Aloe vera is one of the best herbs for healthy hair thanks to its anti-inflammatory and moisturizing benefits, plus it’s packed with important nutrients for hair growth including vitamins A and C, as well as folic acid. You can get aloe’s benefits by eating the leaves as part of your diet, or by using the juice in a gel, and even making a hair mask.
Fun fact: The aloe plant in a gel or lotion form provides a healthy dose of vitamin C since you absorb this antioxidant better through your skin than from your diet.
Aloe vera has been used for health and beauty since ancient times when Egyptian queens like Cleopatra and Nefertiti made it part of their routine, and Alexander the Great used it to treat wounds of his soldiers.
Today, you probably think of aloe vera anytime you’ve spent too much time in the sun, but this skin soothing herb is great for more serious hair and scalp conditions such as seborrheic dermatitis (dandruff) as this study showed, and even scalp psoriasis, which impacts more than 50% of people with this skin condition.
While there isn’t any scientific research that massaging just aloe vera alone onto your scalp will provide all benefits, this study found that a gel with aloe vera will not only soothe an itchy scalp, but will also improve the strength of your hair. This may lead to to less hair fall and possibly help you regrow hair. Along the same lines, this study found that a hair tonic with aloe also helped with hair growth. But both studies had aloe as one of the combined hair healthy nutrients and ingredients for the tests.
And aloe vera is good for your hair when you make it part of your regular diet since it contains multiple hair healthy vitamins, minerals, and even fatty acids.
You can eat the aloe leaf by itself, or make it a great addition to a summer smoothie. It can be a tasty topping for a breakfast acai bowl, and a surprising ingredient in a delicious salad. Just don't eat too much because it’s also a renowned laxative!
The hair healthy nutrients in the aloe plant include:
- Vitamin A – helps regulate the hair growth cycle and helps your body produce sebum to keep your hair moisturized.
- Vitamin C – a powerful antioxidant that protects hair from UV rays and gunk in the air, plus helps your body use iron to bring oxygen to the hair follicles.
- Vitamin B12 - important to fight off conditions like eczema and psoriasis (about 50% of people that struggle with psoriasis have it on their scalp).
- Folic Acid - plays a central role in DNA synthesis and cell production, like creating new keratin cells that are the main piece of your hair strands.
- Zinc - another important mineral your body needs to produce cells like keratin so you can grow long and strong hair. Plus zinc fights inflammation which can lead to hair loss.
- Amino acids - aloe is chock full of amino acids that are crucial for hair growth because they are the base ingredient your body needs to produce the keratin cells that form hair.
- Salicylic acid - one of the more popular ingredients in many face cleansers, it also helps to cleanse the scalp of buildup that can cause dandruff and other inflammation issues.
- Mucopolysaccharides can help bind moisture to your hair which is important if you have dry hair or will need to treat hair after using heated tools.
Now you know how aloe vera benefits hair whether you use an aloe based shampoo, gel, mask, or your add aloe leaves into your daily diet. If you enjoyed this article, get more just like it along with other hair health and style tips by signing up for the TELETIMES blog below.
