This week I am writing about healthy nails after receiving a request, via our Facebook page (Facebook.com/MorecambeHealthFoods), for an article on that topic.
Healthy Nails are often spoken about in the same breath as healthy hair. This is because the growth of hair and healthy nails are affected by the same nutrients and issues. For this reason many of the products we sell for strengthening the nails will also be beneficial for brittle or falling hair.
The main considerations for strong and long nails and hair are:
SILICEA –
This important mineral is involved in providing the structure onto which healthy hair and nails are built. It provides the strength and structure. It is therefore the best product to choose if you are struggling with weak or splitting hair or nails. We have had some great feedback on this – in fact I started using this myself late last year when I noticed that my nails had started to peel and break quite a lot. You do have need to be patient because you have to grow new nails – which takes around three months, but I have to say that my nails are now one hundred percent better – no flaking or peeling and they are growing really well – as is my hair!
IRON –
This is particularly important for women. Partly due to menstruation and also many of us eat very little red meat – the main source of dietary iron.
People often think that iron only affects the blood and energy levels – but low iron levels can also affect the hair and nails. Low iron levels can lead the hair to become quite thin, as you will have less active hair follicles. With the nails it can cause ‘spoon shaped’ nails to grow – with a real dip in the middle, the nails could also be really brittle, if iron levels are low. If you suspect this could be the case – it may be worth using a good iron supplement like Solgars Hematinic Formula for a month or so.
THYROID FUNCTION –
If you have ridges in your nails, weak, brittle or falling hair and you are struggling with weight issues, it could be worth getting your thyroid levels checked. Your thyroid is a major part of your metabolism, so most people know that it can have an impact on weight loss or gain. But low levels of thyroid hormone can also lead to problems with hair and nails, low energy, low mood and problems with temperature regulation. If this sounds like you – find out your thyroid levels. Sometimes your thyroid may not be bad enough you to need medication, but a ‘borderline’ type reading could still give rise to the problems we have listed here. We have seen many people with lower thyroid readings find benefit from a thyroid support supplement including an increase in energy and weight loss and an improvement in their hair and nails.
Tag: hair
Natural help for Healthy Hair
- A Fabulous mane of hair.Arno Meintjes Wildlife / Foter.com / CC BY-NC
One question we get asked a lot is whether we have anything to help them get healthy hair. The answer we tend to offer is that we have a choice of three things – all for slightly different problems.
For those suffering with badly falling hair, which may have resulted in small bald patches or where the scalp itself has become visible, we tend to suggest a supplement called pil-food. We have had some great reports on this over the years, with many women and even a few men telling us that it has really helped them and that after 3-6 months they have healthy hair. We have also had a few hairdressers send people in to buy pil-food as they have seen some good results on their clients.
For those worried about brittle hair, which breaks easily, maybe accompanied with breaking or brittle nails, we suggest the mineral Silecea. Silecea is involved in supporting the strength and structure of hair, skin and nails. Therefore supplementing with it should help to strengthen the hair and nails and reduce breakage. Again we have had some great reports from this, with a number of the girls who work in the shop also using it and saying that they do think it has helped them get stronger healthy hair.
The final remedy we look at is one I used personally last year when I noticed that my hair was thinning and my hairbrush filling – a supplement called Florisene.
Based on research into what causes hair loss in women specifically, Florisene contains good doses of iron, l-lysine, vitamin C and B12. It was developed after looking at research into the main causes of hair loss in women aged 18-50. It has been shown that iron losses every month during their period causes many women, whilst not actually anaemic, to end up with low iron stores. Low iron stores are thought to play a role in hair loss in women. However the people developing Florisene knew that iron was not the whole solution on it’s own as many women suffering with hair loss had been given iron supplements which had not really helped.
The developers then discovered that there were two additional factors to take into account:
The absorbability of the iron. Many people do not want to take iron supplements because they fear they may upset their stomach or cause constipation. The answer here was to ensure that they used a really absorbable iron, combine it with vitamin C to really boost absorption and divide the required 72mg dose between 3 tablets rather than taking it all in one hit. These measures ensure that even the most sensitive sort should not get upset by the iron in Florisene.
The fact that many women do not eat a lot a red meat. Low consumption of red meat does contribute to low iron, but it can also mean low levels of B12 and l-lysine and it was apparently the addition of these two nutrients which made the difference. Taking the combination of nutrients used in florisene was shown to be much more effective than using any of the same nutrients individually, in fact in one trial 95% of women who tried Florisene saw significant improvements.
These points particularly rang true for me, I do not eat any red meat and have not done since I was a teenager, I also exercise regularly therefore it was highly likely that as a menstruating woman I would have low iron stores.
One of the other key factors though is time and patience – it can take up to three months to get your iron store back up to where they should be and to start to see results. Patience when you are worried about hair loss and trying to achieve healthy hair is not always an easy thing to find. I would say though that it is definitely worth a try for those who are worried about this hair and who do not eat red meat regularly. I certainly saw an improvement in my hair, after two months the amount coming out in my shower and my hairbrush had significantly reduced. After six months I stopped taking it as my hair was back to its usual good thickness and was growing really well again.
If you would like to try some florisene for yourself
“click here”