You might be wondering which foods will grow long, thick, and lustrous hair. Fruits and veggies along with lean protein and whole grains are the basis for any smart diet. But what about special foods you can consume for beautiful hair?
Having gorgeous hair, skin, and nails begins with your diet. If you eat the right foods, you’ll have much less cosmetic work to do. Your hair will radiate health, and it will be easier to manage and grow.
Read Also: 6 Incredibly Useful Tips to Tame Your Frizzy Hair
In this article, you’ll find unique foods you can eat to get gorgeous hair. You don’t have to run out and purchase them all, but if you add each one into your diet slowly, you’ll notice a big difference in your appearance. If you want to see what to eat for long, luscious tresses, keep reading.
The Foods That Promote Hair Growth
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Oatmeal
You’ve probably heard of taking oatmeal baths and using products like Aveeno to help soothe the skin. Oatmeal is an excellent moisturizer, and you can use it as an inexpensive hair mask for the scalp and hair too.
There are many excellent DIY recipes for topical uses, but eating them is a way to beautify the hair from the inside out. Your body will thank you too.
Oats contain protein, biotin, phosphorous, zinc, potassium, and copper—the perfect concoction for beautiful hair and skin. Oats will help you maintain the color of your locks, and it will assist with hair growth.
It also contains one special element: Silica. This mineral is widely known for strengthening joint cartilage, but it helps hair grow, thick, and luscious too. Silica assists the body in collagen production, the amino acid that helps to form healthy hair follicles. So, by consuming silica, you’re helping strengthen both the follicles and the hair that comes from them.
Oats are best eaten raw with berries and cinnamon, and they make an economical, power-packed daily breakfast.
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Salmon
It’s common knowledge that salmon is an amazing source of omega-3 fatty acids but do you know that consuming omega-3 will promote hair growth?
Omega-3 helps hair growth by improving the integrity of each of your body’s cells and helping them to perform their best. Each follicle contains a hair bulb within it consisting of living cells. Your cells need to perform at their optimum to build and grow hair. This is where Omega-3 comes in.
Omega-3 doesn’t just help with your hair but also decreases inflammation and works to improve the way your entire body functions on a cellular level.
Add 3 servings of salmon to your diet per week to see a difference in your hair and skin. Tired of salmon? Other omega-3 fish include herring, albacore tuna, mackerel, and sardines.
If you’re vegan, skip down to the next food in the article, “seaweed”. This ocean plant comes in a variety of forms and is another Omega-3 powerhouse.
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Seaweed
Seaweed is the ideal food for hair growth. It contains iodine and a wealth of vitamins needed to have beautiful tresses. Seaweed also reduces the excess production of DHT, a hormone that causes hair loss.
There are several seaweeds on the market that you can add to food or make into a salad. Kelp, kombu, nori, hijiki, and wakame will all help you grow thicker denser hair. If the idea of eating seaweed sounds terrible to you, try algae extract in supplemental form.
Great hair begins with productive hair follicles and a healthy scalp. If you incorporate enough nutrient-dense foods into your diet, your hair will radiate health. Healthy hair is much easier to care for because it will resist breakage and dryness.
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Kefir
Kefir is a beauty food that has more than one use. It’s the probiotics in kefir that make it helpful to the hair and body. A single serving boasts several billion colony forming units (Cfu’s), which makes it much more powerful than a cup of yogurt.
The probiotics in kefir help to strengthen your hair follicles so they can actively work on producing thicker, denser, and longer hair. You can consume kefir and you can apply it directly on your hair as a deep conditioning mask for extra benefits.
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Kiwi
If you look on a bottle of hair, skin, and nails vitamins, you’ll often see vitamin C and collagen listed. That’s because vitamin C helps to make collagen. Collagen is an essential protein that your body uses to create skin, bones, ligaments, and muscle.
A kiwi has 64 mg of vitamin C, 106% of the recommended daily amount. Eating 1-2 kiwis per day will help build collagen inside your body, which aids in growing and strengthening hair. It can make hair grow by repairing the scalp, and it can make your hair more elastic.
Vitamin C also helps to fight free radical damage caused by pollution and UV exposure according to Naturally Curly.
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Eggs
One way to strengthen hair growth is to make a hair treatment with eggs, coconut oil, honey (buy honey from Amazon), and conditioner, and place it on the hair for thirty minutes. But do you know that you can also eat eggs as a way of nourishing the hair from the inside out?
Eggs are high in biotin and protein, the exact ingredients you want for hair growth. Also known as vitamin B7, this water-soluble vitamin helps improve keratin. Hair is made of keratin, so you can grow thicker, fuller, and stronger hair by consuming biotin-rich foods, like eggs.
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Lentils
Lentils are popular among vegetarians because they pack on the protein. They also contain biotin, folate, and pantothenic acid (vitamin b5), all necessary elements for hair growth. Lentils are economical and easy to make from scratch, and they require no soaking and little time on the stove. Three of the best ways to eat them is in soups, stews, and salads.
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Barley
Barley is rich in thiamin and niacin, two vitamins that promote hair growth. It also contains copper. Copper helps restore and maintain hair color by working to form melanin. Copper and iron help with the production of red blood cells needed to counteract anemia and stop hair loss. Barley and lentils make a tasty nutrition-packed soup. Pair these two for strength, growth and overall health of hair.
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Walnuts
Walnuts are rich in biotin, a vitamin that will stop hair fall and promote growth. They increase blood flow to the scalp helping to stimulate hair growth. It’s the oil in walnuts that help to moisturize hair (buy walnut oil from Amazon). It’s rich in all three omega fatty acids and will help with inflammation and fungal issues like Candida which can stunt hair growth. The best way to eat walnuts is unroasted so that the potent oil is preserved.
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Sweet Potatoes
Have dull, lifeless hair? Try sweet potatoes, a powerhouse of nutrition for hair. It’s the beta-carotene in a sweet potato that makes it great for hair growth and luster. Beta-carotene converts into vitamin A within the body.
Besides beta-carotene, sweet potatoes are rich in vitamin E making them ideal for healing scalps and creating an ideal environment for hair to grow.
If you don’t like to eat them, try a deep moisture mask of kefir, honey, almond oil (buy almond oil from Amazon), and sweet potatoes to add shine and hydration.
Now it’s your turn to discuss. Do you have a favorite food you like to eat for gorgeous hair?
