Dr. Clara Yu's 5 Daily Habits for Hair Wellness

When you feel good on the inside, you look good on the outside. I’m Dr. Clara Yu, a Board Certified Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine committed to helping ensure that my clients’ inner beauty is reflected by their outer beauty. I created Beauty Cult with this holistic philosophy in mind. The space offers a sense of community, where my patients feel comfortable, supported and empowered as they are receiving top quality aesthetic services. My goal is for clients to complete each treatment both feeling and looking confident.

The health of your hair, just like your body, is a reflection of your overall wellness. That’s exactly why establishing a consistent, daily routine focusing on the whole body is the most effective way to promote sustainable hair wellness. 

The VEGAMOUR team asked me how I would approach hair wellness through daily actions. Here are five of my favorite daily habits for hair wellness. Try integrating them into your day-to-day routine and see what happens!

Healthy Hair Habit #1: Elevate Your AM Routine

Prioritize making the most of your morning moments. Approach the day ahead by setting the tone with a positive attitude. Rather than jumping out of bed the moment you wake up, fueled by thoughts of your to-do list running through your brain, practice patience and prioritize self-care.

Consistency is key: Maintaining a regular AM routine will set the stage for a successful day every day. Allow yourself to close your eyes, breathe and visualize what you want to manifest for the next 24 hours. Then, head to the kitchen and drink a glass of water (optional: add a squeeze of lemon or splash of apple cider vinegar) to rehydrate after a night of sleeping. This will also help your body rev up its metabolism.

Also: Doctor Recommended Ways to Boost Your Immune System

Healthy Hair Habit #2: Stay Hydrated 

Sure, you’ve heard it time and time again: When it comes to water, drink up! And it’s true. According to the Harvard School of Public Health, drinking enough water is essential for a number of reasons, including regulating body temperature, maintaining lubricated joints, preventing infections, delivering nutrients to cells and keeping vital organs functioning properly. Being well-hydrated has also been shown to improve sleep quality, cognition and mood.

Aim for a minimum of 64 ounces of water per day, but you may need more if you are active or during the warmer months or humid environments. If you find regular water unappealing, try this trick: Fill an infusion water bottle or glass water pitcher with filtered water and infuse with ingredients such as hydrating cucumber, fresh mint or ginger, lemon or other citrus fruits. 

Healthy Hair Habit #3: Integrate Scalp Care as Part of Your Skincare 

You likely have your facial skincare routine down pat, but how often have you considered caring for the skin on your scalp? Just like the rest of your skin, your scalp deserves the same attention. Many issues can contribute to hair thinning or hair loss, including poor scalp health.

Consider adding products designed for scalp wellness to your hair care routine, such as GRO Scalp Detoxifying Serum, especially if you use a lot of hair products, have really oily or dry hair or are experiencing dandruff or flakiness. Regularly exfoliating your scalp can get rid of buildup that can clog your hair follicles and irritate your skin. 

Learn: How to Exfoliate Your Scalp for Healthier Hair

Healthy Hair Habit #4: Minimize Stress for a Good Night’s Sleep

It’s no surprise that stress negatively impacts both your physical and mental health. And, stress and lack of sleep often go hand in hand. As well as keeping you up at night, stress often manifests in other ways, including aches, pains or increased hair-related issues, such as thinning or loss. 

Sleep is a necessity in maintaining your body’s optimum function, and its objective is the body’s time to restore, renew and rejuvenate. Sleep — and your quality of sleep — plays a vital role in your overall health. 

On the flip side, sleep deprivation can cause a range of issues, from poor memory and focus to mood changes or even more serious medical conditions. According to one such study, inadequate sleep is linked to a host of disorders, including impaired immune function, cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, Type-2 diabetes and other conditions. And losing out on the REM stage of sleep (when the brain regulates information it no longer needs) translates to your body missing out on its prime time to repair. Consider adding more exercise or movement each day to help reduce both the physical and emotional effects of stress. 

Healthy Hair Habit #5: Make Movement a Regular Part of Your Routine

Whether you engage in a stretching session, yoga flow, morning walk or active cardio, exercise does a body — and mind — good. Exercise helps to keep your heart healthy and improves the function of respiratory and circulatory systems, which, in turn, helps in supplying blood flow to our hair follicles and scalp. According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, regular exercise has positive effects, including reducing stress hormones that burden the heart, improving muscular ability to pull oxygen from the blood and reducing inflammation. All this is good news for your hair, too.

You can further boost circulation and blood flow to your scalp and hair follicles by treating your scalp to a massage each day. Using a tool like the GRO Revitalizing Scalp Massager can help improve healthy blood flow and circulation. Its bristles stimulate the scalp and help improve blood flow for a healthy supply of circulation to the hair follicles. The massager can be used on wet or dry hair and is safe for all hair types, including color-treated, bleached or chemically treated hair and can be used to work in your hair care products, such as serums.

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