"Healthy hair to go!" My list of healthy hair items for when I'm on the move

I was thinking the other day about how full my makeup bag was. I carry several types of lipglosses, a couple of mascara tubes, a myriad of make-up pencils, a small bottle of perfume and other miscellaneous items. With all the many beauty items I carry with me at all times, I realized that I hardly carry any times in my purse that contribute to healthy hair.

My day job requires me to be away from home for most of the day. It's not uncommon for me to leave early morning, returning late-night. Sometimes, I'll pass the whole day without doing anything that benefits the hair.....the whole day. So I determined this was no longer acceptable and decided to take action and create a "healthy hair" on the go kit. I had an extra make-up bag handy so all I needed to do was pick out what items would make the cut.

Scalp Massager:

My fatal flaw is the constant incessant need to play with my hair. I know for a fact that this constant manipulation has negatively impacted my retention. This is especially true when I'm doing an activity where my mind tends to wander (like driving or sitting in front of the computer). Well now I've decided that if I can't break the habit, I can at least put something in my hand that will help add some type of benefit to my hair. The answer came in the form of my trusty scalp massager. It's small enough to fit easily into my make-up bag. Putting my scalp massager to work satisfies my craving to always fiddle with my hair. It's like giving a smoker a nicotine alternative that deals with the need to have a cigarette in hand. So while I'm driving, I can have 1 hand (safely) on the wheel and the other hand stimulating and envigorating my scalp.

Aveda Damage Repair:

I'm fortunate enough to have an Aveda school in my city. One of the benefits I get to enjoy are the low cost massages, facials, etc. Not too long ago, while waiting to pay for my amazing massage, my eyes wandered to the trial size bottle display and noticed a cute little tube of moisturizer. I was still feeling all "zen" like from my relaxing experience so I grabbed the moisturizer without even looking at the price. I came to find out later that I paid around $8.00 for 0.85 fl oz tube. Had I known what I would be paying for it, I think I would have passed. I'm glad I didn't because I really like how well it moisturizes without weighing down the hair. In fact, I enjoy this product so much that I later bought a full size bottle. So the travel size bottle is now with me where ever I go. Now, whenever my hair needs a little kick of moisture, I've got my Aveda daily hair repair within arms reach.

Silk Scarf:

Another way I combat my hands in hair disease is by tying it up under a silk scarf. Often I have to make a 2-3 hour commute from one job location to the other. I've decided to use this time to "refresh" my hair. By this I mean moisturizing and sealing my hair and allowing it all to sink in under the loving care of a silk scarf. This also helps me keep my hands away from my hair so it's a double benefit. In the picture, my silk scarf is folder and held in place with a binder clip. This helps keep it in a small enough size to fit perfectly in my little bag.

Hair Nutrition:

Gosh, I can't even begin to tell you how often I've forgot to take my vitamins after a long day of crazy hectic-ness. So now I've decided to take my nutrition seriously and pack my Nordic Naturals omega-3 supplements where ever I go. Just having the pills with me serves as a subconscious reminder to stay consistent with taking them. Since my makeup bag is transparent, I'm provided a gentle reminder to take my vitamins every time I'm in my purse (even if I'm just reaching for my cell phone). I also keep a bottle of Cell Food in my purse. One of the benefits of Cell Food is that it can be taken without food. I also like the fact that no refrigeration is required. This product has a ton of health claims. What attracted me most is that Cell Food claims to contain 78 trace minerals and 17 amino acids which are easily absorbed at the cellular level. I've grown accustomed to the strange taste which makes it easy for me to just take off the cap and drop a few drops on my tongue whenever the mood strikes. Next on my list of products to try is their silica formula. You guys may already know but silica is essential for healthy hair, skin, joints, and a healthy heart. The list of benefits to the body from taking silica is just too good to pass up. I'm really in tuned to taking my nutrition to the next level by focusing on readily absorbable sources. This is why juicing is so exciting to me. Cell food goes well with my philosophy of "getting the most bang for my buck" when it comes to nutrition. This also means that I don't have to pack 50-11 vitamins like I did years ago when I didn't know any better.

Gleau Argan oil blend

What healthy hair kit would be complete without a small size bottle of Gleau for sealing? I once had a habit of re-applying a light oil to my hair a couple of time throughout the day. I kid you not, I received the most number of compliments on my hair when I maintained this practice. I guess the healthy glow was just too much for folks to look at without saying something positive. So now I ask myself, "why did I stop doing this?" One sure way to get this habit going again is to keep a little bit with me at all times. And because this oil is so light, I don't have to think twice about reapplying when ever needed. My little 1/4 ounce bottle easily fits into the palm of my hand so I can discretely take it into the restroom with me and apply without feeling self-conscious.

Although this may all sound like a lot of stuff to be carrying around. It all fit neatly in my bag makeup bag which is around 8.5 inches long, 4.5 inches high. I even had enough room to slip in my tiny spray bottle filled with essential oils. Both this healthy hair kit and my makeup bag are able to fit side-by-side, comfortably in my purse.

Now that I'm packed and ready to go, I must focus on the next phase of my healthy hair plan. Before, when I held more of a 9-5 work schedule, I would use my restroom breaks as the perfect opportunity to refresh my hair with product. I was also fortunate enough to have my own office so I could easily break out beauty supplies, when convenient and reapply whenever the mood struck. Because of the routine nature of my work, my actions easily developed into a habit. Now, I barely ever have two days in a month that look similar so I don't have a support structure in place to reinforce a consistent habit. I realize that creating a structure is key otherwise I'll just be lugging around more stuff that I'll never use. I've got some ideas that I'll play around with around how to create a practice of promoting healthy hair throughout the day. My end-in mind is to support my desire to have healthy looking hair everyday with consistent action. I'm excited to see what may come of this in the long run.

So tell me, what are your must have "healthy hair" items that you take with you wherever you go?

Open letter to my readers: How do I create healthy hair while living overseas?

One of the most amazing aspects of producing content on the internet is the connection I get to make with people all over the world. Most recently, I received a question from via a youtube viewer from Germany. This person, who I'll refer to as "Katie" seemed to be in a place where she really truly wanted to create a healthy head of hair. She's right around ear length and wanted to achieve healthy bra-strap length hair. The only thing holding her back, she thought, were the lack of available quality products we here in the states are so lucky to get a hold of.

Instead of responding via private message, I thought I'd share some tips to creating healthy hair even if quality hair products are not readily available here for everyone to see. Prior to writing this post, I aked myself, "if I couldn't just whip out my debit card and purchase pre-poo treatments, intensive deep conditioners, or nourishing oils any time I wished, what would I do?

TECHNIQUE

My first thought was that if I couldn't rely on products to save the day, I'd focus on my technique and on mastering the basics. Although I didn't ask her about her relaxing routine. My very first piece of advice would be to try to stretch out the time between relaxers. Start small by waiting just a few weeks longer than normal each time you relax. Once you get the hang of it, try to extend your stretch a little longer the next time. This will result in less over-processing which will help promote retention long-term.

The next thing I'd incorporate into my regimen a scalp massage on a regular basis. There's nothing like a good scalp massage to create a relaxing night not to mention the insanely huge benefits your hair and scalp will receive. I can tell you, Katie, from personal experience that scalp massages absolutely effect the rate of hair growth. There are parts of my hair that I routine massage even without thinking. What I realized is those areas always create thicker, longer, new growth than the rest of my hair. Just the practice of massaging alone, even without any hair products whatsover, will positively impact your hair.

Although protective styling ain't my thing, if I were on a mission to create lengthy hair without the help of amazing products, I'd bun, braid, etc 95% of the time. Even before I knew what protective styling was, I knew that everytime I'd wear sinthetic braids, my hair would seem to "grow" faster than normal. Truth is, my hair didn't grow faster, I just experienced less breakage while my hair was protected under the braids. By the way, I wasn't one of those people who wore braids for months at a time. Because of my hands in hair disease, the longest I would allow braids to remain in my hair was 6-7 weeks tops. If I could benefit from wearing braids for such a short amount of time, why not try this or other protective styles and see how your hair progresses?

Next on the list of techniques would be tools I used for grooming and styling. You should seek out the biggest/widest tooth comb you can find and only use this comb when styling. No small tooth combs allowed......ever. If your hair isn't fortunate enough to experience high quality products, it may not be strong enough to withstand the stress of using a small toothed comb. I also want you to go in your bathroom drawer, locate your curling iron (if you have one) and throw it away. If you don't want to let it go just yet, I want you to let a friend or relative store the iron for you until a later time. Until you start seeing some significant progress, you are not allowed to use any sort of heat styling tool on your hair. Excessive heat equals dryness and breakage. It's not something your hair needs right now. Trust me.

Instead of heat, I want you to consider other means of curling your ends. Check out videos of the pin-curl method of creating curls. It works pretty well.

All though Germany may not have many beauty supply stores around, my guess is that you probably can get a hold of supplements that support the health of your hair. Make sure to look for nutrional superfoods that give both you and your hair a ton of benefits. First see if you can find some hair, skin and nails vitamins. If not, go for a multi-vitamin in liquid form. Liquid vitamins are superb because they go right to the blood stream and begin feeding the body instantly. Therefore, your body absorbs more nutrients per dose. This is one of those things where you won't see immediate results. It's important to stay consistent 'cause that's when good things start to happen.

Now let's talk about products. Although pickins are slim in your area, you should try to avoid or replace any unproductive products from your regimen. Specifically, I'm talking about hair grease. See if you can replace commercial hair grease (loaded with petroleum or mineral oil) with oils like coconut oil jojoba oil etc. See if you can locate a natural food store in your area and stock up on any natural oils they carry. If you absolutely can't find natural oils locally, do a search online and pay a little extra for shipping if you have to. Once you have those oils in your possession, you can take the other steps in your routine to the next level. Now you have a healthy hair ingredient you can add to your deep conditioners and your pre-p00. You can also use the oil as part of your night-time treatment and dap on a little during the day as your hair needs it. Even without commercial grade hair products, you can still seek out natural ingredients you can incorporate into your hair routine. Eggs, honey, coconut milk are just a few of the readily available ingredients you can mix with your current conditioners to make them even more powerful. Simple things like popping vitamin e capsules into your conditioner can make a big difference.

Lastly, my friend, I leave you with these three important phrases to remember as you travel in your hair journey: be patient, stay consistent, and always improve.