A CELEBRITY hairstylist who's worked with Gwyneth Paltrow and Vanessa Williams has warned what could be causing your hair loss.
Chaz Dean, who also founded Wen Haircare, said that one common ingredient can cause "cracking and splitting."
The QVC host, who grows herbs in his backyard garden, also revealed a better alternative.
"I would always tell people to avoid silica (in their haircare) because silica is made from glass or sand and when used in products it's pliable," he told The U.S. Sun.
"It's like blowing glass, it shatters.
"When we have silica in everyday life, such as when we are blowing our hair, the hair is cracking and breaking and splitting.
"It's hardening and has a glass coating.
"It feels great while you're blowing your hair because there's movement, but the problem starts once it's dry."
But the good news is that beneficial silica does exist — and it comes from bamboo.
"Natural bamboo is full of vitamins, minerals, and silica," he explained — so not all silica is bad, it's just important to know where it comes from.
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"Bamboo is the fastest growing plant in the world," he said, adding that it is "flexible and will hydrate and strengthen your hair as well."
He even credits the plant to helping his puppies grow faster — and it can do the same for your hair follicles.
"I had bamboo everywhere when I had [Labrador puppies] and after letting them outside in the yard, I would come home and there would be bamboo shoots all over my house," he said.
Still, he's completely serious about silica's growth component.
Since consuming the bamboo from the time they were 12 weeks old, those labs quickly grew to over 100 pounds.
The celebrity hairstylist, whose other famous clients have included Drew Barrymore and Alyssa Milano, credits it to the bamboo.
With his own line of nationally recognized Wen products, Dean has always been ahead of the hair-transforming trends.
That especially includes using all-natural products and always keeping away from chemicals by finding hidden ingredients.
"I always tell people to read the ingredients — to me, the only oils that are worth ingesting are coconut oil, avocado oil, and olive oil," he explained.
Dean, who started creating products at the age of 19, advises that people always look at the label on any supplement package.
Learning to avoid harmful chemicals sometimes also requires conducting your own investigation.
"You have to do your research on these things, because I've seen in the research where they tested over 35 brands and only two of them showed that the avocado oil was as pure as it should be," he said.
"Likewise, some olive oils didn't even have traces of olives in them whatsoever.
"They're not regulated and sometimes don't even disclose all of the ingredients."
For the haircare pro, who was a regular character on the HGTV show Flipping Out, finding safe-to-consume supplements is even more of a challenge because of his dietary restrictions: being vegan.
"I try to make sure everything, especially gummies, aren't animal-derived," he said.
"For me, it's even harder to find things that have clean ingredients."
He advises everyone to be aware of gelatin — vegan or not.
"It's all leftover parts from animals and the hoofs, it's really bad," he said.
And that's not all he advises against.
"As far as the vegetable oils and the canola oils, they're horrible for you," he added.
"Just knowing your ingredients is hugely important to me. You want to know not only what you are putting in your body — but also what you're putting on your body.
"Your body absorbs 70% of what you put on it — it goes right into the system."
He also doesn't appreciate having to go on a supplement ingredient scavenger hunt.
"A lot of times when I go online to buy things, I wonder if they are trying to hide things or if it just doesn't happen to be there," he said.
"So if I think it's something I want I may get it and unfortunately nine times out of ten it's because they don't want a spotlight on it.
"I do think there is more awareness now and I hope that will put a shift in it because people will demand better."
This all-natural pro also named the ingredients you want to stay clear of if you want to use only clean products: parabens and sulfates.
The entrepreneur has been warning people about the dangers of these two ingredients for 30 years.
"You don't see parabens out there as much anymore but they still do exist," he said.
"Sometimes that message takes a really long time to get out to people.
"It's a matter of knowing your products and ingredients and where they are listed on the ingredient deck.
"It's usually up to the first five to ten ingredients that are at the most concentrated."
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