Do You Really Need Vitamins Or Supplements To Grow Black Hair Long?

Separate the fact from the fiction in black hair growth. 

Hair vitamin pills and potions are rampant on the internet and health food stores but do they actually work or are the results tangible enough to make them worth it?

The truth is hair grows at an average of 6-10 inches per year, the exact rate of your hair growth being genetic. The human body works in such a way that food consumed will provide energy to the brain, heart, lungs and all other major organs before it is converted into the protein required to build hair and nails. In layman’s terms, hair and nails take a back seat in the body’s daily food distribution!

Hair growth in one person can vary depending mostly on external influences. If the person is malnourished, the hair growth will be stunted as the body will prioritize more important bodily functions. A lot of stress will have much the same effect including increased shedding of the hair.

B complex vitamins as well as Vitamin C, E and Zinc are known to play a part in hair growth. Many of the hair growth pills on the market today contain these vitamins in a variety of combinations. The principal is if you are over consuming these vitamins, then the body will grow the hair and nails at a faster rate. The human body however has its own ideas. Unfortunately, if these vitamins are in excess of the body’s needs, they are just removed as waste. The vitamins are certainly helpful to people who are lacking in them. They can help fill in the gap that daily food intake does not fill hence ‘normalizing’ the hair growth which can be seen as an increase in growth.

Some people may notice a jump in hair growth for the first month or so of taking these vitamins. This is likely due to the increase in the nutrition the body has been lacking by consuming an imbalanced diet. The hair growth will then stabilize to its ‘genetic norm’ for that particular person. Unfortunately, the vitamins will not cause the hair to grow fast enough to make the pills worth the money as they also tend to be quite expensive.

The only known time that hair will grow at a faster rate is during pregnancy and this is due to the change in hormones in the body. Many believe that taking pre natal vitamins even when not pregnant will have the same effect but this is simply not true.

The truth is, if you are eating a balanced diet, drinking plenty of water, exercising and taking good care of your hair, it will flourish. With black hair care this includes washing the hair with sulfate free shampoos which will not dry out the hair, deep conditioning after every wash and keeping it strengthened with protein treatments. This should help tremendously with length retention and coupled with a good protein rich diet and exercise, your hair will reach greater lengths than you ever imagined!

In this fast world of convenience meals that we live in, it can be difficult to get all the vitamins and minerals that we need daily and it is estimated that 60% of us are deficient in one vitamin or other. It may be worth your while to try a hair growth vitamin, you will be able to tell in the first 3-4 months if it has enhanced your hair growth.

Author Bio

BHI – has written 198 posts.

BlackHairInformation.com is the brainchild of myself Alma Campbell. I am a homemaker, a mother and a writer. I started the website in mid 2008 with breaking relaxed hair. After making the decision to transition to natural hair, I have now fulfilled my dream of healthy long hair and I want you to achieve the same. My favourite subject is hair and I continue to blog about my hair journey here but I also write a weight loss blog LessFoodMoreLife.com

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Posted by BHI on February 14, 2010. Filed under Hair Problems. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry