Further Advice For Anyone With Longish Hair

When I was a teenager I knew a couple of girl friends who would occasionally use eggs for their hair. Needless to say, I was making fun of the idea... and the possible smell. As I matured I learned that eggs are indeed beneficial. But even with having long hair for a bit more than a couple of years between the age of 19 and 21, as a guy it never concerned me. Then when I regrew it 15 years later the tables happened to turn.


Eggs are widely known to be healthy for hair. Not just when consumed, but due to their richness in proteins, vitamins, and fatty acids, they are also used as hair treatment. The white is the source of protein while the yolk is high in sulphur. Eggs keep hair strong, prevent breakage, make it soft, as well as help its overall growth. While artificial products strip the hair of its natural oils, eggs help restore the natural oils present in the hair and scalp.



One thing about using them as a hair treatment is that you need to wash it afterwards with cold water and NOT hot water. Simply because they will be cooked right there on top of your head, ending up as with hairy scrambled eggs. Seriously.

Some of you may wonder why I would know or share such an information. Well, three years ago I wrote Advice For Men Who Still Have Hair, and the answer lies in the following Eggseptional Eggsperience which should be regarded as a unisex sequel.


My thinking was that I was in my late 30s and naturally my hair isn’t as it was at 19. So if I’ll choose to keep it long I might as well try to keep it healthy. That’s how I began my search into a field most men know nothing about.


As mentioned in the previous article, at some point I dropped the daily shampoo and began using one that is more medical and less toxic than usual brand names — Johnson’s Baby Shampoo followed. Slowly but surely results began to appear. The more I went natural in the following years, the more I wanted to try different alternatives. I did quite a bit of online research as I also asked a few women about their own experiences with the DIY homemade hair stuff. Then it was time to experiment.

First, it was coconut oil. It is healthy and all, yet may not be for every kind of hair. The quantity used remains key, though. Depending on why you are using it, for certain hair coconut oil should only be used by the drops rather than teaspoons; perhaps also just on the extremities rather than on the scalp.

After that I came across a mixture of yoghurt and honey. Not as a healthy breakfast or dinner, but as a hair mask — also called deep conditioning. You see how this dude is learning new terms. Yeah. So once a week you keep it on your hair (in a bun) for 20-30 minutes before washing with shampoo. Afterwards, I rinse it with black tea and ending it all with a conditioner from mid-length to the end.

The next step was to add and egg to the mixture. Again, you must wash with cold water if you want to stay safe. I cannot tell you exactly what would happen since I’m grateful to have read this warning beforehand. But obviously someone has done it since warnings of “lumps” and “pungent odour” exist. Yikes.

In actual fact, these are the very reasons why many people are afraid of using eggs in their hair, especially the odour. Who would blame them. But, cold water then shampoo just does it. So unless you want to try the egging for yourself, let us just listen to those who say they know.

2 tbsp white yoghurt + 1 tbsp honey + 1 egg (+ coconut/olive oil)

The next addition to the yoghurt-honey-egg mix came the following week with coconut oil, just drops in my case. Different hair may require 1 teaspoon or 2 of coconut oil, or none at all. It’s something for you to figure out.

Another thing for you to figure out before using any kind of treatment is how naturally oily — or not — your hair is. Extra oily hair, for instance, won’t do well with coconut oil, or possibly any oil-based treatment; while on the other hand egg whites will remove excess oil from it. If it’s dry/normal hair then egg yolk should do the trick in moisturising it.

An alternative oil I found added to this mixture is olive oil, which I still have yet to try. I’m not sure if it will be in addition to the coconut oil or it has to replace it. Experimenting is the only way to find out. Always start with small doses and see how it goes. Ask women how it could be pretty annoying ending up with oily, greasy, weighted-down hair when you were trying to do the very opposite.


After four DIY treatments over the course of one month I can already see that my hair got thicker and looks healthier. The observation started when one day I gripped my hair in a ponytail to dry it after shower as I normally do and felt the mass has increased. There is also an added healthy shine and volume to it. Another day later I was brushing it and could feel something heavy underneath the back of my neck which was none other than the regained weight of the hair I kind of forgot about.


Now Good Luck with your own experimentation. Hopefully I’ll write the next hair article in another three years. 





ALSO VIEW:

Advice For Men Who Still Have Hair

Kicking That Sweet Habit: Why and How To Drop Sugar

How I Dropped Two Waist Sizes in a Few Months  

Advice For Men Who Still Have Hair

One thing I remember from the years I worked in hotels was the long shifts. Sometimes after the PM shift (2/3 to 11/12), I would go home to sleep then barely wake some hours later for another AM shift (7/8 to 4/5) the next day. This lifestyle would occasionally force me to skip showering before going to work. And even though I was always relatively clean and shaven, but staying more than 24 hours without a shower was something I never enjoyed. After all, I was brought up like that; shower everyday and obviously also shampoo everyday. 




This daily hair washing stayed with me for 35 years, until a while ago when I decided to go to a barber in Toronto for the first time in nine years. A friend of mine used to give me a cut every once in a while for the first five years; then in Canada I would cut it myself — though I did not do it often because I always preferred it long. At least half of all the men I know are bold by now, so if I still got some then let it grow… that’s my mottow. 


I found out later that, apparently, our hair is part of our nervous system and is of spiritual nature. It keep us sensitive and receptive as explained in this really interesting Article. No wonder I always felt a certain relationship with my hair. And no wonder my ex-teachers and ex-bosses always wanted me to cut it. 

So when I finally made it to the hairdresser/barber shop and talked to the guy there, I told him how I routinely wash my hair every single day since the day I was born. Also how I’ve been lately using Head & Shoulders since sometimes I get dandruff.

First, the Head n Shoulders. He told me it’s so potent that they use it to remove the hair colouring in women, and to stop using it.

Second, he said you can’t use those chemicals everyday and expect your hair to be fine. I remember looking at him in terror and blasphemously saying:

“But it will get oily! 

Yeah you rinse it with water, use shampoo once every 3 days,” he calmly replied.


Of course the idea of showering without shampoo had somehow never crossed my mind until that moment. Washing your hair everyday with chemicals is probably a REALLY stupid thing to do, now that I think about. It is so unnatural; our hair is definitely not designed for that. And the wily women knew it all along.



Since that visit, I changed shampoos and use it only once every three days in significantly small amounts. Eventually I settled with Johnson’s Baby Shampoo as it [supposedly] contains the least chemicals. 

Ever sine, my hair feels healthier and I'm not losing it neither while showering nor when brushing as I used to. So for those of you who still got some hair and want to keep it as you age, listen to the experts and the women ― they do know what they’re talking about. 





Oh, and that disturbing video about Head & Shoulders which was circulating on social media lately, it’s not true: On Head & Shoulders Video. 

EDIT [March 12, 2015]:

Seeing the results of less chemicals on my hair made me reduce shampoo even more. I use it once, then two days of just water, then one day of conditioner, then another two days of just water, then shampoo again. This cycle works our great.

Check the sequel Further Advice For Anyone With Longish Hair written three years later in 2017.

“The Messiah” — Venice Beach, California

ALSO VIEW:

Further Advice For Anyone With Longish Hair