How to Care for Your Hair in Your 30s
If your 20s are considered to be a dress rehearsal for adulthood, your 30s are opening night. You've learned the hard lessons, and now you finally feel (somewhat) settled. You're ready to start putting yourself first, and that includes taking better care of your hair.
After a decade of experimenting with your look, your 30s are a great time to put down the bleach and hot tools and start caring for your natural hair. To help, VEGAMOUR spoke with the experts about how to properly care for your hair in your 30s. Read on to find out their best advice — plus, discover what products you should use to keep your hair healthy as you age.
Your Hair in Your 30s
Your hair changes with every decade as a result of aging, genetics and environmental and lifestyle factors. Your diet, overall health and the products you use in your hair care routine can all impact your hair health and even your hair growth. Your hair in your 30s is likely in some state of recovery from the hair issues you experienced in your 20s, which often comes as a result of chemical treatments, hot tools and UV damage.
The Aging Process and How Hair Changes
"In our 30s, hair starts to reflect our natural changes as well as lifestyle habits," said Laurie Smith, a hair texture specialist and Aveda-trained stylist. "Our follicles start to produce less hair. Men and women start to notice a change in density due to the hair resting phase lengthening, causing less hair to regrow after a hair naturally sheds."
Many women choose to start their families once they've entered their 30s, which can be a big change for your body and your hair. "For those having a baby, hormonal changes can create a boost of natural oils and hair growth during pregnancy and the complete opposite after giving birth," said Smith.
In your 30s, you might start to see gray hair come in, which some people choose to cover with hair color until they're ready to embrace the gray. However, color-treated hair is typically drier and requires extra maintenance and treatments to keep the hair shaft healthy.
Some of the hair changes you might see in your 30s include:
- Itchy scalp due to a change in the moisture balance on your scalp
- Stress-related hair loss, including thinning and breaking
- Occasional gray hairs as a result of decreased melanin production
- Additional frizz due to decreased oil production
- Overall lack of moisture, which starts at the scalp and trickles down to the strands, leading to a change in hair texture and hair health
For healthy hair in your 30s and beyond, you'll want to start caring for your hair from the inside out.
Related: How to Keep Your Hair Healthy as You Age
Tips for Caring for Your Hair in Your 30s
Ready to start taking better care of your hair in your 30s? Here are a few tips to keep in mind for stronger, healthier hair in what is sure to be one of the most exciting decades of life.
Eat a Balanced Diet
While you can't control everything about the aging process (genetics and environmental factors play a heavy role), you do have control over certain lifestyle factors, including your diet. Eating healthy, whole foods does wonders for your health and can even help ward off chronic diseases and increase longevity. All those vitamins and minerals found in healthy fruits and vegetables also enhance your hair health, resulting in strong, shiny and healthy strands.
Remember to stay hydrated — aging hair craves hydration, which starts from the inside but is helped by moisturizing hair care products.
Also: 12 Foods to Grow Your Healthiest Hair Ever
Treat Your Hair With Kindness
As you age, it's more important than ever to protect your hair. So in this decade, you'll want to start treating your hair a little more carefully. Avoid overbrushing your hair, especially wet hair, which can cause scalp damage and increased hair loss. Use a wide-tooth comb instead to comb through knots, starting from the bottom and working your way up to the root.
To gently cleanse and soothe an itchy scalp and banish harmful environmental and product build up, use a scalp detoxifying serum before you shampoo and condition.
Skip the blow dryer and hot tools and embrace your natural texture. Air drying your hair helps prevent heat damage and saves you a ton of time getting ready.
Just like a nightly skincare routine, you should consider adopting a nightly hair care routine to stay on top of your hair health.
"Changes as simple as brushing the hair with a leave-in conditioner, placing it in a top knot with a hair coil and sleeping on a satin pillowcase can prevent breakage and maintain moisture," said Smith.
Read: The Difference Between Hair Loss and Hair Breakage
Reduce Stress
Stress can take a toll on your body, mind and your hair. Significant emotional stress may be linked to at least one type of hair fall or loss called telogen effluvium. While telogen effluvium is temporary and reversible, the hair growth cycle slows down with age, which means that it may take your hair longer to recover once the stressful event has passed.
Be sure to proactively manage stress levels for optimal overall health. Regular exercise, sleep and a balanced diet can help improve both physical and mental health.
Shop: GRO Dry Shampoo Duo
Get Ahead of Going Gray
Those first gray hairs can come as quite a shock, and if you're in your 30s, you may not be ready to make the leap and go gray.
If you want more control over when and how you decide to embrace your grays, the GRO AGELESS Collection by VEGAMOUR can help.
GRO AGELESS Gray Delay™ Hair Supplement helps to preserve hair's natural pigment and keep grays at bay for longer. The supplement is a proprietary blend of bioavailable adaptogens and minerals, which support collagen-rich shine, healthy follicles and thicker, fuller-looking hair.
If those first gray hairs have already made their appearance, our GRO AGELESS Anti-Gray Hair Serum, which contains caffeine, peptides, vitamins B3, B5, B6 and E, Fo-Ti and glycoproteins, can help. In clinical studies, the serum has been shown to increase melanocytes (the hair cells that produce pigment for our hair) by up to 280% after 12 weeks of treatment while also boosting melanin production by up to 127%! Plus, participants experienced up to 34% repigmentation of 79% of gray hairs in 16 weeks.
30 and Thriving
Age 30 may be the new 20, but this milestone is also a good reminder that it's time to start taking better care of your body. Aging is a natural process, but how you choose to go through the process is up to you. Eating a balanced diet, making a few small lifestyle changes, and being proactive about taking care of yourself and your hair are great habits to pick up in your 30s to help carry you through life's next chapters!
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- Check Out Shea Whitney's Healthy Hair Routine
Photo credit: Anna Alexes/Pexels
