Your hair needs (and craves) minerals to flourish!
Without enough vitamin B12, your energy levels will suffer, and your immune system can’t be strong without adequate selenium.
Hair growth is no different and, in fact, several nutrients are absolutely critical for regular hair growth — vitamins A, C, biotin (B7), and D, and the essential minerals iron, zinc, and iodine. Together, these minerals provide the nutritional foundation for fuller, thicker, shinier-looking hair.
If you’re short on the essential nutrients that support healthy hair, it won’t look and feel its best.
While there's no simple formula that will guarantee longer hair in weeks, there are many factors that can affect your hair growth (or lack thereof), including a variety of vitamins that experts say can, in fact, give you longer, stronger hair over time.
Keep reading to discover the essential vitamins and minerals for hair growth that you should consider adding to your daily routine.
Index
- What Are Minerals?
- What Minerals Are Good For Hair Growth?
- Can Lack Of Minerals Cause Hair Loss?
- How To Tell If You’re Lacking A Mineral?
What Are Minerals?
Minerals are nutrients needed for our body’s health and function. They are solid substances that can be made up of one element or a combination of several elements.
Minerals also have five rules that apply to them.
They can either be:
- Naturally occurring
- Inorganic form
- Solid
- Crystalline structure
- Chemical composition
While this broadens the idea of what minerals are it can be just as astounding to learn that our body needs 102 different minerals to ensure we are functioning properly. 16 of these minerals should be found in our diets and the food we eat.
You may have heard your entire life that you need an uptick in minerals such as zinc or iron, but did you know your body also contains gold and silver as well?
Our body's composition is unique in that so many minerals make us who we are today. Which is why it is important for us to ensure we are keeping the mineral supply where it needs to be.
Basic bodily function at the most basic level, is allowing blood to carry oxygen and allowing our eyes to see, but a lack of minerals will start to affect us internally which shows on the outside. Issues like slow or weak hair growth, easily broken nails and breakouts.
Let’s take a deeper look at the minerals and the roles they play to support our health and hair growth.
What Minerals Are Good For Hair Growth?
Minerals and vitamins are micronutrients needed for your healthy hair growth. They are essential in that they are directly responsible for the health of your hair follicle, and healthy cell turn over.
Minerals that are incredibly helpful for your hair growth are zinc, iron, iodine, and magnesium along with others that we will look at below.
Zinc and iron for example help to support red blood cells that carry the oxygen through the body and promote healthy cells. While iodine directly affects your thyroid, the direct result from an iodine deficiency is hair loss.
Zinc For Hair Growth
Zinc has an important role to play in supporting your hair growth in that it supports your body in creating proteins that will soon be used in hair formation.
Having a zinc deficiency is found to be directly related to alopecia as well as other hair loss including seasonal.
Can Too Much Zinc Make Your Hair Fall Out?
While zinc is an important carrier for your hair’s growth, there are studies to show that too much zinc can cripple your hair’s production sequence.
Hair growth is described in three waves: anagen (growth phase), catagen resting phase, and telogen.
How Much Zinc Should I Take For Hair Growth?
We recommend 25 mg of zinc daily to allow for proper nutrient absorption on a daily basis.
Is It OK To Take Zinc Everyday?
It is safe to take zinc everyday, just as long as you are not taking more than the safe daily value. As we suggested, 25 mg of zinc daily is safe to take.
Iron For Hair Growth
Iron is an important mineral to supplement daily to support proper and healthy hair growth.
Its main purpose and function is to carry the red blood cells and oxygen throughout your body including to your scalp which is the conduit to deliver all nutrients to your hair follicle to ensure healthy hair growth.
Those suffering from iron deficiency including anemia will notice a change in their hair texture as well as hair loss.
How Much Of Iron Is Recommended?
The average daily intake from foods or direct supplements for iron is between 16 mg and 20 mg, depending on age.
Iodine For Hair Growth
Iodine is important for your hair growth because it regulates, normalizes and ensures your thyroid is functioning properly. Your thyroid has the responsibility to ensure your energy levels are sustained and that your hair growth is normalized.
Iodine also helps to keep your scalp healthy while ensuring your hair follicle is living in a healthy environment to allow your hair to grow healthy and quickly.
Selenium For Hair Growth
Selenium is another mineral that will support your thyroid in that it boosts your scalp’s ability to battle dandruff or other fungus causing issues and will encourage your thyroid to “tell” your hair follicles to grow faster, just as long there is a steady presence of selenium in your body.
Potassium For Hair Growth
Potassium carries a strong presence in how your heart functions which is the complete center of keeping you alive and well.
In addition to this, potassium delivers rich nutrients to keep hair hydrated and away from a dry unpleasant growing environment. Potassium can help prevent premature hair loss along with strengthening your hair follicles.
Phosphorus For Hair Growth
Phosphorus is an excellent homeopathic remedy to promote new hair growth, re-grow previously fallen hair, and also helps to reverse hair loss due to a scalp condition.
If you feel like your hair loss could be caused by water, or climate conditions, phosphorus is a great choice to start using to combat these issues.
Magnesium For Hair Growth
Magnesium does wonders for our body, whether you have achy muscles or desire healthier hair growth.
It helps your body break down proteins essential for healthy hair and will deliver this directly through the hair follicle where your hair is generated.
It also regulates calcium in your body that may start to build up in the pore like openings of your hair follicle that otherwise could cause hair from growing.
Can Magnesium Cause Hair Loss?
The first concern you will see when having low magnesium is your hair stops growing as quickly or as healthy some may even experience hair loss or premature graying of the hair.
Is Magnesium Good For Hair?
Magnesium is good for hair, ensuring that your hair is healthy, does not shed prematurely, and can even keep your natural hair color to last longer (delay in premature graying).
Can You Take Zinc And Magnesium Together?
Yes, you can take zinc and magnesium together, in fact, they work better together.
There are some minerals that like to work alone as they enter the bloodstream, whereas some are stronger in numbers. Zinc and magnesium are friends to the body and work extremely well when taken together.
Sodium For Hair Growth
While trace levels of sodium are good for the heart and our overall body, you want to avoid high levels to prevent build up in your hair follicles.
Can Lack Of Minerals Cause Hair Loss?
A lack of minerals and vitamins in our body can absolutely result in hair loss.
As mentioned previously, our body needs 102 different minerals and when one or several are lacking, your body cannot perform in the way it needs to for body health as well as hair creation.
How To Tell If You’re Lacking A Mineral?
Are you mineral deficient? Below are some signs:
- Heart arrhythmia
- Numb or tingling extremities
- Fatigue and sore muscles
- Mood shifts
- Shortness of breath
- Cold hands and feet
- Brittle nails
- Hair loss / dry brittle hair
- Diarrhea /irregular bowel movements
- Loss or change of appetite