From keeping it clean to brushing it to avoiding breaks, the pursuit of ultimate hair health is an endless journey. While there is no silver bullet, proper nourishment makes hair health much easier to attain. If you want your hair to remain healthy and beautiful, B vitamins could be the answer for you:
B2
Vitamin B2, or riboflavin, is an antioxidant that destroys free radicals. Excessive free radical build up in the hair can cause damage to the structure of the hair, making it brittle and dull and are also thought to play a role in premature greying. B2 is also essential for the metabolism of protein, and since your hair is made up of protein its easy to see why we need B2 for hair health.You can also obtain B2 by consuming cheese, almonds, pork, lamb, beef, eggs, and oily varieties of fish. Topping up your intake of B2 helps to keep free radicals at bay and will keep your body’s protein production in top gear, allowing you to grow healthy hair.
B6
As with B2, Vitamin B6 aka Pyridoxal-5-phosphate, plays an essential role in the metabolism of protein (which makes up our hair), so not surprisingly Vitamin B6 is used to help minimise hair loss. This super B vitamin also plays a critical role in converting the metabolic waste product homocysteine, to cysteine, which is the most abundant amino acid which makes up hair. This vitamin is available in organ meats, lentils, nuts, and many enriched cereal and soy products.
B7
Also known as biotin, vitamin B7 is important to help the body use fats, amino acids, and carbohydrates more effectively. This boosts a range of functions, including hair growth. Biotin is important for the metabolism of sulphur-containing amino acids which form important structural bonds in the hair, called di-sulphide bonds. This vitamin is found in egg yolks, organ meats, peanuts, and walnuts.
B9
Vitamin B9, or folic acid, is essential for the production of DNA, so it plays an important role in supporting rapid growth of all cells and tissues, including your hair. In addition, B9 plays a role in breaking down homocysteine into methionine, another amino acid which is abundant in the hair. Foods that contain B9 include spinach, asparagus, avocado, salmon, lima beans, beets, turnips, and milk.
B12
Vitamin B12 is required by the body to produce red blood cells, which transport oxygen and essential nutrients to your hair and transports away waste products. A lack of oxygen is believed to be a key contributor to hair loss. Boost your intake of Vitamin B12 to supercharge delivery of oxygen and nutrients to help you grow beautiful healthy hair. This vitamin is found in clams, beef, oysters, turkey, chicken, crab, salmon, and eggs.
You can top up your intake of B Vitamins by incorporating the dietary sources mentioned above, or it might be more convenient for you to take supplements instead. If you’re going to take a supplement containing B Vitamins, make sure that you chose one which contains Activated B Vitamins, rather than plain old B Vitamins. Activated B Vitamins are called ‘Activated’ because they are delivered in the form which is ‘active’ in the body. Regular B vitamins must go through a conversion process in the body before they can be used by the body. The body uses Active B’s more efficiently because they don’t have to go through any unnecessary conversion processes in the body. This allows for greater efficacy.
apotecari bioactive hair care is Australia’s first and only range of salon-exclusive dietary supplements that are scientifically formulated to improve hair and scalp health. Backed by over 50 years of research, apotecari combines scientific knowledge and traditional wisdom to create clinically effective, innovative, bioactive, and quality hair care products that are dedicated to help consumers feel beautiful and confident from the inside out.
