We’ve explained hair loss and the hair growth cycle in other blog posts. (You can read the truth about hair loss, the many causes of hair loss, and the hair growth secret hiding in your kitchen.) But we haven’t spent a lot of time talking about sage.

Sage, or Salvia Officinalis, if you prefer a more formal name, is an evergreen herb with a lot of varieties. In fact, Salvia, from the Latin word salvere, translates as “to be saved.”  And it just may save your hair.

This herb is part of the mint family along with rosemary, oregano, basil, lavender, and thyme.

Sage is a known antibiotic, antiseptic, antibacterial, and anti-fungal. Sage is loaded with vitamins B and C, and minerals like magnesium, zinc, and potassium.

This powerhouse herb helps manage dandruff, dermatitis, and psoriasis, heal the skin, reduce inflammation, balance sebum production, and prevent clogged hair follicles.

All of this improves the growth and strength of your hair.

Sage Prevents Hair Fall

Sage contains high levels of beta-sitosterol, a 5-alpha reductase compound that has been proven effective in treating hair fall, especially with male and female pattern baldness.

Unlike peppermint essential oil, which is also used to promote hair growth, sage strengthens circulation and as a result, could prevent hair follicles from being starved of nutrition from an insufficient blood supply, which would cause them to die off, and lead to hair loss.

It also helps keep hair follicles from becoming clogged. Clogged follicles cut off the supply of nutrition to your hair, which again cut off their blood supply and causes them to die off. Fewer follicles means less hair.

Sage Promotes Hair Growth

Another study of sage proved that it stimulated hair growth. This occurred when hair loss was triggered by testosterone (as in pattern baldness).

Sage can boost blood circulation in the scalp, increasing the supply of nutrients to the hair follicles. This alone would promote hair growth. Sage also helps to keep follicles unblocked with its anti-inflammatory properties, and essential compounds such as Vitamin A, B, and C nourish and stimulate hair growth.

Softness & Shine

Sage makes a great hair conditioner. Sage is loaded with vitamins and strenghtens your hair by all the ways mentioned above.

As you know, strong hair will not break as easily, so you can kiss those split ends and flyaways goodbye. Which will also make your hair more manageable. And strong hair is softer. Light passing over strong, healthy hair, is not diverted to flyaway and split ends, so your hair looks shinier.

Invigorate Biotin Shampoo

From lightening your elbows to eliminating athlete’s foot and diaper rash, there’s something for just about everyone here.

Lighten Dark Elbows & Knees

Dark elbows and knees are simply patches of darker skin on your elbows and knees. While darker skin can occur anywhere, your elbows are more vulnerable because you pay less attention to them. More prominent parts of your body, like your face, probably get more attention, including more beneficial treatments.

Several factors can cause or contribute to darker skin on your elbows, including:

• an accumulation of dead skin cells
• hyperpigmentation caused by sun exposure
• melasma (dark spots) from a pregnancy or birth control pills
• freckles and age spots
• skin conditions, such as psoriasis and eczema
• inflammation from a previous injury

Naturally darker skin tones are also more prone to darkening of their elbows and knees.

How do you treat it?

The favorite hack for this in our office was using Brilliant Eyes cream twice per day on your elbows, knees, and other darker skin areas (armpits or heels, anyone?).

We formulated Brilliant Eyes with Eyebright. Eyebright is a small white-flowered plant officially named Euphrasia, which has been used in herbal medicine for centuries.

Eyebright reduces puffiness, calms redness, and brightens dark spots on your skin. Its anti-inflammatory and astringent properties work as exfoliators and toners for your skin. It’s well known for clearing blocked pores and tightening the complexion for a flawless, even appearance. It also balances oil production and helps to maintain the skin’s pH to keep excess sebum under control.

Eyebright is a great healer for acne, blemishes, and skin conditions like rosacea and eczema, and despite its powerful effects, eyebright is a gentle herb.

Perfect for eliminating and softening those elbows and knees.

Oh, Baby!

Babies have very delicate skin. That’s why there are so many baby care products. Good baby care products are gentle.

Because babies have such sensitive skin, they can easily develop a lot of skin issues. Rashes–like diaper rash or drool rash, eczema, dry skin, dermatitis, and baby acne are all pretty common. These can result in itchy, uncomfortable, dry, and cracked skin.

How do you heal these issues and keep your baby’s skin soft, moisturized, and healthy?

Try LuxeOranix Psoriasis Shampoo + Body Wash. This gentle, non-medicated formula helps prevent, soothe, and stop the cycle of dry, irritated, flaky skin on the body or the scalp. It’s perfectly pH balanced and has no harsh chemicals or fragrance so it will not cause any irritation. There are also no sulfates, SLS, sodium chloride, parabens, drying alcohols, gluten, dyes, or phthalates, making it safe for sensitive skin, children, and babies.

A Remedy for Dry, Rough Patches & Tiny Bumps

If you’ve got rough, dry, bumpy skin – this one is for you!

Keratosis pilaris is a common skin condition that causes dry, rough patches with tiny bumps, often on the upper arms, thighs, cheeks, or buttocks. Sometimes called chicken or goose-flesh, the bumps don’t usually hurt or itch. Keratosis pilaris can occur at any age, but it’s common in young children.

Keratosis pilaris is considered to be just a variation of normal skin. It can’t be cured or prevented, but you can manage it with moisturizers to improve the appearance of the skin.

The beauty hack we stumbled upon is to use the ReNew Exfoliating Face Mask Polishing Scrub.

Gently scrub the affected area with ReNew, and then let it sit on your skin for 5-10 minutes. The scrub will clear clogged pores and uncover fresh, glowing skin, while the hydrating oils and natural ingredients soften, moisturize, heal, and protect.

This hack also works for the dry skin on your hands, elbows, and heels. As an added bonus, ReNew contains ingredients known to help aid in fading and brightening age spots or discoloration on this skin, too!

What’s a girl to do?

Our favorite hack is using your Biotin Shampoo as a shave gel. It gently stimulates and soothes with healing anti-inflammatory essential oils and plant extracts to hydrate and protect your skin.

Chock full of ingredients like nettle leaf extract, calendula, olive, and jojoba oils benefit your skin and accelerate the healing process of wounds, allergies, and rashes.

If you’re more of a shave cream kind of gal, another favorite shaving hack is using LuxeOrganix  CoWash Cleansing Conditioner. It’s enriched with Peppermint Oil that ignites your senses and leaves your shaved skin feeling refreshed. Considering it’s designed to protect and preserve your hair’s natural oils, just imagine what it can do for your skin with its natural botanicals and nutrients for enhanced moisture.

Put Your Feet First

Your feet are important. You stand and walk on them all day long. Problems with your feet can be debilitating. Keeping them healthy is relatively easy and taking care of them is a snap. Read on for some of our favorite foot care hacks.

If you struggle with Athlete’s Foot, you know what it’s like… a scaly rash, itching, stinging, burning, and not only uncomfortable but also embarrassing for others to see.

Athlete’s foot (tinea pedis) is a fungal skin infection that usually begins between the toes. It commonly occurs when feet get sweaty while confined in tight-fitting shoes. The sweating, combined with the tight shoes, helps create the perfect conditions for this fungus to grow.

Athlete’s foot is contagious and can be spread via contaminated floors, towels, or clothing.

Important: If your condition is extreme, or if it does not begin to heal in a week or so, you should seek care from your primary healthcare practitioner. You may need anti-fungal medications.

Our hack might help you nip this condition before it warrants a visit to the doctor.

Using the Biotin Shampoo as a daily foot wash might help you avoid athletes’ foot. This is because of the essential oils of Tea Tree, Peppermint, and Rosemary, with anti-fungal properties, as well as, Horsetail Plant Extract, Sage, and other botanicals, that reduce inflammation, sweating, and fungal growth, and help to heal the skin.

It also works wonders on stinky feet!

And, Ladies, if you want really soft feet, try using our Biotin Conditioner with your pumice stone or callus grater. The Ginkgo Leaf Powder promotes circulation, while Sage, Peppermint, and Rosemary’s anti-bacterial and anti-septic properties help keep your skin healthy (no athlete’s feet for you!). The Aloe Vera, Jojoba, and Hemp Seed Oil will help soften callouses and keep your skin smooth and hydrated.

To get a sharp, close shave, you need to moisturize the skin and the hair on the beard and mustache. Softening your stubble makes it less irritating to remove, and both the Brilliant Eyes Cream and Vitamin C Moisturizer do just that, while also softening and moisturizing the skin so the razor blade can more easily remove the hair.

Once you’ve shaved the hair off, you also need to heal your skin from any nicks and keep it moisturized so that it stays healthy and calm.

Both the Brilliant Eyes Cream and the Vitamin C Moisturizer with their organic and natural ingredients help with this.

Brilliant Eyes has a unique blend of organic and natural ingredients that infuse and hold moisture, promoting long-term skin health. It’s also got Squalane in it, which has been used historically medically to treat wounds and burns (so just imagine its soothing and healing qualities for post-shaving!).

Our Vitamin C Moisturizer blends penetrating antioxidants and anti-inflammatory nutrients to stimulate new cell growth, and elasticity, and locks in long-lasting moisture essential for keeping your skin hydrated and protected from harsh environment & climate trauma. It soothes sensitive skin, and the Vitamin C contained is a proactive remedy for skin that’s prone to break-outs and irritation, by balancing oily skin, and reducing dryness and itching,

Gentlemen, you cannot go wrong using either of these to shave your face! Try both and discover your favorite!

Vitamin C Daily Moisturizer

Psoriasis Shampoo + Body Wash

Life is too short to be unhappy with your hair! Plus, whatever the root cause of your concern is, you can fix it.

Let’s break your hair concerns into a few groups: hair loss, dry and damaged hair, and styling woes.

• Hair loss includes hair that is falling out in clumps, or more hair than normal falling out naturally when you brush or touch it.
• Dry and damaged hair includes hair that seems weak and prone to breaking, hair that feels or looks like straw, or that has a lot of split ends.
• And styling woes might include anything like flat, dull, frizzy hair, or hair that just cannot be tamed.

Is it Stress?

Many people just take their hair as it is and think that’s the best it will be. But these hair issues might actually be the result of stress or anxiety.

Hair stress is a real thing. It can result in dry and damaged hair, dullness, thinning, and hair loss. And those untamable bad hair days… yep! Stress might be a contributing factor.

Dry & Damaged Hair

While there’s plenty of evidence showing a link between stress and hair loss, stress can also lead to dryness, dull or lackluster hair, and breakage.

Stress and anxiety cause changes in your body. Most commonly, and often unseen, are the changes to the type and amount of hormones in your body. Any increase or decrease in your body’s hormones can result in changes to the strength and texture of your hair.

For example, when estrogen levels rise during pregnancy, hair can become shinier, and more manageable. This occurs because the hair follicle gets slightly sturdier, and less prone to frizzing. There’s also an increased blood flow and more nutrients in your body, both of which benefit your scalp. Many women experience their best hair texture during pregnancy. On the other hand, menopause causes androgen hormone levels to increase, while estrogen levels drop in response. This results in thinning hair and a dryer scalp, which weakens hair follicles.

Hair Loss

Stress can push your hair follicles into a “resting” phase so that they don’t produce new hair strands. Over time, strands can fall out more easily, even if you’re just washing, combing, or touching it. Because your hair is in the resting phase, these stands do not get replaced.

Telogen effluvium is a form of temporary hair loss that happens after stress, a shock, or a traumatic event. It causes diffuse thinning, a type of hair loss that affects your entire scalp. If you have telogen effluvium, your hair will look thinner and less dense than normal, especially under bright light.

Telogen effluvium can also be caused by poor nutrition and changes in hormone levels.

So how do you take the stress out of your hair?

First, check in with your healthcare professional just to rule out any medical conditions for the changes in your hair.

Once you get the green light, it’s time to grow your best hair ever.

Ready? …Let’s do it!

Feed Your Scalp

Beautiful, healthy hair starts at the scalp. When your scalp is healthy, not dry and itchy, your hair follicles are strong and nourished.

Give your hair much-needed nutrition by enjoying a healthy diet, taking your vitamins, and using products designed to nourish your scalp.

Products with biotin, like LuxeOrganix Biotin Shampoo and Conditioner, help strengthen your hair and promote healthier hair growth. This biotin power pair gently stimulates and soothes your scalp with healing anti-inflammatory essential oils and plant extracts that overcome and prevent scalp issues. The shampoo and conditioner are loaded with organic and natural ingredients that work to relieve dryness and itching on your scalp, returning it to its proper pH levels.

Care for Your Hair

A common reason for unmanageable hair is too little or too much moisture or protein.

So how can you tell if you need moisture or protein? The easiest way to determine what you need is the pull test. Take a wet or dry strand of your hair and gently stretch it. If it barely stretches and snaps, you need more moisture and you might have too much protein.

Also, if you brush your hair and strands fall out, you need protein.

To relieve dryness and lock moisture in, treat your hair with an occasional deep conditioner. Hair that is properly moisturized is bouncy, shiny, and soft. LuxeOrganix Deep Conditioner Hair Mask is safe for all hair types, paraben and sulfate-free, and it’s also safe for keratin and color-treated hair. This conditioning mask transforms dull, dry hair with botanicals and vitamins (A, C, D, and E), and hydrates with anti-drying ingredients, including Certified Organic Virgin Coconut Oil and Certified Organic Fair Trade Shea Butter.

To add protein, try LuxeOrganix Bond Integrity Protein Treatment. This ultra-nourishing and gentle protein treatment mask works wonders on your hair and your senses! Ancient amino acids from hydrolyzed rice and quinoa proteins, panthenol (vitamin B-5), and 2% biotin strengthen & support the integrity of bonds in your hair.

Coconut Oil Deep Conditioning Hair Mask

Whether you’re a seasoned co-wash pro, or a relative newbie, co-washing should be on your radar. Especially in the summer, when hair can be extra dry, thanks to the sun, chlorine and salt water, hot weather, and wind.

What Is CoWashing?

So what is co-washing, and why is everyone talking about it?

The term “co-wash” is a combination of the words conditioner (“co”) and washing (“wash”). Co-washing is washing your hair solely with conditioner, or a hybrid conditioner like LuxeOrganix CoWash Cleansing Conditioner.

Many people who cowash claim benefits like:

• hair that feels more hydrated and healthy
• improved moisture in curly or kinky hair
• better curl definition
• hair that is stronger and breaks less easily
• softer hair

Cowashing is also helpful to those of us with a need to shampoo very often (think: gym, work, lifestyles that get your hair sweaty). 

Cutting down on the number of times you shampoo may help restore your hair’s natural moisture balance, which means softer, shinier hair.

Why take a break from your shampoo?

Many store-bought shampoos include sulfates, which are detergents that not only clean your hair but strip the natural oils and moisture. Sulfates are not good. They leave your hair dry, dull, and more prone to breakage, and can cause scalp health issues for some.

Co-washing was initially created to cut down on the use of sulfates so your hair could maintain its natural moisture levels and grow healthier and more resilient hair.

Nowadays, co-washing isn’t just about skipping sulfates; it’s more about the health of your hair. Even if your shampoo is sulfate-free, like LuxeOrganix shampoos, changing up your hair care routine periodically may keep your hair more responsive to your usual products. Plus, the use of a cowash adds extra moisture to your hair, and that’s never a bad idea.

Shampoo vs CoWash

Shampoos and conditioners are created with two different purposes. Shampoos remove oils and buildup from the hair and scalp, while conditioners generally add moisture and smooth the hair cuticle to reduce frizz.

Both shampoos and conditioners, however, do share something in common: they both contain surfactants, which are substances that wash away oil and dirt.

Most store-bought shampoos contain anionic surfactants, such as sodium lauryl sulfate, which creates a lather. (Ugh! Sulfates!!) Sometimes, they contain amphoteric surfactants instead, which are milder, like those used in baby shampoos.

Ready to Co?

If you’re ready to give cowashing a try, pick up a cowash shampoo, like LuxeOrganix CoWash Cleansing Conditioner. Our CoWash condioner is specifically formulated to leave your hair clean, soft, and healthier.

Be sure the cowash you select includes ingredients that will benefit your beautiful locks, not harm them. Look for things like:

• Emollients (like Cetyl Alcohol, derived from coconut oil) that help to soften and smooth the cuticle and reduce frizz;
• Proteins (like hydrolyzed rice protein) that are known to strengthen hair fibers while repairing & conditioning hair.
• Humectants (like ProVitamin B5 and Lactamide MEA) which penetrate the hair cuticle and help absorb and lock in moisture.
• Moisturizers (including amino acids, aloe vera, jojoba, etc.) — these add softness and shine to your hair.

Whether you choose to use a CoWash, or your daily conditioner, be sure it’s sulfate-free. Sulfates strip your hair of essential oils and will dry your hair out.

Now that you’ve decided on a product to use, it’s time to “co!”

Get Co-ing!

Start by thoroughly wetting your hair, then take a small amount of your cowash and massage it into your entire scalp, using your fingertips to rub gently just like you do when shampooing. Your cowash combined with the friction of your fingertips will loosen any dirt and residue on your scalp without stripping your natural oils.

Once you’re massaged your scalp for a few minutes, rinse thoroughly. And by “thoroughly” — we mean more than you think you need to.

Next, take your regular amount of conditioner and condition as usual, carefully removing any tangles with your fingers or a wide-tooth comb. Be sure to spread the conditioner throughout the length of your hair.

Rinse your conditioner out thoroughly, too. Then dry and style as you would normally.

Note that if your hair feels greasy or heavy after you’ve cowashed, it’s likely that you did not rinse your hair completely, either with your cowash or your conditioner. Products left in your hair will attract any dirt and dust in the environment, leaving your hair feeling heavy, flat, or greasy.

Remember, you’re using your cowash days in between your regular washing, or (better!) in place of one or two regular shampoo days each week. Shampoo is still important, just not daily.

Co Your Own Way

There are no hard rules for the right way to cowash your hair. Some people cowash almost daily, while others cowash just a few times per week or month.

You are unique, so the best option for you depends on your hair type, how it responds to your routine, and your personal preferences.

Start by committing to using it twice per week, and adjust as needed.

Giving your shampoo a vacation just might be the summer break that leaves your hair softer, shinier, and healthier!

CoWash Cleansing Conditioner