type of bug would be attracted to if (in NYC). I haven’t experimented with this or seen this being an issue in my research but it could be something to keep in mind.

Many of my friends use dry shampoo or baby powder as a dry shampoo on days they want to skip washing their hair or to extend a blowout for a few days.  There have been many links to the talcum in baby powder and cancer. When hearing this, I decided to come up with my own powder very similar to baby powder but one that is beneficial for your skin, hair and body instead of being detrimental toward your health.

In the most recent lawsuit against Johnson and Johnson (February 2016), $72 million dollars was awarded to to a women’s family for using their baby powder which contributed to her ovarian cancer death after 35 years of use. See more in an article here.

For more, check out my instagram at @nychamptonshealth