Taking better care of your hair is vital as you get older – what you got away with when you were twenty just won’t work in your forties or fifties.

Hair changes in a number of ways as you age – here’s some of the things you need to look out for.

We all know this one. The most obvious sign of aging hair is a change in color. As we age, our hair follicles produce less melanin – the pigment that gives hair its color – and hair becomes gray.

Which shade of gray you go depends entirely on the color of your hair before melanin production stopped and can range from dark gunmetal gray hair to a very pale silver gray hair and even combinations of several shades.

Graying can begin as early as in our 30s although some are lucky enough to retain their youthful hair color until well into our 60s. Sadly, the latter isn’t the norm and most of us find that graying starts around the mid 40s mark.

If you want to know when graying will affect your hair – take a look at your parents. If they went gray either early or late you are more likely to follow in their footsteps.

Genetics do play an important role in graying, though, with Caucasians going gray earlier than Asians, for example. Very dark to black hair often goes gray with more style – that lovely blue silver color that needs no enhancement. Again – that’s less usual than the ‘pepper and salt’ mix that most of us get stuck with.

Hair is basically a strand of protein that grows through a follicle – a small opening in the skin. Each hair will usually remain with us for about 4-5 years before it’s shed and replaced with a new hair.

Although genetics determine the thickness of your hair, most people experience some hair loss with age. As we get older the rate of hair growth slows and each strand becomes thinner. The result – thin, fine hair rather than the thick, lush hair we used to toss and flick around for effect in our youth.

For some women – especially those with less thick hair to start with – thinning hair can be quite severe. We lose hair differently than men – female pattern hair loss tends to lead to less density of hair over the entire head resulting in a visible scalp for some.

If thinning hair worries you then look at some of the hair restoration products on the market – there are natural supplements that really work to help you grow thicker and more luxurious hair. Just like you used to have.

Hair consists of around 13% water. As we age our hair loses some of this water and becomes dry. Dry hair is less shiny than hydrated hair so the result is often dull, unhealthy looking hair.

If you’re suffering from dull, dry hair then you should try not to over use heated appliances such as straightening irons, curling tongs and even hair dryers in your hair care routine. Restrict use and use special hair finishing products to protect the hair shaft from heat damage.

You can do a lot to restore the shine and gloss of healthy hair. Starting from the inside out – since diet is so important to hair – you should nourish and condition and give your crowning glory masses of tender loving care.

Keep your hair color topped up – colored hair will look shinier than gray – provided you condition it properly. And whether you’re unashamedly gray or you haven’t “come out” yet – get a great cut regularly.

The upside is that the extra attention will repay you ten fold. There’s nothing better for your self esteem than knowing your hair looks great. Great hair really can make you look ten years younger.

Hair responds to what you eat in just the same way as your skin and all of your body. And many of us just aren’t getting enough of what we need to keep our hair looking its absolute best.

Did you know that non genetic hair loss is much worse in women who are deficient in iron and those who have low levels of the B group of vitamins? Not surprising then that the B group vitamins figure so much in over the counter hair restoration products.

And – even worse than low vitamin B levels – nine out of ten women aged 16-50 and a one in three of us over 50 are deficient in iron.

Surprisingly these figures are much worse nowadays than for our mothers. The reason? So many of us now prefer not to eat red meat and we haven’t replaced meat with other iron rich foods like fresh green leafy vegetables.

We can hardly complain about dull, thinning hair if we’re just not giving it the food it needs to be healthy, glossy and thick. So – here’s a quick checklist to guide you round the supermarket:

Eat lots of:

Fresh vegetables – high colored and green leafy

non-citrus fruits;

live natural yoghurt

cold pressed oils like olive oil, flax seed or sesame

soy protein in the form of tofu, soya milk or soya yoghurts

legumes (peas, beans and lentils)

whole grains especially brown rice, oats and buckwheat)

seeds (sunflower, pumpkin, sesame and linseeds)

almonds, figs and dates

fresh oily fish like salmon, tuna, herring, pilchards and sardines

Drink:

lots of: pure still water to aid your digestive system and eliminate toxins – a sluggish digestion leads to limp, dull or oily hair

Cut down on:

dairy (cow’s milk) products

caffeine (coffee, tea, chocolate, soda drinks)

sugar and salt

The good news is if you change your eating habits and include more healthy hair food – you’ll boost your body’s whole immune system and give yourself loads more energy in the process.

Energy, vitality and great looking hair – what could be more youthful?

Hair that’s in top condition, cut and colored beautifully – will make you feel a million dollars and make you look years younger.

Hair care products have been slow to cater for the needs of women over 40. The good news is that things are changing as companies wake up to consumer demand and introduce more hair care products just for us.

The even better news is that the right hair care can make a huge impact on the way your hair looks.  With just a bit of extra care you can make a very big difference.

Many things change the way our hair looks as we age.  What we take into our bodies is vital for great hair – what we eat and choose not to eat is important to overall healthy hair.  As well as boosting vitamins and minerals in our daily food – as we get older taking a good quality supplement makes good sense – and there are many supplements specifically targeted at giving you great hair.

For any woman dealing with thinning hair is agonizing.  But there are hair loss solutions out there.  For many of us it’s a question of hair restoration – we want the thick, glossy hair we had in our youth.  For other women with more severe hair loss – finding  hair restoration products that work becomes an urgent need.

And then there is those tricky questions of style – how long or short should you go?  How do you deal with your gray – to dye or not to dye – and when do you stop if you start?

It’s vital to spend time and effort on your hair if you want to look and feel your best as you get older.  Very few things will make you look older than you are than out of condition or badly colored hair.  Hair is more difficult to manage over 40 and needs more tender loving care to look its best.

It is great to know that there are shampoos, conditioners, hair masks, hair sprays and finishing products – all manner of hair care products around.  Whatever you do – don’t give up on your hair as you get older.

With the right hair care and a great hairdresser you can restore your hair to its former glory.

If you’ve noticed you’re losing more hair than normal or you can see through your hair to the scalp in a way you couldn’t before you may have been looking around for something to help.

Well you aren’t alone – something like one in four women suffer the same problem. And if you are one of them you may be getting increasingly desperate for some help.

Surprisingly there hasn’t been a great deal on the market in terms of main stream hair care products targeted at thinning hair. But things may well be looking up with products like the Advanced Hair Care More line from Frederic Fekkai.

As well as being an incredibly attractive Frenchman – Frederic Fekkai is a well known stylist to the stars with upmarket salons in NYC and Beverly Hills among others. He has a range of superb hair care products much sought after by those in the know and now he’s produced a great new line specifically for women with thinning hair.

The Advanced Hair Care More line targets both the cause of hair loss and the symptoms. It aims to stimulate your scalp and promote hair growth as well as help your hair look thicker and healthier as it grows. Developed with impressive clinical research, the key ingredient is niacin (vitamin B) in a slow release formula and the line includes four products:

MORE All Day Density Styling Whip – for use ever time you wash and style your hair. Creates a denser fuller look instantly by lifting, thickening, and plumping each strand of hair.

MORE Nighttime Follicle Boosting Treatment – apply overnight between washes to improve health of the hair follicle and increase hair density.

MORE Root Nourishing Conditioner – after shampoo rinse out conditioner using essential nutrients to improve resilience of the hair shaft

MORE Scalp Purifying Shampoo – cleansing and clarifying shampoo to prepare the hair for conditioning and boosting treatments.

You can buy the products separately or – as they are intended to be used – as a complete hair care kit which gives you all four products for $100 (Amazon price). Online is certainly the best option unless you’re a regular at one of the Frederic Fekkai salons.

Results will take time to achieve – the conditioner and styling whip will produce visibly thicker and fuller hair instantly but an increase in hair density will take at least a couple of months to achieve.

I currently use a volumizing shampoo and conditioner from the L’Oreal range – my hair is naturally fine although not thinning but has definitely got less dense with age. I’m going to try the kit out as I have used Frederic Fekkai hair masks before and find them to be really excellent.

So – my view – whilst the Advanced Hair Care More kit certainly isn’t a budget buy it compares well with similar high-end hair care products and it’s definitely worth a try if you have thinning hair.

Not only that but dry, brittle or damaged hair will be cruelly revealed by the intense clear light of a summer day. The beginning of summer is just about the best time to give your hair a bit of extra tender loving care.

Add an intensive deep conditioning mask to your weekly hair care routine to restore glossy shine and superb condition.

A hair mask is just like a face mask – a deep conditioning treatment for hair that you leave on longer than your normal conditioner. Depending on how out of condition your hair is – you can use them at every shampoo or just once or twice a week.

Here’s my pick of the best around:

Philosophy Shear Splendor Age-Defying Conditioning Mask – My personal all time favorite – a rich cream conditioner that you apply after washing and towel drying your hair. Leave the product to penetrate your hair and then rinse off thoroughly. Despite it’s richness the cream doesn’t flatten your hair or make it greasy. You’ll notice results the very first time you use it – the formulation includes peptides and a botanical butter base for soft, conditioned hair with a lovely sheen.

Philosophy Shear Splendor Weekly Hair Marinade – This can be used as an additional once a week treatment for chemically treated or damaged hair. Apply to unwashed dry hair and then leave your on your hair for as long as you can – a minimum of 20 minutes and overnight if possible (make sure you protect pillows with a towel). Messy but worth it!

Frederic Fekkai Protein RX Reparative Treatment Mask – An intense hair conditioning treatment from this famous hair stylist. For hair that is heat or color damaged, the cream contains soy and milk protein to strengthen and restore shine. Regular use helps prevent further damage and breakage to hair.

Frederic Fekkai Technician Color Care Mask – Rapidly restores and rejuvenates color treated hair. Beautiful creamy avocado oil based formula – almost good enough to eat – restores silky texture to damaged hair.

Kerastase Resistance Masque VolumactiveThis is an unusual hair mask in that it provides deep conditioning AND restores thickness and vitality. Specifically for fine and vulnerable hair which can be flattened by many rich conditioners.

Get started now with any of these superb hair masks and continue the treatment right through the summer months. Your hair will look silky-soft, glossy and impeccably conditioned – whatever the sun, sand and salt do to it!

Natural re-growth and exposure to light and sun soon takes its toll on your beautiful head-turning color. The problem is – how do you keep it looking salon fresh?

Here’s six practical tips to keep your hair color looking good between treatments.

Use a color enhancing conditioner to revive the original color. Go for a shade as near as possible to your colored hair – don’t go darker as this may ‘muddy’ your highlights and flatten the overall look.

Touch up your roots. Don’t apply color to your whole head as this will overload the ends and leave them brittle, dry and over-treated. You should apply the color at the roots only and work through to the ends of the hair for a few minutes only just before rinsing.

Buy a touch-up wand for the times when you need a quick root cover up but haven’t had time to do it properly. Some of these products come in the form of mascara-like wands so you can easily color the emerging gray at your temples or wherever it is most noticeable.

Bobbi Brown has a product called Bobbi Brown Natural Brow Shaper which – despite its name – is also specifically designed for root retouches. In fact Bobbi Brown created the product for herself as she was so fed up with the constant problems of gray regrowth. And yes – you can use it to style your brows too!

Use a deep cleansing or ‘clarifying shampoo’ every few washes – especially if you live in an area where the water is hard. Hair color will be broken down more quickly by minerals in hard water.

Use color protecting hair care products to prevent UV light destroying your hair color. Try L’Oreal Kiwi Coloreflector Shampoo which locks in your precious color and team it with the conditioner and styling products from the same range. Take care to keep your hair out of the sun and cover up with a scarf or hat.

Don’t go any where near a swimming pool – hair color and pool chemicals just don’t mix. Swimming in the sea can be a problem too since salt dehydrates and washes out your color. So – if you do swim make sure you cover your hair in protective spray first. Try Korres Red Vine Year-Round Hair Sun Protection which protects your hair from UV light AND chlorine/salt damage.

If you have long hair, sweep it up on top of your head or swim with your head out of the water. The other option is to go retro and get yourself a rubber bathing hat covered in flowers – very 1970’s!

That’s it – follow these tips and with any luck you should be able to keep your hair color as vibrant and glossy as the day it was done

Get it wrong and you can end up looking years older – nothing is more aging than flat heavily dyed hair.

But a great hair color job can add warmth and radiance to your looks and give your confidence a turbo charged boost.

If you’re using a hair coloring kit at home the choice of hair color becomes even more difficult without the advice of a professional color stylist.

So – before you grab for the hair color that looks ‘about right for me’ – stop and take some time out to think about what you really need.

Here’s five tips to help you get the hair color that’s right for you

Stick to your base hair color as far as possible to That means your natural “base” hair color as it is now – not what it was like in your 20’s or teens.

Don’t go too blonde or you could look too pale all over. Your hair needs to frame your face and give a subtle contrast to your skin tone. Add some soft low lights to the overall color to give depth and tone.

Stop at light brown or light auburn if you have brown hair – you could look washed out. Reds are very harsh for most complexions so try ash browns. Use lowlights and highlights to lift the hair color – mid browns can look dull.

Lighten darker or deep brown/black hair – up to three tones away from the original color with additional highlights for a more realistic less flat look. Don’t go any darker than a deep chocolate brown or dark auburn. Hair color that’s too dark is an unnatural contrast with mature faces and can look a bit witch like.

Take care with red – covering up gray with red is very hard to do well since red emphasizes any ruddiness in your complexion. If you are naturally pale and fine skinned like Susan Sarandon – a natural redhead anyway then you may be an exception. Take the advice of a good hair colorist.

Overall – the important message is to keep your hair color natural and subtle and use lights to lift the color – the end result will give you a much younger look and make you feel great.

Most women would have guessed that to be the case. But would you have guessed that changes in your testosterone levels are a key cause of hair loss in women?

Specialists divide the causes of hair loss in women into traumatic or stress related hair loss and non traumatic – which includes just about everything else.

The most accepted cause of non traumatic hair loss in women is an androgen called DHT or dihydrotestosterone.

DHT is formed in the hair follicle from the male hormone testosterone which women possess as well as men. During most of our lives estrogen acts as a blocker to testosterone and prevents the production of excess levels of DHT.

Before the menopause women naturally have high levels of estrogen but there is a rapid decline after the menopause and this is when age related hormonal hair loss can be at its worst.

The result of more DHT in the hair follicle is a shorter hair growth cycle, finer hair and eventually general “effluvium” or hair loss resulting in thinning hair or patchy hair loss.

Women with ‘androgenetic alopecia’ – as this kind of hair loss is known – lose hair in a different way than men. In women, the hair becomes thinner all over the head but the hairline does not recede. Androgenetic alopecia in women rarely leads to total baldness as it often does for men.

There are other factors which can contribute to androgenetic alopecia – or certainly make it worse. Genetics may play a role – if your mother had the condition it may be that you are more likely to develop it.

Another possible contributor is a high fat, high calorie diet. Just how all this works together is still not yet properly understood by hair specialists.

What is very clear is that hair loss is extremely distressing for women – almost certainly more so than for men. The good news is that there are more and more hair restoration products on the market.

Hair restoration for women has become very important in recent years as the condition has been given more focus. Big names in the hari restoration market include – Provillus, Revivogen and Rogaine.

So – don’t dispair. Although hair loss solutions take time to have an effect – many have been shown to be extremely effective and research is moving forward all the time.