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Salt for hair growth and health? Hmmm…
Would you believe if we say that salt, which you use to enhance the taste of your everyday meals, can also be a part of your hair care regimen? Yes, you read that right!
Salt, an essential kitchen staple can be your secret ingredient too to help achieve rich volume and textured hair.
In this article, let’s understand more about the different types of salts that can be used for hair, how your scalp and hair benefits from them and what are the right ways to use them. Read on.
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ANSWER: One of the best ways to use salt for promoting hair growth is to massage your scalp with a mixture of salt and oil every week to help reduce hair loss. Salt opens up pores on the scalp to allow for proper and faster hair growth.
Some of the other ways that salt water for hair can help promote hair growth include reducing hair loss, healing itchy and flaky scalps, promoting blood flow, and adding nutrients to the scalp.
Salt for hair adds nutrients and minerals to the hair. Salty water contains several nutrients and vitamins like potassium, selenium, and magnesium, promoting hair growth when absorbed into the scalp.
Salty water also helps to get rid of harmful elements like mercury from your hair. Salty water for hair also acts as a natural clarifying shampoo. It cleans out all the heavy oils and excess sebum that make hair greasy and can destroy hair growth.
Using salt-added water on the scalp and hair excessively can result in hard water hair loss.
Hence, it is very important to understand when you can use salt for your hair and when you should not.
Typically, using salt has a different impact on different hair types. It may be more beneficial for people with normal or oily hair types.
Though salt for hair has many benefits for your scalp and hair, the osmotic activity of the salt on your hair can make it dehydrated and feel dry.
This, in turn, increases brittleness and split ends over time. Hence it is better to use salt on dry hair only occasionally while it needs to be followed by proper moisturizing and conditioning treatments.
Especially, people with chemically treated hair are not recommended to use salt on their scalp and hair as it can result in gradual color fading.
To minimize the dryness caused by salt, you can apply oil generously to your scalp and hair before using salt.
Also, after application, wash your hair properly and clear your hair from any trapped salt crystals.
ANSWER: Yes, salt in shampoo is bad for you hair even though it’s the most widely used viscosity enhancer in shampoo formulas. Even though it’s not good for your hair it is commonly used in combination with sulfate surfactants because we all love the feel of a thick, rich shampoo.
From a manufacturer’s standpoint it is an expensive texture to produce.
There is a trick though, companies can add salt, or sodium chloride (it’s chemical name), to a water-thin product and make it nice and thick.
This is very common in drugstore shampoos and far more common in other shampoos than you might think.
Manufacturers prefer using sodium chloride for thickening purposes because it is an effective and fairly cheap thickening agent.
Salt has its good uses for hair, but don’t use shampoos made with salt in it.
Epsom salt for hair may enhance hair and scalp health but the clinical proof falls behind the anecdotal evidence.
Some hair health authorities say magnesium is an essential mineral for hair and scalp health. Magnesium sulfate contains magnesium, and thus could strengthen scalp and hair.
Again, there’s no research showing topical Epsom improves scalp or hair health.
In fact, studies have shown that applying magnesium to your skin or hair is not an effective way to absorb it and experience any benefits.
On the other hand, other studies suggest that areas of skin with lots of hair follicles, like the scalp, may better absorb magnesium. Still, more research is needed.
ANSWER: You can use salt for removal of very light facial hair. One smart way you can use salt for hair removal is making an ayurvedic salt scrub. A good salt recipe for hair removal is a scrub that can be prepared by mixing turmeric and salt in some lemon juice and milk.
Salt would exfoliate your face, and it will also remove unwanted facial hair. Massage this scrub for five minutes before rinsing it off.
Salt can be a wonderful ingredient for hair care as it supports healthy hair growth naturally. Scrubbing your scalp with salt can help in arresting hair fall and slowing down hair loss.
However, remember that salt scrubs are not ideal for all scalp types. People with wounded, damaged, or acne-prone scalp should avoid the process of exfoliating their scalp with salt.
Consult your doctor before using salt for hair to understand better if it suits your scalp and hair type.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Melissa Lee
Melissa Lee is a Contributing Editor to NHP and a former owner of the BlackhairOMG website. She formed 4C Trichology Growth Services, LLC., a US based hair care consultation service. She has also contributed as a writer and consultant for various hair and beauty websites. Melissa can be followed on Twitter here.