Whatever products you use on the outside of your hair, what goes into your body is perhaps even more important.

Your hair, like the rest of your body, needs optimum nutrition to be at its best so see how many of these hair healthy treats you have on a regular basis.

Oily fish

These are packed with healthy omega-3 fatty acids so eating fish like salmon, sardines, and mackerel not only help protect you from disease, but your body also needs them to grow hair and keep it shiny and full.

We don’t make these healthy fats ourselves so we have to get them from food or supplements.

Greek yogurt

If you are looking for help with hair growth then Greek yogurt is not only full of protein, the building block of hair, but contains an ingredient that helps with blood flow to your scalp and that promotes hair growth.

It’s called vitamin B5 (known as pantothenic acid) and may even help against hair thinning and loss.

If you can’t do dairy, then find a good B complex supplement, with 50mg of B5 in it. Best not taken as an individual supplement, and you may recognize pantothenic acid as an ingredient on your hair and skincare product labels.

Cinnamon

Another good ingredient for hair growth this spice stimulates blood flow and that’s what brings oxygen and nutrients to your hair follicles.

It is one of the healthiest spices on the planet as in addition to helping hair growth it can lower blood sugar levels and reduce heart disease risk factors.

You can get cinnamon tea bags, or add the powdered spice to porridge or your baking.

Lean Poultry

Do you think your hair is thinning or you are seeing more hair loss when you brush it?

When you don’t get enough protein, hair growth “rests” so if it stops and older hairs fall out, you can have hair loss.

Best meat protein options are lean foods like chicken or turkey, which have less saturated fat than red meat. For vegetarians best sources are soy, rice and beans, hummus and peanut or other nut butters.

Spinach

If your hair is brittle, then remember Popeye and the particular quality of spinach? Like all dark green leafy vegetables it helps keep hair strong with vitamin A, plus iron, beta carotene, folate, and vitamin C.

These work together for a healthy scalp and hair so they keep your hair moisturized so it doesn’t break.

Kale will work equally as well if you want a change from spinach.

Oysters

Once an everyday part of the diet in the past, we don’t eat these too often now but they are rich in zinc which is a key mineral for the cells that build hair.

Food wise as well as oysters this mineral in found in a variety of protein foods, including seafood, lean meats and poultry, eggs, beans and peas, nuts, seeds, and soy products.

Iron

At menopause, when excess menstrual bleeding can occur, you can find yourself deficient in iron which as well as leading to potential anaemia is also linked to hair loss.

Good sources are fortified cereal, grains, and pastas, shellfish, dark leafy greens and liver as well as soybeans and lentils.

Sweet potatoes

If your hair is dry and dull these days then sweet potatoes are a great source of an antioxidant called beta carotene.

Your body turns beta carotene into vitamin A and that encourages the glands in your scalp to make an oily fluid called sebum that keeps hair from drying out.

Think orange when wanting to add beta carotene so carrots, pumpkin, cantaloupe, and mangoes are all good sources.

Helpful information:

Hormones do play a key role in hair health. When hair starts thinning, which is common at menopause, and with non ovulatory periods such as in PCOS, then what can happen is that when progesterone levels fall as a result of lack of ovulation the body responds by increasing its production of the adrenal cortical steroid, androstenedione.

This is an alternative precursor for the production of other adrenal cortical hormones and conveys some androgenic (male-like-properties) such as male pattern hair loss.

If this is what is causing your hair loss, then when progesterone levels are raised by supplementation with Serenity the androstenedione level will gradually fall, and normal hair growth can eventually resume. Since hair growth is slow, it may take 4-6 months for the effects to become apparent.