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Nutrition For Awkward Stage Hair
Give Your Hair A Chance
Every guy dreaming of a long, flowing mane has to get through awkward stage hair. The struggles are well-documented, and you’ll want to get through it quickly. We cover whether you can grow your hair faster in greater depth, but your best chance at doing so relies heavily on the right nutrition for awkward stage hair.
A healthy diet isn’t just for cutting fat or getting jacked. Your diet contributes to how you look but also how you feel and how your body functions. Better nutrition leads to better hair growth through the awkward stage and beyond.
Hair cells are among the fastest growing in the body, requiring a good source of nutrition. If there is a shortage of nutrients, your hair is the first to suffer as your body considers them “non-essential” cells.
There are several different “ingredients” your hair needs to be its healthiest. There are numerous benefits to many of these, but we’ll focus on how they contribute to hair health.
Confirmed
Proven to help with healthy hair growth and maintenance.
Vitamin A
Helps balance scalp sebum, which is the oily fluid on the hair and scalp (Odchique, 2015). Ensuring you have a sufficient intake of vitamin A will give you a good baseline of your hair’s natural oil production. Once you achieve this baseline, you can start adjusting your hair care routine in order to add or strip oils as necessary.
Vitamin C
Prevents free radical oxidation of hair follicles and hair loss. Without it, hair becomes brittle and the scalp weakens (Odchique, 2015). For you science buffs, a free radical is an atom with an unpaired electron in its outer shell, and may also be linked to aging, as it is defined as the accumulation of free radical damage.
This harm is achieved by altering lipids, proteins, and DNA, as well as triggering a number of human diseases (Lobo, et. al. 2010). The way to combat this is by the consumption of antioxidants (found in blueberries), which are molecules that can safely interact with free radicals and terminate the chain reaction before vital molecules are damaged.
Vitamin E
Increases oxygen uptake into tissues, improving circulation and increasing hair health (Odchique, 2015). Anything to increase your circulation means that fresh nutrients are delivered to your hair in a manner that allows it to grow at its optimal rate.
Proteins
In a basic sense, proteins are building blocks. Your hair acts as a time capsule, adding new proteins to the base of the strand as it grows. The strand is then pushed out of the hair follicle, creating a timeline of your eating habits.
“What you consume influences the proteins of that moment’s hair growth...such as whether someone is using food they eat for energy or consuming their own tissue for energy due to lack of protein” (Collins, 2006).
Zinc
Contributes little to the hair growth game, but shows prominently in the hair loss one. Alopecia is often a sign of zinc deficiency (Lynn, 2010).
Not Yet Confirmed
Suspected to help with hair growth, but lacking the research to confirm.
Iron
Suggested to aid in the defense against hair loss. Without iron, your body doesn’t produce the hemoglobin that carries oxygen to grow and repair cells, including those that stimulate hair growth. However, with current research, there is not yet a causal relationship established between the intake of iron and maintenance of normal hair growth (EFSA, 2012).
Biotin
Touted as the end-all, be-all for hair growth in magazines and blogs, you’ve undoubtedly heard the craze surrounding this one. The proof that biotin helps non-deficient individuals is nonexistent. To date, the only randomized controlled trial to study the effects of biotin on hair quality and quantity showed a significant increase in thickness of the hair on 90 female subjects experiencing thinning.
“Biotin as a dietary supplement for normal healthy people without deficiency or any inborn error of metabolism on its own may not be an ergogenic aid for hair health.” (Soleymani, et. al. 2017).
In other words, if you’re not experiencing hair loss, biotin has not been proven to help your hair grow—though further study is warranted.
Nutrition for Awkward Stage Hair Grocery List:
It’s rather intuitive; your hair grows out of your body, so if you take care of your body, you take care of your hair. Check out our suggested foods for the next time you visit the local grocer to ensure your hair is getting all the nutrients it needs to grow at maximum potential.| Grocery Item | Nutrition Goal |
|---|---|
| Avocados, peanuts, sunflower seeds, vegetable oil, broccoli | Vitamin E |
| Carrots, sweet potatoes, cantaloupe, apricots | Vitamin A |
| Citrus Fruits, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, tomatoes | Vitamin C |
| Spinach and dark leafy greens | Iron |
| Eggs, soy, lean beef, milk | Protein |
| Blueberries, dark chocolates, pecans | Antioxidants |
| Oysters, red meats, poultry, cashews, baked beans, chickpeas | Zinc |
A balanced diet is the goal here, and the recipe is the same in terms of nutrition for healthy hair. If you feel as though you are lacking in any nutritional areas, speak to your doctor before self-prescribing supplements.
Nutrition For Awkward Stage Hair
While the right nutrition for awkward stage hair can help you reach your hair goals faster, it will also lead to healthy hair in the long run, and simply better health in general!
More Awkward Stage Ammo
If you found this helpful, it’s just part of one module in The Center For Awkward Stage Hair, the comprehensive educational and motivational system for men growing long manes.
If you are struggling with awkward stage hair, or you know a man who is, stop the suffering and join or politely share The Center with your haggard-looking friend.
There are hair whips and high fives on the horizon. We’re here to help you get there.
The Center For
Awkward Stage Hair
Awkward Stage Hair
The definitive and unequivocal resource for growing long hair and overcoming the awkward stage, based on the experience of thousands of men who’ve made it through.
