Collagen for Hair - Benefits & How to Use
Benefits of Collagen for Hair
Collagen is rich in amino acids, proline, glycine, arginine, and hydroxyproline. It is responsible for not only your hair’s elasticity and strength, but also for keeping it young, shiny and growing healthily. It works with elastin to give the hair fiber its shape and firmness. Elastin also promotes elasticity, resistance, and flexibility for the hair strands.
That is why many hair products, especially those for reconstruction, have collagen in their composition. This helps to replenish this protein and make your hair prettier.
Along with keratin, which is also found in the hair fiber, collagen can protect hair from damages caused by chemical products and procedures. Bleaching, dyeing, straightening, relaxing, among others can damage your hair and make it dry and brittle.
Collagen also creates a layer around the strands that keeps them moisturized for longer. This makes hair shiny and soft since it retains water and protects hair from the excessive solar exposition, like a natural sunblock.
Hydrolyzed Collagen (gelatin) Is An Option
Hydrolyzed collagen is extracted from animal protein. But is animal protein also good for hair? Of course, just like other protein-rich foods, we consume daily.
When hydrolyzed, it receives a water molecule which makes it soluble in water and able to penetrate the hair, thus keeping it elastic and moisturized. It is rich in amino acids, proline, glycine, arginine, and hydroxyproline. It also works with elastin, making all the above-mentioned benefits possible.
Gelatin (jelly) is a type of hydrolyzed collagen that can be used to replenish its levels on hair. It can be used if it’s colorless and flavorless, combined with reconstruction masks or keratin. Hydrolyzed collagen for hair can also be used via hair products and supplements.
Use Behentrimonium Methosulfate for Hair
How to Use
Now that you know all of the collagen’s benefits, you must be curious about how to use collagen for hair. Very well! Next, we’ll teach you how to use collagen on your hair, step by step.
Ingredients:
- Moisturizer mask of your choice;
- 1 dessertspoon of hydrolyzed collagen, or half a packet of colorless gelatin;
- 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil of your choice;
- Lukewarm water (if using colorless gelatin instead of hydrolyzed collagen);
- Glycerin (optional).
How to Prepare
Dissolve the hydrolyzed collagen on the vegetable oil and mix it with the moisturizer mask and the glycerin (optional). If you’re using colorless gelatin instead of collagen, first dissolve it in lukewarm water and follow the same steps as above. Then shampoo your hair, take off the excess water and apply the mixture to your hair, massaging well.
Put on a plastic cap and leave it for about 20 to 30 minutes. Then rinse with water and apply conditioner. Finish your hair like usual.
Easy Homemade Hair Moisturizer Recipies
How to Prevent Collagen Loss in Hair
Besides the natural loss of collagen due to aging, external factors can also directly cause the lowering of this protein’s levels of hair. Such is the case of chemicals in cigarettes, like nicotine; and the ultra-violet rays in sunlight, which damage the hair fiber and break the collagen protein, altering its natural production. For these reasons, you should avoid smoking and wear hair sunscreen.
Check out more ingredients that help growing healthy hair:
- Rice Water
- Okra
- Flaxseed Oil
- Fenugreek Seed
- Sugar Scrub
- Cucumber
- Cholesterol
- Onion Juice
- Guava Leaf
- Mango Butter
- Vaseline
- Aloe Vera
- Avocado
- Banana
- Collagen