When Bo was a few months old I went to the hairdresser to get some fine highlights and a little trim. My insanely talented hairdresser Jo from Follow Hair Studio lifted up the top half of my hair and started laughing (which is exactly what you want to hear when someone is looking directly at your scalp).
"Ange, you should see your hair!"
My first thought was 'crap, I'm loosing my hair and going bald' which is what EVERYONE had told me would happen after giving birth. Thankfully I was wrong, my hair had actually gotten thicker after giving birth and I never lost any of that which I put down to eating a diet rich in good vitamins and minerals... But more on that soon.
But there was a distinct band of hair about 3cm from my roots that was almost brown. It was almost as though someone had just dyed a perfect 5-6cm band of brown and left the ends and my new regrowth a sandy blonde, which is my natural colour.
What on earth had happened?!
Answer: my hair colour had changed during pregnancy. Then gone right back to normal almost immediately after giving birth. Which explained why I had blonde regrowth with some weird brown in between bit.
Other than just a not so funny introduction to this post, there is a lesson from this. Your hair reacts to hormonal changes in your body. Other than your menstrual cycle, pregnancy and stress, there is one very important factor to this...
What you eat.
All the overpriced products and oddly shaped hair brushes won’t take away from the fact that your hair is as healthy as the food you consume. You are what you eat. So your hair is literally built from the food you consume months before it starts sprouting regrowth from your roots!
After the last few years of people asking me why I have so much thick hair that is still naturally pretty fair, I've decided to share with you some tips to getting your own locks thickening up and becoming more healthy and strong.
If you over bleach, over heat and don’t protect your hair then no matter how healthy it comes out, it will show you it’s not feeling loved. But healthy hair starts from the roots and beyond, so I wanted to share with you the building blocks for thick, shiny and strong hair - using nutrition.
EGGS
Eggs are rich in Biotin, which is part of the complex B vitamins. Biotin has been linked to improved hair health and I can 100% vouch for that. When pregnant with Bo, I craved eggs like no ones business. I would have them for breakfast and lunch and I believe that the increase in biotin in my diet lead to me loosing no hair what so ever during or after pregnancy. It’s important that you’re eating the whole egg and make sure it’s from organic sources.
PROTEIN
Another focus for healthy hair is protein, which our hair is mainly made from. You can get this from grass fed and finished beef, chicken, pork and lamb or via vegetarian sources. Salmon and oily fish is also great for hair health, not just for the protein but also the omega-3 fatty acids which support scalp health. If you’re suffering from a dry scalp, try adding 2 servings of oily fish to your diet per week and watch it clear!
FRUITS AND VEGETABLES
Not just because they’re good for EVERYTHING but also because a good amount of fresh fruit and vegetables will give you all the vitamins and minerals needed to grow thick, strong and healthy hair. If you’re really keen on thickening up your locks, focus on foods high in vitamin C like oranges, grapefruit, strawberries, capsicum. Vitamin C helps the production of collagen which is required for hair to maintain their strength.
OYSTERS
The mineral zinc is beneficial in hair growth and cell repair. It can also assist in helping the hair follicles to work properly and efficiently. You can also up your intake of organic grass fed and finished liver, pepitas/pumpkin seeds and sesame seeds to up your zinc levels naturally.
Another sweet little tip for stimulating hair growth is to sit on your couch, flip your head upside down and give yourself a 5 minute scalp massage. This will increase blood flow to your scalp and stimulate growth.
At the end of the day, eating these foods today won’t mean you’ll wake up tomorrow with luscious locks, but over time you’ll see the difference and as we age and our hair thins out, now is the perfect time to get eating for hair health.
If you want to deeper explore the way you eat and how it affects how you look and feel, book if for a free Health Goals Session so we can get a little deeper into ways you can take control of your wellbeing and become and more beautiful and vibrant person, inside and out.
