You know this all too well: Even if you love your hair, it doesn’t always love you back. Check out these helpful solutions to your most common mane emergencies.

Many of us consider summer as the time that’s toughest on our locks — thanks to all that exposure to sunlight, chlorine, and saltwater. And, when you add other hassles like frizz-induced humidity, and oily scalp, limp locks, and broom-like strands, it’s easy to get fed up and just give up the battle. To help ease your frustrations, we tackle your trickiest hot-head hair woe and offer you easy, fast solutions.

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Shiny locks are the sizzling season’s sexy, so keep them glowing in good health.

My hair has always been a victim of ennui. I’ve cut, curled, colored, fried, greased, and mussed it up with so much goop and glob as if it were an exotic gourmet dish that had once (or more than once), torn my kitchen apart. Not too bad, considering that the hair is dead to begin with. Yes, the six-figure strands that you toss, twirl and incarcerate with bands and barrettes are in fact, lifeless protein fibers.

But deceased as they come, tresses do spring up like weeds from beneath the scalp, where its living factory, comprised of feisty follicles, assiduously produces a garden of fine filaments we all love to rake.

So, before you pick another clip, comb, cream or some hair candy, keep this info deep-rooted: healthy hair depends on what you ingest, substances you apply and the inevitable hormonal changes.

Everything you do to your hair should be done in moderation — shampooing, brushing, hair treatments, even crash diets, which subtract the amount of protein in your body, and you can cause hair loss. One must not take hair for granted. Pick on something else when you’re bored.

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What happens when you start losing your hair?

Though thinning hair in women may be attributed to several causes, such as hormone imbalance, pregnancy or genetics, the stress of a hectic lifestyle can also have a traumatic impact on hair. It causes the tiny capillaries that feed the follicles to constrict, thus reducing the amounts of oxygen and nutrients that reach the hair. Prolonged periods of stress also affect the muscles at the point where the hair grows out of the scalp, and leads to excessive hair loss. Losing up to 100 strands a day is normal, but when you start shedding clumps of hair, here’s what you can do.

Topical hair treatments

Topical hair preparations work by stopping hair loss, stimulating hair regrowth and blood circulation in the scalp. The only FDA-approved treatment for thinning hair is 5% Minoxidil (also known as Rogaine), but thinning can recur once treatment is discontinued. Other commercially-available topical treatments such as Phytocyane Revitalizing Lotion, Phytoaxil Fortifying Intensive Care, or Kerastase’s Lipo-Recharge treatment have been getting rave reviews from several women.

Nutritional supplements

According to experts, biotin is an important component in the hair manufacturing process. Together with topical treatments, dermatologists often recommend 3 mg of biotin daily. What may be important for women to take, however, is the nutrient known as methylsulfonylmethane or MSM, a substance vital to the life of hair and skin. Aside from the supplements mentioned, your diet also plays a role in maintaining a healthy head of hair. Recommended are foods that are high in protein, low in fat, and low in carbohydrates. Iron, vitamin B12, and essential fatty acids (found in foods like walnuts, canola oil, fish, and soy) are also important to healthy hair growth.

Mesotherapy for the hair

A treatment that injects micro doses of vitamins, minerals and amino acids directly into the mesoderm (the middle layer of the skin, mesotherapy stimulates hair growth and blood circulation in the scalp. A typical treatment may involve dozens of small injections in concentrated areas using a very small needle (0.4 to 0.6 cm). Treatments are quite costly compared to over-the- counter methods (weekly treatments are required for around 5 to 10 sessions), but these injections deliver vitamins and minerals directly into the skin, and thus produce faster results.

The latest technology: the anti-hair loss patch

A revolutionary product that addresses thinning hair, Revlon’s unique Intragen 5 patch contains a multi-active compound that acts on hair loss, reduces excess oil in the scalp, increases blood circulation in the scalp, and stimulates growth of healthy hair. Similar to nicotine patches, the Intragen 5 patch’s transdermic technology allows penetration of ingredients into the deepest layers of the skin. How it works? Upon contact with the skin, pores open and sweat allows ingredients to be released slowly into the deeper layers of the skin. Worn daily for 24 hours for a 30-day period, studies show improvement in hair density in just six weeks.

How not to look too thin: (more…)

Let me tell you about the day I decided not to be straight. Straight-haired, that is. See, for practically all my life, I’ve had a great and long-lasting relationship with my naturally long, straight hair. I never had to get on the re-bondwagon or abuse a straightening iron. Thing is, in a land of the straight-haired, the girls with the curls were the ones I envied.

So as it happens in everyone’s life, I hankered for a change for something different, even if it was a short-lived affair. Which is why I decided to add a twist to things, and finally get a perm.

I’ve heard and read about “bad perms” all my life, and so there was that looming fear of running out of the parlor with a fabulous new hairdo — for a poodle. Thanks to the digital age, though, there is now a breakthrough in the curling technique, and it’s called the digital perm of “digiperm”.

What makes it different from your regular perm? It is a precise method of curling that ensures the perfect curl. Each roll of hair curled is attached to a machine through wire cables. Each roll is then heated for exactly 20 minutes, ensuring the power absorption of the curl medicine into the hair strand. A neutralizer is then added to make the curls look natural. The results? Why, hello, rockstar Rapunzel! Natural, beautiful curls that get even better as time passes.

So you’ve been dumped? So what? Get the best revenge: a fab makeover guaranteed to make him regret!

Work this “heartbreak” to your advantage. Move on. A makeover is a great start to rid yourself of the negatives and indulge in the positives. You’re a beautiful person who deserves only the best. Project that!

Start your makeover inside. Be more outgoing. Be more engaging in your conversations. If talks on the latest fashion trends are your forte, try digging up current events and philosophical books. This makes for a new cerebral you! Cast a no-nonsense attitude and you’ll attract the equivalent treatment from girls and guys alike.

Sport a new haircut. Go short. Chop for the bangs. Color your locks. (Heck, get hair transplants if you need them!) The hair is the crowning glory; why not make yours a symbol of your glorious comeback to the dating scene?

Try new styles of clothes. Go sexy. Pick bright colors if you’re normally on neutrals. Wear stilettos. Don something or anything that’s unusually you. Trust me, you’ll receive the most unusual reactions also. Whether negative or positive, your goal is to graduate from the drab. (more…)