Adventures in the perfect hair diet

About two weeks ago I tried to write something about the perfect hair diet. It was really difficult! 

Human nutrition in itself is really complicated, and I have never really studied it. 

I had the required level of chemistry and high level biology in Gymnasiet but there were little focus on this. So I really feel like I lack some background knowledge on this. And now when I try to read up on it, I just feel confused at how complicated it all is.

Anyways. As I tried to compile a list of food sources for the amino acids, I was struck by how many times egg whites were mentioned. And sea weed. And cheese (Maybe that's why cheese is such a running joke in the longhair circuit?) 

I then remembered that I had a bag of seaweed I bought ages ago because it claimed to taste like bacon. So I thought "Hey, why not try to put some perfect hair food together?" 

I decided to try to make egg white muffins with sea weed, bacon, spinach and parmesan. That should almost cover all the amino acids from the attempted list I made. Which is pretty cool!

I knew sea weed was a "super food" that should be especially good for minerals, so it was as surprise for me that it would be good for amino acids too. I mean, it's not that high on protein content, but if all the protein it has is from essential amino acids, that's good!

This kind of seaweed was supposed to taste like bacon, which is why I bought it.

It didn't look too appetizing though!

And it just smelled really old and dusty. Like, not unpleasant, just really dusty.

It didn't get any better once I chopped it up and mixed it with defrosted spinach, parmesan and a little bit of leftover shredded cheese. 

Mixing in egg whites and fried bacon only made the whole thing look comically disgusting!

I used 250 grams of bacon, 85 grams of parmesan, 40 grams of the leftover shredded cheese, 200 grams of spinach, 25 grams of the bacon seaweed and 500 grams of egg white.

Mr Igor took one look at this and went "Yea, you're on your own". He usually loves my cooking so I felt a little insulted. Only a little though, since it does looks like chunky toxic sludge. 

Once cooked, it was pretty good though!

The bacon taste was really, really strong from regular bacon and the bacon sea weed. Next time, I would make it with less of the strange seaweed, or maybe less regular bacon. 

I had lots of sauces ready in case I needed to dampen some weird taste, but it was good enough that I will try to make it again.

If we calculate that half the fat content of the bacon is melted off and drained (I think it was more, but let's keep it simple) each of the "muffins" lands at 155 calories and 16 grams of protein.

That's really good! When I try to cook high protein, low calorie foods, a 1:10 ratio of protein to calories is considered good.

This was tasty, easy and probably covers most of the amino acids I need. I could see myself make this again! It still looks nasty though.

Today's hair

My massage therapist who has spent the last many years moving the big, heavy snakes of my braids out of the way, asked how long my hair really is the last time I went.

So since I have a massage time today, I have put my hair in a ponytail and then turned it into an unbraided Nautilus bun that I can take down to show her.

I used one of the new leather-based Flexi 8's for it.

I'm now less happy with those!

The end of the stick turned out to be pretty sharp and it nicked my hand when I pushed the stick through my hair. Only a shallow cut that didn't bleed, but still.

Joining the Blogging from A to Z challenge

Last year I did The 29 hairstyles in February challenge which was was hard, but also a lot of fun! It was a good method to make myself check on what variation I still have with my updos at my current length.

So why not try a new challenge?
I'm joining the Blogging from A to Z challenge to work through some of my hair knowledge and maybe inspire someone else too.

My chosen theme will be "Covering the basics". 

Today's hair

I wore my hair in an orchid bun today with the hairstick with the little bee-dangle. It's so very close to being too short for me! Half a centimeter less and I would have been unable to use the stick because it would slip entirely into the loop from the figure 8.

Things that suck

Well, wow. Just when I thought the Swedish mail couldn't disappoint me more than it already has... It did. 

I bought these Flexies in two orders, one back on the black Friday sale (!!) and that one didn't show up until two weeks ago! That is how incompetent, awful and deliberately useless the Swedish mail is. 

I thought of composing the timeline of exactly how bad this has been, including multiple rude and useless customer "service" reps contacts and a customs website that plain didn't work in any way whatsoever, but I think I have made my point. 3 months to get my order. 3! 

So that was one thing that has sucked really, really badly. 

The next thing is Lilla Rose.

They suck too.

They sucked as Flexi 8, and they suck as Lilla Rose.

All the way back in 2011, I wrote this to Flexi 8:

A fairly reasonable thought from a super-longhair, right? Like, a big part of their market... Right?

And... Basically what has turned into their Flexi Flip today... Right?

So, a really good idea from a customer, right?

Nope.

I received the following reply:

Basically: "LOL, are you sure you're not just too stupid to work our product correctly?!"

So condescending. They can hide behind nice words, but that's their message.

I especially liked the part where I'm being informed that the stick curves like it does because it "provides more comfort" despite me contacting them because it doesn't. 

Basically:

Me: "Hey, your product hurts me, but here is an idea to make it better"

Flexi 8: "No, you're wrong. Also, you're probably too stupid to use the product right. Here's how to use it correctly."

I refused to buy another Flexi for almost 10 years after this. 

Anyways. I was dumb enough to order more Flexies through their new website (New owner?) and using an affiliate link from someone I thought was a nice person, someone I had even talked to through Instagram before. Someone who even took the time to thank me directly for the order using her link.

The first order I received was actually the last one I ordered:

Two Flexi Flips, a hairstick and an XXL Flexi.

Notice how neatly all the products have been hand-crossed out on the order form. Check, check, check and check.

The flips are super tiny, even thought I bought the largest they had.

"EX compares to MD, LG, XL"

Meh. More like large maybe, definitely not the XL. 

In fact, it was so small that it hurt my hand trying to push it into my hair. Look at the bruising in my palm! Ouch.

They work for two smaller buns, not for a single one for me.

Begrudgingly I have to admit that the Flexi flip has amazing hold once it's forced in place.

I tried my best to get some good photos of the Flip-construction. 

Part of why it can "flip" is that it doesn't have a decorative centerpiece like the regular Flexies.

I would however be a little worried that the "semi-open" construction of the center piece would be really good at catching on hair. It would have been nice if it had been closed, but I can see how it's impossible to construct the Flexi without having an open centerpiece. I would want to turn the open part away from my hair.

Second part of why it can "flip" is that they have little indents to secure the "8" into on both sides of the stick-part.

It's nice to have the option of doing this.

But as I wrote in my original mail to Flexi almost a decade ago, this is something more needed for the extra large Flexies. As in: Not this size. More and heavier hair needs a larger and studier tool to hold it, and then you really need to distribute the weight a lot better. You especially need to stay clear of having a single contact point for the tool on your scalp. That's a lot of pressure on your scalp and hair. 

Still though. The "flip" is good for hold and stability.

A "true" XL and XXL Flexi flip would be very welcome though.

The hairstick I got for free was actually the prettiest part of the order, and the one I was most excited about. Simple with a nice choice of wood and a cute little bee-dangle.

Anyways. Back to things that suck. 

Remember how someone had neatly crossed out the products on the order form?

Yep. 

Someone put this abomination of a Flexi together without noticing how badly they had screwed the construction up. 

Someone packed it in a little plastic bag. 

Someone put it in my package.

Someone crossed it out on the order form.

And no one noticed the problem?

The stick can barely reach the decoration in the middle! How could they not have noticed it? It can't even close on itself, much less with any hair inside it.

And worst of all: When I contacted Flexi about this obvious production error, they ignored me.

I contacted the person with the affiliate link. She ignored me. Repeatedly. 

I contacted Lilla Rose by the email on their website. They ignored me. Repeatedly. 

I contacted them on Instagram. They ignored me. Repeatedly. 

And just to clarify: I went something like a week between each attempt to contact them.

Lilla Rose has a return policy with a time span for how long you can return your items, and since the Swedish mail was so useless and awful, I was over that time. Hence, why I needed to talk to them before returning the production error Flexi.

Not until I contacted them on Facebook, did they react. And then only to first "defend" themselves by saying they had nothing to do with my lack of replies the other places. After that, magically I got a reply by email from the website. 

Whatever.

I was obviously right to judge them for being awful back in 2011 and I should not have given them a second chance.

I will not ever give Lilla Rose/Flexi 8/whatever any of my money ever again. They have taken too much of my time, effort and money already.

The order I placed first was the order that I received last thanks to the Swedish mail:

The size difference in the Flexies is pretty fascinating to me.

Regular XXL (Gingerbread man design)

Flip EX (Green and blue beads)

Regular medium (Fly Agaric design)

Regular Small (Seahorse)

The medium and small are almost identical in sizes!

And look at the size difference between the XXL and the Flip EX, which "compares to MD, LG, XL" according to Lilla Rose. 

According to Lady Igor, the Flexi Flip compares to a large regular Flexi. No more, no less.

The ones I was most interested in were the leather or fabric based Flexies, and they turned out to be pretty nice. The wooden sticks actually match the colours really well. 

I really like that this one doesn't have any weird bling or details that can get caught in your hair!

Product smackdown

    

Newly converted curly haired coworker who I have mentioned before kept talking about this brand, but I wasn't going to try any of the products due to the lack of success I've had with curl-specific products before. 

But then I saw that a lot of the products were shea-based. Wow, talk about a blast from the past! A million years ago in internet years, shea butter what the absolute rave in the longhair circuit. This was The It Ingredient for the first many years I spent on hair groups and forums. I was really frustrated with this, because I had trouble getting products with it myself. I think I actually had to buy/trade with some other LHC member (Or was it on a Yahoo group?) to try a shea product for myself the first time! 

As I wrote: It's a million years ago in internet years. International shipping wasn't really the standard, and so the products available to me were very different. Back then I really struggled with finding interesting hair products because 95% of supermarket products and even salon products were made for the fine and volume-challenged native Scandinavian hair. I don't think I need to explain just how far from my hairtype that is. Every time I ran into something different, I was super excited about it. 

I remember the first time I ran into a product containing cholesterol at this chain called Rema1000. It's a discount supermarket chain in Norway and Denmark, and their "thing" was to begin with, that the store only carried a thousand different items to keep the price down (Hence the name). Some times they have these limited time products, often from surplus or going out of stock from their suppliers. I think the conditioner was from Wella? It was a big, bottom-heavy 500 ml bottle with a screw on lid and a beige/blue colour theme. Anyways. I loved it, so I went all over town to buy every single conditioner in every single store I could. I totally blew my budget for the month on this, but I had no regrets. Ah, back when I was a poor engineering student working towards my first bachelor. Wow, that's so long ago.

Like, 

 

this long ago....

Strangely, now that I'm typing this down, it makes me nostalgic for the time when I couldn't just order a shipment of Korean 헤어 컨디셔너 and have it delivered by DHL before the end of the week. 

And a time where I couldn't just swipe a credit card and not even consider the impact on my budget. As frustrating as it was at that time, I miss the excitement of getting my hands on a product that was so hard to access, and took up a portion of my budget for me. 

So, boring backstory of why I ended up getting these products anyways aside...

I got the Shea Butter Leave in Conditioning Repair Cream, the Shea Butter Hydrating Cream Conditioner, the Avocado Hydrating Cream Conditioner and the Shea Butter for Natural Hair Deep Treatment Masque. I got them from Matas and they seem to usually have more in stock than this, but as I was told, the covid is still an issue for their supply chain. So I'll have to just compare the two conditioners for now. I can always return for more if I like it.

Cantu Shea Butter Leave in Conditioning Repair Cream ingredient list
Aqua (Water), Cetearyl Alcohol, Canola Oil, Glycerin, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter, Dicetyldimonium Chloride, Behentrimonium Methosulfate, Parfum (Fragrance), Dimethicone, Phenoxyethanol, Ethylhexylglycerin, Polyquaternium-10, Sodium Chloride, Disodium EDTA, Citric Acid, Olea Europaea (Olive) Fruit Oil, Cyclopentasiloxane, Cyclohexasiloxane, Dimethicone PEG-8 Meadowfoamate, Polyquaternium-37, Propylene Glycol Dicaprylate / Dicaprate, PPG-1 Trideceth-6, Panthenol, Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein, Pentaerythrityl Tetracaprylate/Tetracaprate, Silk Amino Acids, Hydrolyzed Collagen (Peptone), Citrus Aurantium Dulcis (Orange) Peel Oil, Salvia Officinalis (Sage) Oil, Urtica Dioica (Nettle) Extract, Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary) Leaf Extract, Aloe Barbadensis (Aloe Vera) Leaf Juice, Achillea Millefolium (Yarrow) Extract, Actinidia Chinensis (Kiwi) Fruit Water, Propylene Glycol, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Sodium Hyaluronate, Sodium Methyltaurate, Hydrolysed Wheat Protein PG-Propyl Silanetriol, Benzyl salicylate, Coumarin, Limonene, Hexyl cinnamal, Butylphenyl Methylpropional, Linalool.

Cantu Shea Butter for Natural Hair Deep Treatment Masque ingredient list
Aqua (Water), Canola Oil, Glycerin, Cetearyl alcohol, Beeswax, Pafrum (Fragrance), Cetyl Alcohol, Butyrospermum Parkii Shea Butter, Ceteareth -20, Gl

ycol Stearate, Polyquaterium-10, Phenoxyethanol, Ethylhexylglycerin, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Extract, Persea Gratissima (Avocado) Oil, Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Oil, Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Seed Oil, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil, Olea Europaea (Olive) Fruit Oil, Mangifera Indica (Mango) Seed Butter, Argania Spinosa (Argan) Kernel Oil, Melia Azadirachta (Neem) Seed Oil, Daucus Carota Sativa (Carrot) Seed Oil, Macadamia Ternifolia (Macadamia) Seed Oil, Mangifera Indica (Mango) Seed Oil, Glycine Soja (Soybean) Oil, Hydrolyzed Silk, Lonicera Caprifolium (Honeysuckle) Extract, Macrocystis Pyrifera (Kelp) Extract, Salvia Officinalis (Sage) Leaf Extract, Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Seed Extract, Urtica Dioica (Nettle) Extract, Silk Amino Acids, Aloe Barbadensis (Aloe) Leaf Juice, Coumarin, Benzyl benzoate, Hexyl cinnamal.

I'm going to compare the two conditioners on a few different factors:

First impressions
Effect: Shine and manageability
Ingredient analysis and interesting ingredients such as "actives": Oils, fruits, keratin, sunscreen

Shea Butter Hydrating Cream Conditioner

First impressions 

This one has a really funny smell to it. Like the toner we use at the printers at work. It's not unpleasant, just really odd. Very... Not-conditioner-like? 

Good texture to work with. Not too thick, not too thin.

I like the bottle size of 400 ml. Always a really big plus to get a decent bottle!

Effect

Mildly disappointed, sort of what I expected I guess? It didn't really clean so well, it didn't really add shine, it didn't really make my hair feel more manageable. Just kind of meh, really. 

Ingredient list of Cantu Shea Butter Hydrating Cream Conditioner
Aqua (Water), Stearyl Alcohol, Cetyl Alcohol, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter, Stearamidopropyl Dimethylamine, Glyceryl Stearate, Phenoxyethanol, Parfum (Fragrance), Neopentyl Glycol Diheptanoate, Lactic Acid, Isododecane, Ethylhexylglycerin, Polyester-11, Panthenol, Disodium EDTA, Benzyl Benzoate.

I ended up feeling unqualified to really write anything specific about this ingredient list, because there 

are so many unfamiliar ingredients on it. It was quite weird actually. I mean, I can google the ingredients and write about them based on that, but there were so many I don't think I have ever really encountered before? Like, this product contains polyester. Is it... like the polyester we see in clothing? I'm so confused. 

COSDNA is pretty positive towards the ingredient list though.

Avocado Hydrating Cream Conditioner

First impressions 

This one has that classic conditioner smell to it. Sort of clean and fresh, like fabric softener or something. Not too strong, not to weak. Not a particular scent you can put your finger on. Sort of soapy maybe? 

Good texture to work with for this one too. Not too thick, not too thin.

Effect

This one was just as much meh as the other one. I mean, maybe my hair did feel hydrated, not that I'm really sure what that's supposed to feel like? 

It didn't even manage to get rid of all the flakeys I had on my scalp, so, yea, meh to this one. 

Ingredient list of Cantu Avocado Hydrating Cream Conditioner

Aqua (Water), Cetyl Alcohol, Persea Gratissima (Avocado) Oil, Stearamidopropyl Dimethylamine, Glyceryl Stearate, Arachidyl Alcohol, Stearyl Alcohol, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter, Parfum (Fragrance), Neopentyl Glycol Diheptanoate, Phenoxyethanol, Ethylhexylglycerin, Lactic Acid, Isododecane, Polyester-11, Disodium EDTA, Panthenol, Benzyl salicylate, Geraniol, Hexyl cinnamal, Linalool.

I loved that the product that advertised itself as an "Avocado conditioner" also had shea butter in it. I mean, yes, it also says shea butter on the front of it, but way less prominent than the avocado. 

Benzyl salicylate is a sunscreen and I'm an absolute sucker for sunscreen in my hair products. Skin can (To some degree) heal itself after sun damage, for hair that damage is forever. SO I tend to seek out products with sunscreen when I can.

In conclusion..

Lady Igor says

I'm not really impressed with either, which I expected to begin with. So no surprise there. But hey, it was fun with the nostalgia is brought on. However, if I have to recommend one it will have to be the  Cantu Avocado Hydrating Cream Conditioner for containing shea butter, avocado oil and a sunscreen ingredient. 

What a fuzzy mess!

Yesterday when I made my shoelace bun, I picked a leave in conditioner only to add shine and make the updo really pretty. Usually my base braids holds up pretty well and can be re-used the next day. But because I picked a leave in conditioner with like no hold, today my hair is a really fuzzy mess. It actually amuses me, because I always assume the braid(s) will hold up nicely and I forgot how uch the leave in conditioner matters!

The shoelace bun

It's funny how an updo can just fall out of rotation. Especially when it's such a simple but impressive one...

The shoelace bun is such a cool bun! 

Just two nice Dutch braids and a some threading the needle, and done....



If you just have enough length, it's so quick and easy

The perfect hair diet?

My recent keto diet left me wondering if there was a perfect hair diet. 

I mean, keto is pretty close to being perfect for growing strong, healthy hair, but it was really lacking in fruits for vitamins, and vegetables for fiber. Of course that was one of my main criticisms of it, and I may have voiced it a time or two. 

My other, more personal, criticism was how hard it was to go without the dopamine and serotonin-releasing foods such as chocolate. And now where I'm neck deep in work and my final project, I'm just tired and stressed and really need some feel good hormones. Sigh.

Anyways: Back on topic. 

The way I see it, a perfect diet for growing hair would have certain properties:

1. High protein
2. High omega 3
3. Vitamins
4. Minerals
5. High sulphur
6. Good for gut health 
7. Not cause weight gain

High protein

The perfect hair diet would have to be high in protein, and have protein from many different sources. About 80% of the human hair weight comes from proteins. Human hair contains 18 out of the 21 amino acids found in the human body. Keratin is composed of all 18 of these amino acids, with low sulphur alpha keratin as the most common kind. The keratin molecules ability to be deformed by water is what gives the hair strands the ability to be styled by water and then "freeze" into shape when it dries. When hair becomes damaged by losing too much keratin, it stops being able to hold shape after getting wet.

Nine of the amino acids are called essential amino acids because they need to be consumed and can't be created out of other molecules by the body. The essential amino acids are histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine. The 18 found in human hair are alanine, arginine, aspartic acid, cystine, glutamic acid, glycine, histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, prolyne, serine, threonine, tryptophan, tyrosine and valine. In the list of the18 amino acids, are all 9 essential amino acids as well. 

I used a search on nutritiondata.self.com for this and the amounts they name are based on levels per 100-gram serving. Some amino acid sources were really obscure, so I have also written them down according to if they are commonly available. 

1. Alanine is found in the highest concentrations in gelatin products, seaweed products, egg, turkey and beef. 
2. Arginine is found in the highest concentrations in more obscure food sources, but some of the higher concentrations are found in crab, shrimp, lobster and spinach.
3. Aspartic acid is found in nectarines, peaches, cherries, plums, apricots, strawberries, lime and grapefruit.
4. Cysteine is found in the highest concentrations in egg white, beef, pork, milk and halibut. The amino acid cysteine forms the disulfide bonds between the other molecules and adds rigid strength to the hair structure. The rigid strength to hair is something that seems to be underrated a lot, but it is what gives hair the ability to snap and break instead of being pulled until the structural integrity is ruined. 
5. Glutamic acid is found in the highest concentrations in soy protein products, defatted sunflower seed  and peanut flour, egg white and parmesan.
6. Glycine is found in gelatin products, pork skin, pork products in general, chicken breast, and lamb.
7. Histidine is an essential amino acid. It's found in the highest concentrations in more obscure food sources, but some of the higher concentrations are found in parmesan, deer, defatted sunflower seed  and peanut flour and pork
8. Isoleucine is an essential amino acid. Isoleucine is found in egg white, seaweeds, turkey, chicken and lamb.
9. Leucine is an essential amino acid. It's found in egg white, soy protein products, seaweed, chicken and tuna.
10. Lysine is an essential amino acid. Lysine is found in chicken, pudding, honey, canned pears, margarine and corn starch. 
11. Methionine is an essential amino acid. It's found in egg white, halibut, chicken, tuna and turkey.
12. Phenylalanine is an essential amino acid. Phenylalanine is found in pollock, grouper, tilapia, duck, chicken, turkey and shrimp.
13. Prolyne is found in gelatin products, beef products, cream cheese, cottage cheese, savoy cabbage, cheddar and Colby cheese.
14. Serine is found in egg white, soy protein products, seaweed, turkey, cottage cheese and cream cheese. 
15. Threonine is an essential amino acid. Threonine is found in watercress, seaweed, turkey and in fish like tilapia, tuna, pike and cod.
16. Tryptophan is an essential amino acid. It's found in seaweed, spinach, egg white, crab, shrimp and halibut. 
17. Tyrosine is found in seaweed, soy protein products, egg white, cottage cheese, salmon and turkey. The amino acid tyrosine is also part of the complicated process of hair producing melanin. There are two types: Pheomelanin, present in light hair and eumelanin, which is present in dark hair.
18. Valine is an essential amino acid. Valine is found in egg white, seaweed, watercress, seaweed, turkey, tuna and cod.

But how much protein should you eat? And how much of each amino acid?

That are two really good questions. And after searching a lot, I'm not sure I got a whole lot wiser!

The general answer to both seems to be pretty much: "Just eat healthy and varied!", which isn't actually that useful when you try to figure out what "eating healthy" actually is. 

1 gram of protein per 1 kg of body mass seems to be more or less generally accepted as a good level, but when it comes to how much of each amino acid.... Meh. No real answer there. I guess it doesn't help that the amazingly complicated human body is capable of creating so many amino acids out of other amino acids.

But, as my own observation: Egg white seems to be the king of amino acids. Having a bottle of egg whites in the fridge is a good choice: It keeps well, is easy to work into your food and is a nice low calorie protein booster.

High omega 3

Hair consists of about 3 % lipids, found mostly in the intercellular cement of the cortex and the cuticle.  It gives the hair a degree of impermeability and ensure the cohesion of the hair fibre. These lipids are a mixture of different types of waxes, cholesterol and fatty acids that mostly come from sebum. The process of making keratin is also done with the help of cholesterol and fatty acids. Omega 3 is also known for being anti-inflammatory, and any type of inflammation is known for causing hair loss.

α-Linolenic acid (ALA) or omega-3 is an essential fatty acid that the human body needs to get from the diet.

I used a search on nutritiondata.self.com for this too and the amounts they name are based on levels per 100-gram serving. Some omega 3 sources were really obscure, so I have also written them down according to if they are commonly available.

But foods high in omega 3 are pretty much well known. 

There are oils like flaxseed oil, walnut oil, wheatgerm oil, chia, hemp, rapeseed and avocado oil.

Nuts that often are the same as the high omega 3 oils, such as chia seeds, walnuts and pecans.

fish roe and caviar, mackerel, salmon, herring, tuna, trout, halibut, bass, 

tofu, 

Vitamins

I tried to cover this some years back, and found it to be way beyond my knowledge of human chemistry and diet. The thing with vitamins when it comes to hair care is, that yes, you can load up on biotin until your pee turns neon orange for it. Yes, biotin affects hair directly, yes, it may boost your growth rate.

But. So many other vitamins affect hair indirectly too. 

Some vitamins help maintain healthy red blood cells, which in turn deliver nutrition and oxygen to your hair. Some vitamins are necessary for a healthy immune system, and any sort of illness can affect your hair. Some vitamins are necessary to produce healthy sebum, and hair will become dry and brittle without it. Some vitamins are necessary for the body to process protein, and your hair will lose its elasticity without it.

The human chemistry is crazy complicated and everything is interlinked.

In my opinion, you should always take vitamins for your general health and not for the vanity of your hair. If you are healthy, your hair will be healthy too.

Minerals

Minerals are part of the composition of hair, and minerals take part in the process that builds the hair strands. The amount of minerals in hair varies from person to person. Minerals found in human hair include iron, magnesium, zinc, copper, lead, calcium, cadmium, chromium, copper, and silicon. I have tried to cover it here too, but minerals in hair have the same "problem" as vitamins: Some are a direct part of creating the hair structure, but a lot of them have a supporting role in keeping the rest of the body healthy. 

High sulphur

The main chemical elements present in hair are carbon (45%), oxygen (28%), nitrogen (15%), hydrogen (6.7%) and sulphur (5.3%). Sulphur is part of the amino acids methionine and cysteine, and are part of thiamin (Vitamin B1) and biotin (Vitamin H).

Sulphur is found especially in: 

• Allium vegetables: garlic, onions, scallions, leeks and shallots
• Cruciferous vegetables: arugula, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, and radishes
• Dairy products: milk, yogurt, parmesan cheese, gorgonzola and cheddar cheese
• Eggs
• Legumes: chickpeas, soy beans, faba beans, kidney beans, lentils, black beans, white beans and peas
• Meat and seafood: beef, duck, chicken, crab, lobster, scallops, shrimp, turkey and organ meats
• Nuts and seeds: almonds, brazil nuts, peanuts, pumpkin seeds, walnuts, sesame seeds, and sunflower seeds

And here again, I have to point something out: There is quite the overlap in these foods sources from other foods I have already mentioned!

Good for gut health

This is something I feel is often overlooked when you discuss diet and supplements for hair growth. If your digestive system isn't working properly, it will keep those important proteins, vitamins and minerals from being absorbed correctly. 

It's a good thing to consider getting enough fibre, probiotics and fermented food in general. The focus on feeding the good and beneficial bacteria in your digestive system luckily seems to be a trend that just wont die down. Your digestive system is the basis for everything your body can do, and even affects your brain. 

Foods like yoghurt, kefir, miso, kombucha, sauerkraut and kimchi are excellent sources for the good bacteria. 

I think the most entertaining, yet scary video I have found on the topic of diet in general, is this one:

  
Not cause weight gain

With fat soluble hormones, having excess fat will cause hormonal disturbances. This is why so many underweight and overweight people see changes in hair growth: Hair loss, changes in the structure or colour of the hair and extra hair growing in places it didn't use to be before. 

Being overweight also cause chronic inflammation in fat tissue. The fat cells themselves react to the stress with releasing pro-inflammatory chemicals that affect themselves and the immune cells. 

As it has been pointed out many times before, "Hair is very low on the body's pecking order", meaning that the human body will prioritize any other issue over hair. Any other cells or structures that needs repairs will be given the nutrition and energy over hair growth. 

Being overweight also puts you at risk of a bunch of other diseases and issues, such as type 2 diabetes, osteoarthritis, certain types of cancer, sleep apnea, fatty liver disease, high blood pressure, kidney disease, heart disease and strokes. All things you want to avoid for obvious reasons, and growing healthy hair is just a tiny, insignificant part of it.