11 Best Foods For Hair Growth, According To Science

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Want to know the best foods for hair growth? Here’s what experts are saying.

This year I want to completely change my life. Eating healthy and getting beautiful long, thick hair is among my goals. Naturally, knowing what I can eat to promote hair growth is super interesting to me. In fact, I did hours of research on the topic and I discovered a lot about hair health and nutrition.

Some of the best foods for hair growth are salmon, ginseng, avocado, spinach, guava, grass-fed beef, chicken, sweet potatoes, cinnamon, eggs, and oysters. These foods contain some of the key nutrients for healthy hair such as fatty acids, proteins, and zinc.

There is a lot more to these foods than you may think. Keep reading to discover all of their incredible benefits and how not only they can transform your hair but your overall health as well. Plus, there’s a life-changing tip for hair growth you MUST know about!

Best foods for hair growth

1. Salmon

Salmon is rich in omega-3 fatty acids which are essential for hair growth. In fact, it was shown that fatty acid deficiency can lead to hair loss.

If you want to know more about nutrient deficiencies and hair loss I have an entire article on nutrient deficiencies that cause hair loss where I go in-depth on the topic.

2. Ginseng

Ginseng has been shown to regulate the expression and activity of major proteins involved in phases of the hair cycle. In particular, it promotes hair growth while preventing hair loss.

This root is able to do all of that because it inducts the anagen phase – the phase where your hair is actively growing – while delaying the telogen phase, where your hair falls out.

I don’t know what you think but it sounds magical to me 😂.

3. Avocado

Avocado is a well know food in the wellness world and it comes as no surprise that it can benefit our hair too. Avocado is rich in vitamin B5, a vital vitamin for healthy hair.

Vitamin B5 helps strengthen and nourish hair follicles which results in promoting hair growth as well as preventing hair loss.

4. Spinach

Spinach is a super nutrient-rich veggie. It is filled with vitamin A, vitamin C, beta-carotene, and, of course, iron.

Iron in particular is crucial for hair growth, in fact, iron deficiency is of the few deficiencies linked with hair loss. Also, vitamin C is vital for your gut to be able to absorb iron, you can see why it’s so important for the health of your hair too.

5. Guava

Guava is a fruit super rich in vitamin C which, as we already established is super important for your hair. They say one cup of guava contains four times the daily dose of vitamin C, isn’t that amazing?

6. Grass-fed beef

Protein and amino acids are vital for our hair. Human hair is made up of 95% protein which is why it’s important to consume protein daily in our diet.

Also, chicken and turkey are super protein-rich.

7. Chicken

8. Sweet potatoes

Sweet potatoes are filled with beta-carotene. Our body absorbs beta-carotene and then transforms it into vitamin A which protects from dulling hair.

Vitamin A is able to protect our hair because it helps with sebum production. Sebum is the “oil” produced by your scalp, the one you’re trying to get rid of by washing your hair. Also, sebum is actually vital to promote hair growth and shine.

9. Cinnamon

Cinnamon is able to promote blood circulation and, therefore, also improves scalp circulation. Your hair grows from the hair follicle and, in order to be healthy, naturally needs a blood supply.

As a general rule, every hair follicle has its own blood supply this is how important this is for hair growth.

Aurora’s tips

if you want to stimulate circulation – and therefore hair growth – even more you can massage your scalp with your hands or with a scalp massager for four minutes everyday.

10. Eggs

Eggs are rich in biotin, also known as vitamin B7. Biotin is very well known in the hair care world and it’s absolutely vital for hair growth and health.

Vitamin B7 deficiency was linked to hair loss but, hear me out here, BIOTIN SUPPLEMENTS WON’T DO ANYTHING FOR YOUR HAIR UNLESS YOU HAVE A BIOTIN DEFICIENCY.

What I mean by this is yes, it’s crucial we introduce the recommended daily biotin intake but over-supplementing this vitamin is not helpful. On the contrary, it was shown that over-supplementing biotin can actually cause more harm than good. So, I just want you to be aware of that.

11. Oysters

Surprisingly oysters are really good for your hair health. This shellfish is zinc rich and, as we will talk a bit more later in this artcile, zinc is vital for hair health and growth.

Key nutrients for hair growth

1. Trace minerals

Trace minerals are present in living tissues in small amounts. Some of these minerals are absolutely essential for regular hair growth as they provide the nutritional foundation for fuller, thicker, shinier-looking hair.

Some trace minerals essential for regular hair growth are

1. Zinc
2. Copper
3. Silica
4. Iodine

In particular, zinc helps with protein metabolism. Since proteins are the main element in which our hair is made up of zinc is actually vital for hair growth.

Silica helps to strengthen our hair and copper helps in avoiding split ends.

2. Biotin

As we already discussed biotin is vital for the health of our hair. This vitamin, similarly to zinc is involved in protein metabolism and also helps to strengthen our hair.

Remember though, don’t be fooled by those who try to sell you biotin supplements!

3. Vitamin B6

Vitamin B6 also has a role in protein metabolism so it’s able to support healthy hair growth. In addition, it ensures that hair cells have access to amino acids.

Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins, which means they are also super important in order to have healthy hair growth.

Plus, vitamin B6 also helps in skin, nails, and muscle health.

4. Collagen

Collagen is able to promote hair growth in many ways. For one, our bodies are able to use the amino acids in collagen to build hair proteins.

Also, collagen may strengthen the skin including the skin that contains your hair roots. It was even shown to prevent follicle damage and graying of the hair.

As for supplementation, there is actually no clinical study that proves the efficacy of supplementing collagen. However, since I’m researching a lot about it, I found that some people are actually having great results!

I still don’t feel comfortable making product suggestions since I haven’t yet tried any. Still, I read a lot about the topic and the most precious advice I can give you is to prefer wild-caught fish scale collagen.

Life-changing food tip for hair growth

I took this tip from Dr. Berg’s healthy keto and intermittent fasting podcast, here’s the link if you want to listen to it.

Basically what he suggested is to use gelatin for hair growth. Specifically, he says to use unflavored gelatin.

Why would you ever do that?

Well, gelatin is made up of 99% proteins specifically amino acids and peptides which are short chains of amino acids.

What gelatin can do for hair growth is

1. Providing more proteins for your hair to grow
2. Increasing blood flow to the scalp
3. Increasing the volume of your hair, as in how much hair you have on your head

In addition, gelatin contains hydroxyproline which was shown to increase hair growth. More specifically studies have shown hydroxyproline to

• Increase hair growth by 50%
• Increase the diameter of the hair, as in making your hair thicker
• Increase the number of hair actively growing

Dr. Berg suggests you supplement with 10-14 g per day. You can get gelatin in caps since the flavor does not help.

This post was all about the best foods for hair growth.