If you are interested in healthy hair and want your black hair to grow long, then ceramides can be considered one of the most important aspects of your hair care routine. If you’re leaving this out of your regimen, you’ll definitely want to reconsider. So you may be wondering what exactly ceramides are, you may have heard them mentioned, but you’re not quite sure what they are and what exactly they do for your hair. So let’s get to it!
Ceramides are essentially a fatty lipid that makes up our hair and skin. In hair, they work like the glue that holds our hair together. When you take a strand of hair and look at it under a microscope, you will see hundreds of tiny scales. On healthy hair, the scales will be flat. However, on damaged or over-processed hair, you will see these scales protrude and separate from the main cortex. This gives the hair a dull and rough appearance. What ceramides do is literally hold these flakes together and keep them flat where they belong. What this means for your hair is that the precious moisture and protein you’ve been adding to your regimen stays trapped in the hair where it belongs instead of escaping through the raised, open cuticles.
After incorporating ceramides regularly into your hair care routine, you will notice that your hair is smoother, softer and noticeably shinier due to the flattening of the hair cuticles. Increased use of ceramide will help you have much healthier hair in the long run because you will be able to maintain protein and moisture balance much better. Adding the right amount of protein and moisture to your hair care regimen will go a long way as you also add ceramides to keep everything locked in. After repeated use and healthier hair, many people begin to wonder if they need to continue doing protein treatments. Increased hair health makes it seem like all you need to do is keep using ceramides and moisture for beautiful, healthy hair. The truth is, hair needs all three. Think of it as a nice balanced balance that you want to keep in place. Instead of eliminating your protein, simply reduce the number of protein treatments and space them out.
So where are these ceramides and how do you get them in your hair? They are found naturally in oils such as wheat germ oil, hemp seed oil, and sunflower oil. Ceramides are also manufactured synthetically and can be found in many hair products. Some great ones to try include Sidal’s SOS Ceramides, La Bomba Deep Hair Treatment, HASK’s Cerafix Ceramide Repair, Redken’s Extreme Rescue Strength, and Wild Growth Hair Oil.
Go ahead and try ceramides for yourself, you may be pleasantly surprised!