Get It Beauty 2016 Episode 16: Hair Care Recipes

Get It Beauty is a Korean beauty network television program shown on the OnStyle channel. It's hosted by (from left to right) actress/model Kim Jung Min, actress and former Miss Korea Honey Lee, and beauty editor Hwang Min Young. They are joined by special MC Luna of Kpop girl group F(x).

They used to release episodes with English subtitles, but stopped back in 2015, so every once in awhile, when I see a show with some useful beauty tips (including those from celebrities and their entourage of makeup artists), I like to translate them on the blog. Today's episode is all about hair and scalp care.

Beauty Editor Hwang Min Young tells the other hosts about how his hair is 'under the weather' because he's been dyeing it a lot and he's been stressed out over the appearance of some scalp blemishes. Everyone agrees that it's a concern, especially Luna who has to change her hair color and style for her appearances on music television shows in Korea. She laments that her hair never gets any time off. Members of the studio audience pipe in with their concerns: scalp blemishes and scabs, hair weakness due to heat styling. Honey Lee reassures them that this is the show for them as they'll learn hair and scalp care tips in this episode. The episode du jour is entitled "Hair Care Recipes."

They start off examining the cause of distressed tresses; the obvious ones like perming the hair, coloring it, and heatstyling it too often, and the not-so-obvious UV damage, aging, diet, and stress. Jung Min is curious about scalp care because it's something she neglects, while hair care is something she is familiar with. Hwang Min Young prepared a few example photos of a scalp and hair that has withstood some damage.

Left side, no comment. The hair on the right looks like bristles on a brush!

They bring out a hair model and hair care expert, Suh Yeon Seo to teach the studio audience how to take care of their hair at home. Due to her job, she hot irons her hair with a straightener quite often so she developed a habit of taking extra good care of her hair. See her tips below.

Her first tip is to use the right brush at the right time.

The first brush is a cushion brush, pictured below. It is useful for massaging the scalp, Suh Yeon Seo likes to brush her scalp using a bit of extra pressure (acupressure) to stimulate scalp cells and give life to the root of the hair. It also feels very refreshing and is great for untangling hair during a shampoo.

The next brush is a vent brush with holes distributed throughout the brush. The water passes through the vents so it's easier to brush through wet hair. It's recommended to use this brush because using a brush without holes (like the above cushion brush) could lead to mold growth on the brush. Beauty editor Hwang Min Young states that it's not such a great practice to brush through wet hair, but if necessary, this would be the brush to use (say if you don't have a hair dryer at hand). Kim Jung Min notices that it works well on damaged hair as well.

She also presents three different 'roll brushes' that she uses to dry her hair. The one with the smallest diameter she uses to create curls and give lift to the roots, the medium size brush to create a 'C curl' or a wave that flips inward, and the large brush, she uses to create loose waves. They're made of ceramic, which exhibits high thermal conductivity that helps to dry the hair quicker. The expert advises using ceramic brushes because it dries and sets the hair in one go (instead of 2-3), and it's not necessary to keep styling the hair causing less heat damage overall.

Next, she reveals her tip on how to keep the scalp clean - using a DIY egg scalp mask. She states that she has an oily scalp and she knows that egg has a sebum-wicking effect on skin, so she started to rely on this pack to keep the oils on her scalp under control. It's super simple, you separate the egg yolk from the egg white, and beat the whites until it starts frothing and turning into foam. You then apply it to the scalp and leave it on for 20 minutes, rinsing it off at the end. The one disadvantage of using this pack, the hosts point out, is the smell. Apparently they've tried it and think it smells like one's fried an egg on their head. Seo Yeon Suh continues saying that once you wash off the pack, dead skin cells also slough off with the whipped egg whites.

The next segment is all about foods that help with hair and scalp care, or inner beauty. They bring out a chef by the name of Suh Hyun Myung to learn his literal recipe for beautiful hair; he plans to use superfoods in the recipe.

The food of the day is quinoa. Quinoa is a superfood that contains proteins, and since the hair is made up of about 90% protein, he chose to feature it in today's recipe for healthy hair.

Next, for the scalp, he plans to use oranges for the beta carotene, which removes and scavenges harmful free radicals, and their vitamin C which helps to fight scalp dryness and prevent dandruff. He also plans to use green tea, which contains antioxidants to fight aging and is quite great for keeping the scalp clean.

Healthy Hair Recipe: Quinoa Black Sesame Waffles (made with Rice Powder)

1. Whip an egg until uniformly yellow.

2. Add a few (about 2) tbsp of honey (instead of sugar).

3. Add a few (about 3) tbsp of grapeseed oil. 

4. Add 70 ml of milk or substitute in soy milk.

5. Sift in about 80g of rice powder (instead of flour). 

6. Mix well.

7. Add in some roasted quinoa seeds for their protein, vitamins and minerals, about 2 tbsp.

8. Next, add in about the same amount of black sesame seeds (1:1 ratio black sesame to quinoa), which the chef states is great for curbing hair loss.

9. Pour the entire mixture into a waffle maker. Take out when the waffle has fully formed.

10. Dust with powdered sugar. He even garnishes with some cranberries and walnuts.

Healthy Scalp Recipe: Tropical Citrus-ade

He uses oranges and limes for the beta carotene and vitamin C, respectively. He reminds the audience that beta carotene is great to ward off scalp dryness.

1. Cut the orange in half and use a squeezer to squeeze out all the juices in one half, collecting them in a bowl.

2. Next do the same with a lime.

3. He's also brought with him a carton of 100% mango juice to sweeten up the citrus-ade. He adds 100ml into each serving cup.

4. Lastly, he adds 100ml of sparkling water to each serving, and advises that carbonated water is actually great for the hair as well.

5. He garnishes with applemint.

Next the hosts introduce the segment on how best to wash the hair. They bring onto the stage hair artist Woo Ho Rim. He wants to dispel some hair myths on the show this day.

Some questions addressed were...

If one has an oily scalp, is the hair oily as well? No, it's possible to have an oily scalp and dry hair, especially if one heat styles the hair, or perms it, or does anything damaging to the hair itself. These activities can lead to dry ends.

Does frequent washing cause more hair to fall out? No, Kim Jung Min is quick to jump in saying that she only shampoos every 2-3 days, and in comparison to times when she used to shampoo daily, she sees a lot more hair loss. The hair artist confirms that shampooing daily helps manage the scalp and the pores on the scalp as well, and that it doesn't cause extra hair loss. He stresses the importance of rinsing thoroughly however. Hwang Min Young, the beauty editor chimes in saying that the number of hairs that are due to fall out are already 'decided', and extra hair loss doesn't come from the act of shampooing, but rather vigorous brushing, or overuse of hats/headbands etc.

Do you have to wash hair in the evenings for it to be healthy? Yes and no. While it's great to cleanse the scalp and hair of the day's grime, dust, dirt, pollen before going to sleep, it doesn't make that much of a difference. What does make a difference is drying the hair and scalp properly. He states that sleeping on freshly washed and improperly dried hair could cause inflammation on the scalp. He compares sleeping on an improperly dried scalp to walking around with wet socks. ^^

The hair artist is invited up to give a hair and scalp care tutorial. The hosts pick an audience member with both an oily scalp and dry hair. They discuss and admit how it's difficult to pick a shampoo in this case, as they never know whether to match a shampoo to their scalp or hair condition. Honey Lee uses two shampoos, one made for oily scalps AND another for dry hair. The hair artist confirms that this is the way he prefers to treat his clients' hair and scalp. #multipooing ftw. (That doesn't have quite the same ring to it as #multimasking).

Dry Hair Oily Scalp Tutorial

1. He starts off brushing through the hair.

2. Next he takes a bottle of carbonated water (with a pH between 4.5 and 5.5) and fits it to a spray nozzle and spritzes it on the scalp of the audience member. He says that sparkling water is helpful to exfoliate the skin on the scalp. He recommends doing this once a week.

3. He shampoos and massages her scalp with a shampoo targeted towards oily scalps. The key ingredient in the shampoo is green tea which helps with oil control.

4. The hair, he washes with a shampoo targeted towards damaged tresses. The shampoo is fortified with proteins and keratin. He says to never rub the hair strands roughly, especially against each other to protect the cuticle.

5. He rinses completely first with hot water, and then finishing with a short cold rinse.

6. He then rinses one last time with green tea carbonated water (which he makes with a green tea bag and sparkling water powder). He does this because tap water is usually a bit alkaline (high pH) while sparkling water matches the pH of our skin/scalp. He does this to keep the scalp healthy which in turn keeps the hair healthy, since the scalp is the source of nutrients for the hair. 

7. He applies a hair pack on the ends of the hair and winds some saran wrap around it.

8. Then he takes a hot steamed towel (microwave a wet towel for 20-30 seconds) and places it over the hair (which is now clipped into an updo).

9. Finally, he takes a piece of aluminum foil and places it over the hair and secures it into place. 

10. He advises to leave the hair pack on for at least 15 minutes. Because the hair cuticle was heated and potentially 'opened', beauty editor Hwang Min Young states that the heat may have amplified the effects of the hair pack.

11. Finally, after rinsing the pack he dries the audience member's hair, giving her finger curls. He simply wraps the hair around his fingers and gives it a few blasts of heat, and then scrunches the curl, blasting it with the hair dryer just once more.

The results of his at-home hair and scalp care techniques can be seen in the photos below.

The full episode can be watched at OndemandKorea here.

What did you think of the episode?
Did you know all of these tips already?

Disclosure: If you're curious about my policy on press samples, affiliate links, and sponsors, please see my disclaimer and policies.