"Can Collagen Supplements Really Improve the Health and Growth of Your Hair?"

By now we all know that Collagen is important for the hair....we hear about people supplementing with different forms (more on that later), we're largely seeing results from collagen induction therapy, improving diets see us consume more collagen naturally.....we're on it!

So why is collagen important and why are some people supplementing for their hair?

Collagen is a protein important for our hair, skin, bones and nails and compromises around 30% of the body's total protein count. As we get older the body naturally produces less and we generally first recognise this in our faces. But these visible signs can also extend to the hair.

Reduced collagen production can lead to brittleness, loss of hair volume, hair thinning and generally less full hair. Acerbated further by environmental factors we face day to day such as pollution, UV damage and chemicals in our water (washing and drinking) and stress all gang up to be the bad guys that can further lead to less collagen....and collagen degradation.

Collagen itself is made up of long chains of amino acids and plays a vital role in maintaining the youthful appearance of our hair, helping its strength, shine and durability day to day, which in turn prevents breakage, damage and split ends. And keeps that shine we all seek, minus the dazzling and expensive products! So it's no wonder we hear many people reaching for the collagen supplements to increase that shine and physically take in the building blocks from maintaining a healthy scalp to growing beautiful healthy hair.

But you cannot supplement yourself out of a bad diet.

Say you lived on fast food and crisps every day and had a collagen supplement - would you expect to have beautiful, strong, luscious long flowing full hair?

There are different ways to boost your collagen but diet and nutrition should really be the foremost. Your diet has a HUGE impact on your gut, hormones and the epi-genetics that predispose you to some forms of hair loss that you may be able to exert some control over. A balanced diet should include lots of plenty of water, vitamin c, anti-oxidants and amino acids for collagen synthesis. Remember your hair is an extension of the health of your body so staying on top of health this way really reaps the benefits n your hair and scalp too.

For those who supplement - the jury is out on how effective this truly is. Some say take orthosilic acid...some say take hydrolysed collagen....results can vary for different people and what they are taking with them to help absorption. For anybody who is a fan of James DiNinolantonio (@drjamesdinic) he recommends getting collagen from some meats or supplementing 10-40g of HYDROLYSED collagen per day, along with 3-5g of GLYCINE up to 3 times per day and stay on top of vitamin c, copper, manganese, iron and zinc. So the obvious hair ones!

But supplements should only be a top-up to your core nutrition, to enhance your diet in a small way you are unable to get from food....but question what else you are missing from your diet. Are you checking all the boxes for what you need for healthy hair? When is the last time you had your bloods tested - do you know if you are deficient in any of the vital vitamins and minerals for happy healthy hair and scalp? And more dangerously - are you blindly supplementing because you've heard a latest trend and think it can't do any harm (I made a typo writing this and typed "hairm" and I feel it's more accurate than the intended word!", well over supplementing can be DANGEROUS! Over-supplementing when you potentially don't need something (I and many Trichologists I know are yet to find a single patient deficient in biotin and yet so many people take it blindly in multivitamins or those specifically for hair). Some supplements build up in the body whilst others are flushed out naturally - do you know which is which? Over-supplementing iron without a medical professional and regular blood tests can be fatal.

So I advocate collagen supplements? I advocate a healthy balanced diet specific to your individual needs (including you gut , allergies or imbalances) if you want to fight back against hair loss and unwelcome scalp conditions. I see hair growth results in healthy diet and physical collagen induction therapy....microneedling! I use this for different forms of hair thinning, hair shedding, male or female pattern hair loss. This is a whole different form of collagen stimulation we haven't even covered this time (it's a post ALL in itself) And what would I microneedle with...and how?? Amino acids, nutrients, peptides and all those lovely things we know have clinical reason for introducing with topical absorption.

More on this later. Go have a snack :)