How To Have Healthy Hair
Everyone wants to have nice hair. As the saying goes, ‘different hair, different person’. If you’ve ever gone too long between hair cuts you know how psychology unpleasant that experience is. Having your hair move beyond the threshold where it can be maintained and fashioned into the style that you consider to be you, can be an assault on your self-esteem. The same is the case when it is unwashed or greasy. Our hair is how we define who we are to the world; if it looks unhealthy, what does that say about you to the world?
One of the best ways to ensure you’re wearing your best hair is via a healthy diet. But what is a healthy diet these days? Sometimes it honestly hard to know. Is it low carb or low fat? Do you go for the paleo or maybe go full carnivore? Maybe a juice cleanse will get the job done?
If you’re looking for healthy looking hair then, no matter what diet you choose, there are 5 essential vitamins and minerals that you have to make sure you are consuming on a regular basis.
Vitamin A
Hair is the fastest growing tissue in the human body. Your hair needs vitamin A in order to remain moisturized and continue growing. Vitamin A also helps skin glands make an oily substance called sebum. Sebum moisturizes the scalp and helps keep the hair healthy.
Good sources include sweet potatoes, carrots, spinach, kale. All are high in beta-carotene, which can be turned into vitamin A. It can also be found in animal products such as milk, eggs and yogurt. Cod liver oil is another particularly good source.
Diets deficient in vitamin A may lead to several problems, including hair loss, however, a word of warning. While it’s important to get enough vitamin A, too much may be dangerous and can actually have negative effects on both the hair and body. Hair follicles will go into overdrive if you consume too much of it resulting in the hair reaching the end of the growth phase far too quickly. If your body is unable to make new hair quickly to replace it, you can end up experiencing hair thinning and in severe cases, baldness.
B-Vitamins
B complex vitamins are highly important for healthy hair, especially biotin, B1, B3, B5 and B6. This important group of vitamins are essential for the metabolism of fatty acids. These fatty acids are necessary to maintain cell membranes’ health and flexibility, keeping hair strands lubricated and strong.
Found in meat, whole grains and green leafy vegetables, B-vitamins help carry oxygen and nutrients to your scalp, which aids in hair growth.
When the body becomes deficient in B vitamins it significantly contributes to the undernourishment of hair follicle cells. Biotin, in particular, is needed to metabolize the amino acids that create keratin and though it is rare, patients that are deficient in biotin often have alopecia.
Vitamin C
Collagen is the connective tissue found within hair follicles. Vitamin C is necessary for the continued production and maintenance of collagen.
In addition, free radical damage can block the growth and cause your hair to age. Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant. It helps against the oxidative stress caused by free radicals by protecting the hair follicle cells and nearby blood vessel cells that supply nutrients and oxygen to the scalp.
Found in strawberries, peppers, guavas and citrus, vitamin C also helps your body absorb iron, a mineral necessary for hair growth.
Iron
Heavy levels of iron are necessary for aiding red blood cells as they carry oxygen to your cells. This makes it an overall important mineral in ensuring the body functions healthily, including hair growth.
Iron deficiency is a major cause of hair loss and is especially common in women. Iron deficiency hair loss can often look like traditional male and female-pattern hair loss. Eating foods high in iron include clams, oysters, eggs, red meat, spinach and lentils can avoid this issue.
Zinc
Zinc also plays an important role in hair tissue growth and repair. It does so by helping to keep the oil glands around the follicles working properly. If you have a zinc deficiency, hair loss can be a common symptom.
Oral zinc compounds have been used for decades for treating disorders such as telogen effluvium and alopecia areata. Zinc is an essential co-factor for multiple enzymes and is also a potent inhibitor of hair follicle regression, because of the ability to accelerate hair follicle recovery. Studies suggest that some alopecia areata patients suffer from zinc deficiency, and oral zinc sulphate therapy serves as an effective treatment.
Good sources include oysters, beef and pumpkin seeds.
If you are suffering from hair loss and don’t know why or what to do about it, please make an appointment with the Toronto Hair Transplant Surgeons. We have specialists here to advise you on how to manage your hair loss and to help you find out what the exact reason for it is. If you are concerned about hair loss, remember not to panic. Hair transplantations are now an affordable and natural looking solution to hair loss. In the meantime, make sure your diet contains the essential vitamins and minerals it needs to function properly and keep your hair looking radiant and strong.
