A few days ago I stopped by Philip Kingsley‘s hair clinic in NYC which happens to be located on my favorite block — across the street from one of my best friend’s family restaurant, La Grenouille, and a few doors down from Cartier…a magical block wouldn’t you agree!? Kingsley flew in from London for the occasion and man is he a better traveler than I am! I’m not sure of his age, but he opened his UK Clinic in the 60s so he has definitely got a few decades on me. He landed at JFK at 2pm and by 5pm he looked more refreshed than I did with my 8 hours of sleep! That aside, the reason I stopped by was to help celebrate the newly expanded clinic and the addition of a new anti-frizz product to Kingsley’s line, Minimizer.
I was uber punctual to the event, which meant that I had a lot of one-on-one time with Kingsley and he’s one of the sweetest beauty experts I’ve ever met. I asked him what the biggest mistake he finds that women make when it comes to their hair and he said that it’s that they don’t wash their hair enough especially because this is usually the only “exercise” the scalp gets (interestingly it’s something I’ve heard from a lot of pros lately…I still maintain that my hair looks its best when I don’t wash it more than every other day though). Kingsley also told me he wrote a weekly newspaper column for nine years where he would tackle a hair concern each week. He has since written three books and after I asked for further elaboration on what specifically we could do/eat to minimize hair loss, he gave me a copy of his book, “The Hair Bible.” Jump for what the book outlines as the “perfect” breakfast, lunch, dinner, and some must-dos!
Below are what Kingsley outlines when it comes to optimal nutrition for hair health —
The Perfect Breakfast:
Any fresh fruit (not including juices), plus one or a combination of: eggs, a serving of bacon or ham, kippers, smoked salmon (or any other fish or meat), minimum of 6oz of low fat cottage cheese. Added optional: cereal, yogurt, bread, any jam or honey, juices, tea, coffee, sugar (that’s quite a breakfast Kingsley suggests!).
The Perfect Lunch:
Mixed raw salad or grilled vegetables or soup. Followed by at least 4.5oz of any meat, fish, eggs, poultry, or 6oz of low fat cottage cheese, with any vegetable of choice. For dessert he suggests something with a fruit.
The Perfect Dinner:
Indulge yourself in anything you fancy as it’s the most important “hair meal.”
Note that all of the above is from a purely hair health perspective and there are surely ways to take these suggestions and make them either very unhealthy or healthy from a nutritional standpoint.
Daily Must-Dos:
Drink at least 1.5l of water
Not too much salt or high fat contents foods
No black tea (because of the evidence that drinking it without milk can increase the likelihood of anemia which reduces iron storage).
Kingsley also suggests taking a supplement containing essential vitamins and minerals.
What do you think of Kingsley’s suggestions?