Losing your hair is an unfortunate, but natural part of life. It doesn’t happen to everybody of course, and at which point in your life you have to deal with it varies from person to person, but it’s extremely common.
The worst thing about it is that there isn’t really a cure so to speak. While you can take some steps to try and keep it under control as we will discuss below, there is no foolproof way to prevent you from losing your hair.
And this doesn’t actually just apply to men. Yes male pattern baldness is significantly more common, but women have been known to experience hair loss too and oftentimes it’s for no apparent reason.
Now as I said, if this starts then there is no guarantee that you can prevent it, but it’s not always a genetic thing. Sometimes it happens as a consequence of things like your lifestyle, stress levels and perhaps most importantly, your diet.
Let’s have a look at some foods which might benefit your hair and some others which might be harmful:
Do Eat:
Eggs
One of the most important elements of your diet for maintaining the health of your hair is protein. Your hair follicles are made up almost entirely of protein so the more of it in your diet the healthier those follicles will be.
There’s also a nutrient known as keratin which you may have heard of before. It’s involved in the makeup of your nails and also your hair and it’s formed by something known as biotin, which you can also get from having eggs in your diet.
Legumes
You probably know legumes more as the individual seeds and fruits which make up the larger family. Chickpeas, peas, lentils, kidney beans, soybeans, several different kinds of beans actually, and all of them are good for your hair.
In addition to also being packed with protein, these are very high in B-Complex vitamins which can help to renew the cells which are vital for hair growth. Many people don’t realize how nutritious legumes actually are so it’s well worth incorporating them into your diet.
Greek Yoghurt
Greek Yoghurt is high in, you guessed it, protein. I know I’ve been going on and on about it, but protein really is the most important thing to think about when you’re trying to maintain healthy hair and the more variety of protein-rich foods you have, the better.
Greek Yoghurt also has a lot of probiotics and these are essential in helping your body absorb nutrients, so this will be beneficial in ensuring that you reap all of the benefits of the other foods on this list.
Salmon
Wait what? More protein?! Yes. Salmon is an excellent source of protein, in fact a number of different fish are good for this purpose but salmon is the perfect storm of everything your hair needs and it’s good for your body and mind in general.
Salmon is high in Omega-3 fatty acids too and that’s another helpful thing to have in your system. Low levels of Omega-3 can contribute to your hair drying out and breaking off which is bad for the hair and the follicles in the long run.
Don’t Eat:
Sugar
At this stage it’s not secret to any of us that sugar is basically poison. Too much sugar in your diet can lead to a whole host of issues including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity and the list goes on and on.
It stands to reason that it’s also going to be very bad for your hair. If your blood sugar spikes then your body will start to aggressively produce insulin and raise your androgen levels which shrinks your hair follicles.
Alcohol
Much like sugar, too much alcohol is catastrophic for your body. Your heart, your brain, your liver and pretty much every part of you will be affected if you drink too much. Your hair won’t be an exception to that.
The biggest issue that alcohol causes for your hair is that it dramatically slows down your zinc levels. When it comes to having healthy hair, zinc is a necessary mineral. Alcohol also dehydrates you which as we mentioned before is bad for your hair too.
Diet Soda
You might think that by drinking diet soda instead of regular soda you’ll be avoiding the excessive amount of sugar present in those lethal concoctions, and in a sense you’re right, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t unhealthy in their own right.
Most of these diet sodas are still sweet due to the presence of an artificial sweetener known as aspartame, which is theorized to actually be just as unhealthy for you as regular sugar. And it can lead to thinning hair and baldness in many cases.
Fish (High in Mercury)
For the most part fish is good for you and good for your hair because of the fact that it’s high in protein. And also salmon is high in the all important Omega-3 fatty acids which we discussed a little bit earlier.
But not all fish will fall into the category of being beneficial for your hair. Some actually have the direct opposite effect. It’s the fish that are high in mercury you need to watch out for, mercury is toxic for your hair. So avoid certain fish such as king mackerel and swordfish.
So following these diet guidelines should help to keep your hair and follicles healthy, but as we said there is no guarantee it will halt your hair loss entirely. But it’s definitely worth a shot and it will almost certainly slow it down.
And if it doesn’t work, there are other things you can try too. There are certain experimental products and treatments out there such as microneedling. This one in particular has seen quite a bit of results across the board.
In short, if you start to notice your hair thinning, don’t panic. Don’t panic for a couple of reasons, firstly because it’s natural and you really don’t need to be as self-conscious about it as many people are, but also because there are so many different ways which might help you prevent it.