Food secrets of lavish hair

“Russian Venus” by Boris Kustodiev, 1926

The pictures you’ll see below would definitely make you envious. But it’s not the reason of this article. We’d like to speculate about hair health from the food point of view. Maybe you reconsider your daily menu in order to make your locks stronger, shinier and sexier. But remember that healthy hair is not a 4-week project, it’s a lifestyle.

For centuries, Russian cuisine has been based on the peasant food of the rural population in an often harsh climate, with a combination of plentiful fish, pork, poultry, caviar, mushrooms, berries, and honey. Crops of rye, wheat, barley and millet provided the ingredients for a plethora of breads, pancakes, pies, and cereals. As you see, the diet is packed with protein, iron and zinc, omega 3 fatty acids, and different vitamins – all essential nutrients for healthy hair.

“Madame Rimsky-Korsakov” by Franz Xaver Winterhalter, 1864

The lady is not royal; she is Madame Barbe de Rimsky-Korsakov. She was a wife of Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, a Russian aristocrat, and she and her husband are mentioned in the novel “Anna Karenina” by Leo Tolstoy. She sat for Winterhalter in 1845 and this portrait now sits in the Musee d’Orsay in Paris.

Empress Elisabeth of Austria in 1865, painted by Franz Xaver Winterhalter

Elisabeth’s pride and joy was her long auburn hair. It was almost the only sign of vanity she ever displayed. This portrait of depicting her long hair, one of two so-called “intimate” portraits of the empress; although its existence was kept a secret from the general public, it was the emperor’s favourite portrait of her and he kept opposite his desk in his private study. Empress Elisabeth didn’t like meat, so she either had the juice of half-raw beefsteaks squeezed into a thin soup, or pressed extract of chicken, partridge, venison and beef. For weeks she would eat nothing but eggs, oranges, and raw milk (she brought her own cows with her whenever she traveled).

Chromolithograhie by Angelo Asti (1847-1903)

Maybe cheese and wine with many other food varieties made the hair of French women so luxuries?

“The Birth of Venus” by Sandro Botticelli, circa 1485.

God or Mediterranean diet made the hair of Venus so beautiful? The lands around the Mediterranean Sea broadly follow the distribution of the olive tree, which provides one of the most distinctive features of the region’s diet – olive oil. The other two core elements of the Mediterranean diet are wheat and grape.

“Jewish woman” By Charles Landelle

Jewish cuisine is influenced by the economics, agriculture, and culinary traditions of the many countries where Jewish communities have settled and varies widely throughout the world. But overall, Jewish diet is healthy, nutritious and balanced.

“The Favorite” by Léon Comerre (1850–1916)

Turkish cuisine has a vast array of many foods from Greek, Central Asian, Caucasian, Jewish, Middle Eastern, and Balkan diets: meats, fish, yogurt and other dairy products, bread, olive oil, wide availability of vegetables, and moderate use of spices. It is rich in vegetables, herbs, meat dishes, and fish. Variety of kebabs and vegetable stews, eggplants, stuffed dolmas, maize dishes and dough-based desserts such as baklava are commonly served meals. Now wonder that oriental women have beautiful hair.

Wouldn’t you love it if your hair looked like the hair shown in these pictures? Strong, shiny, and silky hair need proper nutrition. We are happy to share the ideas on achieving these beautiful locks with you.