Tag Archives: Sam Macdonald Hair

Is There A Way To Save Water With Shampoo Choice?

Is There A Way To Save Water With Shampoo Choice

Sam Macdonlad Hair | Hairdresser Trigg Scarborough Double View City Beach Wembley Downs North Beach Karinyup Carine Duncraid Sorrento | Is There A Way To Save Water With Shampoo Choice

Is there a way to save water with shampoo choice? Well it wouldn’t be much of a post if the answer was no would it… ?

You’ve been given shampoo products for years that foam up. Now you feel like if it doesn’t foam well, its not doing its job. What you may not realise is that sulphates are that thing that gives you all the foam.

Sure foam makes you think your hair is clean but it also takes a lot of rinsing to remove it from the hair.

You’ve surely heard by now of sulphate free shampoos and most of you would prefer to use them. Sulphates are linked to allergic reactions in some people. In an age where we are becoming more allergic it makes sense to not use unnecessary irritants.

The great thing about sulphate free shampoos is that because they foam less, they rinse more easily and quickly from your hair.

There you have it, yes there is a way to save shampoo with buying choice. ?

If you’d like to book an appointment to give your hair or scalp some love. I’d be happy to talk through it’s current condition as part of your initial consultation. All the details to make a booking can be found here.

Selenium And Your Hair

Selenium And Your Hair

Sam Macdonald Hair | Hairdresser Trigg Scarborough North Beach Sorrento Karrinyup Wembley Downs Doubleview | Selenium And Your Hair | Hair Health

You may not think selenium is as important for your hair and your health as some vitamins because you only need such a small amount. It is however super important and also not found in proper amounts in Australian soils. What does this mean?  Simply that its hard to get enough from the average diet.

So what’s it good for?

With hair in particular it is important because it assists in the bodies production of Keratin. Keratin is the protein your hair and skin is made up of. Without Selenium it may not be as strong and resistant to damage.

This mineral is important for thyroid as it needs a higher level of selenium than any other organ in your body. A common side effect of thyroid issues is hair loss.

Selenium has been linked to helping prevent heart disease which is a massive problem in Australia. Selenium reduces inflammation which is one of the main risk factors for heart disease. It also lowers oxidative stress in the body.

Selenium helps to boost your immune system by lowering inflammation, can help with asthma symptoms and helps prevent mental decline.

It does all this and more, so you can see why it’s important not only for hair health but also for your entire body.

Some place to find selenium naturally are:

– oysters (yuk ?)

– Brazil nuts that aren’t grown in Australia

– yellow fin tuna

– eggs

– sunflower seeds

– shiitake mushrooms

One word of warning with Selenium though, you CAN have too much and that’s bad too. We only need a small amount and too much can lead to other issues. However the chance of too much in Australia unless you eat a lot of imported ingredients is unlikely as our soils are deficient of it.

As always if you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask.

If you’d like to book an appointment to give your hair or scalp some love. I’d be happy to talk through it’s current condition as part of your initial consultation. All the details to make a booking can be found here.

Follicles

Follicles

Sam Macdonald Hair | Hairdresser Tigg Scarborough Dauncraig Karinyup |scarborough Sorrento Follicles

Ever wondered about your follicles?

I thought so, here is all the information you need to be enlightened!

Humans are born with all of their hair follicles and there is no possible way to increase the number of follicles you have. More follicles would equal more hair but you’re stuck with what you have.

Interestingly though some people have more hair coming out of these follicles. People with super thick hair often have 4 thick hairs coming out of each follicle, (technical name is terminal hair). As well as these you could have 2-3 baby hairs coming out of the same follicle, (named vellus hairs).

People with fine hair like me will only have 1-2 terminal hairs and 1-2 vellus hairs coming out of each follicle.

As your hair thins with age your terminal hair number can reduce and the terminal hairs can turn into vellus hairs. A good example of this is when you see a man who’s bald but still has soft fine hairs in that, ‘bald’, area.

The best things to keep these follicles producing the best that they can is to look after your body and treat it kindly. Give it good food, great vitamins and keep that stress at bay. Good luck with that last one…

If you’d like to book an appointment to give your hair or scalp some love. I’d be happy to talk through it’s current condition as part of your initial consultation. All the details to make a booking can be found here.

Put Your Hands Up If You Want Thicker Hair

Put Your Hands Up If You Want Thicker Hair

Sam Macdonald Hair | Hairdresser Trigg Scarborough Karinyup Carine Duncraig Noth Beach Hands Up If You Want Thicker Hair

For those of us who are a little lacking in the hair department, (that would be me), who has ever wished they could have hair more like this beautiful girl eating a flower.

How many different products or gimmicks have you tried to see if you can change the hair you were born with?

Sadly, we can’t create more actual hair on our heads. We can however, make the most of what we have. There are two main parts to this.

Firstly, we have to make sure we get the right nutrients and lead a good lifestyle will give our bodies a chance to make the best hair we can have.

I’ve covered this in more detail in previous posts so I if you’d like more information please feel free to go back and have a look.

So that’s got the body covered to create the best hair it can. Once its out of your head there are things we can do to make it fuller and have more volume.

– A bodifying shampoo and conditioner to help create body

– Styling products especially for your hair, things that are great for fine hair are texturizing dust, mousse and styling sprays.

– Learning how to properly blow-dry and style your hair. YouTube has heaps of tutorials or you could book a blow-drying lesson with me.

– Hair extensions can be used to create more volume.

– Hot rollers, teasing and a good hair spray. Yes, it sound old fashioned but it can do the trick!

The big key here is to educate yourself on the options. Next time you’re at the hairdresser don’t be scared to ask for tips. Look up from the magazine or your phone to see what your hairdresser is doing and maybe you’ll pick up some tips…

If you’d like to book an appointment to give your hair or scalp some love. I’d be happy to talk through it’s current condition as part of your initial consultation. All the details to make a booking can be found here.

Females Pattern Bladness

Female Pattern Baldness

Sam Macdonald Hair | Hairdresser Trigg North Beach Sorrento Karinyup Carine Duncraig Scarborough | Female Pattern Baldness

Fun Fact! 40% of women have female pattern baldness, (hair loss), by the time they go through menopause.

Here we were thinking it was just the blokes that had to endure this. In fact, most men who will go bald will notice it starting in their 20’s. At least us women can add a couple more decades on…

Some things that can affect hair loss are lack of required minerals in our bodies, stress or shock. In all honesty we can’t always stop this happening but we can slow it down and, in some cases, stop it completely.

First things first, lifestyle.

If you are not getting all the vitamins and minerals you need, your hair will suffer. Actually, your whole body will suffer but your hair will show it first.

Your body is super intelligent and it will use any minerals and vitamins for the essential parts of your body first. You guessed it; hair is last on that list.

Secondly become aware of stress in your body and try to deal with it in a way that’s suits your lifestyle. For most of exercise is a great way to release stress.

It’s not always easy to remove stress completely these days but being aware of it can really help. For example, notice when you’re tensing up and become more mindful of releasing it.

Shock is a hard one as its often unexpected. Sometimes we can know we’ll be having a shock, in the form of something coming up like an operation which is a shock on the body.

You can lose hair a couple of months after a shock so if you know this is coming you can take supplements to reduce its impact on the body.

Unfortunately sometimes it’s just part of your life cycle and its normal to experience some thinning.

You can change your part frequently to stop your part line scalp getting too much UV. Sunlight can speed up hair loss in the part area so this is an easy fix.

As always if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact me.

If you’d like to book an appointment to give your hair or scalp some love. I’d be happy to talk through it’s current condition as part of your initial consultation. All the details to make a booking can be found here.

How Do You Treat Your Hair?

How Do You Treat Your Hair?

Sam Macdonald Hair | Trigg Scarborough North Beach Sorrento Carine Duncraig | How Do You Treat Your Hair

Do you treat your hair like a fragile silk scarf or a hardy linen shirt?

We need to start thinking of our hair as a material because that’s exactly what it is! Unfortunately, it’s closer to silk than linen so we may have to re-look at how we treat it.

Let’s look at the two examples:

Linen: We iron it at a high temperature because it can handle it

Silk: We try to avoid heat but if we have to it’s at the lowest setting

Linen: We can wash it in hot water repeatedly, no problem

Silk: Cool temperatures only for this delicate fabric

Our hair only grows 1-1.5cms per month.

That’s a maximum of 18cm per year and that’s not including what we’re removing with regular trims.

I should note here that avoiding these regular 6-8 week trims will only result in your hair fraying faster than it grows so its totally counterproductive. Don’t skip those trims people!

So 18cm per year means that someone with hair to their shoulders has probably had it on their heads for 3 years approximately.

Now think for a minute, what have you done to your silk scarf, (your hair), in those 3 years?

How hot is the water you wash it in? Especially in winter.

Do you use moisturisers to help replace lost moisture in the ends of your hair?

How often do you use hot tools in your hair? A normal straightener or curling iron runs at about 200 degrees or more.

Are you over-washing and removing the natural oils to frequently?

I hope this has given you some food for thought because at the end of the day your hair is the fabric you never take off…

If you’d like to book an appointment to give your hair or scalp some love. I’d be happy to talk through it’s current condition as part of your initial consultation. All the details to make a booking can be found here.

Is Your Hair Getting All The Nutrients It Needs?

Is Your Hair Getting All The Nutrients It Needs

Sam Macdonald hair | Hairdresser Trigg | Is You Hair Getting All The Nutrients It Needs

How can we tell if our hair is getting all the nutrients it needs to be the very best head of hair the you can have?

Well there are a few symptoms that could be showing up just by taking notice of you hair and scalp.

Stressful lifestyle:

I know, I know, we’re all stressed out at least a little. It is in fact possible to reduce stress just by being aware of it. You can tune into your body and when you feel it start to grow just stop what you’re doing for 60 seconds, concentrate on breathing slowly, do some stretching or just stare gently at something beautiful.

Did you know that your body uses up more vitamin B when your stressed out? An extra supplement of Vitamin B could really help you and if its an activated one, your body will absorb it nice and quickly.

Thinning hair or even bald patches:

Thinning hair can simply be a sign of age and embedded in your DNA, however it doesn’t mean that you can’t slow the process down. There is strong evidence that lifestyle can impact on this process which can indicate your body isn’t getting everything it needs.

Thinking you can get every single thing your body needs from food may not be correct as our soils don’t contain what they used to. Did you know that in Australia there is no selenium in the soil and extremely low zinc? Zinc is super important for hair and scalp.

As for small patches of hair not being there anymore, this could be alopecia areata, also known as spot baldness. This could be linked to stress and again you may need extra supplements to help get through this quicker.

Slow hair growth:

If you have noticed your hair growth has slowed down, this could be an indication of unrest in your body. Hair growth does vary from person to person but if you notice a change a supplement could help and failing that going to your health professional for more advice.

If this could be you then please don’t hesitate to contact me so we can have a look together and see what we can do to hlep.

In salon I have an amazing range of supplements for hair and scalp called Apotecari to help you get the best hair and scalp you can possibly have. I also do Trichology services in the salon so we can get to the root of the problem once and for all.

You can rest assured I can help you. Hooray!

If you’d like to book an appointment to give your hair or scalp some love. I’d be happy to talk through it’s current condition as part of your initial consultation. All the details to make a booking can be found here.

Vitamin C And Your Hair

Sam Macdonald Hair | Hairdresser Trigg | Scarborough | Karinyup | North Beach | Sorrento | Duncraig | Hair health | Vitamin C | Hair

Vitamin C And Your Hair

We all know that vitamin C is good for us but did you ever consider its impact on your hair?

I think most of has heard at some point of the role vitamin C can play in skin health and guess what there’s skin on your head under all that hair!

We’ve all heard me say this a million times  by now, healthy scalp leads to healthy hair…

Did I hear someone say something about a broken record?

As well as helping your skin/scalp vitamin C does also helps the hair itself.  This is due to the fabulous antioxidants that the vitamin C contains.

In a super simplified version, (there is so much more to antioxidants than this but that’s for another time and perhaps a Naturopath to explain), antioxidants help to counteract free radicals which are the ones we don’t want because they can dehydrate the hair.

Taking a supplement is one option but also vitamin C is in so many foods and drinks that you probably already love and enjoy. For example Gin & tonic, (don’t forget the lemon), mojitos or strawberry daiquiris, just to name a few!

I guess like with most things in life the fresher and more varied your diet, the more vitamins and minerals you’ll get.

Vitamin C is in so many foods, citrus of course but did you know that cauliflower and brussel sprouts have plenty too?

I personally put a whole lemon from my local framers markets in my green smoothie every day, pips and all.  I have heard that pips from fruit can help with menopause hot flushes and even though I’m not quite there yet, there’s no harm dosing up for a possible future right?

Pips are full of polyphenols which are fabulous for gut health anyway so get munching people!

If you’d like to book an appointment to give your hair or scalp some love. I’d be happy to talk through it’s current condition as part of your initial consultation. All the details to make a booking can be found here.

Whats Your Hair Made From?

Whats Your Hair Made From?

Sam Macdonald Hair | Trigg North Beach Sprrento Scarborough Wembley Downs Karinyup CArine Duncraig | Whats You Hair Made Of | Hairdresser

Whats your hair made from?

A protein called Keratin.

Keratin is the same protein that we find in our outer layer of skin, AKA the epidermis, and our fingernails.

The difference is that your hair and nails is a hard version and you skin a soft one.

Keratin in your body is there to help protect you. In your skin it protects you from UV, infection and keeps you water proof.

The hard version of Keratin is your hair, its for added protection on the top of your body which cops a lot more direct sun and UV.

Keratin is extremely insoluble in water and organic solvents which makes sense. You don’t want to melt when you have a shower!

Maybe surprisingly to you that its also what constitutes animal’s hooves, claws, scales and feathers.

Just some examples of this are tortoise and turtle shells, bird beaks and horse hooves.

Who knew that we have so much in common with our animal friends?

If you’d like to book an appointment to give your hair or scalp some love. I’d be happy to talk through it’s current condition as part of your initial consultation. All the details to make a booking can be found here.

Your Hair Can Reveal A Lot About You

Your Hair Can Reveal A Lot About You

Sam Macdonald Hair | Hairdresser Trigg Scarborough |North Beach | Duncraig | Carine | Karinyup | Sorrento

Did you know that your hair can reveal a lot about you?

It can be tested to reveal a lot about what you have been getting up to. Things like the nutrients in your body, and even drug taking.

Hair contains information about everything that has ever been in your bloodstream, including drugs. It’s one of the most commonly used types of forensic evidence.

The kinds of drugs they can test for are, cocaine, marijuana, opiates (heroin, codeine, Oxycontin plus more), methamphetamine, ecstasy as well as a few more not listed here.

It also contains evidence of nutrients in your body, as well as toxic metals and trace elements.

This can be really helpful in regards to your health. It can help with finding out if you have too much of something in your body, or perhaps not enough.

Blood and urine testing can be done to find out some of these things. The thing is though, that most of this evidence leaves your body within 3 days. Testing your hair can hold this information for up to 90 days. Have you ever noticed how some criminals shave their heads all the time? Now you know why, well one possible reason anyway!

Hair Mineral Analysis, HMA, is something you can do for yourself if you want to know how your body is going.

It tests 16 nutrient levels, 8 toxic metals (you want none of those by the way), and 14 trace elements.

Nutritional elements are minerals our bodies need to be healthy and strong. We want to have just the right amount of these. Too much or too little, could lead to health issues.

Nutritional elements include: Calcium, Magnesium, Sodium, Potassium, Phosphorous, Iron, Manganese, Chromium, Selenium, Boron, Cobalt, Molybdenum, Sulphur, Lithium, Zinc and Copper.

Toxic elements are the things we want as little as possible and include: Antimony, Uranium, Arsenic, Beryllium, Mercury, Cadmium, Lead and Aluminium.

Trace elements are things we require but only need small amounts of. Germanium, Barium, Bismuth, Rubidium, Lithium, Nickel, Platinum, Thallium, Vanadium, Strontium, Tin, Titanium, Tungsten and Zirconium.

HMA is something I can organise for you if you’re ever interested though can also be done through your health care professional.

If you’d like to book an appointment to give your hair or scalp some love. I’d be happy to talk through it’s current condition as part of your initial consultation. All the details to make a booking can be found here.