The Nutritional Guide For Healthy Hair And Skin

Last updated on : June 14 2021

How does your diet impact your hair and skin?

As the adage goes, what you eat defines who you are. A healthy diet will improve your overall health, hair, and skin. It will make your hair healthier, limit hair loss, and boost growth.

It will also help avoid wrinkles, acne, and signs of aging. If you don’t get the right nutrients from your food, the effects will be evident on your hair and skin.

A poor diet will also nourish the significant organs in the body, leaving minimal nutrients for your hair. Your skin is no exception either; it benefits from your diet, just like the heart and other major organs.

Eating a balanced diet laden with proteins and vitamins can have significant anti-aging effects on your skin, making you look radiant and younger.

A nutritional guide to healthy hair and skin

1. Drink enough water

Water is essential for a healthy body. It aids in digestion, absorption, and excretion, and it boosts hair growth and improves your skin health. If you fail to drink enough water, the skin won’t function properly.

Dehydration will make your skin flaky, tight, and very dry. Worse still, if it’s prone to wrinkles, it will have less resilience.

Water will enhance your complexion and make your skin glow. It also hydrates your skin, enabling it to function optimally. Water helps flush out toxins from your body organs, and this inhibits skin problems like eczema, wrinkles, psoriasis, acne, pimples, and marks.

Water also helps delay aging, and drinking at least eight glasses of water every day will leave you looking more youthful.

What’s more? Water also helps relieve stress, and this is very beneficial to your skin. Stress can damage your skin, but water calms the nerves, and this makes your skin healthier.

Drink sufficient amounts of water each day and avoid drinking too much water before going to bed; this will lead to puffiness and skin stretch.

2. Eat a protein-rich diet.

Protein and iron are critical components of your diet. A high protein diet ensures that your skin and hair remain healthy. Hair is composed of keratin, which is a protein, and eating food rich in protein can make your hair fuller and lustrous.

If you don’t consume enough protein, you’re likely to have brittle, dry, and weak hair. You’ll also have sluggish hair growth and hair loss.

So, incorporate the best foods for healthy skin complexions like chicken, turkey, eggs, dairy, and legumes and nuts in your diet. Eggs are a great source of protein, iron, and selenium.

Poultry is laden with proteins, zinc, and iron, while beans provide proteins, iron, and biotin.

3. Consume iron-rich foods

Iron is an essential mineral for healthy hair and skin. If you lack iron in your diet, you become more susceptible to hair loss.

A blood supply rich in nutrients feeds your hair follicles. When your iron levels become too low, you may suffer from anemia, which interrupts the nutrient supply to the follicles, affecting hair growth and expediting shedding.

So, incorporate foods like red meat, chicken, and fish in your diet. If you’re a vegetarian, boost your iron levels by consuming lentils, spinach, broccoli, kale, and other leafy green vegetables.

How does iron benefit your skin and hair?

• Maintain your skin’s glow- Lack of iron results in anemia, which results in pale skin and dark circles. But, consuming iron, rich foods will make your skin healthy and glowing.
• Prevents hair loss- Most women experience excessive hair loss due to iron deficiency. Iron regenerates hair texture and prevents dullness by boosting the flow of oxygen and nutrients to the scalp and hair roots.
• Helps heal wounds- If you happen to have bruises on your skin, eating an iron-rich diet is the best remedy. Iron stimulates the healing process. It aids in the formation of RBCs, an essential constituent of hemoglobin that supplies oxygen to other body parts. If you lack the proper supply of oxygen in your body, wounds on your skin will take longer to heal.

4. Incorporate vitamin C in your diet

Vitamin C is an antioxidant, and the body readily uses it. It is essential in collagen production, which is vital for healthy capillaries that supply your hair shafts.

A great mix of iron-rich foods and foods high in vitamin C will promote the absorption of iron, boost hair growth, and also result in more youthful skin.

Excellent sources of vitamin C are blackcurrants, guava, blueberries, broccoli, oranges, bell peppers, tomatoes, kiwi fruits, oranges, strawberries, and papaya.

5. Don’t forget vitamin A

Your body requires sufficient amounts of vitamin A to produce sebum, an oily substance created by the sebaceous glands in your hair. Sebum acts as a natural conditioner to your scalp. If you lack sebum, you’ll have an itchy scalp and dry hair.

Foods to include in your diet for an abundant supply of vitamin A are carrots, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, and many more.

6. What about Vitamin E?

The sun can hurt your hair and skin, and it’s crucial to eat a diet rich in vitamin E.

Vitamin E is a natural antioxidant that supports healthy hair and scalp, and this supports hair growth. The antioxidant properties in vitamin E help in the reduction of oxidative stress as well as free radicals that can cause hair loss.

Food sources like nuts, sunflower seeds, spinach, broccoli, fruit juices, fortified breakfast cereals, vegetable oils are all rich in vitamin E. They will increase shine and protect your hair against hair loss.

7. Fatty fish

Fats are an integral part of every healthy diet. Omega 3 fats are not only vital for a healthy heart but are also inherent for healthy hair and skin. Omega 3 fatty acids are crucial for the growth of enzymes in the body; they boost the production of collagen and elastin protein.

These fats also help eliminate the enzymes that lower collagen levels in the body. If you have insufficient amounts of collagen and elastin in your body, you have a higher likelihood of suffering from wrinkles.

Fish is an excellent source of omega 3 and vitamin D and is the best food for hair loss and boosting the production of keratin, a protective barrier that hinders your hair from becoming brittle and dull. It also lessens your risk of heart disease and stroke.

Examples of fish rich in omega 3 fatty acids are salmon, tuna, mackerel, sardines, and herring. It’s advisable to eat fish weekly for healthy hair and skin.

8. Dark green vegetables

Vegetables are very rich in vitamins A and C and are the best foods for healthy hair and skin. They are essential for slowing down the aging process of your cells and capillaries.

These are also powerful antioxidants that help heal the damage caused to the skin due to exposure to UV rays. Vitamin C boosts the production of collagen, which promotes your skin’s elasticity and firmness.

Most women suffer hair loss because the capillaries grow old, become frail, and break. You can avoid this by eating spinach, broccoli, and beans. Eating lots of vegetables prompts your hair to produce more sebum, and this conditions your capillaries naturally.

What are the foods to avoid?

Some foods contain nutrients that can damage your hair or hinder growth. Some of the foods to avoid for healthy hair and skin are;

Sugar- Sugar can affect your health in numerous ways. It expedites hair loss by inhibiting the absorption of protein, which is essential for healthy hair. Sugar is also the number one enemy to your skin; it creates inflammation and attaches to collagen resulting in sagging skin. For more youthful skin and healthy hair, watch your sugar intake and avoid foods that cause hair loss like sweets and processed foods.

Swordfish- Swordfish is high in mercury than other seafood options. High amounts of mercury are associated with hair loss, and consuming swordfish may hinder hair growth.

Refined gains- Over-processed starches are no different from sugar. They can cause hair thinning, and you should avoid them. These are, for example, white bread, cakes, white pasts, and pastries.

Alcohol- Alcohol dehydrates your body, and this can make your hair brittle and scalp flaky. Dehydration can cause wrinkles and make your skin pores more apparent. Avoid alcohol and don’t replace water for caffeinated beverages or sodas. Caffeine is a diuretic and will leave you dehydrated.

The bottom line

Your diet plays a significant role in your health, and this is mainly visible in your hair and skin. If you want to have lustrous hair and healthy skin, it’s time to watch what you eat.

For excellent results, incorporate the best foods for healthy hair and skin like vegetables, fish, proteins, vitamins, minerals in your diet. Also, stay hydrated and shun alcohol and sugary foods.

Luckily, you can easily find quality products to promote your hair growth and skin health, including hair extensions if necessary.

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