Mia
Your body needs many nutritional elements to develop and stay healthy. Just like any body part, your hair needs them, too. If you don’t have a balanced diet, you may experience many unpleasant hair and scalp problems. Hair loss, thinness, or slowed growth can be caused by many health issues, but nutritional deficiencies are the most common ones. If that is your case, vitamins may help. It is important to note that if you have already damaged hair, no amount of vitamins are going to help. First, you will need to cut off the damaged hair. If you can’t afford to do this at a salon, you can do it at home. We recommend grabbing a pair of professional Sozu shears from Scissor Tech and going to town on your split ends.
Vitamins A, C, D, E, and many B-vitamins are necessary for your hair to grow and glow. Check this article to find out how they work and learn more about vitamin deficiencies. Read on, and discover which nutritional elements can help your hair to grow faster and stronger. Check out hair growth products for black women.
Vitamin A
Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin that is essential to the health and well-being of your skin, mucous membranes, vision, and much more. There is one more thing that can help you to understand the importance of vitamin A for your hair. It is a precursor of retinoic acid, which is what makes your hair grow. A lack of vitamin A in the body may cause hair loss because it makes the hair follicles smaller and causes breakage. Deficiency can also cause thinning and fading of the hair pigment.
Luckily, vitamin A deficiency is very rare. The recommended daily value (RDA) is 900 micrograms retinol equivalents (RE) or 4,300 IU. But you have to remember that the majority of it should be beta-carotene because retinol is unstable. So, you will get enough vitamin A only if you eat red, orange, and dark green fruits and vegetables every day. If you don’t have enough vitamin A in your diet, consult your doctor about proper supplementation. Try to get natural vitamin A from food sources first because supplements often come with too much vitamin A, which may cause irritability, headache, diarrhea, and nausea.
Natural sources include liver, egg yolks, sweet potatoes, spinach, broccoli, mango, sweet red peppers, carrots, cantaloupe melon, butternut squash, kale, avocados, apricots, peaches, and apricots.
Vitamin C
Vitamin C is a water-soluble vitamin that plays an important role in the formation of collagen and keratin. Because of this, vitamin C is essential for healthy skin and hair. It also helps you to absorb iron and regulates iron metabolism. Your hair can grow fast but only if you have healthy blood circulation. Vitamin C helps your blood circulation by maintaining capillaries and improving the quality of the blood. Blood brings oxygen and nutrients to your cells and carries away waste products.
Vitamin C deficiency may cause inflammation of the scalp, called scurvy, thinning of the hair, and dull color. The recommended daily value (RDA) for women is 75 milligrams (mg) or 90 mg for men.
Natural sources include citrus fruits (grapefruit, oranges, and lemons), strawberries, cantaloupe melon, papaya, pineapple, kiwi fruit, sweet peppers, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, spinach, and peppers.
Vitamin E
Vitamin E is a fat-soluble vitamin that helps in building a healthy immune system, protects your hair from sun damage, and so much more. It also helps your body to get rid of harmful free radicals that cause aging and hair loss. Have you ever noticed how healthy hair looks always shiny and silky? And how does it change with age? That’s because free radicals break the hair protein that leads to hair loss.
Vitamin E deficiency also leads to hair loss because it makes the hair follicles smaller and breaks down the protein in hair that results in breakage. Just like vitamin A deficiency, it can also cause thinning and fading of the hair color. It also lowers the levels of good cholesterol (HDL), and vitamin E deficiency increases the risk of heart disease.
The recommended daily value (RDA) for women is 15 mg or 15 IU for men. Natural sources include walnuts, sunflower seeds, spinach, olives, hazelnuts, whole wheat flour, and milk.
Vitamin D
Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin that works like a hormone in your body to maintain healthy calcium levels in your blood. This is very important for your hair health because calcium allows the cells in your scalp to produce keratin protein that is what makes your hair strong and prevents breakage.
But there is something even more important than calcium for your hair growth and that is vitamin D3. This fat-soluble vitamin stimulates cell growth and repairs damaged hair strands from within the scalp. Even though vitamin D is not completely absorbed through your digestive tract so you need to consume foods rich in it every day.
The recommended daily value (RDA) for women is 15 micrograms (mcg) or 15 IU daily, but you should know that you can get it from supplement pills too. Deficiency may lead to loss of scalp pigmentation, dry scalp, and dandruff, brittle hair, fine hair loss, or alopecia areata.
Natural sources include salmon, cod liver oil, mackerel, and tuna and are just some of the fish high in vitamin D3. If you don’t like these fish you can get vitamin D from fortified cereals and milk products like yogurt or milk as well as from eggs or butter.
Vitamin K2
Vitamin K2 is a fat-soluble vitamin that plays an important role in blood clotting. It also helps your bones to retain calcium because it activates several enzymes responsible for calcium transport into bones. This means that if you have enough vitamin K2 in your body, you wouldn’t get osteoporosis with age. It also helps you to prevent many diseases because it is essential for your immune system and reduces inflammation in your body.
The recommended daily value (RDA) for women is 90 micrograms (mcg) or 120 mcg for men which is important because it reduced arterial calcification which reduces the risk of coronary heart disease as well as cerebrovascular disease such as stroke. Deficiency may lead to weak bones (osteoporosis) or increased inflammation.
Natural sources include natto (fermented soybeans) is an excellent source of vitamin K2 but not everyone likes it so. Broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables are also good sources of this vitamin but not everyone likes them either so try to take a prenatal vitamin with a large dose of vitamin K2 if you are not consuming enough foods with this vitamin. Consult your doctor before taking a supplement with 6 micrograms (mcg) or 12 mcg per day because high doses can be toxic so always follow the dosing instructions on your bottle or package.
Vitamin B6
Vitamin B6 is a water-soluble vitamin that plays an important role in many processes in your body including producing red blood cells and building proteins necessary for healthy skin and hair. Vitamin B6 also activates enzymes that help you to process some other nutrients including folic acid and protein making them more efficiently absorbed by your body.
The recommended daily value (RDA) for women is 1 mg or 1.3 mg for men so make sure that you eat foods rich in vitamin B6 every day. Deficiency can cause dry scalp or dandruff so make sure that you eat enough B6-rich foods every day so that you don’t end up with one of these problems.
Summary
Everyone wants beautiful hair but it’s not that easy to get. Not only are things like haircuts, hair treatments, and hair masks important for good hair, but what you eat can really affect how your hair looks and feels. If you have problems with hair loss, thinning hair, bald spots, breakage, or split ends, you should definitely look at what foods you are putting into your body, and how many vitamins and minerals you are getting. If you feel that your diet is lacking some vitamins and minerals that are important to hair growth, you should consider taking supplements. You could talk to a nutritionist who can recommend a healthier diet and give you a meal plan. If you don’t want to do that, then consider consulting your doctor on what supplements might work best for you. Growing your hair to be shinier, thicker, and more luscious is really as easy as making sure you’re getting the right vitamins.
