Hair Care

Hair is dead protein. Nothing applied to the strand can repair it - conditioners smooth and coat, which is worth doing, but repair happens only at the follicle, which is fed by blood.

What actually matters

Scalp health, because that is the living part. Wash frequently enough to keep it clean; the right frequency varies enormously between people and there is no universal rule.

Oiling before washing has genuine support - coconut oil in particular reduces protein loss from the hair shaft. The traditional Indian practice is one of the better-evidenced hair customs anywhere.

Gentleness. Most breakage is mechanical: tight styles, aggressive towel-drying, combing wet hair, and heat.

Nutrition. Iron, protein and vitamin D deficiencies all show up in hair, and iron deficiency is a very common and very treatable cause of hair fall in Indian women.

Losing about a hundred hairs a day is normal. Losing them in handfuls, or seeing scalp where there was none, is not.

Dandruff

Usually a yeast overgrowth rather than dryness. Medicated shampoos with ketoconazole or zinc pyrithione work; using them consistently for a few weeks works better than switching every fortnight.

See a doctor for

Sudden or patchy hair loss, a receding pattern that is progressing quickly, an itchy or scaling scalp that will not settle, or hair loss with tiredness and heavy periods - which points at iron and is easily checked.