Can caffeine be a good thing when it comes to hair growth? When it comes to your diet, you may already know that what you eat impacts the way your hair grows. Often, this focuses on the bad. Eating the wrong foods or too few of the good foods can cause your hair to stop growing or even to thin out. Yet, when it comes to finding the right solution for your hair, you may want to think about the use of caffeine. In fact, if you are drinking coffee each day, you may be seeing some improvements in your hair growth. How does that work?
Why Does Caffeine Matter to Hair?
Caffeine benefits your hair in various ways. Now, that does not mean you should drink six cups of coffee per day or get in all of the caffeine you can. There are limits to how much it can work. However, there are several ways that caffeine may be beneficial to your hair that is worth that one cup a day rule. It may help, for example, to limit the amount of damage you get on your hair. That is because it helps to support your hair overall and encourages the use of vitamins and minerals into your body that your follicles need to function at their best.
But why does this happen? A key reason for this is a hormone called DHT. This hormone is one of the most common to cause hair loss to occur. That’s because, when this hormone is present in abnormal levels, it can prevent many of the nutrients your body needs to function from being accessed. For example, the proteins, minerals, and vitamins taken in cannot be used as readily by your hair follicles to help encourage growth.
Caffeine works to stop this from occurring. It works to encourage your hair cells to produce another hormone, this one called ATP. This works somewhat on the opposite side of the process. ATP is a type of energy that works specifically to encourage the consumption of nutrients. This can then help to encourage hair growth.
Another reason caffeine matters is because it is a natural tool for increasing the circulation of your oxygen-rich blood to the scalp. As a result, it helps to get that oxygen and nutrient base from your bloodstream into your cells, encouraging hair growth.
How Does It Really Help?
There are some studies being done to look at how and why this may work. However, what we know is that the use of caffeine may help to increase hair growth. It helps to extend the hair growth cycle, increasing a person’s hair growth an average of 33 percent.
What About Products You Add to Your Hair?
You may notice a lot of caffeine-based products coming on the market. These hair care products are designed to apply the caffeine directly to the scalp, therefore skipping the natural digestion process. These are often massaged into the hair, and, when they are, they help to stimulate natural blood flow in the area. Because this area is receiving a higher amount of oxygen-rich blood, the hair is likely to grow faster and stronger here. When it comes to choosing to drink your caffeine or to get it in a topical product, remember that it is best to use topical products to limit your consumption.
What About Too Much Coffee?
Here’s a big problem. While having that cup of coffee a day can help to encourage healthy hair growth, also note that drinking too much can cause hair loss to occur as well. Consuming too much caffeine can stunt the growth of hair during the hair growth cycle. It can work to slow down this process, meaning your hair may not regrow quickly. It’s all about getting just enough coffee or caffeine into your diet.
Also, remember that caffeine isn’t just in the coffee that you drink. Are you drinking caffeine-based sodas or energy drinks? Tea contains a significant amount of it. It is also in chocolate. When you consider all of these factors, it becomes clear that caffeine, when used properly, can help to encourage hair growth without causing hair loss. Yet, it is always important to try to use the most natural products.
Contact the hair specialists at Unique Hair Concepts to learn more.
