Healthy, voluminous, smooth, and shimmering hair is an attribute that everyone wishes. Since it is precisely said, that hair is the “crowning glory” of a persona, who does not want a head full of hair? But on the contrary, hair fall has been a common problem with several people across the globe. Hair fall or thinning of hair could be one of the reasons for your low self-esteem.
When you experience hair damage, loss of luster in hair, frizzy hair, split ends, and parts of your scalp becomes visible, you must understand that it is a clear case of hair problems.
It is normal to lose between 100 to150 strands of hair a day. But if you tend to lose more than that, then your hair fall problem can be categorized as mild, moderate, and severe, depending upon the volume of your hair fall. There could be several underlying medical conditions causing hair fall. However, vitamin deficiency is one of the most common causes of hair fall.
Role of vitamins for hair health:
According to the National Institute of Health, alopecia is a common issue that can improve with vitamins and mineral supplementation. Just like vitamins, minerals also play a significant role in building up our immunity; they play a crucial part in strengthening our hair health too. Vitamins have a beneficial effect on hair quality, luster, and thickness. They support hair growth as well. But it is essential to understand which vitamins contribute to treating hair loss.
Why Additional Vitamins Required For Hair?
Every single strand of hair flourishes mainly on proteins, iron, zinc, and vitamin B12. If your diet does not contain all these essential vitamins and minerals to support the growth of new hair follicles and nourishment of your hair, your hair might look lusterless, frizzy, dry, and can develop conditions like hair breakage.
The treatments like hair spa, hair masking, and conditioning have a short-term effect; hence you have to adapt to a diet that contains all the necessary vitamins and minerals. If not, you have to take additional vitamins to give your hair a healthy and lustrous life in the long run. But before that, you have to take the advice of a medical practitioner.
Do Hair Vitamins Work?
According to Holland and Barrett, there is no specific evidence to prove that vitamins and minerals actually help in hair growth. However, a shortage of iron, biotin, zinc, and vitamin B3 may cause hair loss. It is also believed that Vitamin D, E, and B complex support hair growth. Hence, lack of these micronutrients could be a reversible risk factor for the development, prevention, and treatment of baldness.
According to National Centre for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), the contribution of a dietary regimen in preventing hair loss is a dynamic area of analysis. Additionally, by eating a balanced diet, you may see some improvement.
Top vitamins for hair growth:
Since each hair strand consists of 98% protein, your hair requires protein to grow. Vitamins A, B, C, D, and E all aid in protein formation in the hair, resulting in healthy, glossy, long, and strong hair.
1. Vitamin A
Studies show that vitamin A helps stimulate the cells to grow new hair. It also helps your scalp produce oil that moisturizes your hair to give it a luster. But the excess amount of scalp oil may result in hair shedding too. This means that a balance should be maintained with vitamin A.
The recommended dietary allowance of vitamin A is 900 mcg for men per day and 700 mcg for women per day. You can get vitamin A naturally from sources like eggs, cod liver oil, sweet potatoes, carrots, and green leafy vegetables.
2. Vitamin B
Out of the eight vitamins B complex supplements, only riboflavin (B2), niacin (B3), biotin (B7), folate(B9), and cobalamin(B12) are directly related to hair growth as they help carry oxygen to the cells in your scalp which stimulate the hair follicles. The deficiency of these vitamins may result in hair loss.
Research has found that vitamin B12 has many functions in the hair follicles, and deficiency of vitamin B12 is often associated with hair loss. You can get all these vitamins naturally from food sources like milk, cheese, eggs, chicken, meat, fish, liver, nuts, seeds, banana, avocado, sweet potato, dark green leafy vegetables, etc.
3. Vitamin C
It is evident from clinical studies that vitamin C plays a key role in collagen synthesis. Collagen is a protein made up of amino acids in your body that helps in creating keratin which aids in strengthening hair follicles. Vitamin C also plays a vital role in absorbing iron from the intestine. Therefore, vitamin C is important for patients with hair loss associated with iron deficiency.
Vitamin C also helps in fighting free radicals, which damage your cells and may reduce hair growth. The natural sources of vitamin C are citrus fruits like oranges, grapes, Indian gooseberry, green and red peppers, tomatoes, spinach, and broccoli.
4. Vitamin D
Experts say if you are deficient in vitamin D, you may experience some degree of hair loss. According to National Center for Biotechnology Information, women aged between 18 to 45 who are low levels of vitamin D2 were associated with two common types of hair loss i.e., telogen effluvium (TE) and female pattern hair loss (FHPL)
Another study conducted by researchers at the National Center for Biotechnology Information established that vitamin D deficiency causes alopecia areata, in which patchy hair loss is observed is caused by an autoimmune disorder.
The recommended dietary allowance (RDA) for vitamin D is 15 mcg per day. However, it is better to improve your level of vitamin D by getting exposed to natural sunlight. Spending 10 to 15 minutes outdoors in a day is preferable. Foods like cod liver oil, fatty fish, fortified milk, liver, etc. are also good sources of vitamin D.
5. Vitamin E
Being a natural antioxidant, vitamin E has a lot of benefits for your hair health. It stimulates your hair growth and curbs split ends. It also nurtures your scalp by reducing oxidative stress to make your hair extra glossy and voluminous. Further, it helps in repairing damaged hair follicles and prevents premature greying.
According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, vitamin E deficiency can cause alopecia areata, which is an autoimmune disease dependent on genetic predisposition and emotional and environmental stress.
Hence, it is essential to address the vitamin E deficiency in your body by having vitamin E-rich foods like avocado, almonds, spinach, sunflower seeds, etc. You can also take vitamin E supplements as prescribed by your doctor.
6. Iron
Iron deficiency is common in women with hair loss. The most common hair issue due to iron deficiency is telogen effluvium. Iron is an essential mineral that helps “ red blood cells (RBC)” carry oxygen to the roots of your hair and make them strong and long.
Rich sources of iron are eggs, chickpeas, nuts, seeds, lentils, spinach, broccoli, and dry fruits. You should add these foods to your diet to get enough iron.
7. Selenium
Selenium helps in the stimulation of hair follicles and fights dandruff as well. It is responsible for the production of thyroid hormone in a balanced proportion, which promotes healthy hair growth and helps in reproducing new hair follicles. Selenium deficiency can cause thyroid imbalance and hence can lead to hair fall.
You can get selenium from foods like fish, egg, garlic, spinach, meat, and green leafy vegetables.
8. Zinc
Zinc has a key role in helping the oil glands of your scalp to produce enough sebum to keep your hair moisturized and your scalp hydrated. It is found from several studies that supplementation of zinc may promote healthy hair growth in people having alopecia areata. The deficiency of zinc can cause male pattern baldness. The recommended daily amount of zinc is 7mg for women and 9.5mg for men.
Rich sources of zinc are foods like cheese, meat, legumes, chickpeas, nuts and seeds, milk, etc.
Conclusion
Vitamins play a vital role in nourishing every part of your body, from overall immunity development and cellular metabolism to the growth and maintenance of your hair, skin, and nails. There are multiple benefits that your hair can get from vitamins.
But vitamin deficiency often gets ignored when it comes to hair fall solutions. You may not even realize that the cause of your hair fall might be a deficiency of certain vitamins. But before it gets too late, you must ascertain the cause and act upon it.