The monsoon season is notorious for making your hair limp, dull, lifeless, and heavy. Reason being? The humidity. “Humid air causes excessive sweating, which increases the level of sebum on your scalp. Sweat and oil create an optimal environment for bacteria to thrive. So you end up with an itchy, greasy scalp that you try to wash away,” celebrity hairstylist Amit Thakur explains, which is also why your scalp feels itchy sooner, and you end up washing it more often. Thus, causing more harm than good. However, Dr Khushboo Garodia, trichologist, nutrition and stress management expert, believes that we are still at an advantage, thanks to our genes. “Indian hair is thicker, coarser, and denser – in terms of the number of hair per follicle. A study on the World’s Best Hair by the Textile Research Institute in Princeton, New Jersey, tested hair samples for four characteristics that determine healthy hair – thickness, tensile strength, shine, and smoothness. They analysed Caucasian, Asian, a nd Indian hair samples. They deduced that in terms of health, Indian hair is the best, topping other ethnic groups on all four counts,” she says as she reassures us that a few do’s and don’ts will help save our glorious mane.