Ayurvedic Secrets for Stronger, Healthier Hair

While we often laugh off hair loss in men as a sign of poor aging, it can be emotionally devastating. It’s about more than just appearance—hair loss can shake your confidence and leave you feeling frustrated, especially when you feel like nothing is working. And while hair loss is often talked about as being a male-only problem, women experience it too and frequently find it even more emotionally challenging.

Fortunately, Ayurveda, the ancient system of natural healing, has been tackling hair loss for centuries. Instead of just treating the symptoms, Ayurveda looks at the bigger picture. Factors like stress, digestion, and lifestyle habits are all examined and adjusted to help people experiencing hair loss find naturally restorative, lasting methods to bring both hair and body back to a healthier state.

The Ayurvedic View on Hair Loss

Ayurveda teaches that hair is more than just a physical attribute; it’s an outward sign of the body’s health. Healthy, shiny, strong hair is a sign of overall good health, while dull, damaged, and receding hair indicates poor health.

As with many health issues, Ayurveda explains that hair loss results from an imbalance of one of the body’s doshas. The three doshas—vata, pitta, and kapha—are the body’s energy sources that control different functions within the body and mind. Hair loss can be explained by an imbalance of either the pitta or the vata dosha.

Pitta Imbalance

The pitta dosha is linked to the fire element and is strongly affected by heat. When your body acquires too much pitta, it causes an excess of heat in the body. This can lead to inflamed hair follicles and weakened hair roots, causing thinning and balding.

Vata Imbalance

The vata dosha controls movement, including the movement of nutrients throughout the body. When the vata dosha becomes imbalanced, the body has a harder time distributing nutrients to the hair cells. This can lead to a dry scalp, lifeless hair, split ends, and thinning or hair loss.

Additionally, Ayurvedic healers teach that our body is chiefly governed by the vata dosha in old age, starting at 60. Because of this, people in the middle of old age are particularly susceptible to hair loss when the vata dosha becomes imbalanced.

Other Ayurvedic Explanations for Hair Loss

While the body’s doshas often account for many health problems, even a perfectly balanced person might experience hair loss. There are a number of other reasons why we can experience hair loss.

Stress

Whether you’re highly familiar with Ayurveda or just learning about it, you likely know that stress can cause all sorts of health problems. Not only can stress and anxiety lead to an imbalance of the vata dosha, but they also negatively impact the adrenal glands, too. When the adrenal glands become overactive, the body experiences all kinds of hormonal imbalances that are responsible for hair loss.

Poor Diet and Digestion

It’s a well-known fact that eating poorly is one of the most common causes of bad health. But you may be surprised to learn that an unhealthy diet and poor digestion can also cause hair loss.

The pitta dosha is responsible for nutrition. When it becomes unbalanced—sometimes due to a diet containing too many spicy, oily, or processed foods—the body can experience digestive issues as a result. When this happens, toxins, or ama, accumulate in the body, weakening and thinning hair.

Poor Circulation

Many people have cold hands and feet associated with poor circulation, but few realize that hair can also be affected. When blood has difficulty reaching your scalp, your hair follicles are deprived of nutrients crucial for hair growth. Once again, a dosha—the vata dosha, responsible for movement in the body—causes poor circulation.

Hormonal and Genetic Factors

Sometimes, the factors responsible for hair loss aren’t easy to identify. This is often the case when hormonal imbalances or genetic factors are to blame. Hormonal imbalances are often linked to excess levels of the pitta or vata doshas, negatively affecting the natural cycles of hair growth. Other conditions that affect hormones can also impact hair growth.

Nearly everyone understands that genetics play a big part in hair loss. While this can make it difficult to completely prevent hair loss, understanding your individual prakriti, or makeup, can help you maintain an ideal dosha balance and keep your hair healthy.

Environmental Influences

Because the pitta dosha is so closely linked to hair loss and heat, environmental factors can also affect hair loss. Spending too much time in the heat or sunlight can cause an imbalance of the pitta dosha and harm your hair follicles. Additionally, pollution, chemicals, and other harsh environmental factors can damage hair growth.

Ayurvedic Remedies for Hair Loss

While the list of potential causes for hair loss seems frighteningly long, the good news is that the list of Ayurvedic remedies for hair loss is even longer. No matter the cause of your hair loss, booking a Vaidya consultation for hair loss can help you manage your symptoms and encourage healthy hair growth.

Rather than masking your symptoms with a prescription or steroid, Ayurveda encourages healing from within. This not only helps the body in a more gentle and natural way, but it often solves multiple problems at once that people hadn’t realized were connected.

Because of Ayurveda’s holistic nature, the approach to managing symptoms is a highly individualized process. What works for one person may not work for another, which is why it’s so important to consult with an Ayurvedic practitioner to find the root of your hair loss.

With that in mind, here are some of the many potential Ayurvedic remedies for hair loss.

Ayurvedic Oils

When someone suffers from poor circulation, one of the best remedies is to massage the affected area with warm Ayurvedic oils. Whether or not poor circulation is to blame, Ayurvedic oil massages can be highly effective—and they feel wonderful, too.

Some oils are ideal for hair loss, including:

• Almond oil: Almond oil is known around the world to restore shine, reduce breakage, and soften the hair.
• Amla oil: Rich in nourishing and strengthening vitamins and minerals, amla oil strengthens hair and improves scalp circulation.
• Bhringraj oil: Bhringraj oil not only helps promote hair growth, but it’s also said to prevent premature graying, reduce stress, and promote relaxation.
• Coconut oil: The rich fatty acids in coconut oil are wonderfully moisturizing, helping to nourish the scalp, reduce dryness, and protect hair follicles.
• Neem oil: Neem oil’s antimicrobial properties are excellent for reducing dryness and irritation as well as keeping the scalp clean and healthy.

Ayurvedic Supplements

Ayurveda often focuses on herbs and supplements to give your body the nutrients it needs to help manage your symptoms. In addition to oils, these supplements help with hair loss, but the best Ayurvedic supplements for hair growth will depend on your Vaidya’s recommendation for your body.

• Ashwaganda: In addition to helping lower stress levels (one of the main causes of hair loss), ashwaganda helps balance hormone levels that may be causing additional hair loss.
• Brahmi: Like ashawaganda, brahmi calms the nervous system to reduce stress-induced hair loss. It also promotes hair growth and rejuvenates the roots.
• Fenugreek: A supplement rich in proteins, fenugreek helps strengthen hair to reduce breakage and thinning.
• Hibiscus: Hibiscus is a nourishing supplement that acts as a natural conditioner, making hair shiny, reducing split ends, and promoting growth.

Dietary Adjustments

Adjusting your diet is one of the best ways to help manage your symptoms, especially when it comes to hair loss. While the specific diet that’s best for you will depend on your prakriti and the cause of your hair loss, you can make some general changes.

• Eat iron-rich foods (leafy greens, pomegranates, and nuts) to stimulate blood flow and bring nutrients to your scalp.
• Eat cooling foods (cucumbers and melons) and avoid spicy, oily, and highly processed foods to rebalance the pitta dosha.
• Eat foods containing healthy fats (avocados, nuts, olive oil, and ghee) to nourish your hair follicles and moisturize the scalp.
• Eat protein-rich foods (lean meats, dairy, eggs, and lentils) to strengthen your hair.
• Drink plenty of water to keep your body and scalp hydrated.
• Add Ayurvedic herbs (fenugreek, turmeric, and coriander) and colorful vegetables (carrots and sweet potatoes) to your diet to balance the doshas and provide nutrients to your hair and scalp.

Lifestyle Changes

No matter your prakriti, dosha imbalances, or necessary dietary changes, there are several lifestyle practices you can implement into your daily routine to help reduce hair loss and promote the growth of healthy, strong hair.

• Manage stress. Stress and anxiety are major causes of hair loss. You can help mitigate your stress levels by practicing yoga, deep breathing, and meditation.
• Get enough sleep. Many people don’t get enough hours of good-quality sleep, causing a domino effect of problems, including hair loss. Implementing a regular sleep routine with enough sleeping hours helps keep your hormones balanced and your stress levels low.
• Exercise regularly. Exercise lowers stress levels, rebalances the doshas, removes toxins, and improves circulation. Adding regular exercise to your routine can help support overall health and stimulate hair growth.
• Care for your hair. Don’t expose your hair to too much sun or harsh, dry weather. Be gentle when brushing your hair, use natural shampoos and conditioners, and regularly use warm oil massages on your scalp.
• Pay attention to the seasons. When it’s hot outside, focus on cooling herbs and foods. In the winter, use warm oil massages and warming herbs in your diet to help keep your doshas balanced year-round.

Ayurveda: The Naturally Effective Route to Healthy Hair

Many people these days look for a quick fix to get their health back. Prescriptions and steroids are extremely common, and engineered solutions for hair loss are no exception.

However, the natural remedies prescribed by the Ayurvedic tradition can be just as effective yet far more gentle on the body. Adding healthy habits, dietary changes, and Ayurvedic supplements for hair loss into your lifestyle can help you manage your hair loss symptoms and naturally promote strong, healthy hair from within.