Haircare for Over 50’s (or Anyone With Grey Hair!)

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age, ageing, antioxidants, beauty, breakage, cream, Evolve Organic Beauty Nourishing Hair Elixir, GHD Bodyguard-Heat Protect Spray, grey, grey hair, hair, hair colour, heat, moisture, Nine Yards Hair Down Anti Frizz Cream, Nine Yards On Track Repair Shampoo, Olaplex, Olaplex No.4P Blonde Enhancer Toning Shampoo, Olaplex No.9 Bond Protector Nourishing Hair Serum, over 50, shampoo, silver, silver hair, style, styling, sulphate-free, white hair

Photo by cottonbro studio

Over the last decade, grey hair has become more fashionable than ever before. It started with younger women who weren’t naturally grey heading to the salon to have their locks dyed grey. Then the naturally silver among us started to realise that they had what all of these women were paying hundreds of pounds for and started to embrace their natural colour. 

Then lockdown happened, meaning no-one could go to the hairdresser, and so, many women realised that allowing their natural sparkle to grow through was a lot less stressful than trying to colour their hair at home, and BOOM: the silver revolution was in full swing! 

It’s worth noting that grey hair goes through more than just a change of pigment and requires dedicated care to keep it looking its best, which is why we’ve put together a guide to haircare for the over 50’s – or indeed anyone of any age who’s already putting their best foot forward when it comes to grey hair:

Use a Mild Shampoo

As we age, our hair can often feel thinner and be more prone to breakage, so using a mild shampoo is essential. Nine Yards On Track Repair Shampoo is a strengthening shampoo with a mild sulphate free cleansing base, which also adds moisture to the hair without weighing it down. Also, it’s not just dyed hair which can benefit from toning; Olaplex No.4P Blonde Enhancer Toning Shampoo is a sulphate-free, highly concentrated formula thats allows for customizable toning and gives great results on grey hair. 

Add Moisture

Naturally grey hair is coarser and more dehydrated than pre-greying hair, which means that it needs a good moisture treatment to keep it looking sleek and smooth. Evolve Organic Beauty Nourishing Hair Elixir has been formulated with a 100% natural replacement to silicon leaving hair incredibly soft, light and moisturised.  Rich in antioxidants, it protects hair from environmental damages and helps regain lost moisture.

Use Protective Products

Believe it or not, your existing  hair doesn’t actually turn grey – your hair follicles produce less colour as they age, so when hair goes through its natural cycle of dying and being regenerated, it’s more likely to grow in as grey. These new hairs will need to be protected if you want your mane to look healthy. Pollution damages our hair everyday, leaving it dull, lifeless, difficult to style and ultimately resulting in broken bonds. Olaplex No.9 Bond Protector Nourishing Hair Serum is packed with antioxidants to neutralise free radicals, act as a shield against pollution, guard the hair from breakage and protect against heat styling.

Avoid Hairspray 

As we mentioned above, grey hair is also coarser and dryer, so try to cut back on hairspray where you can – the alcohol in hairspray can dry your hair out with repeated use, and the polymers that keep your hair in place can make your hair look even more dull. Instead, opt for something like Nine Yards Hair Down Anti Frizz Cream, which is a smoothing anti-frizz cream that calms flyaway hair and helps to keep the hair straight. It contains argan and sun flower seed extract to provide a lightweight conditioning cream with a natural shine.

Style With Care

Once we go naturally grey, many women find that they want to take more care than ever in styling their hair so that they maintain a youthful, put-together appearance. However, grey hair can be prone to damage and brassiness if you use too many heated tools on it. GHD Bodyguard-Heat Protect Spray provides an invisible barrier against everyday heat damage on damp or dry hair. Containing the unique ghd heat protection system, this spray can be layered with other styling products to create the result you desire.

Why You Should Be Paying Attention to Amino Acids

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amino acids, anti-aging, appearance, astringent, basil oil, blow, body, botanical, breakage, building blocks, Burdock, cells, chamomile, cleansing, cucumber, detangling, drying, elasticity, essential, exfoliating, expression, Eyes, Frankincense, frizz, Grapefruit, hair, healthy, heat, hydration, Ivy, Jojoba oil, lavender, lemon, lines, Mallow, moisturised, moisturising, nature, oil, oils, peel, peptides, protect, protection, radiant, rose, sagging, science, shine, skin, smoothness, softness, soothe, split ends, useful, Watercress, youthful

Photo by David Clode on Unsplash

Amino acids are the building blocks of the cells that make up your body – however, did you know they can also be good for your skin? Amino acids, which contain moisturising, anti-aging, and exfoliating characteristics, can aid with skin elasticity issues that arise as we age. Amino acids come in 20 different varieties, and they are useful for people of all ages and skin types. A more moisturised, youthful, and generally healthy appearance of the skin is achieved by using amino acids in skin care products that also encourage cellular repair and collagen formation. Here are five of our favourite products which harness the power of amino acids:

CACI – Amino-Lift Peptide Complex

This effective anti-ageing skin care cream contains powerful peptides, essential oils and amino acids that target expression lines and help to firm sagging skin. It can be used twice a day after cleansing to give visible results and as well as being packed with amino acids also contains basil oil, jojoba oil, grapefruit peel oil and a number of other other botanical ingredients which nourish and revive your skin. 

L’Oreal Professionnel Serie Expert Vitamino Colour 10-In-1 Multi-Benefit Leave-In Treatment Milk

Amino acids don’t just benefit your face – your hair can also benefit from using products which are infused with amino acids. This leave-in treatment milk from L’Oreal is a multi-benefit spray designed for coloured hair with 10 key benefits. It promises to help your hair to achieve shine, softness, smoothness of hair fibre and hydration, as well as offering protection against heat up to 230°c, detangling, anti-breakage, anti-split ends, anti-frizz and even facilitates blow-drying! 

Aromatherapy Associates Eye Zone Concentrate

The skin around the eyes is one of the thinnest areas of skin on your whole body, which means that it is more prone to premature ageing. This eye cream from Aromatherapy Associates combines powerful, bio-fermented actives, advanced amino acids and an effective pure essential oil blend to lift, tighten and contour the area around the eyes. It also contains rose, camomile and frankincense essential oils to soothe and protect for a radiant, youthful complexion. 

Dermalogica Active Moist

This moisture-rich product from Dermalogica combines the best of nature and science, containing a whole host of ingredients which are taken from natural sources. Silk amino acids help smooth and improve skin texture while natural botanical astringents lemon, ivy, watercress and burdock help to refine the skin. It also contains soothing extracts of lavender, mallow and cucumber to help provide deep-hydration.

Elemis Dynamic Resurfacing Serum

This resurfacing serum from Elemis is so powerful that it’s advised that you avoid sunbeds and always use an SPF while using the treatment! It’s created using a powerful combination of alpha-hydroxy-acids, selastin and patented Tri-Enzyme technology, as well as selected amino acids. This serum smoothes the skins’s surface, revealing a stunning complexion and also helps to reduce the appearance of pores and wrinkles.

Ageing Beauty Issues – Thinning Hair

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ageing, blow dry, breakage, conditioner, cool, curling, dermalogica, Dermalogica Daily Cleansing Shampoo, Dermalogica Daily Conditioning Rinse, greasy, hair, hair care, heat, heat styling, oily, scalp, shaft, shampoo, straigheners, straightening, styling, thin, thinning, tongs, volume, volumising, washing

Photo Credit: https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-in-black-tank-top-with-braided-hair-167704/(Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license)

One issue that many of our clients report to us is the feeling that their hair is thinning as they get older. It’s a common issue among women over the age of 40 and had a couple of underlying reasons – hormone changes can cause hair loss, whilst the actual shaft of the hair also thins naturally with age, so even if you don’t get a huge amount of actual loss, the bulk of your hair will feel depleted as you get older. There’s not a lot that can be done to reverse the biological processes which cause these problems, but there are a few things that you can do to improve the appearance of thinning hair, and we’ve got a few of them for you:

Use Lightweight Products

Keeping thinning hair clean is an absolute must because thinning hair will look exponentially worse if it’s greasy, however using heavy, oil-based products will do nothing but weigh your hair down even further, making already thinning hair look heavy and lank. Dermalogica Daily Cleansing Shampoo is a product designed for daily use and contains zero sulphates, whilst Dermalogica Daily Conditioning Rinse adds moisture to the hair without weighing it down, restoring softness and shine for vibrantly-healthy hair.

Use a Soft Brush

When the hair shaft starts to thin out, this will make it more prone to breakage, which could be a disaster for thinning hair. Opt for a brush with soft bristles which will glide through the hair rather than tugging at it and causing breakage.

Think About Your Style

Wearing thinning hair scraped back into a ponytail is only going to accentuate the thinning even more, especially if you can see your scalp through the hair. Wearing the hair loose and bouncy by blow drying it on a cool setting with a volumising product will help to create the illusion of volume and make your hair look thicker with little effort.

Get Your Vitamins

Hair loss and thinning can be a knock-on effect of vitamin deficiencies, usually vitamin D or vitamin B12. Many reports now suggest that “multivitamins” are of little use as our body simply excretes them before they have a chance to be absorbed, but taking individual vitamins, or getting them through your food, can still be beneficial. Liver is a good source of BOTH vitamin B12 and D, as are eggs and cheese.

Avoid Heat Styling

One of the biggest causes of damage to hair is heat styling, either with straighteners or curling irons, so avoiding using these when your hair is thinning is a good idea. Opt for straightening with a soft brush and cool blow dryer and curl with rags or soft curlers, depending on the diameter of the curl you want.