None of us ever want to endure another bad hair day as long as we live. We all know that we will at some point, but it would be nice to believe that we might be able to do something about it! Keeping a manageable, practical hairstyle is one way to reduce the chances of bad hair days, but many of us go further than that. In pursuit of our ideal hair thickness, fullness, or shine, we take three or four different supplements in the hope that they might get us a little closer to the look and feel that we're going for.
That isn't always the ideal way of going about things. While supplements can sometimes produce desirable results, far too few of us read what's on the label and pay attention to what we're taken. That turns us into online slots players, using our bodies as online slots machines and the supplements as the coins we throw into them looking for the jackpot. There's even a fairly popular online slots game called "Glam or Sham," which illustrates this metaphor perfectly! Whenever anyone plays Fluffy Too, they're paying for the chance to win more than it cost them to try. Sometimes they win, sometimes they lose, and rarely are they in control of their own destinies. It's possible for you to have more control over your hair than an online slots player has over their reels, but you don't need to take artificial supplements to obtain it.
As is the case with most things, nature has given us all the tools we need to take control over our hair. There are five vitamins and minerals in particular that are great for hair, and all you need to do is make sure you're getting enough of them. You can do that by taking tablets if you wish - but it's a lot easier to take them on board through food!
Vitamin A
Let's start right at the top of the alphabet with Vitamin A. Its functionality when it comes to promoting and regulating cell growth is a scientifically proven fact, and the cells that make up your hair aren't exempt from its powers. In fact, hair is the fastest-growing of all the tissues in the human body, so your hair needs Vitamin A more than anything else if it's going to thrive! Aside from promoting cell growth, good Vitamin A levels also encourage the production of sebum - the oil that keeps your scalp moist and stops your hair from drying out. It's technically possible to overdose on Vitamin A, so watch your intake closely, but if you stick to sensible foods like kale, carrots, spinach, and pumpkins (it is October after all, you should be fine. Be wary of it in supplements.
Vitamin C
Encouraging your hair to grow and stay moist is Vitamin A's job. Preventing it from looking old or tired is Vitamin C's job. Vitamin C can stop, and in some cases reverse, the damage that's done to your hair by free radicals. That's because it's a very powerful antioxidant, and blocking the effects of free radicals is pretty much what antioxidants are there to do! As is the case with Vitamin A, Vitamin C also has another role to play when it comes to healthy hair growth. You'll almost certainly have heard of the substance known as collagen, and some of you might assume that it's an artificial material used in cosmetic surgery. That isn't true. While it might be used in cosmetic surgery, it isn't artificial. Collagen occurs perfectly naturally within the body and is responsible for maintaining the structure of your hair. Vitamin C helps your body to produce it. In even better news, you can get all the Vitamin C you need from delicious strawberries and other citrus fruits, so you can take care of your 'five a day' at the same time! That's a far better idea than taking collagen supplements, which are generally thought to be worthless from a hair growth point of view.
Vitamin D
Vitamin D is a little bit different from the two vitamins we've looked at so far. With Vitamin A and Vitamin C, it's all about getting enough of the vitamins into your body to promote good growth. With Vitamin D, it's about making sure your levels don't fall too low. If they do, you can forget about growing any hair at all. You might even lose some. There is some very recent evidence that Vitamin D might help your body to create new hair follicles where none existed before, but research in that field is ongoing, and we wouldn't want to commit ourselves to saying there's definite evidence for cause and effect there just yet. The precise nature of the relationship between Vitamin D and hair growth is mysterious, but it's safe to say that a connection exists. There's no downside to getting a little more Vitamin D into your body either, so go out and get it. Exposure to sunlight will kickstart your body's Vitamin D production, but failing that, you'll find it in cod liver oil and fatty fish.
Zinc
You have to perform a balancing act when it comes to zinc and hair growth. Too little, and you might suffer from hair loss. Too much, and you might also suffer from hair loss. That might not seem fair, but that's how your body reacts to zinc. Don't blame us - we didn't make the rules! We know for sure that hair tissue repair and growth processes rely on zinc and also that the function of the hair follicles requires zinc as fuel, too. As too much zinc can apparently overload those delicate systems and cause complications, it's better to stay away from the supplements unless your doctor advises you that you have a zinc deficiency. There are plenty of great ways to get it from food instead, including lentils, oysters, spinach, and beef.
Iron
Yes, even humble old iron has a role to play when it comes to looking after your hair. That's because it helps oxygen to move around your body inside red blood cells. Many minerals within the body rely on this process, and that includes the minerals that play a part in hair growth. That's why people with anemia or other forms of iron deficiency sometimes suffer from hair loss as a side effect of their condition. If you're prone to iron deficiency, you'll probably be on iron supplements already, but even if you're not, there's nothing to be lost by taking some more iron on board. There are plenty of ways to ingest it, with red meat the best source, closely followed by eggs and spinach.
You might have noticed that spinach factored into our advice several times there, so perhaps Popeye had a point after all. Spinach really is a superfood! Try a new diet routine if you're worried about your hair, and base it on the vitamins and minerals we've listed above. Stick with it, and the results might delight you.
