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The six essential vitamins for lustrous, healthy, and thick hair

The six essential vitamins for lustrous, healthy, and thick hair

Just as you need a well-balanced diet of fruits and veggies, soups, nuts, and juices to meet your daily intake of carbs, proteins, and minerals for a healthy and active body, your hair demands nutrition too, which may often not be met by the store-bought products you use on a daily basis. What are these mane-booster vitamins and where can you source them from?

Hair fall, thinning or greying lifeless hair, dry scalp-all these concerns call for an important inclusion in your hair care routine-the right vitamins to support hair growth and vitality.

a) Vitamin C

Vitamin C is not just great for your immunity, skin, and overall health but your hair needs it too, for superior absorption of other minerals like iron. You also need antioxidant-rich Vitamin C to protect your hair from oxidative stress. Damage from the free radicals can inhibit strong hair growth. You also need this important vitamin in your diet as well as hair nourishing products like your hair oil, for boosting collagen production. Our body can use the amino acids found in collagen for building hair proteins.

Shankara’s Hair and Scalp oil is infused with ingredients rich in Vitamin C like Indian gooseberries, bringraj extract, essential oils of coriander, and gotu kola, among others.

b) Vitamin E

The great thing about Vitamin E is it is an antioxidant that is lipid-soluble and fights oxidation-led aging. It fights free radicals, reduces oxidative stress, and boosts collagen production, all of which help your hair stay and grow healthier. By some projections, using vitamin E supplements for eight months increased hair growth by 34%. It is also said to be good for the circulation of blood in your body which is important for a healthy scalp.

Vitamin E helps reduce oxidative stress which is said to be linked with hair loss. You also need vitamin E for barrier protection on the scalp skin, so the moisture can be retained for longer. Oils containing Vitamin E tocopherols like Shankara’s Hair and Scalp Oil, can help moisturize and hydrate the skin while keeping excess oil production in check.

c) Vitamin D

We need Vitamin D3 for good hair growth. Low levels of vitamin D can show up as excess hair fall and alopecia. (Also read: 10 Ayurvedic remedies for dealing with male pattern baldness) Vitamin D3 can stimulate and revitalize your hair follicles, without which your hair volume could suffer.

d) Folic Acid

Your hair could use this B vitamin for stronger growth, though research on the benefits of folic acid for hair is still limited. Folic acid is needed in the regeneration of cells that may help keratinize hair when it is growing.

You also should have enough biotin, a known B vitamin in your body for thicker and healthier hair. Lack of this vitamin can speed up hair loss. B vitamins help regenerate red blood cells, which are carriers of nutrition and oxygen to cells in your scalp.

Having a diet inclusive of sweet potatoes, nuts like almonds and pecans, onion, tomatoes, avocado, and carrots can help you meet your daily intake of B vitamins.

e) Niacin

This form of vitamin B supports the better circulation of blood in your body including the scalp. In fact, a 6-month pilot study demonstrated, “statistically significant increase in hair fullness on blinded 35-mm photographic analysis. Long-term topical application of nicotinic acid derivatives offers promise for providing benefit in female alopecia and warrants further study.”

f) Iron

This is a key mineral that you need in a sufficient amount for long, lustrous hair. Lower levels of ferritin, an iron-storing protein, can lead to hair thinning, indicating less than sufficient levels of iron in your body. You also need iron for better circulation of good blood to your hair as well as carrying oxygen to hair follicles.

You can find a good blend of all the ingredients loaded with the vitamins above in Shankara's Hair and Scalp oil.

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