Everyone loves healthy hair, regardless of gender and age. Although there are some major factors that may influence the condition of your hair, such as genetics, age, hormones, nutrient deficiencies, you’ll need to know that what you eat is one of the few things you can do to control your hair’s condition.
To have a head of healthy hair does not depend only on the outside appearance of your hair but also on how healthy you are inside. According to experts, the good health of every part of the body, which also includes your hair health, depends on what you eat. By eating nutrient-rich foods that are scientifically proven to help your hair, you can greatly influence your hair’s thickness, growth or shedding, and even its likelihood of greying since the nutrients consumed by the body will fortify the hair follicles. A balanced diet consisting of nutrients like protein, vitamins and minerals will help to supply hair with all that it needs to remain shiny, lustrous and strong. Here are the right foods that you should be eating for healthy hair.
1. Salmon
Fishes like salmon, as well as sardines and mackerel, are packed with healthy omega-3 fatty acids. Since the body cannot make these healthy fats, you will have to get them from food or supplements. These fatty acids can protect you from diseases, but your body also needs them to grow hair, keeping it shiny and full.
2. Egg
Eggs are rich in biotin, a B vitamin essential for hair growth and overall scalp health. Because our bodies make their own biotin in the intestines and it is abundant in many common foods, deficiency is very rare. However, there are some cases in which people are very ill and don’t have use of their intestines, biotin deficiency can cause hair loss. Biotin is important for hair health, but there is no need for you to take supplements as long as you eat a balanced diet that includes high-biotin foods like eggs.
3. Spinach
Spinach is iron rich and it contains sebum, which acts as a natural conditioner for hair. Like so many dark green leafy vegetables, spinach is full of amazing nutrients such as omega-3 acids, magnesium, potassium, calcium and iron. These work together for a healthy scalp and mane, keeping your hair lustrous and shiny, and most importantly moisturized so it doesn’t break.
4. Sweet potatoes
Have dry hair that’s lost its shine? Sweet potatoes are filled with a good-for-you antioxidant called beta-carotene. Your body will turn it into vitamin A, which helps to protect against dry, dull hair. It also stimulates the glands in your scalp to make an oily fluid called sebum that keeps hair from drying out. You can also find this elixir of the locks in other orange-coloured fruits and vegetables like carrots, pumpkin, cantaloupe, and mangoes.
5. Bok choy
Dermatologists treating hair loss look at the level of ferritin in your blood, because they can deduce what your body is doing with all the iron they told you to add to your diet during your initial consultation. If you’d been eating plenty of iron-rich bok choy, they would likely see a spike in your ferritin levels.
6. Barley
Vitamin E is a powerful antioxidant that can actually absorb damaging UV light and protect skin cells. It also repairs sun damage on the scalp, which can cause hair to thin. In one study where Tocotrienols, or different types of vitamin E supplements, were studied for eight months in patients with hair loss and the results showed that the supplemented group had a 34% improvement in hair growth. Although tocotrienols are difficult to get from diet alone, barley is a very good source.
The increase in intake of the right foods at each meal and with each meal can bring a tremendous change in our hair growth. If you follow a hair nutritious diet for at least half a year, it will definitely make your hair follicles strong and make your hair healthy and thick. So, leave aside the shampoos and conditioners, and start a healthy diet, and see the difference. You will just love yourself.