Does collagen improve hair growth?
Are you trying to find a way to improve the quality of your hair and encourage growth? There are many benefits from using a collagen supplement, but what effect can it have on hair growth? Let's find out if collagen improves hair growth.
1. Provides Amino Acids That Can Be Used to Improve Hair Growth
Hair gets made from the protein keratin. Your body uses several amino acids to build keratin — some of which are in collagen. If you eat collagen and other proteins, your body breaks them down into amino acids that get used to build new proteins and compounds.
Your body can make 11 nonessential amino acids and nine essential ones that you need to obtain from your diet. Collagen contains three nonessential amino acids: proline, glycine, and hydroxyproline.
Proline is also the main component of keratin. Therefore, consuming proline-rich collagen should give your body the building blocks it needs to create hair.
2. Helps Fight Damage to Hair Follicles
Collagen can act as an antioxidant and fight damage caused by free radicals. Free radicals develop in your body from stress, air pollutants, smoking, poor dietary choices, alcohol, and other environmental influences. Too many free radicals can harm your cells, proteins, and DNA.
Research shows that free radicals may also damage hair follicles. Since your body’s defence against free radicals decreases with ageing, older adults are especially susceptible to hair damage.
To fight free radicals and promote healthy hair, you need antioxidants. Since collagen protects the layer of skin that contains hair roots, it may help prevent age-related hair loss and thinning and consequently improve hair growth.
3. Can Help Slow Greying of Hair
Due to its antioxidant properties, collagen may be able to fight cell damage and slow greying.
Age-related hair greying gets influenced by genetics, but free radical damage to the cells that produce hair colour may also play a role.
As you age, the cells that produce the melanin pigment that gives your hair its colour naturally begin to die. However, free radicals resulting from poor diet, stress, and environmental pollutants can damage melanin-creating cells.
Without enough antioxidants to fight free radical damage, your hair may begin to grey. In fact, one test-tube study found that the antioxidant activity of grey hair follicles was much lower than that of hair follicles that still contained pigment.
Since collagen fights free radicals in test tubes, it may prevent damage to cells that produce hair colour. As a result, it may prevent premature greying or slow down age-related greying.
Nevertheless, research on the antioxidant effects of collagen in humans needs attention. Free radical damage to cells that produce hair colour may accelerate greying to some extent. Since collagen can act as an antioxidant, it could fight this damage and slow greying.
4. Easy to Add to Your Routine
You can add collagen to your diet through foods or supplements. It makes up the connective tissue of mammals, found in the skins, bones, and muscles of chicken, beef, pork, and fish.
Broth made from animal bones contains collagen and gelatin, a cooked form of collagen. This bone broth can be sipped as a drink or used as the base for soups (see a good recipe here)
In addition, eating foods high in vitamin C may boost your body’s natural collagen production. Oranges, bell peppers, Brussels sprouts, and strawberries are excellent sources of this vitamin.
Lastly, collagen can gets taken as supplemental pills or powder, and most collagen supplements get hydrolysed. It means that they’re already broken down and are easier to absorb. You can order your supply of Health Nut’s, imported, preservative-free, pure beef collagen powder here.
Collagen powder is flavour- and odourless and can get added to smoothies, coffee, and other hot or cold liquids. Flavoured varieties are available, but may have other additives in them, so read the label carefully.
Summary
Collagen can get found in foods, such as bone broths and animal meats, including the skin. Collagen supplements are available, many of which contain collagen that has already broken down, making it easier to absorb. Use of collagen as a supplement can improve hair growth.
Industry professionals on how collagen improves hair growth
Collagen Increases Elasticity
According to celebrity stylist Ken Pavés, collagen is an amino acid, and hair follicle cells use amino acids to produce keratin protein which promotes hair growth, strength, and elasticity. “Collagen helps to strengthen the hair and elasticity and improves its overall quality, and you also get the added benefits of Omegas 3 and 6 which are great for hydrating hair.”
Collagen Moisturises Hair
Dr. Melissa Anzelone, ND for Nutrafol; a daily hair growth supplement, explains that in collagen supplements collagen supports a healthy digestive tract to protect and heal the lining of the gut leading to maximum protein absorption—thus, healthier hair.
In addition to making way for a healthy digestive tract, collagen in daily supplements work in synergy with components like hyaluronic acid to support, moisturize, and rebuild the structure of the dermis of the skin and the environment surrounding the follicle. This also supports the blood vessels in the dermis, which allows for better diffusion of nutrients to the follicle leading to moisturized hair.
Promotes Hair Growth
According to Dr. Julie Russak, brand ambassador for NeoCell, the integrity of collagen is affected by both – the natural slowdown of collagen production and the accelerated breakdown of collagen from things like sun damage, alcohol, and excess sugar in our diet all contribute to the breakdown of the structure of our skin, hair, and nails. On top of the breakdown of collagen, hair loss specifically can also be caused by iron deficiency, auto-immune diseases, low thyroid, hormonal imbalances, and the natural production of the hormone dihydrotestosterone (DHT) which can cause hair to grow back thinner and fragile if produced in excess. “So the incorporation of a daily collagen supplement can also aid in hair regrowth, as hair health starts from the inside.” Says the dermatologist who also serves as the founder of Russak Dermatology Clinic and Russak+ Aesthetic Center in NYC.
Collagen Improves Hair Growth and Regenerates the Follicle
Dr. Anzelone, adds that collagen helps with hair growth and hair regeneration since it is a natural antioxidant. “Normally, free radicals are produced via metabolic processes. These free radicals damage the hair follicles and lead to hair loss. Collagen neutralizes the free radicals, allowing hair to grow normally,” says Dr. Anzelone.
I have been using collagen powder since 2016, for thinning hair and nails as well as painful joints from sport.. My hair is thick and continues to grow, astounding my hairdresser with all the new hair that grows in between my existing hair! My nails are strong and I have no joint pain in my knees any longer. If I neglect to take my collagen for a period of 3 weeks or longer I can feel the effects in my joints! I will not go without it!
