SECRETS TO HEEALTH with PROFESSOR KASONDE
There are three things in which men and women differ a great deal.
They may be many more, but these three have struck my attention.
These are hair, beauty and shopping.
I will dispense with the last two first, since they are not the topic of our discussion this time. Whereas men take beauty or good looks to be an event of history
already decided for them by nature, women consider beauty, an ongoing process of life, and therefore an event for the future to determine.
So men tend to accept the good looks or the lack of it that nature has given with good humour and a certain resignation.
Women on the other hand, hold what nature has given as only the starting point.
Something to be modeled at every turn, until it reaches the zenith.
They spend a good deal of time, energy and money perfecting or improving upon it.
Turning to the matter of shopping, men consider it an annoying interruption to their busy schedule, while women consider it an art, which needs to be savoured, enjoyed and engaged in with unbridled passion.
Incidentally these three matters are also some of the key areas of romance, love and conflict among the two sexes.
In regard to hair, most men treat it as one does a political campaign cap, something to show which team you belong to and a shield from unfavourable weather.
While women consider it the crown jewel of their beauty, most women plan life around their hair.
While I may be naïve on many of these points, I suspect I may be close to the truth in some of my comments.
So the health of the hair is important, certainly to women, and also eventually to men as well.
This is especially so with increasing age when it becomes thinner in volume and less in amount.
Therefore to have healthy hair is a plus.
I would like to discuss the matter of the health of our hair and how to have good healthy hair by asking three questions.
1. What are the diseases which affect hair?
2. How can I protect my hair from disease?
3. How can I have healthy hair?
1. What are the diseases which affect hair?
You will probably be asking the question, or perhaps wondering to yourself, if it is really true that they are some diseases that affect hair.
This is understandable, because, most people believe hair is not alive. So to think of hair as having the possibility of being diseased seems like a contradiction. It is in fact true that hair is not alive, however it is a product of the skin which is alive. So in fact hair is a skin, accessory, or appendage, it helps the skin to do its work
better. So in essence the skin grows the hair.
So some diseases which can damage the hair growing parts of the skin will damage the hair.
The second question, you may have is. So what is the function of hair, other than beauty?
Well the answer is that hair protects the body from the environment just like the skin does.
You only need to shave the hair off your head completely and you will get a practical lesson in why there is hair on top of your head.
When they are extremes of temperature the hair on top of the head protects the skin from excessive exposure.
This is why elderly men tend to wear hats as they lose their hair progressively.
The hair helps with controlling the temperature of the body either when it is too hot or too cold.
This is why hair grows a lot faster in the cold season, and probably why Caucasians(white people) tend to have more and longer hair than
Negroid people(Black people), since the former live in colder climates than the latter.
So since we have dispensed with your mental objections, we can turn to the question which was asked originally.
So what are the diseases of hair.
Well the commonest diseases of hair occur in extremes of age, that is in the young or in the old. In the young there are two diseases which
are common especially in Zambia and in Africa.
These are thin brown hair of Malnutrition and Ring Worms.
In the elderly two conditions are common.
The one is part of natural ageing and the other is the result of heredity or runs in families.
These are greying of hair and balding (medically called Alopecia).
In women, particularly African women, as stated earlier, because of braiding of hair, a peculiar form of balding is commonly called traction Alopecia (simply put balding caused by pulling of hair).
You need only look around at any African women over 35years and you will see loss of hair along the hair lines for proof of this.
Ring worms are caused by a mushroom like germ called fungus.
The disease is called Tenia Capitis.
It is common among children less than five years.
It is spread by contact.
Especially by teachers as they count students in class and assembly lines.
They spread the fungus from one student’s head to the next.
This fungus eats the hair roots creating coin sized ring lesions on the head which are unsightly.
Malnourished hair looks brown, thin and breaks easily.
This is common again among children, where their body demands for growth are not met by the food intake they have.
This result in shortage of protein needed to form hair, so the hair is malformed.
Malnourished children typically will have no sparkle in their eye, they look disinterested and often puffy (a deceptive appearance of good nutrition, which in fact is caused by lack of protein).
If you look at the hair of a malnourished child it is sparse and barely visible because, instead of being black it is a faded brown colour.
2. How can I protect my hair from disease?
It must be said there is a difference between taking good care of your hair and making your hair beautiful.
The two are not necessarily the same thing, though they would appear to be.
Traction Alopecia is what happens when women in the process of braiding their hair uproot the hair and break it.
This may create very attractive patterns of hair but it does not make the hair healthy. Equally various scalp treatments burn the hair roots and cause hair to break and stop growing. Creating thin sparse hair on the scalp of the head.
With age the pigment producing cells in the skin reduce, this makes the hair white or as it is commonly said grey. Male pattern balding also sets in.
With loss of hair along the temple hair lines causing it to recede on the right and left of the centre.
Many men also lose the centre hair piece resulting in central balding up to the midpoint of the head.
For children under five years old, regular cutting of the hair and washing with special antifungal shampoo will reduce the ring worms. A
healthy diet rich in proteins such as vegetables, fruits, beans, lean meat, eggs, milk and fish will prevent malnutrition and result in healthy hair.
Being gentle on the hair will prevent mechanical injury, space your hair treatments, braiding and hair extensions.
Allow hair to recover from these periodic assaults.
Let the hair roots re grow before you change your hair style.
Try to keep the hair natural for a few months in the course of the year.
This will allow good healthy hair as you get older.
With male pattern balding and graying, not a great deal can be done.
However lifestyle patterns and choices can accelerate the process of ageing which affects the hair.
Lots of stress will guarantee you loss of hair, both because of unhealthy stress hormones and stress induced scalp scratching. Learn
to manage your stress by paying attention to your habits, hobbies, holidays and happiness. Stop smoking, reduce your recreational alcohol intake, rekindle old hobbies (take time off for yourself), always take your holidays (remember the office can always find a replacement, your
family cannot) and finally celebrate your achievements (you can only be successful in the future if you relish the successes of the past).
Pessimism and worry are some of the biggest causes of hair loss.
3. How can I have healthy hair?
There are three basic things that will keep the hair healthy and these are;
1. A healthy diet
2. Healthy skin
3. Good Reproductive health
The hair is made of a protein called keratin produced by the skin.
If the diet you eat is rich in protein, you will have lots of raw material to make hair.
If you have very low levels of protein, you will not be able to produce the chemical substrate which is used to form hair.
The skin needs to be healthy to produce good hair.
The cells of the skin get blood by diffusion from the underlying layer of skin called the dermis.
The blood vessels in this area are like hair pins, they need to be kept open to give nutrition to the skin.
This means that good exercise which keeps these vessels open, particularly cardiovascular exercises are good for your skin and hair.
Rapid Walking, running, jogging and swimming are good cardiovascular exercises that keep the skin healthy.
The blood to the skin is the first to be compromised when there is poor blood circulation. Poor blood circulation is caused by bad diets,
diseases of ageing and smoking.
When we eat bad fats (saturated, animal fats) they clog up the blood vessels and reduce nutrition to the skin. Good fats (polyunsaturated
fats) are plants oils such as sunflower oil, fish oil and groundnut oils.
These clean the blood vessels and keep the blood flow good.
With ageing especially after 40 years, it is a good idea to take some supplements.
This means developing the regular habit of taking low dose aspirin daily, omega three fats and Zinc.
These substances keep the blood vessels clean and open, and will delay the process of ageing and its effects, including hair loss.
Being gentle on your hair keeps it growing well, excessive treatment of hairs, is like over cropping of the soil.
The soil loses it nutrients and soon cannot grow any plants.
The reproductive hormones that is the male and female hormones promote the growth of hair. So if the male and female reproductive organs are healthy the hair will be too.
What do we have in mind when we talk about reproductive health?
Some of the key components of reproductive health are the prevention of sexually transmitted disease which will damage the reproductive organs, prevention of drug abuse that may directly or indirectly damage reproductive organs and safe sex practices.
When reproductive hormones levels decline so does the hair.