“Vitamins are essential for healthy hair growth and may help in preventing hair shedding and thinning,” says Michele Green, M.D., a cosmetic dermatologist in New York. “The best vitamins for hair growth include B vitamins, vitamin D, vitamin E, zinc, biotin and iron.
Biotin (vitamin B7 or vitamin H) is used by your body to help make fatty acids. It's thought it can help stimulate the production of keratin, which is key to healthy hair and nails. The NHS recommends taking no more than 0.9mg of biotin per day as a supplement.
A proven treatment for female-pattern baldness is a hair lotion containing minoxidil. After using it, many women see improvements, including a slowing or stopping altogether of balding, as well as thicker hair.
Vitamin D can indeed cause hair loss, but it's rare. Although the precise role of vitamin D in hair growth isn't well understood, research shows that vitamin D receptors play an important role in the anagen phase of the hair follicle cycle — the phase in which new hairs grow from the follicle to their full length.
New follicles may help hair maintain thickness and prevent existing hair from falling out prematurely. Because of this link, getting adequate amounts of vitamin D can support hair growth and regrowth.
Only riboflavin, biotin, folate, and vitamin B12 deficiencies have been associated with hair loss. Vitamin B2 (riboflavin) is a component of two important coenzymes: flavin mononucleotide (FMN) and flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) [22].
Thinning hair that arises solely as a result of dietary issues, including vitamin D deficiency - Telogen Effluvium or Diffuse Thinning - is likely to be temporary, with hair growth returning to normal within 6 to 12 months of the underlying trigger being addressed.
That is why we recommend supplementing with between 5,000-10,000 IU per day in order to achieve healthy vitamin D levels (40-80 ng/ml).” The key to resilient, strong hair less prone to falling out lies in the follicles.
The only medicine approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat female pattern baldness is minoxidil: It is applied to the scalp. For women, the 2% solution or 5% foam is recommended. Minoxidil may help hair grow in about 1 in 4 or 5 of women.
Can thin hair become thicker again? A person cannot change the texture of their hair. However, the hair may grow back after chemotherapy or pregnancy, for example.
Biotin. Biotin is a B vitamin that plays a major role in promoting the growth of healthy hair. In fact, biotin is so closely related to the growth of hair that studies have found that 38 percent of women with hair loss issues have biotin deficiencies.
Magnesium has a direct impact on hair growth. It regulates hair follicle production and the overall hair growth cycle, making it an essential mineral for healthy hair growth. When magnesium levels are low, hair follicles go into a resting phase and stop producing new hair, leading to hair loss.
Whilst it is true that both forms of vitamin D are essential for health and well-being, the new research shows that our bodies absorb and use vitamin D3 better. And as vitamin D3 is more effective at treating diseases, it seems likely that this will be the form of the vitamin most beneficial to hair health.
There are quite a few differences between vitamin D and vitamin D3, but the main difference between them is that vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin that regulates calcium and phosphorous levels in the body, whereas the vitamin D3 is the natural form of vitamin D produced by the body from sunlight.
Some side effects of taking too much vitamin D include weakness, dry mouth, nausea, vomiting, and others. Taking vitamin D for long periods of time in doses higher than 4000 IU (100 mcg) daily is possibly unsafe and may cause very high levels of calcium in the blood.
Iron and Hair Health. If you are not getting enough iron through your diet, you may experience excessive hair shedding (Telogen Effluvium). You may also find that your hair will not grow past a certain length.
Can vitamin D be harmful? Yes, getting too much vitamin D can be harmful. Very high levels of vitamin D in your blood (greater than 375 nmol/L or 150 ng/mL) can cause nausea, vomiting, muscle weakness, confusion, pain, loss of appetite, dehydration, excessive urination and thirst, and kidney stones.
The good news is that hair loss due to vitamin D deficiency is usually reversible. Once levels of vitamin D are increased, hair follicles will typically begin to function properly again and hair will start to regrow.
As it turns out, vitamin D3 is involved in various signaling pathways in the hair follicle and has a direct (and critical) role in the hair growth (aka anagen) phase.
Most studies show an inverse relationship between serum vitamin D levels and non-scarring alopecias such as telogen effluvium, androgenetic alopecia, alopecia areata, and trichotillomania. Vitamin D deficiency is also associated with scarring alopecia.