Hair loss occurs when men or women permanently lose areas of hair which may lead to partial or complete baldness. This problem can occur for many reasons, including genetic predisposition, aging, cancer treatments, pregnancy, medications, hormonal imbalances, and vitamin deficiencies.
Of all these issues, a lack of vitamins is one of the easiest to manage by purchasing the best vitamins for hair loss. By understanding hair growth vitamins and where to get them, you can fight your hair loss and potentially even regrow some missing hair as well.
Understanding the Role of Vitamins in Hair Growth
Integrating vitamins into your diet can help not only with hair loss but other common health issues as well. That’s because a well-balanced diet filled with all the important nutrients supports better physical health and can help you live a happier life. Finding the vitamins best for hair growth requires some research: thankfully, we’ve done that work for you. Here are a few to integrate into your diet:
- Vitamin A
- Vitamin B Complex
- Vitamin C
- Vitamin D
- Biotin
Though these are just some of the hair growth vitamins you can try, they’re truly the best vitamins for hair loss. Vitamin C, in particular, can help manage common underlying causes of hair loss, including collagen loss, and improve your overall health. This complex connection between nutrition and hair growth makes it important to find the vitamins best for hair growth ASAP.
That’s because studies into nutrition and hair loss find that a poor diet and a lack of exercise can not only contribute to hair loss but thin, brittle, and easy-to-break hair strands. You might even experience common scalp problems, such as dryness or itchiness, that worsen your hair loss further. A steady supply of vitamins can keep your hair strong and minimize loss risks.
Top Vitamins to Combat Hair Loss
If you’re interested in the best vitamins for hair loss, the following hair growth vitamins will make your hair grow the thickest and fastest. Note that when finding the vitamins best for hair growth, it’s critical to understand that vitamins can only do so much to combat hair loss. While better nutritional health can combat many cases of hair loss, it might not work for everybody. That said, integrating these vitamins into your diet is a wise decision for your general health.
Vitamin A: Nourishing hair follicles
Vitamin A is one of the most important vitamins and is considered one of the most important for hair regrowth and healthy skin. It is a fat-soluble nutrient that helps promote healthy skin and hair levels by regulating hair follicle stem cells. Furthermore, vitamin A also helps with wound healing and melanocyte stem cell production, differentiation, and proliferation.
Confused? All those fancy words simply mean that vitamin A (or retinoic acid) can nourish hair follicles and reduce or even prevent hair loss. That said, it’s important to regulate how much of this vitamin you take. Vitamin intake isn’t necessarily “more is better,” as excessive doses can also impact your health. We’ll discuss how in more depth later.
Vitamin B complex: Promoting hair strength and growth
Vitamin B complex consists of multiple nutrients, including B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B7, B9, and B12. These important vitamins (all of which have varying scientific names) are critical for helping your health in many ways. For example, they can help promote healthy cell growth, keep your energy levels, improve brain function, and balance your nerve function.
While these benefits are all essential for your health, it’s healthier cell growth (particularly nerve function) that makes vitamin B complex so important for your hair loss. When taken at healthy levels, vitamin B complex may strengthen your hair and even promote hair growth. In this way, it could stop hair loss in its tracks. Depending on your condition, it could reverse hair loss.
Vitamin C: Enhancing collagen production for healthy hair
Vitamin C is one of those nutrients that almost seems magical. After all, not enough of it in your diet can cause a condition known as scurvy, which has become so synonymous with pirates that it’s still used as an insult in pirate films (“You scurvy dog!”). This nutrient helps support the immune system but is also a critical protector against free radical damage.
What are free radicals? They’re chemicals and other materials that get into your body and cause damage in unpredictable ways. Healthy vitamin C levels can neutralize this free radical damage and even help by producing more collagen. Even better, vitamin C enhances collagen production, an important nutrient that enhances your hair and skin health.
Vitamin D: Reducing hair shedding and breakage
Has your doctor ever told you that you need more vitamin D to be healthier? If so, you’re not alone: many people are deficient in this vitamin because they simply don’t spend enough time outdoors. That’s because most vitamin D is produced through sun exposure on the skin. As the sun hits your skin cells, it produces vitamin D and improves your overall health.
Extreme deficiencies in vitamin D can lead to some types of hair loss, specifically alopecia. This nutrient-based hair loss problem causes “spot baldness” across the scalp and can leave your head with several bare spots that may be frustrating and hard to manage. Higher vitamin D levels also prevent shedding and breakage, which can impact your overall hair health.
Biotin: Supporting keratin production for thicker hair
Biotin is technically part of the vitamin B complex but is so important for hair health that we think it’s a good idea to highlight it more specifically here. Simply put, biotin contains many essential proteins that not only help with hair health but improve your skin and nail health. That’s why you see biotin in so many hair products: it’s that critical.
That’s because biotin supports keratin production. This important nutrient helps to produce thicker hair on your head and is essential for producing longer and thicker hair. Note: though biotin can help with many cases of hair loss, it’s not a “miracle” vitamin, as many have proclaimed. Though you should add it to your life, understand its limitations, like with all of these nutrients.
Incorporating Vitamins into Your Diet or Routine
When integrating the best vitamins for hair loss into your diet, you can either take hair growth vitamins and supplements or improve your diet. The latter practice is a smarter choice because it’s easier for your body to digest and synthesize the vitamins best for hair growth through your food. Just a few food sources for these foods include:
- Vitamin A: 1. Beef liver, cod liver oil, liver sauce, lamb liver, salmon, bluefin tuna, butter, cheddar cheese, eggs, clams, sweet potato, butternut squash, kale, collard greens, turnip greens, carrots, mango, grapefruit, apricot, tangerine, nectarine, guava, and passion fruit.
- Vitamin B Complex: Salmon, leafy greens (like spinach and collard greens), liver and other organ meats, eggs, milk, beef, oysters, clams, mussels, legumes, chicken, turkey, yogurt, fortified cereals, and sunflower seeds.
- Vitamin C: Kakadu plums, acerola cherries, oranges, rose hips, chili peppers, guavas, sweet yellow peppers, black currants, cantaloupe, parsley, mustard spinach, kale, kiwis, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, lemons, lychees, papayas, and persimmons.
- Vitamin D: Fatty fish (salmon in particular), herring, sardines, cod liver oil, canned tuna, egg yolks, mushrooms, fortified milk, fortified cheese, orange juice, cereals, and oatmeals.
- Biotin: Egg yolks, legumes, nuts, seeds, liver, sweet potatoes, mushrooms, bananas, broccoli, yeast, and avocados.
If you don’t like any of the foods on this list or struggle to get them into your diet, you can always take supplements. When seeking out supplements, make sure that they have the following intake levels to stay healthy:
- Vitamin A: 700-900 mcg
- Vitamin B Complex: 1.1-1.3 mg of riboflavin and 14-16 mg of niacin.
- Vitamin C: 75-90 mg or 85-120 mg for pregnant or breastfeeding women
- Vitamin D: 600 IU for people up to 70 and 800 IU for those over
- Biotin: 30-100 mcg
Thankfully, there are multiple hair-based supplements that not only include some or all of these nutrients but multiple other items that may benefit your hair health and minimize loss, damage, and other issues. Just a few to consider include the following:
- Nutrafol Core for Women
- OLLY Heavenly Hair Gummies
- Garden of Life mykind Organics Women’s Once Daily Tablets
- Ritual Men’s Multivitamin 18+ Capsules
- Pure Encapsulations Vitamin D3 Liquid
- Pure Encapsulations B-Complex Plus
- Thorne Research Zinc Picolinate
- FullWell Prenatal Multivitamin
- Ritual Postnatal Multivitamin
- Thorne Research Collagen Plus
Note that some people experience side effects when taking vitamins and supplements, including constipation, diarrhea, belly pain, and stool changes. Typically, these issues occur when there’s iron in a product. However, some may also experience allergic reactions and even a risk of death (very rare). Talk with your doctor very carefully before integrating these supplements into your life.
Additional Tips for Promoting Healthy Hair
Beyond adding the best vitamins for hair loss into your diet, there are other steps that you can take to minimize hair loss. For example, proper hair maintenance (along with hair growth vitamins) and lifestyle changes paired with the vitamins best for hair growth can help reduce, prevent, and even reverse your hair loss. Here are a few suggestions to consider.
Taking Good Care of Your Hair
Like any part of your body, your hair needs to be taken care of regularly to keep it healthy. Here are a few suggestions to consider if you’re worried about hair loss:
- Cleaning your hair regularly to remove sebum (which can damage the hair) without stripping important natural oils: some people may do best with daily washes, while others need less-frequent cleansings
- Properly conditioning your hair with a product that includes a cationic surfactant that can moisturize and detangle your hair, as well as reduce its frizziness, improve its shine, and minimize hair loss risks
- Moisturize and seal your hair regularly using a hydrating and sealing product that helps to keep moisture close to your roots, minimize dryness, and enhance your hair’s overall shine and health
- Detangling your hair regularly with careful brushing that doesn’t use excessive pulling but gentle and soft strokes that minimize hair loss and keep tangled hair from getting damaged and potentially falling out
Important Lifestyle Changes
Beyond taking better care of your hair, you also need to take better care of yourself using lifestyle changes like:
- Minimizing your stress to reduce your potential hair loss
- Sleeping at least 8-10 hours a night (or whatever feels right for you)
- Quitting smoking to reduce follicle damage
- Meditating regularly to improve your relaxation
- Massaging your scalp to encourage blood circulation
Taking these steps can minimize your hair loss and provide the help that you need for long-term hair support. As with all lifestyle changes, talk with your doctor to ensure that you’re prepared for the unique challenges triggered by any of these changes.
