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How many times have you heard the phrase 'her hair was her crowing glory'?  As a plus sized lovely lady, I have always been quite vain about my hair - I always felt it was the one area where I could outdo other women.  I wore it long for many years, swishing it over my shoulder, shaking it's long tendrils in the breeze, tickling my hubby's nose with it - oh and battling knots and split ends and spending hours in the shower washing and conditioning and combing and rinsing...

Then one day I cut it off.  I freely admit that giving this momentus step slightly more thought may have been worthwhile considering.  There goes two foot of locks on the hairdressers floor and - miricle of mircle, what hey, I lost over a kilo!

My lovely hubby's mouth hit the floor and the kids kindly offered their pocket money to help pay for hair extensions.  So I kind of had to be staunchly proud of my new short haircut.  But in the private wee darknesses of my soul, I was at a bit of a loss.  I looked a bit, well, fuddy duddy like.  Unless I got up, washed out yesterday's product, dried my hair (admittedly this is no longer the work of hours) and then put in today's product.  Then it looked spunky.

But I am not a morning person.  Ask my boss.  She'll tell you that 9 am is Lise time. Um, or 10am on off days.  So mucking round with my hair in the mornings isn't something that I am keen on.  Who would have thought that short hair could take more effort in the morning than long hair?  So the funky do product thing, well it didn't last. 

So there I was, slightly frumpy, short brown hair that meant I still didn't recognise myself in the mirror until after at least one coffee.  That meant that what hair I had, needed to be good hair.  It needed to shine.  It needed to fluff in the right places and sleek down in the right places.  In other words, it needed to be in the best condition I could get it. 

Here are some of the things that I have come up with in my quest to obtain SuperHair (i.e. short hair with as much impact as the long stuff that made up for in volume for what it lacked in condition). 

There are three main ingredients for beautiful, healthy hair – good health, keeping it clean and caution when using hair products.

1. Healthy Diet . How well your hair grows depends largely upon an adequate diet, the most common dietary deficiency is Anaemia which is a lack of iron in the blood. Anaemia is usually a result of not eating enough meat, eggs, cereals or peas and beans, these foods are all good sources of iron. Fresh fruits and vegetables are also important as they help provide vitamin C, which helps the body to absorb iron easily.
2. Cutting the hair. Keeping your hair washed regularly (but not too often or it may become dry) will help keep your hair clean, shiny and healthy. Although cutting hair is not essential to its well-being, it is can sometimes be easier to keep the scalp clean if the hair is kept reasonably short. Regular cutting does not make your hair grow any stronger or faster.
3. Use hair products with caution. Although your scalp hair is hardy, and can withstand a lot of abuse, it can be damaged by too much or inexpertly applied perming, dyeing, bleaching and massage. The amount of beautifying the hair can take varies from person to person. Occasionally the scalp can be allergic to dyes and perming solutions and can become inflamed and swollen. To prevent this occurring, the dye should always be tested by applying it to a small area on the arm first. If a patch of inflammation has developed, the dye must not be used on the hair.

Most people who bleach their hair do so with hydrogen peroxide. If the peroxide is repeatedly applied, it tends to make the hair brittle. If this happens the hair may turn rough, develop split ends, or become thinned or shortened.

It is often a good idea to allow your hair to 'rest' occaissionally by cycling the treatments you use on your hair. Try a perm, then try a style which doesn’t require a perm, when you are colouring your hair, try different products so that your hair is not subject to the same treatment for too long, style changes will also keep you look more interesting.

How quickly you hair grows is very much dependent on a healthy diet. The most common cause of hair loss is anemia which is an iron deficiency. The cause is not enough iron in the blood caused by a diet containing too little meat, eggs, cereals or peas and beans. Fresh fruits and vegetables are also needed to provide vitamin C, which enables the body to absorb iron.

Although cutting the hair is not essential to its well-being, it is easier to keep the scalp clean if the hair is kept reasonably short. Contrary to common belief, regular cutting does not make the hair grow any stronger or faster.

Although scalp hair is hardy, and can withstand a lot of abuse, it can be damaged by too much or inexpertly applied perming, dyeing, bleaching and massage. The amount of beautying the hair can take varies from person to person. Occasionally the scalp is allergic to the dye and becomes inflamed and swollen. To prevent this occurring, dye should be tested by applying it to a small area on the arm. If a patch of inflammation has developed, the dye must not be used on the hair.

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