Natural Ways to Regrow Hair in Children

How To  Regrow Hair in Children: Basically, the condition of the hair is an indicator for the health of the whole body.  In promoting hair regrowth, we have to work on improving the whole body vitality.

1) Regrow Hair Through Diet

If your child has thin hair, or hair which has fallen because of an illness, you really should check with your doctor or naturopath or other health professional as to the cause and possible remedies.

Meanwhile, you can begin a programme of diet which will include many of the foods which help hair growth.

Oatmeal Porridge:  Make porridge every morning.  Porridge is very high in silica and other minerals which are utilized for hair and bone growth, not to mention teeth. Eating oatmeal porridge regularly really helps your skin too.  You will notice the skin becomes smooth and silky when oatmeal porridge is eaten every day.

I like to use pure oat bran, which contains most of the natural goodies in the outer part of the grain.

Add Extra Nourishment: Make your oatmeal porridge up using enough water to make it smooth and not stodgy.  Cook it gently for five minutes or so, depending on what type of oats you are using.

Serve the porridge out – we will assume that we are serving one adult-sized plate here, which you can use part of, or all of, depending on the size and age of your child: Grate one whole apple over the adult sized plate of oatmeal porridge.  Of course, you will use a smaller quantity of everything for a yound child.

Eating raw apple with the porridge helps the digestion of the grain, and provides more roughage to the bowel as well as extra potassiumPotassium in apples,  and other nutrients, will  help with hair growth. Walter Last, a famous healer, was adamant that you eat some raw food with EVERY meal, as this provides enzymes and vitamin C, etc, to help digest the cooked food. The raw apple will aid digestion so that you gain the optimum nutrient value from the food – this will benefit hair growth.

Add one good tablespoon of sesame seeds onto the porridge.

Add one tablespoon of ground sunflower seeds. Grind these up in your blender.  You can make a couple of cupfuls up to last a week or so.

Almonds: If you have some almonds, you can grind three or four of  these up in your blender with the sunflower seeds.

Linseed, or flaxseed is also excellent for the hair.

Sesame seeds alone contain high amounts of calcium and magnesium:  one handful is supposed to contain about 1200mg of calcium and magnesium, which is about as much as you would get in a glass of unadulterated milk.  They contain protein, which is needed for hair growth. They also contain omega 3 fatty acids which help hair growth, brain function, eyesight, the nervous system, and help create a sense of well being.

Sunflower seeds are also high in fatty acids, protein,  vitamin E and other goodies.

Almonds, of course, are a rich source of protein, vitamin E, magnesium and other minerals.

These foods – sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, linseed/flaxseed, and almonds are high octane foods.  They are ideal supplements for the vegeraian diet, or in helping people recover health.

Don’t make the porridge too rich by using too much of these wonderful foods at once.  The amount you use will vary according to the body weight of the child and the state of his or her appetite.

Milk, or just a knob of butter, or some ghee, with a dollop of honey or dark brown sugar, makes this porridge just delectable.  You can use dairy or soy milk if you want, but the sesame, almonds and sunflowers can substitute milk protein if milk is not tolerated.

Green Vegetables. The high calcium greens are the best for hair growth: boccoli,  brussels sprouts, cabbage, kale, are all excellent.  Carrots help hair growth as well, and some should be eaten every day for good general health.

If you have access to comfrey, then using a little of this mixed in with your silverbeet or spinach or cabbage will give extra nourishment to the nerves and hair follicles.  Comfrey is very high in silica, which is why it has been called ‘knitbone’ for centuries – it was used to help heal broken bones, which gives you something of an idea as to its healing qualities.

Organic free range meats and poultry and eggs should all be sought, for the sake of the animal as well as for the health of your child. The same applies to dairy milk, if that is what you use.  Organic and freerange – it is worth paying the little bit extra to get the quality and a  kinder product.

Oily Fish such as sardines, mackerel, salmon and tuna are all rich in omega 3 fatty acids and other nutrients, including iodine, which aid the growth of healthy hair.

Egg yolk is high in nutrients which help general good health, including hair growth. Egg yolk contains lecithin which helps your liver and gall bladder to process fats so that your body can use them.  Egg yolks on their own are used in some cancer therapies, when meat is avoided.  Dr Gerson used raw egg yolk in his clinics.  Walter Last used raw egg yolk as a substitute for flesh protein in his treatments for cancer and other disease.

Banana Smoothies for Hair Health: You might try using an egg yolk in your blender to make those banana smoothies. These can be  enriched with a little sesame seeds or sunflower seeds.  You can make these smoothies up using your favourite milk, or, instead, add a few almonds instead of milk.  Fresh orange juice goes will with a dairy-free banana smoothie, although some people would dislike combining an acid fruit with a sweet one.

Pure orange juice is another food which is good for the health including hair regrowth.  It is high in riboflavin, iron, vitamin C and other nutrients.

2) Massage with Olive Oil or Castor Oil. Massaging the scalp regularly with either olive oil or castor oil really helps hair regrowth.  Leaving it on overnight is just the best thing.  But even leaving on for several hours before washing it out with soap and warm water will benefit the hair.

3) Iodine dabbed onto the scalp once or twice a week helps hair growth.  Note:  Use only a very small amount for young children.  One drop every two weeks should be enough for those under five years old.  Check with your naturopath or ayurvedic practitioner or other health professional.

4) Apple Cider Vinegar is just the best thing for helping the hair to grow.  It contains many nutrients which feed the hair follicles, and your nervous system, and the cider vinegar works to keep your scalp at a nice acidic level.  Soaps and shampoos are alkaline, and an alkaline scalp tends to make the hair fall out.

Put apple cider vinegar onto the scalp straight after you have towel dried your child’s  hair.  Massage it well into the damp hair and scalp.  Do not use your iodine treatment on the same day as you apply the cider vinegar.  Put the iodine onto the scalp 8 hours later, or on the following day after washing the hair.

Fast Home Remedies for Acne

Fast Home Remedies for Acne

Merrilyn’s Three Day Porridge Cleanse.  This treatment works  mainly  by healing the acne from the inside by cleansing the liver – you eat  porridge to help assist cleansing, and nourish the body whilst you are doing it.  With this treatment, determination is the key factor, as its success relies on your persistence in avoiding other cooked foods and dairy products.

This treatment is designed to rid the body of all those harmful poisons which it is harbouring, as it is these, essentially, which make you sick. The theory is that if you cleanse  the intestines, which cleanses  the blood, and you provide nourishing and cleansing foods to the digestion after that, then the skin and all other organs should  function normally again.

The following procedure is a treatment which has been successful with some poeple.  However, you should visit your doctor or health professional for advice if you have an ongoing problem with acne. Sometimes an antibiotic, Chinese medicine,  a traditional Tibetan Buddhist remedy,  homeopathy, or some other modality might be needed to treat the acne, especially if there is some underlying inherent cause such as a hormonal imbalance.

Day One:   Eat the following high fiber food at breakfast,  between 7 and 8 am each day. It is good to get into a routine for breakfast.  Try to keep to the same time, as this helps the digestion.

Oatmeal Porridge:  Make up a big plate of oatmeal porridge for breakfast- about a cup or two of porridge.  Grate a large apple up whole, preferably an organic apple, and put this on top. Add four or five chopped dates for sweetening.  Add two tablespoonsful of olive oil, or grapeseed oil, or a knob of butter, and a tablespoonful  of ground linseed/ flaxseed and  a tablespoon of sesame seeds.  Eat the lot without any added sweetening or milk. If you add milk or sugar to this porridge, you spoil the cleansing effect.

The high fiber of this breakfast provides the start of your cleanse. If you are still hungry after this, then fasting on apples will enhance the effect of your cleanse. Eat another apple, or some grapes.  But no more cooked food for the day.

On the first day, at ten o’clock take one tablespoon of castor oil, followed by a cup of black coffee.  If you like, you can use a herbal tea instead, like chamomile or pepperment. If you feel nauseous after the castor oil, then drink more herbal tea.  Peppermint tea helps to quell nausea.

On the hour, every hour through the day, eat an apple,  eat some grapes, or take a glass of carrot or apple  juice.

Of course you can do this cleanse without using enemas, but enemas are strongly recommended, especially if the body has become very toxic.  Auto intoxication can occur from eating too many processed foods, and not enough fiber or raw food.  Or you may be sensitive to the gluten in wheat which can cause the bowel to malfunction:  this causes toxicity in the body.  You might have been exposed to chemical poisons over the years which have accumulated in your liver.

You  really need to use an enema within five hours of taking the castor oil. Dr Max Gerson found that using an enema quickened up the healing process, because it ridded the body quickly of all the poisons which begin to escape from the liver once you take the castor oil. Home enemas are inexpensive and easy to perform.  However, if you really cannot bring yourself to irrigate your own bowel, then go to see a professional for a colonic irrigation.

For lunch, make up a big salad of any raw vegetables that you fancy.  Lettuce and sprouted mung beans, avocado,  grated carrot, grated beetroot, chopped spinach – any of these is good. You can take a glass of carrot juice  or apple juice with this.

For tea, make another big salad of raw vegetables.  Take another glass of carrot juice or apple juice.

Day Two:  Follow the same procedure as for day one, but do not take any castor oil on the second day.

Day Three:  Follow the same procedure as for day one, but increase the castor oil dose to two tablespoonsfuls.

Fourth Day – How to break  the Three Day  Cleanse:  Keep eating the oatmeal porridge in the morning.  Start eating brown rice at meal times. Keep eating plenty of salads at midday and for the evening meal, but add good quality protein to the meal, with the addition of cooked green vegetables.

Aim at eating more protein in the diet, with plenty of green vegetables, and less of the grain carbohydrates.

Try to stay off dairy products, except for butter.  Dairy products create mucous in the body which clog up the digestive system.  Avoid wheat products, especially bread which is risen with yeast.  Bread eating in Western diets  is another cause of so much illness. 

Avoid all products which have yeast added, or which are fermented. This includes all alcohol, vinegar,  and products which have yeast added, like soy sauce, tofu and tempeh.  Tomato sauce is made with vinegar, so it is best left alone until you recover properly.

Substitute rice for bread:  Eat a plate of brown rice with some protein, oil, and some vegetables instead of munching on a slice of toast or bread. Have some brown rice ready cooked ready in the fridge to use each day as a wheat substitute.

Eggs are good for the skin.  Eggs contain protein, and lots of vitamins.  Eat several each week, unless you have an allergy, or your doctor has instructed you not to eat them.  Raw egg yolk is even better than eating the whole egg when you are on a diet of maximum nutrition.  Egg yolk contains natural lecithin, which helps you to digest fats.

Fish is nourishing to the skin hair and nails.  Sardines, mackerel, salmon, tuna, are all good as tinned fish, but you can eat any fresh fish- hopefully it comes from clean unpolluted waters.

Eat plenty of green vegetables such as broccoli, spinach, silver beet, cooked cabbage, raw lettuce and sprouted grains and seeds.

Eat several pieces of raw fruit a day.

Eat a handful of sesame seeds at least once a day for extra calcium. One heaped tablespoon contains about 1200mg of calcium and magnesium.

Avoid drinking too much coffee.  Avoid drinking tea made with milk in it, as milk becomes hard to digest once it is mixed with milk. This causes strain on the liver, and the result is undigested protein material which polllutes your bowels and your skin.  Black tea is better.  Drink more green tea and herbal teas.

Avoid alcohol and other drugs.

Drink  several glasses of water during the day, or freshly pressed carrot or apple juice diluted with water.

Herbal Teas and Hot Water:  Drinking  medium-to-hot water on its own, or in a herbal tea, or a green tea, helps to cleanse toxins out of the system, and is very beneficial for acne.  If you drink three or four  herb teas or green tea in a day, then you can  drink less tap water.  Vary your teas a little – two cups of green tea in a day is enough.  Try some chamomile or rose hip for variation.

Treat the acne affected area with probiotic yogurt or fresh kiwifruit juice.  Put either of these on the skin each day and leave for at least an hour if you can.  Continue  with daily treatments, while you follow your special acne cleansing diet above, until the acne has cleared up.

Herbal Steambaths can be helpful in treating acne, in combination with other treatments such as the liver cleanse above.  Use fresh or dried herbs such as sprigs of lavender or rosemary or calendula.  Put between 1/2 to 1 cup of fresh herbs in a bowl.  Pour over boiling water. Leave to cool for a minute, so that the water is not actually boiling.  Then use as a steam bath:  cover your head with a towel, and keep the head several inches over the bowl so that the pores of your skin will benefit from the steam.  This cleanses the pores, and the steam and the active herbal vapours help to reduce infection.

Take care not to get too close to the hot water – you do not want to burn either your lungs or your skin. Steambath for about 5 minutes, or less if it is uncomfortable.

Flaxseed Health Benefits

Flaxseed, or Linseed has many, many health benefits. For a start, it is one of the most beneficial foods for preventing heart disease.  But just take a look at the list of flaxseed health benefits below……

Linseed oil, now more commonly known as flaxseed oil, has been used for centuries in the palette of the artist, but it is only fairly recently that flaxseed, or linseed, has become widely used in other palettes:  it is now recognised in westernised countries for its valuable health giving properties and used as  a health-giving addition to the diet by many people all over the world.

  • Ground linseed, or flaxseed is beneficial to the heart.
  • Linseed is high in omega-3 fatty acids which help to lower ‘bad’ cholesterol in the body.
  • Flaxseed taken daily helps  reduces the incidence of stroke, blood clots, and heart disease.
  • It helps prevent atherosclerosis.
  • It increases the metabolic rate of the heart muscle.
  • It is regarded as a cancer preventative and as a beneficial addition to the diet for those who have cancer. This is because the omega-3 fatty acids have an effect on the body’s manufacture of prostaglandins. Prostaglandins are necessary, but if you produce too many, then this can lead to tumour growth. Linseed regulates the prostaglandin making process.
  • Another of the flaxseed health benefits is that it acts as an antioxidant.  This helps the heart, helps prevent cancer and other disease, and improves your immune system.
  • It is beneficial to the kidneys
  • Flaxseed in the daily diet has been known to  help lupus sufferers to restore their kidney function.
  • Omega-3 fatty acids in flaxseed or linseed help the nervous system to stay healthy and function well.
  • Flaxseed is good brain food:  Omega-3  fatty acids in flaxseed  have a valuable effect on the nerves, and well nourished nerves help you to maintain good vision and an alert brain.
  • High Fiber: Flaxseed, either ground or whole,  provides great fiber for your intestines.  High fiber in the diet definitely reduces the risk of getting colon cancer. High fiber also keeps cholesterol levels balanced and keeps your intestines clean of effete matter.
  • Another flaxseed health benefit is that it improves the skin.  It sometimes works to heal long-term skin conditions like psoriasis,  eczema and acne, when other treatments seem to fail.  This is partly due to the better functioning of the bowel when flaxseed is included. An application of flaxseed oil, used externally on the skin, has been effective in treating some skin conditions, as well as taking the ground flaxseed in the diet daily.
  • It is helpful to the growth of the hair.  Taking flaxseed every day in the diet will help you regrow hair and improve your skin, bone and nail tissue.

Note: The flaxseed, or linseed must be ground up in your blender, or coffee grinder for it to be truly efficacious.  Taking whole linseed provides good fiber for the intestines,  for sure, but you get more nutrients  and oils out of the seeds when they are ground.

See merrilyn’s post entitled Gluten Free Banana Bread for a nutritious banana bread with added flaxseed.