Hair Vitamins – Do you look into the mirror and get depressed by your hairs? Have your hairs become lifeless and dull despite all hair products you use on them? It may be time to check your diet if it contains sufficient vitamins for hair growth.
It is often said that one can tell a lot about the overall health of a person by looking at his/her hairs. So, if your hairs are unhealthy, it can indicate other health problems often caused by the deficiency of vitamins.
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Vitamins are micronutrients that perform a plethora of useful functions in the body. One of the primary functions of vitamins is to help in the absorption of essential nutrients into the body and regulate vital functions like blood circulation.
The hair vitamins- vitamins that mainly lead to healthy hairs by preventing hair loss and promoting hair growth- are necessary if you want to sport shiny locks. So, check out these best hair vitamins which can give you the locks you have always dreamed about:
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Contents
- 1 1. Biotin Is The Best Friend of Your Hairs
- 2 2. Your Hairs Love to Live With Vitamin B Family
- 3 3. Vitamin C Fights Free Radicals
- 4 4. Vitamin A Maintains Scalp Health
- 5 5. Vitamin E Enriches Your Hair Follicles
- 6 6. Deal With Hair Problems With Vitamin D
- 7 7. Folic Acid Fight Hair Loss
- 8 8. Niacin Naturally Boosts Hair Growth
- 9 9. Prevent Hair Loss by Pantothenic Acid
- 10 10. Inositol Can Solve Your Hair Problems
1. Biotin Is The Best Friend of Your Hairs
Biotin is a vitamin found in the family of B vitamins. It is also called Vitamin B7 or Vitamin H for hairs. When it comes to vitamins for hair growth, Biotin is one of the best hair growth vitamins.
It contains Keratin which is also known as hair protein as it is highly beneficial for hair growth. In fact, keratin is found in many hair care products as well.
Moreover, biotin also helps in the formation of amino acids from protein in food which directly aid in growth and maintenance of healthy hairs. Through these functions, an ideal amount of biotin in our body prevents our hairs from damage and dryness by increasing the elasticity and strength of locks.
Where to find Biotin:
The human body can produce this vitamin in intestines. However, it is a water soluble vitamin meaning that it gets flushed out of your system with other wastes.
So, it is usually recommended to take regular intake through foods like green leafy vegetables, nuts, egg yolks, peanut butter, avocados, salmon, mushrooms, lentils, green peas.
Since it is a water-soluble vitamin, you may get deficient in biotin if you do not take it regularly via foods mentioned above. Even if your hair products contain biotin, you must have them naturally and not solely rely on external sources to meet their requirement.
2. Your Hairs Love to Live With Vitamin B Family
The whole Vitamin B family is like the Godfather family of hair vitamins. They give you an offer which you cannot refuse if you want healthy locks. Eight vitamins namely B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B7, B9, and B12 constitute the leading members of vitamin B family.
Together these vitamins affect most vital functions of our body- metabolism, energy, nervous system and muscles. Their ability to promote cell growth and division plays a significant role in the growth of healthy hairs.
Among these vitamins, B12 is one of the most significant vitamins which is also deficient in a majority of people.
Animal foods like meat and dairy are primary sources of vitamin B12 which makes vegetarian people most susceptible to its deficiency. You can take a supplement of it after checking with your doctor if you are deficient.
You can have other B complex vitamins from nuts, legumes, bananas, carrots, whole grains, green vegetables, cauliflower, oatmeal, soybeans, and avocados.
Remember that your body cannot store this vitamin as it is water soluble and excess intake gets flushed out of the system through urine. So, you need to consume these items regularly to prevent vitamin B deficiency.
3. Vitamin C Fights Free Radicals
You may primarily know Vitamin C as a vitamin for increasing immunity against diseases. However, the vitamin also helps in improving the health of hairs. The antioxidant properties of vitamin help in fighting free radicals which cause damage to body tissues and cellular structure as we age.
These free radicals cause hairs to become dry and brittle with split ends. In excess, they may lead to excessive hair loss and shedding. By reacting with free radicals and combating their effects, Vitamin C plays an important role in preventing hair damage and increasing strength of hairs.
Moreover, vitamin C also helps in the production of a protein called collagen. Collagen is an essential protein found in one-third of your body in skin, ligaments, and hairs.
It is, however, a water soluble vitamin, so you need to ensure you take this regularly through your diet. Vitamin C is also necessary for absorption of iron in the body. This is particularly the case of iron received from eggs and plants.
Vitamin C is abundantly found in citrus fruits such as oranges or lemon as well as in vegetables such as broccoli and sprouts. Grapefruit, kiwi, strawberries, red meat, are other good sources of vitamin C.
4. Vitamin A Maintains Scalp Health
The natural oil of your scalp, often called sebum, is a necessary part of your healthy hairs as it prevents the hair from drying and breaking. Vitamin A helps in the production of sebum and maintain a healthy level of hair oil on your scalp. This is even more necessary if you use commercial hair shampoos.
These shampoos, often rich in sodium Laurel sulfate not only removes dirt but also strip your hairs of its natural oil and cause them to become dry and lifeless.
Related: Check out these top 10 organic shampoos for your hairs.
Moreover, vitamin A is also an excellent antioxidant also known as retinol. So, it helps in reducing free radicals as well which hurt your hairs.
You can find Vitamin A in melons, carrots, peaches, dark leafy vegetables, cod liver oil, and spinach. However, avoid taking excessive vitamin A, especially if you bring them in the form of right supplements. This is because high vitamin A levels can lead to toxicity in the body and cause hair loss instead- which you will never want.
5. Vitamin E Enriches Your Hair Follicles
Vitamin E plays a significant role in boosting your hair health by increasing oxygen absorption into blood and blood circulation to hair follicles. Directly applying vitamin E oil to hair scalp also reduces inflammation and repairs damage to hair follicles.
Besides, like Vitamin C, Vitamin E also contains potent antioxidant properties which fight free radicals. This leads to prevention of hair and skin damage due to aging.
You can have Vitamin E through various ways. These include consuming Vitamin E rich foods, applying topically on the scalp and direct ingestion through supplements. Vitamin E is found abundantly in almonds, avocado, seeds, green leafy vegetables, nuts, beans, vegetable oils, soybean and soybean oil.
However, vitamin E also causes thinning of blood for improving its circulation. So, beware of taking too much Vitamin E as it may lead to bleeding due to excessive thinning. That is why it is also recommended to stop using Vitamin E before any surgery to avoid extra blood loss.
6. Deal With Hair Problems With Vitamin D
Traditionally, Vitamin D is also beneficial for bones and skin. Over the past few years, many types of research have also indicated its effect on hair health as well.
For instance, this study in Stem Cells Translational Medicine journal suggests that vitamin D can help in the creation of new follicles. It can also revive the dormant follicles and restart the hair growth in balding hair regions.
Moreover, Vitamin D helps in the absorption of other minerals in the body which are vital for healthy locks. For example, it controls zinc balance in the body whose deficiency can lead to hair loss. A deficiency in Vitamin D also leads to flaky scalp and psoriasis.
You can get vitamin D from food sources like fish, grains, mushroom, fortified low-fat milk and others. It is essential to eat foods rich in healthy fatty acids because they enable the body to produce vitamin D.
Our body also produces vitamin D in the presence of sunlight. That is why professionals recommend going out in the sun regularly to maintain optimum levels of vitamin D in the body.
7. Folic Acid Fight Hair Loss
Folic acid is actually vitamin B9 from the family of B group vitamins. However, it is perhaps the most useful B vitamin for hair problems. It not only prevents thinning of hair and promotes growth but is also found to be effective in preventing male pattern baldness and treating alopecia.
Also Read: Aloevera for Hair Growth.
In fact, folic acid also helps in healthy growth of skin and nail tissue in addition to hairs due to its cell regenerative properties. Due to these properties, it is also recommended to pregnant women as it naturally prevents any birth or neural defects.
Folic acid also enables proper functioning and formation of RBCs and proteins. Proteins form an essential nutrient for hairs whereas RBCs help in transportation of them to hair follicles.
You can have folic acid by consuming a diet rich in dark, leafy green vegetables and natural foods. These include cooked lentils, chickpeas, frozen peas, collard greens, boiled asparagus. You can also find a significant amount of folic acid in grains, pork, and poultry.
8. Niacin Naturally Boosts Hair Growth
Niacin is one of the best hair vitamins along with Biotin. It also belongs to B complex family and is known as Vitamin B3 or nicotinic acid. It primarily helps the body in converting carbohydrates from food into energy and preventing its conversion into fat.
It also helps in increasing blood circulation to help and maintains the structure of blood cells. Due to this reason, it can actually lead to healthy scalp and can even promote hair growth by stimulating the hair follicles. Many hair clinics also offer external treatment of hairs with niacin which helps in promoting hair growth.
However, it is always best to take your vitamins through natural sources and foods you eat regularly. Some foods in which you can find niacin are tuna fish, yeast, beans, liver (lamb’s), dairy products, chicken breast, mushrooms, coffee, avocado.
Also, you need to ensure a regular intake of niacin as it is water soluble like other B vitamins. So, an excess of niacin will get flushed out of your system through urine.
9. Prevent Hair Loss by Pantothenic Acid
Pantothenic Acid is also known as Vitamin B5 and is one of the lesser known vitamins of Vitamin B family. However, B5 combined with Biotin is a highly beneficial hair tonic which can prevent age-related hair loss and graying.
This vitamin has positive effects on adrenal glands in the body which stimulate hair scalp and pave a way for new hair growth. It also helps to remove dead skin on the scalp to allow new hairs to grow.
You can usually find vitamin B5 in primary sources of other B-complex vitamins. Among those sources, whole grains and eggs contain sufficient quantity of pantothenic acid to help in hair growth.
10. Inositol Can Solve Your Hair Problems
Inositol was once considered as Vitamin B8. However, now it is actually a pseudo-vitamin as scientists discovered that body makes its inositol by breaking down glucose.
Inositol is primarily helpful in preventing and treating mental diseases as it promotes communication between neurotransmitters like dopamine, norepinephrine in the brain. It helps in the maintaining health of cell membranes found in eyes, bone marrow, brain, and intestines.
However, recent findings have also shown its role in treating hair loss. Many active hair growth remedies use a combination of inositol and choline bitartrate to treat hair loss and promote healthy growth of hairs.
Although your body can produce inositol on its own, you can also get it by consuming foods like whole grain bread, citrus fruits, Brewer’s yeast, and beans.
You must ensure a regular intake of these vitamins for hair growth either through foods or external supplements. However, remember to consult a doctor before starting any supplements to avoid any potential side effects. In addition to consuming these hair vitamins, you should also take care of your locks regularly. Check out these best Ayurvedic hair oils to get rid of your hair problems at once.
Also Read: Walnut To Keep Your Hair Healthy.