I have my hair icons; don’t we all. Brigitte Bardot is up there, forever making me yearn for an abundance of hair, tousled just so. Then there’s a Bond-era Sophie Marceau, hair streaming down her back, long fringe framing her face. More recently Daisy Edgar-Jones’ ‘do has made me a bit weak at the knees, the caramel lengths making her fawn eyes look even more huge.
You will notice there is clearly a theme. I like a whole lot of hair, highlighted. Imperative though is the condition, and so despite coveting those women’s hairstyles with twinkly light sections woven through, I have on many occasions entirely chopped mine off simply because it was looking ratty and bedraggled and my desire for healthy-looking hair supersedes anything else.
That being the case, I’ve become a little precious when it comes to caring for my hair. I never tug it or drag it (the colourist Jack Howard’s advice to treat my hair like an expensive fabric echos in my ears whenever I wash it). I don’t heat style unless it’s a huge occasion. I also insist hairdressers treat it gently (this is almost certainly very annoying, but I know that the damage of a vigorous rub of a towel on lengths is considerable).
Keen to learn more about caring for hair – and to bust some of the myths doing the rounds on the internet, hello rosemary oil for accelarated growth – I got in touch with Anabel Kingsley, the Brand President and Consultant Trichologist at Philip Kingsley to mine her for advice. Here’s what she had to say:
Myth: brushing hair repeatedly is good for it
This myth spans back centuries, when women with very long hair indeed would brush again and again, the theory being you could smooth the oils from the scalp down the lengths. Anabel says that this one is if anything damaging for hair, because “the oil on your scalp is degraded by bacteria, and most likely mixed with sweat, environmental grime, and old product, so brushing it down isn’t good.” The answer? Brush hair to remove knots, ideally using a paddle brush, but rely on products to hydrate ends.
Fact: the scalp is the cradle of good hair
You’ll have seen the emphasis shift massively from hair lengths to the scalp over recent years, and Anabel insists this is warranted – but that doesn’t mean overloading yours with products: “the scalp is a sebaceous environment and has more oil glands than any other part of the body. The two most common scalp conditions, dandruff and seborrhoeic dermatitis, are oily. Both of these conditions are often due to an overgrowth of Malassezia yeasts, which feed on oils. i.e. the oilier your scalp is, the more fuel the yeasts have, so applying oils to the scalp will make the problem worse.” Her advice should you want to treat your scalp to an oil is to make sure you apply it before washing and remove rather than leaving on for any extended length of time.
Myth: rosemary oil helps hair to grow
TikTok is awash with claims that rosemary oil or castor oil helps hair to grow, but Anabel explains that the study fuelling the furore was conducted in 2015 and based on only “50 men with male pattern hair loss comparing effects of rosemary to 2% minoxidil - which won’t do much for male hair loss. Men usually need 5%. Rosemary or castor oil simply won’t grow hair.” While debunking myths on helping hair grow, she adds that while scalp massages have benefits (they exfoliate, help ingredients in a scalp mask to penetrate, and are relaxing), they won’t promote growth. Massage too hard, and it may do the opposite: “I’ve seen people who obsessively scalp massage who get traction alopecia, so do it gently and remember that fingers are way better than scalp brushes.”
Fact: your hair is dead
This means no product can do anything to lengths bar soften and make it look good because the follicle is hardened and keratinised, meaning all you can do to hair that’s damaged is, according to Anabel, is “seal the cracks and strengthen but you’ll never get it back to virgin state.” Key here is to manage your expectations, treating hair gently and making sure you keep lengths as shiny as possible with treatments.
Myth: you can reverse grey hair
We’ve all seen those images of prime ministers’ accelerated ageing process during their term, and while it’s absolutely true that stress and various other lifestyle factors will speed the process of greying, you can’t undo that damage by slowing down, more’s the pity. Quite simply, says Anabel, “you can’t reverse grey hair,” so it’s not worth even trying.
Fact: Eating well helps your hair to be healthier
While the hair that has emerged from your head is very much dead, the hair sprouting is absolutely affected by what you eat, and Anabel refers to tailoring nutrition to foster the healthiest hair possible as “future proofing” hair. Foods to include for the best quality hair possible? Fats, protein, vitamin b12, complex carbohydrates, iron, vitamin D, zinc, and folate.
Myth: Cutting hair makes it grow longer
Surely this is the lie every mother has told every daughter determined to have Rapunzel-length hair, it turns out that this is firmly a myth but with one big fat caveat: “cutting hair is good for the condition and for getting rid of split ends, so while it won’t help hair to grow, reducing split ends will stop them splitting up the hair,” meaning longer, healthier hair.
