The Best Foods to Eat For Healthy, Shiny Hair

After four decades of life, I’ve started to notice a certain fragility in my hair. I know I’m not the only one: As women, we are at the whim of our hormones, after all. They are responsible for many of the changes that our bodies experience during all stages of life, including perimenopause and menopause—and, sadly, all these changes can be brutal for our hair.

In my case, I went from having a shiny and abundant mane to noticing that it was losing density and luster. According to experts, a progressive drop in estrogen and progesterone ultimately shortens the hair growth cycle, ultimately causing it to grow less and become thinner and more brittle over time. It’s bad enough we must go through all the mood swings; Can’t our hair at least be spared?

Maybe. As it turns out, our diets can become a key ally in helping to combat age-related hair loss as well as the other side effects of hormonal shifts that often occur. Which makes sense—after, all getting adequate amounts of vitamins and minerals is essential not just to hair health but our overall health.

Read on to find out more about how diet impacts the health of our hair and the best foods to eat to keep your hair looking gorgeous—no matter how many decades you’ve got under your belt.

We are what we eat

“Changes in the appearance, volume, or density of hair can be a sign that there is a nutritional deficit in our diet,” explains Beatriz Robles, a food technologist and expert in nutrition and dietetics. In her job, she’s responsible for disseminating, with scientific rigor, the nutritional value of what we eat us to help combat the great misinformation that exists.

To that end, she says it is important to remember that it’s not just specific foods that contribute to hair health, but our entire diet. When there is a deficit of certain nutrients, it can negatively affect our health and appearance.

But it’s not just a lack of nutrients that can affect our hair—lifestyle influences it as well. “Toxic habits such as alcohol consumption have a negative impact on the health of hair,” she says, adding that overeating and lack of exercise can also have adverse effects.

What to eat for healthy hair

Doing an overview of our diet can be the first step to tackling hair issues. To start, consider your intake of fruits and vegetables. As Robles affirms, eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables is a non-negotiable. “We know that a plant-based diet is associated with lower risk of non-communicable diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, obesity or cancer, for example,” she says.

Fruits and vegetables are full of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants—many of which have been shown to support the hair. “Micronutrients are major elements in the normal hair follicle cycle, playing a role in cellular turnover, a frequent occurrence in the matrix cells in the follicle bulb that are rapidly dividing,” states a recent scientific review on the role vitamins and minerals play in hair loss. “Vitamins and minerals are important for normal cell growth and function and may contribute to hair loss when they are deficient.”

The essential nutrients for hair

To see how important fruits and vegetable are, Robles points to the humble leek. “Leeks are a vegetable of the same genus as garlic or onion,” she notes. “One of the distinguishing characteristics of these plants is their strong, pungent flavor, produced by sulfur compounds, and they stand out for their vitamin K, vitamin C, and manganese content.”

Like all plant foods, leeks also stand out for their phytonutrient content, which Robles describes as “compounds that have bioactive effects that intervene in metabolic processes and can be beneficial to health.”

And guess what? All of the nutrients in link are integral for supporting good hair health—especially because they work in tandem with other essential, hair-healthy nutrients. For example, vitamin K helps protect hair from environment damage and prevents scalp calcification, while manganese helps support the thyroid and hormone health. And, “vitamin C plays an essential role in the intestinal absorption of iron due to its chelating and reducing effect, assisting iron mobilization and intestinal absorption,” the aforementioned scientific review states. “Therefore, vitamin C intake is important in patients with hair loss associated with iron deficiency.”

But that’s not all. Along those same lines, other minerals and vitamins like zinc, biotin and folic acid have also been proven to be especially beneficial to hair, as have macronutrients like healthy fats and lean protein, which help hydrate the hair with lipids and support the production of hair-strengthening keratin, respectively.

The best foods to eat for healthy hair

This is all to say that consuming a diet that emphasizes macro and micronutrients from a wide variety of foods can be a real game-changer for the health of the hair. You want to eat the rainbow, so to speak—lots of leafy greens, legumes, whole grains, fruits, vegetables, proteins, and healthy fats—to reap the benefits of as many vitamins, minerals, lean proteins, and healthy fats as you can.

Below, a list of some of the best foods to eat for healthy, strong hair.

• Eggs — a natural source of protein and high in biotin, zinc, and selenium
• Fish — fatty fish like salmon, sardines, and mackerel are filled with Omega-3 fatty acids and protein
• Dark leafy greens — spinach, kale, and chard contain vitamin A, iron, beta carotene, folate, and vitamin C
• Poultry — chicken and turkey are good sources of lean protein
• Flax seeds and chia seeds— seeds are high in vitamin E, zinc, and selenium and a plant-based source of Omega-3 fatty acid
• Sweet potatoes — orange vegetables like carrots and squash are high in beta-carotene
• Cinnamon — increases circulation
• Oysters — high in zinc
• Berries — high in vitamins and antioxidants
• Avocados — rich in vitamin E and healthy fats
• Nuts — walnuts, almonds, and other tree nuts are rich in vitamin E, B vitamins, zinc, and essential fatty acids
• Bell peppers — high in vitamin C and vitamin A
• Legumes — protein, iron, biotin, zinc, and folate
• Red meat — protein and iron (eat in moderation to avoid risk of cardiovascular disease)