April 14th was the first day of the Bengali calendar, a huge celebration across the country, and many South Asian countries. Unlike other holidays in Bangladesh such as Eid, Bengali New Year (or Pohela Boishaka in Bengali) is celebrated by all religions and classes, people rise early to bathe, clean the house, and start the year anew. Everyone wears red and white and visits family and friends and attends festivals throughout the city. In my office, the women all wore red saris the fist day back in the office after Pohela Boishaka and insisted I join in the fun.
You may be noticing that I cut my hair. New year, new do! In all honesty I cut it because it's been falling out. Not just shedding in the shower but really noticeably thinning, yikes! I went to the hairdresser in Dhaka (don't' worry, she works at the Nordic Club and is Australian) and apparently many woman are having this problem. With all of the pollution and untreated tap water, it's very hard on hair and mine is more susceptible to the elements because it is fine. Together we came up with a 7 point plan for keeping me from female baldness at an early age:
1. Use high quality shampoo and conditioner (unavailable in Dhaka so luckily I ordered some online and my co-worker brought it out the following week).
2. Only wash hair twice per week. Grease ball central here I come.
3. Hot oil hair treatments once per week. Lucky for me, these are relatively cheap in Dhaka and come with a 30 minute head massage. Yes, please!
4. Leave in conditioner every day.
5. After washing, do a final rinse with purified drinking water. Not doing so means the icky chemicals in the tap water sit on the hair all day. bleck.
6. Take hair skin and nail vitamins
7. As I've been eating mostly rice and dal, eat a more balanced diet of what my body is used to, a handful of nuts and some cheese everyday should do the trick.
Who knew the changes in my environment could have such effects on my hair, rough! Hopefully with the 7 point plan and the new do I won't go bald at 30.
omg i had the same issue in India! me and a few of the other girls in my program ended up getting a homeopathic regimen to decrease the hair loss and in kind of worked. let me know if you want us to ship any vitamins!
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