Is the appearance of gray hair a health warning sign? In addition to premature gray hair, some people are prone to oily hair and hair loss. Can these problems be improved or cured? What are the ways to prevent them?
The following is the essence of an interview with Kuo Dawei, General Director of Fu Yuan Chinese Medicine Head Clinic in Yulin, Taiwan.
3 recommended tips to reverse gray hair
1. Scalp needling
With this method, it is said that in one case, a 75-year-old’s gray hair turned black after acupuncture or scalp needling.
I used to work in a hospital before. We adopted a treatment method there that combined the East and the West. So, for example, when a patient enters a stroke’s so-called acute treatment phase, the Western doctor would immediately ask the Chinese doctor to go to the intensive care unit to help the patient with acupuncture.
At that time, there was a 75-year-old grandmother who could only lie motionless in her bed. Her limbs were limp and weak. We helped her with scalp acupuncture because needling in the scalp could stimulate the activation of meridian points.
During her stay in the hospital, this woman’s gray hair turned utterly black in the areas stimulated by scalp needling. When the patient recovered, she was amazed to find that rather than aging, she looked even younger after her stroke.
This is because head acupuncture treatments help the body revitalize and they enhance the body’s metabolism. Most importantly, they can stimulate hair follicles so that the original white and gray hair slowly transforms into dark, shiny black hair.
2. Combing and messaging the scalp
It is hard for ordinary people to seek scalp-needling treatments. However, hair combing and scalp massage serve the same effect.
The first of the 13 methods of health care of Sun Simiao, the king of medicine in the Tang Dynasty, is the secret called “comb hair often.” The way to comb hair is from the front to the back. If there is no comb at hand, you can also rub your hands hot and follow the meridian massage to comb the head from front to back, activating the qi and blood and stimulating the meridians.
To comb hair correctly with the palms, rub them together 36 times to make them hot, then sweep from the forehead to the back of the head and back to the front. Perform this 10 times in the morning and evening.
There are many essential acupoints on the head. Doing this exercise can often brighten the eyes, dispel excessive air in the body, and prevent headaches, tinnitus, gray hair, and hair loss.
In addition to hair combing and scalp massaging, you can also use your fingertips to press the head when you wash your hair. While washing, massage both sides of the Shuaigu acupoint, tap the Baihui point, and press the Fengchi point along the meridians to relieve pressure on the scalp and improve blood circulation for healthier hair.
Choosing the correct comb or brush
There are also three things to remember when choosing a comb or brush.
1. Avoid combs with dense teeth. We should choose combs that do not have overly dense teeth because dense teeth are easy to generate static electricity, knot up and pull at the hair, and affect the hair root.
2. Avoid plastic combs. Combs made of soft rubber material are preferred. Other materials such as wood, ox’s horn, and ram’s horn are also good choices. It is because hard plastic combs are easy to damage the scalp during the process of combing.
3. Avoid sharp comb teeth. When applied with force while combing, sharp comb teeth will easily scratch the scalp.
3. Eating the right foods and herbs
Why does gray hair appear? People naturally develop gray hair when they get old. Moreover, stress and low moods, which can lead to an irregular diet and result in a lack of nutrients in the body, may also cause the sudden growth of a large amount of gray hair in a short time.
Hair loss also causes hard times for many people. Many patients come to see me and say: “Doctor, my face cleaning is prone to oil, and I also lose my hair easily.” There are six factors for the cause: staying up late, stress, overwork, overthinking, psychological trauma, and sudden events.
Compared to stress and other factors that are difficult to control, diet is something you can arrange. You can eat food that is good for your hair. According to Chinese medicine, five colors connect to five significant organs. Black is for kidneys, and it is also said that “the essence of the kidneys is reflected in the hair.”
The health of a person’s kidneys is mainly manifested in his hair. So when you see someone with dark and shiny hair, his kidneys are in good shape.
People who want to strengthen their kidney energy should start with black-colored foods, such as black sesame, black beans, black mulberry, and black rice, which correspond to the role of black for the kidneys. These foods also provide the trace elements needed for hair.
Many herbs are black, which are for the kidneys. They can help strengthen the tendons, nourish the blood, and power up kidney energy, such as tuber fleece flower root, Chinese privet, false daisy, walnut, Siberia land pick, treated adhesive rehmannia root tuber, and Malaytea scurfpea fruit.
However, not all black food can make hair dark and shiny. I mean that the nutrients in these herbs and foods are helpful for the hair.
Translated by Cecilia
