Last week I introduced this Tsubaki oil or camellia oil that Japanese have been using for centuries for their beautiful hair. During my research I came across a certain brushing technique that a popular model and celebrities in Japan are doing to keep their hair gorgeous along with this oil.
It’s called reverse brushing. This model Mika Ahn. Her mother taught her this brushing technique and at age 48 a few years ago, she only had like one grey hair. She has four other siblings and she and her sister who practice this reverse brushing are the only ones without grey hair.
And these Kano sisters. They are like Japanese Kardashians living a lavish extravagant lifestyle and totally into beauties. They are doing the reverse brushing too.
I wish I knew this 20 years ago but it’s better late than never so I started doing this.
Type of Brush to Use
Since this massages scalp, use a brush like a paddle brush that has some cushion and bristles with rounded tips. I would not use nylon or plastic brush that causes static or the one with sharp bristle tips. A brush with dense animal hair is for a shiny hair, not for a scalp massage, so it’s not ideal for this brushing method.
Traditionally, Japanese used a comb made with Tsuge which is boxwood. They use this material because it doesn’t cause static which will damage your hair. And they soaked it in the Tsubaki camellia oil before combing their hair.
It requires maintenance but if you maintain it well by cleaning and re-soaking in the Tsubaki camellia oil, it can last for years. Now they have a brush but the real Tsuge boxwood brush is quite expensive.
So I’m using my $10 bamboo paddle brush that’s cushioning and the tip of the bristles is round to protect the scalp. Bamboo is anti-static so it’s easy on your hair. I have a feeling that the bamboo bristles are probably coated and they don’t absorb the oil from soaking so I apply a drop of oil on the tip manually before brushing.
How to do the Reverse Brushing
Do this only on dry hair. Look down and flip your hair forward. And start brushing from the nape of the hair all the way to the tip of the hair as you massage the scalp. Do this 100 time which is about 3 minutes if you have a long hair.
I’ve been doing this 50 times reverse from the back and 50 times normal from the front. You can do all or mostly reverse but I saw one blogger was doing 50 times each way and I thought that was easier on my weak neck. When you brush from this angle you can really feel the back of your head massaged more than when you brush from the front.
I used to dye my grey hair but I stopped it a while ago. Now I have good amount of grey so I can experiment different things.
Besides the reverse brushing Mika Ahn is also taking silica so I will be taking it to see if it makes any difference. I will share if I notice anything different.
After 50 times I come back up and fix any tangles from flipping and do 50 brushing from the front.
Instead of boring you with me just brushing, here is some anatomy. The fresh blood is pumped from the heart and travels upward in the scalp. When you keep your scalp flexible with massage, it helps the nutrients to get the hair root which is vital for the hair growth and healthy melanocyte which gives the color to your hair.
When your hair is formed it’s colorless. It’s the melanocyte that injects color pigment called melanin to the keratin which is the protein that makes up our hair. When the melanocytes stop producing melanin, your hair will stay grey and grow grey. So keep those melanocytes active if you don’t want to lose your hair color. I think grey is beautiful too though because it reflects your maturity. There is nothing wrong with coloring your hair too. Any color you want to express who you are. With that said, I’m also thinking of trying Yerba Santa and Magnesium Oil. Again, I will share if I try them and if they do anything. Now my hair is super smooth and stay smooth the whole day.
I brush my hair everyday but I never used to brush my hair more than 10 times. Never 100 times or even 50 times. The reverse brushing is making my hair feels softer and smoother because there’s absolutely no tangling. And it feels really good on the scalp. I can feel the circulation going after the reverse brushing.
If you’ve never tried this and if you hair allows it and if this type of brushing doesn’t damage your hair, try this and let me know how you feel.
I’ve done a video about how massaging the back of the head helps with a facelift. I’ll put the link below. This helps with that too so you are killing two birds with one stone.
Massage Monday #634 Reverse Brushing to Prevent Grey Hair?! http://bit.ly/mm-634
I will show you the reverse brushing method that some Japanese celebrities are using for their gorgeous hair.