Your hair can tell a story about your health and thinning hair can be a frustrating narrative. Thinning hair doesn’t have to be one of those elements of your health you have no control over. It’s actually just the opposite, there are at home remedies and easy steps you can take to reduce thinning hair. From scalp massages, to the foods and nutrients you consume, here are some easily accessible natural remedies for thinning hair. 

What’s the Cause of Thinning Hair? 

Hair thinning occurs when there are less hair follicles and strands of hair in areas decreasing hair volume.

There are several different reasons why people experience thinning hair. Understanding the underlying causes is important to taking the right steps to stop thinning hair. There are some things you can’t control like genetics. However, there are a ton of lifestyle factors that can impact hair thickness. You might check the box for a few of these reasons and that’s totally normal. Some potential lifestyle habits for your hair thinning are: 

• Over processing hair, which includes coloring, chemical straightening or perms, unprotected exposure to heat tools

• Chronically putting your hair in tight styles or updos for hours (aka buns, ponytails, braids)

• Postpartum hormone levels can cause a loss of hair, this is only applicable to those moms out there. The peak of hair thinking is after 4 months of giving birth. The good news is that hair growth should resume after a few months after your peak. 

• Nutritional deficiencies (folic acid, iron, protein, other minerals)

• Daily high levels of the stress hormone cortisol circulating

You may be thinking the reason WHY behind your thinning hair, is related to one or more of these causes. Besides reducing how many times a year you dye your hair or have to wear your hair in a certain updo for daily work and life, there are still some other natural remedies to help stimulate hair follicle growth even with these habits still in your life. 

Scalp massage

Have you ever thought your hair grew faster and felt healthier after getting your hair done by your hairstylist? You're not crazy! The massage from your stylist actually helps produce more circulation to your hair follicles to help grow more hair. 

We love this tip because it’s the most natural and easiest way to help stop hair thinning. The increased blood flow to your scalp helps to stimulate new follicle growth. Additionally, it provides nutrients to existing follicles to help strengthen the hair you already have. 

The easiest way to do this is to spend an extra few minutes washing your hair, gently massaging your scalp. When you are using  shampoo or conditioner use your fingertips to gently create small circles to increase blood flow. To reduce knots, do this during your conditioner or after putting on a hair mask. 

There are metal claw massagers that can be placed by your bed or to give yourself a message. I reccomend doing this when work is stressing you out or to relax before you go to sleep. No water required! 

Let your hair down 

One major cause of hair thinning is from the tension on your follicles. Wearing an updo or any style that pulls your hair tight in one direction, it can be adding to thinning. Trying to minimize the stress on your follicle reduces losing more hairs. Try these tips out: 

• Keep it simple with your hair down as much as possible. 
• Opt for a loose ponytail or braid 
• Try a visor when out in the sun. There is less friction on the hair on the top of your head than wearing a baseball cap. 

Reduce cortisol 

This stress hormone can be quite a big barrier in the natural cycle of new follicle growth. When cortisol is circulating chronically and above normal throughout the day, new follicles are unable to grow. Instead of your hair follicles being in an active stage of growth, cortisol triggers then to enter into a rest stage. 

Adding some mindful stress management practices in your life can benefit in many ways, so if you have been considering adding mediation or breath work into your routine, then you might also see an impact on your hair health.

For more on stress and for some healthy coping mechanisms, check out this article 11 Coping Mechanisms For Stress. 

Biotin

Getting into some of the nutrients involved in your hair health, Biotin or vitamin B7 is a big factor in your hair, skin, and nails. If you're consuming a variety of nuts, seeds, legumes and proteins probably means your biotin levels are in the normal range. Since most people are in a healthy range of biotin there isn’t much of a need to supplement this nutrient. However there is research to support a biotin deficiency that can lead to hair thinning. Checking your levels could help rule out if this nutrient is the root cause. 

If you're interested in testing your Biotin levels to see if your low and could be the cause of your thinning hair, then check out Vessel Health’s at home wellness test. Just with a simple pee test in the morning, you can see if your Biotin levels are supporting your hair, nails, and skin health. I

The other benefit of testing your biotin levels with Vessel’s at home test and app, is the ability to then get Vessel Fuel, a custom vitamin created based on your levels. These high quality supplements are personalized formulas that support your wellness and hair health. And you always have the ability to add on other nutrients like Biotin to your personalized formula to support your health goals. 

Selenium

This mineral can play a big role in supporting healthy hair growth and also can be a cause of hair loss. Selenium imbalance can increase oxidative stress and trigger hair loss. The maximum upper limit of selenium consumption is 400mcg.

One way to make sure you are consuming enough selenium to support healthy hair growth but not over doing it, is to consume it in a natural food form. One easy way to get in your daily amount is by including Brazil nuts into your daily routine. Just by consuming 1- 3 Brazil nuts per day provides your body with 96-288mcg. Brazil nuts have antioxidant properties and can help support healthy thyroid function.

Omega fatty acids

Did you know a deficiency in omega 3s can cause hair loss and thinning? Not consuming enough omega 3s in your diet could also change hair texture and thickness. Omega 3s are important to maintain those health oils on your scalp to promote healthy hair growth. A study found that the participants that took a daily omega-3, omega-6, and other antioxidant supplement, had increased hair growth and improved hair density. 

Try to incorporate more foods rich in the omega fatty acids or consider trying a supplement to improve hair growth. Some good food source include: 

• Fatty fish (salmon, tuna, mackerel, sardines) 
• Flaxseed and Chia seeds
• Walnuts

Folate

Another important micronutrient on the list of elements that could be causing hair loss is Folate. This nutrient has a few different names, folate is also Vitamin B-9 and in the supplement form is folic acid. Folate is the natural form of this vitamin found in food and has more glutamate residues which makes it less bioavailable than its sister form folic acid. In most dietary supplements and food products this vitamin is in the folic acid form. 

Folate has a big role in healthy cell growth so it plays an important part in reducing thinning hair. Since you naturally lose hair daily, being able to reproduce new follicles is key to reducing the appearance of thinning hair. There is also some research to support that folic acid taken regularly improves hair growth and volume, and also may help to reduce the rate of premature graying hair.  

Ashwagandha

If you are facing chronic or acute stress in your life, this nutrient might be important to help reduce side effects of stress, like mentioned above it can impair hair growth and reduce new follicles from developing. Ashwagandha has been used as herbal medicine because it’s a powerful adaptogen. When you have stress and cortisol level circulating, adaptogens help adapt to the stressful state to normalize internal processes. With all the uncontrollable stressors in modern life, reducing the amount of time you are in a high stress state, can only improve your hair and skin health. 

Use a Silk Pillowcase

You may have never thought that your pillowcase could be contributing to hair loss. Cotton and linen can cause friction between your hair and the pillow case. Try out using a silk pillowcase to reduce the friction between your strands when you're moving around and adjusting your sleep position at night. 

The added benefit of silk pillow cases include reducing morning hair frizz and long term could help with reducing formation of facial fine lines and wrinkles. 

Special Shampoo

Shampoos can play a big role in your hair texture, how it falls, and strength. If you are looking to boost volume in your hair to help reduce the appearance of thinning hair while you are working on getting to the internal root cause, switching up your shampoo can be a big help. Also getting a deep clean at the roots of your hair helps to clear away any build up that might be reducing your hair growth. Choose a high quality shampoo that promotes volume to increase the look of fullness of your hair. 

Essential oils 

There has been some promising research done that shows decreased hair thinning when certain essential oils are applied to the scalp. The key factor here is also messaging a skin-safe essential oil into your scalp to get the full benefit and increase circulation. Like mentioned above, increasing blood flow to the scalp muscles helps to get the full benefits of the hair promoting properties of the oils. The most commonly researched support essential oil to reduce thinning hair is a lavender essential oil. 

Conclusion

Now you know some different methods to stop thinning hair and you’re totally on board with reducing stress daily with a hair down meditation followed by a self performed nice scalp massage to end your day. Also if you feel your diet and lifestyle might not be meeting your needs for all your vitamins and minerals, like the ones mentioned above for supporting healthy hair growth, then check out Vessel Fuel. This is a unique supplement that is personalized to YOU based on your biometrics, wellness goals, and results from your at home pee test. They also include those healthy hair minerals like Omega3’s, Ashwagandha, Biotin, and Folate. Check out Vessel Health today to see how you can optimize your health to make sure you’re meeting all your nutrient levels to stop thinning hair.