Try Zinc To Promote Long, Healthy Hair
Written By Venus L
An element existing in trace amounts within the human body, zinc is not prominent, yet is vital to the normal functionality of the body. This is due to the fact that zinc is essential to many processes of the body including hormone production, cell reproduction, vitamin absorption, and protein synthesis. With one of the main symptoms of zinc deficiency being hair loss, ensuring that your body maintains proper levels of zinc is not only imperative to good health, but also to maintaining healthy, long, natural hair. What’s more, this is a common deficiency amongst American women, making it all the more important for Naturalistas in the US to be sure to maintain suitable levels of this element. With that said, the following is a synopsis of the many benefits of zinc, in terms of your health and natural hair.
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Natural Hair With Super Sheen
A common side effect of a zinc deficiency, dull, dry hair can result when you are lacking this nutrient. With a plethora of vitamin and nutrient supplements on the market, there are always other options in terms of the supplements you choose to use for your natural hair. While other supplements can provide their own version of positive effects, maintaining healthy levels of zinc will promote hair with a great level of natural sheen.
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Promotes Hormonal Balance
Another way zinc promotes long, healthy natural hair is by balancing your hormone levels. It is a fairly well-known fact that when the body creates too much testosterone, it causes hair loss. Therefore, by taking a zinc supplement, or eating foods that are high in zinc content, you can help regulate your hormones and thus, prevent hair or stop hair loss due to this issue.
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Prevent Hair Loss
As aforementioned, zinc helps to promote healthy hair in a number of ways. Regardless of the reason you may be losing your hair, adding zinc to your natural hair regimen will help stop and/or reverse the loss. That is to say, people lose their hair for many more reasons besides too much testosterone. Whether your hair is shedding, you have a bald spot, or any other condition, trying zinc can help to reverse the damage done by these ailments.
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Get Back To Black (or Brown…or Red)
Another exciting way to that zinc can help your natural hair is by reversing the graying process! While gray hair is clearly trendy at the moment, there is a huge difference between choosing to go gray and being forced by mother nature. If you have been trying to find ways to slow or reverse the graying process within your own hair, it’s definitely worth it to give zinc a try. Of course, this may not be the case for everyone, but studies have shown that when placed on a diet high and zinc, some people have gone from mostly gray, back to mostly their original, vibrant color.
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DNA and RNA Production
Lastly, an interesting way that zinc helps to promote healthy, natural hair is the fact that this mineral plays a critical role in the production of RNA and DNA. This is vital to the proper division of follicle cells which ultimately leads to an improved anagen stage of the hair growth process (one of the 4 stages of hair growth that determines hair length).
Where to Get Your Zinc
As aforementioned, there are a number of ways to use zinc for hair growth and repair. The first way is to eat foods rich in zinc. These foods include poultry, liver, wheat germ, pumpkin seeds, shrimp, egg yolks, soy products, and red meats. By including more of these foods as a part of your balanced diet, you will boost your zinc levels and thus reap many of these benefits. Another potential source of zinc is to take it in supplement form. By taking a slightly increased amount of the supplement for 2-3 weeks, you can effectively provide a much-needed boost of zinc to the body and may then continue to take the recommended amount thereafter. Finally, there are some zinc shampoos and other hair products on the market that are said to have amazing effects on the hair. By simply trying a product or two, in conjunction with a supplement or by eating increased amounts of zinc rich foods, this should provide enough of a zinc boost to help give your natural hair a makeover of epic proportions.
Overall, although zinc won’t cure all of your natural hair issues, it will promote growth, sheen, and beautifully hued tresses. As always, consult a physician before making any drastic changes in your diet regimen.
