A nutritious diet is crucial for maintaining your crowning glory.
Key Points
- A balanced diet with enough protein, healthy fats, fruits, and vegetables gives hair the nutrients it needs to grow strong.
- Protein, iron, zinc, and vitamins help support hair follicles, collagen production, scalp health, and healthy growth cycles.
- Foods like fatty fish, eggs, beans, dairy, nuts, seeds, fruits, and vegetables can help nourish hair from within.
For some of us, hair can be a barometer of the weather—frizzy or limp when conditions are hot and muggy, brittle and dehydrated when the mercury dips low. But sometimes lackluster locks can be attributed to other factors—most notably, your diet. We caught up with dietitians to find out more about the role nutrition plays in keeping your strands strong, plus the key foods that help support healthy hair.
Meet Our Expert
- Kacie Vavrek, RD, registered dietitian at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center
- Jennifer Rawlings, MS, RD, CDCES, owner of My RDN Coach, a private practice in Charlotte, N.C.
Related: 15 Foods That Support Heart Health, According to a Mayo Clinic Nutrition Expert
Basics of Healthy Hair
Temperature, humidity, and sun exposure can impact the condition of your hair and scalp, while a variety of shampoos, conditioners, products, and treatments can help revive and restore your crowning glory. Genetics, hormones, and hair maintenance routines may also dictate its texture and shine. And, yes, the foods you eat are also crucial to hair health.
“In most cases, a balanced diet with adequate calories, protein, healthy fats, fruits, vegetables, and nutrient-rich foods will provide the nutrients needed to support healthy hair, skin, and nails,” says Kacie Vavrek, RD. Jennifer Rawlings, MS, RD, CDCES, agrees, noting that an anti-inflammatory, high-protein diet, including those foods, should supply the nourishment needed for strong locks.
Hair growth has four phases: growth (anagen), transition (catagen), resting (telogen), and shedding (exogen), all of which work in tandem, steered by hair follicle stem cells (HFSC). Your food choices are integral to these phases, with some nutrients especially meaningful for tresses…