What Are The Best Vitamins For Relaxed Hair
Now that you know what are the best vitamins for relaxed hair, you can be sure to stock up on these supplements. There are also a few others that can be beneficial too zinc , flaxseed oil , magnesium , beta carotene , and sulfur . Before you know it, you will be on your way to growing your hair to the desired length youve always wanted.
How To Treat Vitamin D Deficiency
If youve been diagnosed with a vitamin D deficiency, your healthcare provider will likely recommend the use of a vitamin D supplement.
They may also recommend making some changes to your diet and habits to increase the amount of vitamin D you consume via food or produce naturally.
You can get more vitamin D by:
Is There A Link Between Hair Loss And Vitamin D
While vitamin D deficiency is most notably connected to mood, bone health, and the immune system as a whole, cosmetic dermatologist Michele Green says that it plays a role in hair health , too.
Vitamin D is metabolized in the skin by keratinocytes, she says, noting that keratinocytes are skin cells that produce keratin, a protein responsible for keeping hair, skin, and nails looking their best. When the body does not have enough Vitamin D, the keratinocytes in hair follicles have trouble facilitating hair growth resulting in shedding and hair loss, she explains.
While vitamin D deficiency is linked to hair loss, its not likely the cause of loss for most people who deal with hair loss. Ratherwhile the evidence is controversialseveral studies have found that vitamin D deficiency may play a role in various non-scarring alopecia, including telogen effluvium, androgenetic alopecia, and alopecia areata.
Dont think you have non-scarring alopecia? You might want to think again. According to dermatologist Scott Paviol, the non-scarring forms of alopecia mentioned above are caused by common occurrences such as hair thinning due to life stressors , age-related hair loss , and autoimmune hair loss .
You May Like: Does Pcos Cause Hair Loss
Types Of Vitamin D Supplements
Vitamin D supplements exist in many forms. Consult with a medical professional before deciding if any of the following supplements are a good solution for you.
- Topical creams: Hair loss can be treated using creams or lotions containing Vitamin D derivatives. One well-known one is called calcipotriol, which has been effective in some studies for treating patients with alopecia areata . Calcipotriol requires a prescription from a healthcare provider.
- Oral tablets: Vitamin D supplements also come as oral tablets or capsules. You can find vitamin D2 and D3 supplements at your local drugstore. Keep in mind that taking daily supplements may help with an overall vitamin D deficiency, but there isnt enough data yet to show this treatment specifically helps with hair loss .
- Diet: The best way to get vitamin D in most cases is from food. Foods that contain significant amounts of vitamin D include cod liver oil, trout, salmon, and white mushrooms .
You might be wondering about one we all associate vitamin D with: the sun. Natural sunlight produces two types of ultraviolet rays, UVA and UVB. UVB rays help your body make more Vitamin D. Most people worldwide get at least a portion of their vitamin D from sunlight, and where we live, how we live, and even how we dress affects how much sunlight we get everyday .
Other Reasons For Hair Loss
When your locks fall out suddenly, instead of gradually thinning over time, itâs usually from something other than male pattern baldness. Other causes include:
- Diseases like anemia or a thyroid problem
- Radiation or chemotherapy treatments
- Medications, such as blood thinners, high doses of vitamin A, and steroids that some men take to help build muscle, called anabolic steroids
- Scalp infections
You May Like: Can A Dermatologist Treat Hair Loss
Most Common Cause: Male Pattern Baldness
Up to 95% of guys with thinning hair can blame it on this condition. Itâs caused by genes you get from your parents.
Scientists think the gene may affect how sensitive your hair follicles are to a hormone called DHT, which makes them shrink. As they get smaller, the hair that grows back tends to be finer, thinner, and shorter. Eventually, it takes longer for hair to grow back. Then, the follicles will shrink so that no hair grows at all.
Male pattern baldness shows up in a telltale shape: a receding hairline with thinning strands around the crown of your head. Over time, that area will go bald, but youâll still have a horseshoe pattern of hair above your ears circling to the lower back of the head.
Men with this trait can start to lose their locks as early as their early teens. In general, the sooner it starts, the greater the loss will be.
Other types of hair loss tend to happen faster than male pattern baldness.
Spot baldness, or alopecia areata, makes your hair fall out in smooth, round patches, but it usually grows back. The condition is a type of autoimmune disease, which means your body attacks itself. In this case, it destroys your hair.
Scarring alopecia is a rare disease that destroys your hair follicles and makes scar tissue form in their place. Hair will not grow back.
How To Increase Your Vitamin D Levels
There are three ways you can increase your vitamin D levels: sun exposure, supplementation, and food.
Sun exposure is the most efficient and least expensive way to boost your vitamin D levels. However, take precaution when spending time in the sun to avoid burning.
Supplementation is also an effective way to obtain vitamin D. Be sure to supplement with vitamin D3 as opposed to vitamin D2.
Vitamin D2 has to be converted to vitamin D3 before it can be activated by the body. This means that it is less bioavailable and cant be utilized as efficiently by the body.
Always consult your doctor before including vitamin D3 supplements in your daily routine.
Food is a less efficient way to increase vitamin D levels because its not often found in high quantities. Some foods with a moderate amount of D3 include fatty fish, fortified milk and non-dairy alternatives, and egg yolks.
Key Takeaways:
- There are three ways to obtain vitamin D: sun exposure, supplementation, and food.
- Sun exposure is efficient and inexpensive. Take precaution to avoid harmful burns.
- Supplementation is effective. Be sure to supplement with bioavailable D3 as opposed to D2.
- Food is less efficient because its not usually found in high quantities. D3 can be found infatty fish, fortified milk and non-dairy alternatives, and egg yolks.
Recommended Reading: Can Parkinson’s Cause Hair Loss
At Length By Prose Hair
- From Prose
-
At Length is your go-to hair resource. Here, waves, coils, curls, straight, and even no strands all come together as one community. Lets connect, educate, and inspire each other through hair.
At Prose, we grow with you and your hair. By combining lab innovation, natural ingredients, and proven performance, Prose delivers you truly personal haircare.
7 Min read
Experiencing hair loss can be frustrating and upsetting. If youre experiencing hair loss, then you probably know there are several causes for this. One of the most prominent causes is different kinds of vitamin deficiencies. Your body needs certain nutrients to remain healthy and to grow hair properly. If you are not getting enough of these types of nutrients, then your overall health can suffer. Multiple vitamin deficiencies have been linked to hair loss. Lets take a look at some of them.
Experiencing hair loss can be frustrating and upsetting. If youre experiencing hair loss, then you probably know there are several causes for this. One of the most prominent causes is different kinds of vitamin deficiencies. Your body needs certain nutrients to remain healthy and to grow hair properly. If you are not getting enough of these types of nutrients, then your overall health can suffer. Multiple vitamin deficiencies have been linked to hair loss. Lets take a look at some of them.
Telogen Effluvium: Vitamin D And Stress
Some studies show that TE patients have lower vitamin D levels than healthy control subjects .
TE is a form of hair loss where multiple hairs go from the anagen phase to the telogen phase. This causes premature hair loss and thinning. Its usually unrelated to the factors seen in both AA and AGA.
The potential explanation of TE with the most support behind it is stress.
In animal studies, stress causes excessive inflammation in the hair follicle, including mast cell activation . This is mirrored by research on TE: scalp biopsies revealed they had higher levels of activated mast cells .
Interestingly, vitamin D plays a role in stabilizing these mast cells .
Additionally, vitamin D might play a role in lowering stress . Researchers have observed an association between low vitamin D levels and increased levels of adrenaline and noradrenaline, two stress hormones.
Vitamin Ds effects on stress have also been observed elsewhere. In one clinical trial, healthy volunteers were instructed to take 2000IU of vitamin D3 daily . After supplementation, their cortisol levels were significantly reduced.
In light of vitamin Ds potential benefits for stress and stabilizing mast cells, optimizing levels could be advantageous in that case of TE.
Although, no studies have looked at the effects of vitamin D supplementation on TE.
Also Check: Does Conditioner Cause Hair Loss
Do Vitamin D Supplements Help For Hair Loss
If you have a vitamin D deficiency and are experiencing hair loss, some studies suggest a simple solution: take vitamin D supplements . Unfortunately, data is scarce on if vitamin D supplements really work for hair loss, but heres what we know so far.
One very small study evaluating just 22 people found that applying a vitamin D-derived cream was moderately effective for more than half of study participants with patchy hair loss . Another study had similar success, with researchers finding a vitamin D topical treatment to be effective for hair loss in nearly 70% of study participants. .
Will Biotin Help My Hair Grow
If youre vitamin deficient, supplements may help reactivate your oil glands after a few months, which can make your hair look shinier and more moisturized, says Burg. And hey, you might even get the tiniest bit of additional hair growth, but thats about it. What about biotindoes biotin really help hair grow?
Also Check: How To Style Mens Thin Hair
What Vitamins Are Good For Hair Growth
You probably know Vitamin B12 as the energy nutrient, but what you might not have known is that it also plays an important role in hair growth. Like iron, Vitamin B12 is another very common nutrient that many patients are also deficient in. B12 requires proper thyroid hormone, gastric acid and other cofactors for optimal absorption.
Role Of Micronutrients In Scalp Scaling Conditions
Passi et al. noticed a significant deficiency of serum vitamin E in patients with seborrheic dermatitis as compared with a control group . Of note, zinc therapy was found to significantly increase both the size of the sebaceous glands and cell proliferation in the sebaceous glands in an animal study .
A possible relationship between vitamin D level and psoriasis, including scalp psoriasis, is controversial. The authors of an observational casecontrol study investigated 561 subjects, of whom 170 had psoriasis , 51 had autoimmune bullous diseases, and 340 were healthy controls. The 25-hydroxyvitamin D blood level in each group was measured and found to be significantly different in all three groups, with psoriatic patients having significantly lower vitamin D levels than healthy controls . The authors of this study concluded that vitamin D level may correlate with psoriasis duration .
You May Like: How To Stop Hair Thinning From Stress
What’s The Deal With Vitamin D
Vitamin D is often referred to as the “sunshine vitamin” because when your skin is exposed to sunlight, it triggers vitamin D synthesis. Experts and doctors consider high vitamin D levels necessary to human health.
Low vitamin D is linked to the following:
- Fatigue
- High blood pressure
- Chronic pain
But that’s not all. Dr. Rashmi Byakodi, a health and wellness writer and editor at Best for Nutrition, said that while vitamin D was primarily considered essential for bone formation, there are also links between vitamin D and the proper function of the brain, heart, muscles, immune system and skin.
Symptoms Of Vitamin D Deficiency
These symptoms may indicate a lack of Vitamin D deficiency.
- Constant changes in mood
- Medications for HIV
- Anticonvulsants
If you do notice symptoms of Vitamin D deficiency after starting any of these medications, make it a point to tell your doctor about it.
Other diseases like celiac disease and Crohns disease may also cause a lack of Vitamin D as they prevent the absorption of nutrients by the body.
You May Like: Can Calcium Deficiency Cause Hair Loss
Best Ways To Score More Vitamin D
Though natural sunlight is your best source of vitamin D, excessive sun exposure is never a good idea. Unfortunately, wearing sun protection will help keep skin cancer away, but it could interfere with your vitamin D intake. You might also struggle to get enough vitamin D if you have darker skin pigmentation because the melanin in the skin inhibits vitamin D production.
Rather than lose the sunscreen , combine healthy sun exposure with vitamin D supplementation to give your body what it needs. Here are some suggestions:
- Increase your sun exposure in the early morning from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. is best.
- Take dedicated vitamin D supplements only after consulting with a doctor.
- Eat lots of mushrooms and drink oat, almond and soy milk.
There’s also a connection between stress and hair loss, so if you’re experiencing extra stress, you may want to consider GRO+ Advanced Gummies over our original gummy formula. This advanced formula harnesses the therapeutic power of broad-spectrum hemp to promote relaxation while encouraging thicker, fuller hair via an abundance of vitamins and minerals, including vitamin D3.
Androgenetic Alopecia: A Possible Link
There is a small amount of research available on vitamin D and Androgenetic Alopecia compared to AA.
However, there are a few things that we do know.
Firstly, vitamin D deficiency seems to have greater impact on women than men . Studies show that there is a correlation between low D levels and the incidence of female pattern hair loss.
Secondly, skin and its sebaceous glands possess vitamin D receptors . Cell culture studies show that adding vitamin D to sebaceous gland cells downregulates their division in a dose-response manner. This means that the more vitamin D that accumulates in sebaceous glands, the less they divide and proliferate. In essence, this lowers their activity.
Because the main function of sebaceous glands is the secretion of a waxy lipid substance called sebum, decreasing the glands activity could lead to lower sebum output.
Research on patients with acne, who have increased sebum production, shows that they have decreased levels of vitamin D . Upon further investigation, researchers have found that vitamin D may be involved in the molecular signaling that leads to less sebum output.
But, what does this have to do with AGA?
In AGA scalps, excess sebum production and enlarged sebaceous glands can play a factor in its development .
This is partially due to the fact that sebum feeds a strain of bacteria called P. acnes. When this bacteria reproduces rapidly, it can release substances that stimulate the Th17 arm of the immune system .
Read Also: How Much Finasteride Should I Take For Hair Loss