How does hair grow?
Here’s a fascinating fact: You’re born with all the hair follicles you’ll ever have — including around 80,000 to 120,000Trusted Source on your scalp. It’s natural to lose about 100 hairs a day. Hair grows from a root at the bottom of a follicle under your skin. The blood in your scalp goes to the follicle and supplies oxygen and nutrients to the hair root, which helps your hair grow.
As your hair grows, it will push through your skin and pass by an oil gland. It’s the oil from this gland that makes your hair shiny and soft.
What can help your hair grow?
Genetics does play a role in maintaining healthy hair growth. However, several other factors also come into play.
Although there’s no magical potion or remedy that will result in instant growth, there are steps you can take to help your hair grow and to prevent breakage.
Avoid restrictive dieting
Restrictive dieting can decrease the resources and nutrients needed for hair growth. And since hair growth is a relatively low priority compared to other bodily functions, hair growth is halted quickly when your body is placed under stress due to restrictive dieting.
Even after resuming a healthy diet, hair shedding usually goes on for a period of months. Nutrients can impact both the structure of your hair and its growth. Sudden weight loss can cause temporary shedding, known as telogen effluvium (TE), or diffuse alopecia due to a niacin deficiency.
Check your protein intake
If your diet is severely restrictive, hair won’t grow optimally, and shedding can occur. Eating a well-balanced diet with adequate protein intake is important for optimal hair growth. “Generally, we recommend 50 grams of protein or more per day.
Explore essential oils
Essential oils not only smell good, but they may also help promote hair growth. One small study found that after three months, pumpkin seed oil applied topically significantly increased hair regrowth in participants with female pattern baldness. The active ingredient in Rogaine, at restoring hair growth. Other essential oils such as peppermint oil, jojoba oil, and lavender oil also show promise for preventing hair loss.
Boost your nutrient profile
Specific vitamins, minerals, and fatty acids are especially important for your overall health and also play a key role in providing your body with the energy needed for hair growth. These nutrients can include:
• biotin
• vitamin C
• vitamin D
• vitamin E
• zinc
• iron
• omega-3 and omega-6
Indulge in a scalp massage
A scalp massage can help promote relaxation and relieve stress, it may also help boost the health of your hair.
The study examined the effectiveness of daily, 4-minute scalp massages. After 24 weeks, the researchers found that the nine men involved in the study had thicker hair at the end of the study than at the start of it. The difference in hair growth, it’s thought that a scalp massage may help dilate blood vessels beneath the skin. This, in turn, may lead to thicker, stronger hair that’s less likely to break off or become damaged. You can get a professional scalp massage or indulge in a do-it-yourself massage at home.
Hold the heat
Heat from curling irons, hair dryers, and straighteners can damage your hair and cause breakage. While avoiding heat styling altogether may not be an option, you may want to try limiting how often you use these tools. Decreasing the temperature of heated styling tools can also help reduce hair damage. Heat treatments work by forming a protective barrier that helps prevent moisture loss when using heated tools.
Go easy on coloring your hair
When we dye our hair and change the texture with chemicals, these processes can put stress on the hair and cause it to break.
But when we tone down these processes, hair breaks off less and can seem like it’s growing faster. permanent dyes can remove the natural fatty acids that make up the hair. These dyes can cause more damage than non-permanent options.
Prevent hair breakage
Hair breakage, along with dryness and frizz, can occur when the scales that hold the strands together in your inner hair cuticles fall apart.
To stop this from happening, try doing the following:
• eating a diet rich in hair-strengthening nutrients such as iron, zinc, and folic acid
• applying shampoo mainly to your scalp
• using conditioner
• when towel drying your hair, blot your hair instead of rubbing it
• Let your hair air dry instead of using a blow dryer, if possible
• avoiding overbrushing
• Use a brush with natural bristles only when styling your hair
Trim your hair regularly
Trimming your hair every few months can boost the growth of healthy hair. It removes split ends, preventing them from spreading farther up your strands and causing hair breakage. What regular trims will not do, despite popular belief, is make your hair grow faster. Your hair grows about a half-inch per month.
Protect your hair while you sleep
To help promote healthy hair when you’re sleeping, try the following:
• Make sure you’re getting enough sleep — generally 7 to 9 hours. Not sleeping enough decreases your body’s production of melatonin, a hormone that plays a role in regulating hair growth.
• Use a silk or satin pillowcase to help prevent the friction, tugging, and tangling that can cause hair breakage, especially if you have long hair.
• Don’t go to sleep with wet hair. Laying on wet hair can weaken your strands and can lead to breakage or matting.
Reduce stress
Stress can lead to hair loss. It may cause your follicles to go into a resting phase during which they shed hair instead of growing new strands.
The following are some natural ways to reduce stress:
• Exercise
• Meditate
• Write in a journal
• Eat a healthy diet
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