Image by Michelle Raponi
In this Article:
- How does chi influence hair health and vitality?
- What Taoist techniques can enhance hair strength and beauty?
- How can you maintain healthy gray hair naturally?
- Why is scalp massage important for hair growth?
- Discover simple, daily hair care tips inspired by Taoist wisdom.
Taoist Hair Care Secrets for Beautiful, Healthy Hair
by Mantak Chia and Anna Margolina, PhD.
Ancient Taoist masters held that every hair extends from the skin like an antenna that can receive and transmit chi. They therefore placed great importance on hair vitality and strength. Longer and healthier hair allows for a better transmission of chi, while short, dry, brittle hair may not transmit as well.
Hair is one of the most noticeable characteristics of sexual attraction, beauty, confidence, and self-worth. Hair reflects social status, personal beliefs, and the state of one’s health and hygiene. Thick, lustrous, healthy hair attracts attention and frames the face, defining and completing it. Hair loss can cause considerable emotional distress in both sexes, but is usually more devastating for women due to social conditioning, which attaches greater importance to hair as an aspect of a woman’s beauty.
Today hair health is plagued by a host of environmental and internal problems. Pollutants in the air, earth, water, and food; chemicals in the skin and in hair products; frequent washing with hot water and shampoos; tight hair bands; drying with hot air; hair dyes, permanent curling, and straightening; UV radiation and hormonal changes in menopause—all these affect hair vitality and beauty, causing premature graying, thinning, hair loss, itchy scalp, dandruff, and brittle ends.
Honoring Gray and White Hair
Hair, like skin, has pigments. This is accomplished by melanocytes, cells that produce granules of the pigment melanin and deposit them in growing hair. With age there are fewer melanocytes in the hair follicles, so the hair gradually becomes less pigmented.
Eventually all melanocytes vanish and the hair turns white. At the same time, due to a gradual decline of stem cells, the hair may grow thinner and more sparce. This kind of age-related hair loss is different from hair loss in menopause due to the decline of estrogen. It is important to understand, however, that these kinds of changes are not inevitable, and that gray and white hair can still be thick, healthy, and beautiful provided the scalp and hair follicles are well-maintained, vital, and vibrant.
Protecting hair from UV radiation and using antioxidants can slow down graying. Frequent use of ammonia-based hair dyes, straighteners, perms, and heat, as well as high level of pollutants and stress can accelerate the graying of hair. Hair graying cannot be avoided, but it is possible to have beautiful and healthy gray and white hair. To achieve this, you have to shift your focus—from hiding your gray to loving your gray and honoring it with more dedicated care.
Taoist Secrets of Beautiful Hair
By increasing chi in the body, the hair will greatly benefit. This involves paying attention to the various hair structures: First, there is the layer of keratin, which has a crystal-like structure and can bind to water molecules, which too form crystal-like structures. Second, there is the lipid coating of the hair cuticle, which also has a crystal-like structure. Third, there are the hair pores, which are capable of receiving chi.
There are many products on the market that can help support healthy hair and improve its appearance, and many of these products are quite useful. Though many people spend thousands of dollars on hair products, hair dyes, haircuts, and hair-growing remedies and procedures, they still do not have a system of daily hair maintenance, which can make a big difference. The following are a few simple recommendations that do not require expensive hair remedies or procedures.
Tips for Beautiful Hair
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Bone comb: Brush your hair daily at least forty to fifty times from the crown down using a bone or horn comb. Taoists traditionally used buffalo horn for a comb. Vegans can use a wooden comb, just make sure it is well-polished and doesn’t damage the hair cuticles. It’s important to always comb from the base of the scalp to the ends of the hair strands, and never comb wet hair, because the cuticle of the hair is held in place by weak chemical bonds which loosen when hair is wet. This allows curling and styling of wet hair, but also makes wet hair more vulnerable to damage.
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Scalp massage: Massage your scalp with your fingers frequently. This will help stimulate circulation to the hair follicles. Stem Cell Chi Kung (described in chapter 6), in which you gently vibrate your scalp with a bamboo hitter, also works to stimulate blood flow.
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Gentle cleansing: It is important to wash your hair with warm water only (not hot) and select a mild shampoo. A good-quality conditioner will help protect your hair from damage and make it more manageable and flexible.
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Healing love: In menopause, when scalp skin starts receiving less estrogen, Taoists recommended moving one’s sexual energy from the sexual organs to the head through the practices of Healing Love Chi Kung, such as those described in chapter 9 of this book, and the Microcosmic Orbit Meditation described in chapter 8. Sexual energy is like water in that like the water that helps trees grow it similarly stimulates regeneration and growth of hair. When combined with unconditional love, this produces a healing elixir that stimulates the stem cells and improves hair growth.
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Relax and release: Inner Smile Chi Kung, found in chapter 4, and the Six Healing Sounds Chi Kung, found in chapter 7, allow you to release negative emotions, relax the body, and alleviate stress.
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Movement: Physical exercises must be done regularly to move scalp hair and bring more blood, oxygen, nutrients, and moisture to hair follicles.
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Nutritional support: Eating vibrant food containing the colors of the five elements as described in chapter 12 helps supply the skin with important nutrients such as copper, zinc, sulfur, vitamins, essential amino acids, phytoestrogens, and omega 3 fatty acids, all of which support hair growth.
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Hair breathing: Breathing chi into the hair, described below, activates the hair follicles and helps bring more life force into the body.
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Gray hair needs more care: Taoist masters generally live long and healthy lives, coming to great wisdom later in life. Just as the skin and body need more care as we age, gray hair has to be treated with reverence and extra care.
Hair Breathing Process
1. Sit straight on the edge of a chair or stand in Chi Kung stance, feet hip-width apart, knees slightly bent. Feel your feet connecting to the earth, growing deep roots. Feel your crown connecting to the cosmos by extending your hair “antennae.” Keep your spine straight. Feel your tailbone extending down into the ground.
2. Become aware of your hair. Smile into your hair. Take a deep breath into your nose and let it out through your nose again. On the next inhalation, visualize and feel breathing into your hair and then exhale imagining you are breathing out from your hair.
3. Imagine your hairs extending from your scalp with every breath, like antennae. Inhale golden light into your hair; exhale dark and cloudy energy.
4. Begin abdominal breathing. Inhale, expanding your abdomen. Exhale, moving the navel toward your spine. Repeat nine times.
5. Inhale, then exhale, pulling the navel toward your spine, then hold your breath. As you hold your breath, start pulling your perineum and diaphragm up while imagining you are drawing chi all the way up into the ends of your hair. Inhale, exhale, and relax and rest. Repeat this step nine times.
6. Rest, relax, and breathe softly. Smile into your hair.
7. Gently tap your crown and your third eye to activate nerve endings. Now repeat abdominal breathing (described in step 4 above) nine times. Next, inhale, then exhale, holding your breath, and “breathe without breathing” by moving your perineum and diaphragm up. Imagine receiving universal violet light into your crown and your third eye. Let the violet light saturate your brain and scalp.
8. Relax, rest, and breathe through your hair, becoming aware of chi flow.
9. Focus on your navel. Guide chi from your navel into your perineum. Then inhale, pull up your perineum, and guide chi with your eyes, breathing and smiling up the tailbone and sacrum into the Microcosmic Orbit as described in chapter 8.
10. Rest, relax, and smile into your hair.
Copyright ©2024. All Rights Reserved.
Adapted with permission of the publisher,
Destiny Books, an imprint of Inner Traditions Intl.
Article Source:
Book: Chi Kung for Radiant Skin
Chi Kung for Radiant Skin: Taoist Secrets for Inner and Outer Beauty
by Mantak Chia and Anna Margolina, PhD.
Exploring skin renewal, the authors detail the practice of Stem Cell Chi Kung, showing how hydration and vibration can activate stem cells to support deep and extensive renewal of the skin’s surface. They also look at several of Master Chia’s classic Universal Healing Tao breathing and circulation practices that can help support inner and outer beauty.
Revealing how to cultivate not only physical but also spiritual beauty, this Taoist guide to energetic skin care presents powerful and effective methods for achieving youthful radiance and glowing health at any age.
Click here for more info and/or to order this paperback book. Also available as a Kindle edition.
About the Authors
Mantak Chia, a student of several Taoist masters, founded the Healing Tao System in North America in 1979 and developed it worldwide as European Tao Yoga and Universal Healing Tao. He has taught and certified tens of thousands of students and instructors from all over the world and tours the United States annually, giving workshops and lectures. He is the director of the Tao Garden Health Spa and the Universal Healing Tao training center in northern Thailand and is the author of 50 books, including Taoist Foreplay, Inner Smile, Cosmic Fusion, Sexual Reflexology, and the bestselling The Multi-Orgasmic Man. Visit the author's website: http://www.mantakchia.com/
Anna Margolina, Ph.D., is a scientist, spiritual teacher, and Chi Kung and Universal Healing Tao instructor. She has a master’s degree in medical biophysics and a doctorate in biology from the Russian Medical State University, Moscow. For more than 20 years she has worked as an adviser for cosmetic companies in the United States and Israel. Author's website: https://annamargolina.com/Article Recap:
Taoist masters viewed hair as vital for transmitting chi and emphasized its care for health and beauty. This article shares practical Taoist tips, including scalp massage, chi breathing, and nutritional support, to enhance hair vitality and promote growth. Learn how to maintain vibrant, healthy hair, even as it grays, by honoring Taoist practices and natural care methods. Simple habits, rooted in ancient wisdom, can transform hair care and overall well-being.
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