Guide to Growing Healthy Hair

In order to grow and maintain thick, healthy hair, you have to nourish your locks from the inside. However, this does not mean you have to start taking expensive supplements or pills – the best way to give your hair the nutrition it needs is to adopt a healthy diet plan that ensures you get plenty of hair health promoting nutrients every day. This online guide tells you how.

Strong, shiny hair is a symbol of overall health and vitality. In addition to contributing to your overall appearance, hair also protects the scalp, acts as a sensory receptor, and helps the body conserve heat. Each hair consists of a hair strand and a hair follicle (hair root). The strand is primarily made of keratin, which is a type of protein (the same protein nails are made of). The follicle, which is located on the surface of the skin, grows hair by packing dead cells together. Each follicle is attached to a sebaceous gland, a microscopic gland that produces sebum. Sebum is an oily matter that lubricates the skin and hair, and keeps hair moist, elastic, and shiny.

Hair follicles are known to be sensitive to stress, diseases, and poor nutrition. If the follicle does not get sufficient nourishment from the inside, hair growth may slow down (under normal conditions, hair grows about 1/4 to 1/2 inch every month). Furthermore, a poor diet and nutritional deficiencies may lead to hair problems such as dryness, brittleness, graying, dandruff, and ultimately hair loss. To achieve and maintain thick, healthy hair, your best bet is to follow a well balanced, healthy diet that includes plenty of vitamins and minerals known to promote hair health.

The purpose of this online guide is to share nutrition advice and tips that can help you get a crowning glory that radiates health and vitality. To get started, check out the diet, food and recipe sections of this guide below. Note that this guide focuses on overall hair health; if you are looking for advice and tips on how to fight specific hair and scalp related problems, condition-specific guides to the following hair problems are also available: hair loss, dandruff, and greasy hair.

8 Diet Tips for Growing Strong, Healthy Hair

In this section of HealWithFood.org's Nutrition Guide to Hair Health, you will learn how certain nutritional factors – such as stepping up your vitamin B intake, refilling depleted iron stores, and eating more foods that are naturally rich in silica – can improve hair growth and promote thick, healthy hair.

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15 Foods That Promote Healthy Hair Growth

In this section, you will learn how certain foods – such as spinach, black sesame seeds, wheat germ, sunflower seeds and beans – can help you grow thick, healthy hair. And the best thing is, these super-foods are not only bursting with vitamins and minerals, they are also packed with flavor!

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Recipes for Healthier Hair

How about a bowl of hair-nourishing nettle soup which is supercharged with iron, a mineral that promotes healthy hair growth by carrying oxygen to the hair follices? Or perhaps some broccoli salad which is loaded with hair health promoting nutrients such as B vitamins, beta-carotene, vitamin E, zinc, iron, sulphur, and copper? You can view the recipes for these dishes and other 'hair healthy' dishes by clicking on the link below.

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