If you’ve been feeling jealous of lush, bouncy locks while your own hair seems flat, thin, and even prone to falling out, fear not! Holistic medicine is here to help. 

Hormonal changes, nutrient deficiencies, and even stress can all impact hair growth, causing you to feel self-conscious and anxious about your hair. The secret for thick, beautiful hair is a combination of holistic remedies, specific amino acids, and functional foods to make sure you include in your diet.

These simple, but crucial changes to your hair care routine will make sure you can set the foundation for healthy hair growth naturally.

Can You Make Your Hair Thicker?

Yes, you can definitely improve the strength and thickness of your hair, especially if you’re one of many whose hair isn’t getting the nutrients and care it needs. Many women lack important amino acids, like l-cysteine, to support healthy hair growth. And even more don’t get enough omega-3 fatty acids, which help hair and skin to maintain their strength and hydration.

There are a lot of lifestyle factors that can cause our hair to thin, and often, if we can restore balance to things like our hormones, a poor diet, or a lot of lifestyle stress, we notice our hair grow longer, stronger, and thicker.

The issue of hair loss has been such a common topic among my patients that I compiled all my recommendations into an easy-to-follow master class. This course is perfect for you if you’re stressed about your thinning hair, want to regrow healthy hair, or if your hair loss is preventing you from feeling like the most vibrant version of you.

Click here for lush, healthy locks!

How To Get Thicker Hair Naturally

It’s not necessary to spend tons of money on topical products or salon visits for healthy, beautiful hair. Most often, it’s changes to our everyday routines that have the biggest impact on hair growth. 

The biggest secret? In order to have longer and thicker hair naturally, we have to make sure our hair is healthy first. Because you can’t have long gorgeous locks without first creating healthy hair. 

If you follow my holistic tips below, you’ll be on your way to growing thicker, and healthier hair starting today.

What Really Helps Your Hair Grow

Hair actually grows about ¼ to ½ an in per month–which doesn’t seem like a lot, but it adds up over time pretty quickly. The most important thing to remember is that healthy hair grows quicker than unhealthy hair.

And while there isn’t anything you can do to suddenly create explosive hair growth overnight, there are a lot of things you can do to improve your hair growth–especially if it’s growing slower than average. 

6 Holistic Hair Growth Tips

1. Massage your scalp

When we notice more hair fall or thinning hair, sometimes we feel it’s best to touch our hair and scalp as little as possible–not wanting to cause more hair to fall out. But this can actually have the opposite effect.

Massaging the scalp actually increases blood flow to hair follicles, which means they have access to more nutrients with which to grow.

The best way to do this is with an essential oil massage. My favorite recipe for a healthy hair massage is:

3-5 drops lavender essential oil

3 drops peppermint essential oil

Mixed with 4-6 oz of a carrier oil like coconut or jojoba

*If you’re working on thicker hair, you can also add 3-5 drops of cypress or rosemary essential oils

Take a look at more essential oils to help flakiness, thinning hair, or for growing hair longer! 

2. Balance hormones

Your hair is one of the most noticeable signs of hormone imbalance. I’ve experienced this personally! A number of doctors informed me that there was nothing I could do for my hair loss, even though it was happening in my early 20s. 

It wasn’t until I balanced my hormones that I learned hair loss has a root cause, and many times, it’s a sign that we’re suffering from PCOS, stress, or other hormone imbalance.

3. Eat these foods

Your hair needs nutrients! Many of the trendy “healthy” diets we see today actually deplete the body of nutrients our hair so desperately needs to be long, shiny, and healthy. For longer, thicker hair, make sure you include these foods in your diet:

Eggs are a great source of so many vitamins and minerals, especially choline, B vitamins, and biotin, which are crucial for hair growth (1). But make sure you eat the yolk! All these great nutrients aren’t present in just egg whites.

Naturally-raised poultry, grass-fed beef and animal protein are sources of easily absorbed heme iron. Iron deficiency is one of the leading deficiencies not just in the U.S. but in the world. When iron levels are low, it becomes harder for your blood to transport oxygen and nutrients throughout your body–including to your hair follicles (2). 

Kiwi, papaya, citrus, and foods rich in vitamin C can help modulate free radical damage that can block hair growth and cause hair follicles to prematurely age.Vitamin C rich foods also help to make collagen, a vital component of healthy skin, hair, and other tissues.

Salmon, fish, ground flax and chia seeds are high in omega-3 fats, which modulate inflammation around the hair follicle which can cause hair loss. Plus, these healthy fats help promote skin hydration and can help with a dry, flaky scalp (3).

4. Protect your hair at night

We often spend a lot of time on our nighttime skincare routine (this is your reminder to take your makeup off if you’re reading this at bedtime!) but often, we totally neglect nighttime hair care. 

If your hair is smashed against a rough pillowcase all night, you’ll almost surely wake up to deal with what looks like an angry animal on your head.

Your pillowcase can actually cause breakage and dryness overnight. Swap out your cotton pillowcase for satin or silk, and don’t underestimate the power of a good silk headscarf to sleep in.

5. Holistic natural hair masks and conditioners

Some of the best hair care remedies come straight from nature herself. Simple ingredients contain nourishing proteins and protective fats that promote strong and thick hair. My go-to hair growth mask is:

• ½ avocado
• 1 tablespoon honey
• ½ cup yogurt

Combine all ingredients in a bowl, and mix well. Apply to damp hair, paying special attention to any dry ends. Twist your hair up in a bun and let this mask sit for 15-30 minutes. Afterward, rinse out with lukewarm (not hot) water.

These ingredients are great for healthy hair because yogurt contains strengthening proteins, avocado provides healthy fatty acids, and honey serves as a humectant to protect moisture within your hair.

6. Take a hair vitamin

I developed Lush Locks to help the more than 12,000 patients I’ve seen in practice. I combined Ayurvedic traditions with modern science to provide the nutrients and botanicals healthy hair needs.

Quality hair vitamins can be difficult to find, as they’re frequently filled with artificial colors, additives and unnecessary fillers that can harm the body in the long-term. 

Lush Locks contains l-cysteine, an amino acid concentrated within keratin in the inner portion of a healthy hair shaft, which, when paired with amla, B vitamins, iron, help to deliver nutrients to the scalp to promote healthy hair growth (4). 

How Much Hair Loss Is Normal

We all lose about 100 strands of hair per day–give or take. If this sounds like a lot, don’t panic, it’s completely normal. 

If you’re noticing hair loss or thinning hair manly around the crown or top of your head, you may be dealing with PCOS symptoms or other hormonal imbalance.

What to watch for when you notice hair loss is new or increasing hair loss, as this can indicate more serious problems brewing beneath the surface. For example, many of my patients experience hair loss due to stress, or underlying hormone imbalance.

If you suspect or know you have PCOS, you can check this article for hair loss solutions tailored to PCOS.

Learn more about the root causes of hair loss here, and begin your journey back to a healthy, full head of hair completely naturally.

Resources

1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5582478/
2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3678013
3. https://www.naturalmedicinejournal.com/journal/2015-04/essential-fatty-acids-and-antioxidants-benefit-women-female-pattern-hair-loss
4. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6017824/