Our skin has little depressions that form pouches that are called hair follicles. A single hair has a root inside the follicle that is seated in a small bulb. The center of each hair is called the papilla; capillaries and nerves are in that center portion. New cells continue to be produced and they divide, forcing the old cells upward and out. These cells die eventually, harden, and become the hair shaft. The cuticle (outer layer) and cortex (below the cuticle and holding the pigment and keratin, a tough protein) are the two layers that make up the hair shaft. The cortex forms the bulk of the hair shaft. Hair on the scalp, which is coarser than body hair has yet another layer called the medulla, and it forms an inner core. Hair needs lubrication or it gets brittle and falls out. There are glands within the follicle called sebaceous glands that take care of that function. We shed the hair on our scalps every two to four years; we shed the hair on our bodies more frequently than that. Your hair color comes from the amount of pigment and air spaces in your cortex and medulla. These are inherited characteristics, which most of us become aware of early on. “She got her hair from her grandmother,” we hear when we are still small children. If the hair doesn't seem to match anyone in the family, the parentage of a child may be questioned.

Let's begin with skin health, since our hair emanates from our skin. If the skin is not nourished properly, then the hair will not be nourished properly, and the effects will become apparent very quickly. So we’re back to what is required to keep the entire system functioning in a healthy way. Raw foods are better quality than cooked foods because cooking depletes vitamins and does damage to proteins and fats, all elements in keeping the skin healthy. In addition, cooking destroys enzymes that are beneficial to digestion, and a malfunctioning digestive system shows up in the texture of the skin and hair pretty quickly. Raw foods provide a balance of water, nutrients, and fiber–essential to good health. Besides protecting you from the cancer-causing free radicals, a byproduct of cooking, a raw-foods diet will protect you from many of the other acute diseases. They help you maintain overall good health, and a healthy system is the best route to healthy skin and hair. Foods brimming with life are fruits, nuts, and vegetables eaten in their raw state. These are the foods that will lead to a healthy head of hair.

OK, OK, you need to shampoo your hair. There are so many hair-care products on the market that making a decision about which ones to use is a challenge. The fact is, most mass-marketed ones have ingredients that may cause cancer or impact neurological, liver, or immune systems in a negative way. Some have even been shown to be dangerous to pregnant women for the risk they are for the unborn fetus. The terms “Hypoallergenic” and “Fragrance Free” don't come under regulations by any one. You have no assurance that even these do not have chemicals in them that can harm. Most of the ingredients in the most commonly-used hair-care products have not been evaluated for safety by the FDA or anyone else. The FDA leaves it to manufacturers to make decisions about what is or is not safe. It's a fact that many of them contain ingredients that have been declared to be human carcinogens. Even if the label proclaims that it is “natural” or “organic” does not assure that the product does not contain chemicals that could cause harm. In fact, many of the ones so labeled do, in fact, have very harmful ingredients.

This matter has been addressed by several companies in the interest of producing safe products that are, in fact, “natural” and “organic.” There are also links to other sites on www.lovelula.com that will lead you to whole lines of safe cosmetics. However, remember that the road to beautiful, strong, healthy hair is not a short one. It's one that includes changing dietary habits and including the lifestyle choices that make for healthy skin and hair. It also requires that you use care in what you put on your hair.

By TTS Cofounder Botanical Chef Omid Jaffari