Posted by Nancy Sabatelli on Feb.09, 2010

©iStockphoto.com - dmbaker

We’ve all seen celebs and models in magazine ads and TV commercials with gorgeous, shiny, voluminous locks. Whether their tresses are sleek and straight or curly and bouncy, these women have beautiful hair that makes us green with jealous envy. Fortunately, you can try some easy tricks at home – including diet, supplements and DIY hair treatments – to give you healthier hair naturally.

What’s Hair Made Of?

“Hair is made from a protein called keratin,” explains Helen Foster, author of The Beauty Book (p. 71) (1). The inner part of a hair strand is called the shaft, while the outer coating of a hair strand is called the cuticle. When hair is healthy and strong, the cuticle is smooth and reflects light. The result? Gorgeous shine. When your hair isn’t healthy – due to harsh styling, heated appliances or chemical processes – the shaft weakens and becomes brittle. Consequently, your locks become dry, dull and lackluster.

Hair grows from follicles in the scalp at a rate of about 0.35 mm per day, according to Dr. George Obikoya for The Vitamins & Nutrition Center (2). Hair goes through phases of growth, resting and then falling out, to be replaced by new hair.

What Factors Negatively Affect Hair Growth?

Many events can take a toll on your hair, preventing it from growing long and strong or looking its best. These include external factors, such as pollution, chemicals, environmental toxins and UV exposure. Unhealthy lifestyle choices, like poor diet, insufficient sleep and high stress levels can also have a negative impact on hair (2). These unhealthy habits affect hormone levels and energy production that are necessary for healthy hair, explains Dr. Maoshing Ni on Yahoo! Health (3).

Can Diet or Vitamin Supplements Improve My Hair?

Yes, according to many experts (1, 2, 3, 4).

• Diet. The foods you eat (or don’t eat!) can affect your hair, explains Foster (1):

  • Spicy foods can cause your scalp to sweat and therefore make hair oilier.

  • Not enough protein in your diet affects hair’s cuticle, making it less able to reflect light and less shiny.

  • Essential Fatty Acid (EFA) deficiency can lead to dry hair. Lack of these acids allows moisture to escape from the cuticle. So, be sure you’re eating EFAs in foods like fish, seeds and nuts. Dr. Ni also suggests olive oil, avocado oil and sesame oil as EFA sources (3).

  • Too little B vitamins in your diet can result in hair that grows slowly or not at all. Get your B vitamins in milk, eggs, beans, fish and nuts.

  • Vitamin A deficiency can lead to thinning hair, so pile your plate with lean red meats and leafy green veggies. But be warned! Too much vitamin A – through diet, supplements or a combination of both – can be dangerous to your body and make your hair problems even worse. Don’t take more than 10,000 units daily. Excessive “vitamin A is toxic to the body and hair loss is the first sign of this,” notes Foster (p. 119) (1).

  • Eat small-portioned, healthy snacks at regular intervals – say, every few hours. This will help regulate your body’s energy levels, and “hair follicles need energy to grow hair,” writes Kate Sandoval in Cosmopolitan (p. 191) (4).

• Vitamin Supplements. Taking vitamin supplements can also help your hair. But, check with your doctor first to make sure they won’t interact with your other medications, supplements or health conditions. Experts recommend these vitamin supplements for healthy hair:

  • Folic acid is important because it promotes the production of keratin, (the protein that makes up your hair) (4).

  • Borage oil, evening primrose oil, flaxseed oil and fish oil are all chock-full of EFAs that help keep hair moisturized, internist Kathleen W. Wilson, M.D., tells Reader’s Digest (5).

  • Beta carotene is important because it’s changed to vitamin A, which helps promote healthy hair growth (2).

  • B vitamin complex, including biotin, vitamin B6 (2).

  • Vitamin E (2).

How Can I Make Natural Hair Treatments?

You probably already have many of these ingredients in your kitchen. They can improve the look and feel of dry, damaged or processed hair. However, be sure to pick a treatment that’s appropriate for your specific hair type. For fine, straight or oily hair, these treatments can weigh hair down and make it greasy.

• Processed Hair. Foster suggests blending the following ingredients and leaving the mixture on hair for a few minutes before rinsing well:

  • 1 egg

  • 2 tbsp cream cheese

  • 2 tbsp cream

  • 2 tbsp butter

  • 2 tbsp water

  • ¼ grapefruit (p. 81) (1).

• Curly Hair. To moisturize curly hair, which is often dry, Foster advises heating ½ cup of olive oil, so it’s warm, but not hot. Then, add in 10 drops of lavender oil. Put the mixture in your hair and wrap your head with a towel to help the concoction penetrate. Leave it in for 20 minutes. Then, be sure to shampoo hair well – lather, rinse and repeat – to remove any remaining residue (1).

• Wavy Hair. This mask is perfect for wavy hair. It will boost shine and moisture, claims Foster. Mash up and mix the following ingredients:

  • 1/2 ripe banana

  • ½ avocado

  • 1 heaped teaspoon plain yogurt

  • 1 tbsp olive oil (p. 89) (1).

Massage the treatment especially into the ends of your hair, which tend to be driest and dullest. Wrap a towel around your head, wait 20 minutes and rinse well.

• Dry Hair. At your local health food store, buy some jojoba, almond or olive oil. Try coconut oil for especially thick or coarse hair. Apply the oil to hair, wrap in a towel for 30 minutes and then rinse, shampoo and rinse again (5).

• Damaged Hair. Stephen Sanna, hairstylist at New York City’s Pierre Michael Salon, advises the following mask to restore moisture and shine to damaged, processed hair. Take the pit out of an avocado, then mash it up and mix it with an egg. Let it stay in your hair for a good 20 minutes, then rinse thoroughly. The avocado’s vitamins and the egg’s protein help restore moisture and shine (5).

• Hair Loss. Dr. Ni recommends massaging ginger juice – freshly pressed from ginger root – to your scalp to help counteract thinning hair or hair loss. Then rinse it out after 20 minutes. The massaging motions from your fingers will also stimulate blood flow, which may help encourage new hair growth (3).

• Dandruff. Normally caused by a dry scalp, Dr. Ni suggests adding aloe juice to your scalp at bedtime and then “rinsing it out in your morning shower” to address dandruff (3). He also writes that baking soda works as an exfoliant to scrub away flakes.

Sources

1. Foster, Helen. (2005). The Beauty Book. Bath, U.K.: Parragon Publishing, pp. 70-71, 75, 81, 85, 118-119.

2. Obikoya, George. Vitamins for Your Hair. (2010). The Vitamins & Nutrition Center. Retrieved January 25, 2010 from http://www.vitamins-nutrition.org/vitamins/vitamins-hair.html

3. Ni, Maoshing. Natural Tips for Gray Hair, Hair Loss, and Dandruff. (December 8, 2009). Yahoo! Health. Retrieved February 1, 2010 from http://health.yahoo.com/experts/drmao/22649/natural-tips-for-gray-hair-hair-loss-and-dandruff?cin=&print=1

4. Sandoval, Kate. Get Long Hair Fast. (February 2010). Cosmopolitan, pp. 188-191.

5. 30 Tips for Healthier, More Attractive Hair. (n.d.). Reader’s Digest. Retrieved January 25, 2010 from http://www.rd.com/living-healthy/get-healthier-more-attractive-hair/article16136.html

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