Hair
Eye Spy… 3 Solutions for Longer Lashes
026 days
As if wrinkles, drooping skin and age spots aren’t enough, aging also takes a toll on hair, nails and even those once long-and-lush lashes.
Yup, it turns out that if thin lashes frame your eyes (regardless of age), they could subconsciously be communicating that you’re past your prime or not as healthy as you should be.
And while most of us enlist the help of our favorite mascara on a daily basis (solution no. 1!), it’s only been in the past handful of years that we’ve discovered just what other eyelash enhancement products can do.
A Lash Apart
As we age, the skin around the eyes falls, fat accumulates and even the lashes begin to thin out. You can get a little pick-me-up with few well-placed injections (Botox brow lift, anyone?) or go full tilt with a surgical brow lift, but beyond the magic of mascara, what’s a girl to do about those limp lashes?
Enter the recent market surge of lash enhancement products. Many are said to make your lashes look longer and healthier, but only one is FDA approved as a prescription product to actually grow new lashes: Latisse (bimatoprost; Allergan). (Solution No. 2!)
But did someone wake up one day and decide it was time to create an eyelash growth product? Not so. Hair growth was actually a side effect patients experienced when treated with bimatoprost (Lumigan; Allergan), a prostaglandin analog in eye drops to control glaucoma and to manage ocular hypertension. When they began complaining that their eyelashes were too long (can you imagine?), a lightbulb went off at Allergan. After the standard clinical trial period, Latisse won FDA approval and the eyelash market exploded.
Latisse essentially works by keeping eyelashes in their growth phase. Applied nightly (to the top lash line only), you may begin to see results in as soon as 8 weeks. By 16 weeks, you can move to a maintenance program, applying the product just twice a week to keep your results. If you stop using it altogether, your lashes will go back to their original appearance. Of course, there are other risks and specific instructions you need to be aware of with Latisse, as is the case with pretty much all prescription products.
Lashing Out
In the meanwhile, a brigade of non-prescription lash enhancing products (Solution No.3!) have come on to the market riding the coattails of Allergan’s Latisse. Since Allergan owns the patent on bimatoprost, all other eyelash products are limited to using other prostaglandin analogs (such as latanoprost) and conditioning ingredients, including polypeptides, amino acids, and vitamins.
FYI, any product that does not have a prostaglandin as the active ingredient won’t actually grow lashes. What they might do is condition the ones you’ve got to help rejuvenate lashes and strengthen them against breakage.
The best way to find one that works? Outside of spending tons of money and trying them all out, do what I do and read the product reviews made by actual users, not those provided by the company on their product sites. (If you don’t want to chance being disappointed, I’d recommend going straight to Latisse!)
Prescription product or not, just remember, whether it’s age-related or just a matter of the genes your mamma gave you, a little eyelash therapy might be just what the doctor ordered.
How Healthy Is Your Hair?
047 days
Most (if not all) of us are using some combination of treatments and products to try and straighten, curl or color our way to a perfectly manicured coiffe. But what we do to make our hair look fabulous is also often the culprit behind irreparable damage. (Oh, the irony!)
Yes, chemical treatments, high heat and over styling can all cause damage to your hair. Because hair is porous—damaged hair even more so—it readily absorbs what you put into it. But different hair types also have different thresholds, some being inherently weaker than others. Curly locks, for example, are drier than straighter strands and thus are more prone to damage. But no matter your hair type, we all share one goal for maintaining healthy hair: Protect the cuticle—a layer of keratinized scales that protect the hair and gives it texture, luster and light.
The truth is, there isn’t much we do to our hair that doesn’t cause damage. Hair extensions and hair pieces can cause temporary or permanent hair loss by pulling on the hair. Even the simple act of brushing your hair too often or too harshly can make it weak and more vulnerable to chemical treatments and styling methods. But before you toss the comb and give up altogether, consider these ways to keep the damage at bay.
1. Cool, Calm & Collected
Heating wet hair is a no-no. When heated, the water in your hair turns to steam and causes a condition called bubble hair, which damages the protective hair cuticle. Whether it’s a hair drier, hot rollers or a flat-, curling-, or crimp-iron, if you have frizzy ends or fragile hair that easily breaks, it’s time to turn down the heat.
- Allow your hair to at least partially air dry
- Stop or minimize the source of heat damage
- Use a temperature-controlled device and gradually increase heat
2. Go Light on Chemicals
Chemical processing—to straighten, curl or color—are surefire ways to cause trauma to tresses. (Combine one or more of these together, and it’s double trouble!) Chemicals cause moisture loss, and are responsible for making hair dry, dull, and prone to breaking.
While studies show no link between chemicals in hair color and cancer, frequent coloring can damage the hair. Permanent hair color is oxidative, causing an actual chemical reaction in the hair to achieve the desired color. The ingredients in hair relaxers—lye, sodium hydroxide, and other alkaline products—also increase your risk for hair breakage and loss. Formaldehyde, a known carcinogen, is a concern in the keratin-based hair straightening treatments (eg, Brazilian Blowout), but it’s also the damaging effects of the flat iron used in the process to seal the cuticle that garners concern.
- When possible, extend the time between straightening/relaxer treatments (the less you process, the less the damage!)
- Choose a color close to your natural color (in other words, if you’re a natural brunette, don’t go platinum)
- Go with a semi-permanent or temporary hair color, which is non-oxidative and uses color compounds that stain the hair directly
3. Get Style Savvy
Whether it’s tension from hair extensions or the simple act of brushing curly, dry or fragile hair, these can cause hair breakage or loss. In fact, if you keep your hair in tightly bound in braids or cornrows or weighted down by hair pieces for too long, you may also experience permanent hair loss.
- Don’t pull hair too tight into ponytails or braids
- Don’t brush your curls
- Opt for styles that don’t force your hair into unnatural positions, or be sure to change your hairstyle frequently
- See your dermatologist for unexplained hair loss
4. Shade Smarts
Sun damage isn’t just a skin-related concern—it can damage your hair and scalp too. UV rays can negatively affect your color, dry out your hair, lead to split ends, and burn your scalp! Because your hair is porous and absorbs water (and whatever happens to be in the water), frequent exposure to chlorine-treated water can also affect the condition and color of your hair.
- Use a hair spray or product with UV protection
- Get your hair wet with non-chlorinated water before you get in the pool
- Cover up—wear a hat or swim cap
5. Start Simple
Whether it’s to clean, moisturize, smooth or gloss there are tons of products that claim to solve whatever your hair-related, sometimes seasonal, headache may be. (After all, summer brings humidity and winter brings a lack thereof!) But before searching for solutions, first try stepping back to the basics.
To bring back the basics…
- Brush your hair twice a day to equally distribute natural hair oils
- When you shampoo, focus on the scalp and let the shampoo run through the rest of your hair
- When you condition, start with your ends and work backwards, up to the scalp to avoid creating an
- Use a pH balanced shampoo to control frizz
Low Calorie? Limp Hair
085 days
If low-calorie is your table-side mantra, you may also unintentionally be ordering up limp hair. It’s true: What you don’t eat could have a detrimental effect on the health and appearance of your hair.
But you can turn the tables on less-than-desirable locks and regain the luster by including specific nutrients, including omega-3s, iron, protein and vitamin A, in your daily diet.
Consider adding these hair enhancers to the list on your next trip to the local grocer:
- Fish, flaxseeds and beans for omega-3 fatty acids
- Oatmeal and lentils for iron
- Meat or tofu for protein
- Carrots for vitamin A
Not only will you hair look and feel healthier as it grows out, but this power-punched combination will have your body better balanced too!
Stressed Out Tresses
085 days
Does stress affect hair loss? You bet it does. But until recently, only the limited effectiveness of standard hair-restoration remedies have been available to treat stress-related hair loss. Interestingly, it took a team of researchers looking at chronically stressed mutant mice to discover a better way of addressing the issue. And it was completely by accident.
Meet the astressin-B peptide for hair growth. Researchers injected astressin-B into mice that were genentically altered to over produce a stress hormone called CRF (corticotrophin-releasing factor). As these mice age, they lose the hair on their backs. But researchers weren’t looking at hair at all. They were studying the effect of how the astressin-B’s CRF blocking ability would affect the GI tract. The mice received a shot per day for five consecutive days. Three months later, the mice experienced remarkable hair regrowth and maintained the effects for up to four months. Considering the average mouse life span is less than two years, those are long-lasting results that may bode well for our own species.
