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Collagen For Hair Growth – What Can This Supplement Do For Your Hair?

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By Leslie Waterson

Reviewed by Juliana Tamayo, MS, RDN - Last Updated

Collagen For Hair Growth

If you’ve spent any time on social media over the last year, then chances are you have come across collagen supplements at one point or another. These supplements are beneficial in helping with a variety of issues, from hair growth to elasticity to simply wanting healthy hair.

As we age, our body’s natural production of collagen decreases. This is part of the reason that over time, our skin begins to age more, our bones get weaker, and our hair gets thinner. That is why it’s crucial to eat a diet that supports the production of collagen. The issue is, we can’t always be sure we’re getting all the collagen we need, and that’s where collagen supplements come in! They can make sure your body is getting the amount of collagen it needs to provide benefits for your bones, skin, and – of course – your hair.

Are you now wondering if collagen can help with your mane? You want to make sure it stays luscious and long, and you definitely don’t want brittle, thinning hair. So, how does collagen for hair growth work? If that’s your question, you’re in the right place. If you want to know more about collagen and how it can help with your hair growth, then let’s get started!

Collagen For Hair

What is Collagen?

Collagen is a specific type of protein that is responsible for binding the connective tissues of our skin, hair, nails, ligaments, and even our muscles. In a way, collagen is responsible for making our overall looks look younger and keeps us from the effects of aging – and in the case of hair, it can protect us from age-related balding, though only to a certain extent. Collagen plays an important role in many bodily functions and support systems. In fact, it’s the most abundant protein in the body, making up 30-40% of the body’s protein.

Our body naturally produces collagen. However, as we age – in some cases, as early as 25 years old – our collagen production begins to gradually decline. Therefore, to get the right amount of collagen, we need to take it from outside sources such as foods and dietary supplements. These supplements can help with hair growth, support the structure of hair follicles, and neutralize free radicals.

Benefits of Collagen for Hair Growth

There are a variety of benefits to taking collagen supplements, but today we are focusing on the benefits in regards to hair growth. From supporting hair follicles to providing proteins, to stopping your hair from prematurely thinning, these supplements can be extremely helpful. Whether you take collagen peptides, collagen powder, or even a multi-collagen supplement, there are different benefits to each type. For now, let’s examine three of the top assets of collagen for hair support.

Collagen Support Hair Growth

1) Collagen Supplements Stimulate Natural Collagen Production

One of the best things about taking collagen supplements is that, aside from supplementing your body with collagen, you are encouraging your body to produce its collagen. So, it’s like getting two benefits by just taking collagen supplements – you are getting more collagen from the supplement, and you are increasing your own body’s natural collagen by encouraging its production.

2) Collagen Moisturizes Hair

Collagen helps in moisturizing the hair because of its ability to bind with water. If you take collagen supplements that have hyaluronic acid in them, their moisturizing effects will increase.

A moisturized hair is essential for hair health because it makes the hair thicker, stronger, and shinier. On the other hand, dull hair is more prone to damage.

3) Collagen is a Great Antioxidant and Anti-Inflammatory Compound

As an antioxidant, collagen protects your hair and whole body from aging by fighting off free radicals, which is one of the major causes of aging. Also, with its anti-inflammatory properties, collagen can protect you from chronic inflammation, which is the cause of major health problems, including balding for hair health.

How Collagen Affects Hair Growth

Like most problems, hair loss is generally caused by our body’s lack of sufficient nutrients and compounds such as collagen. But aside from that, hair loss happens because our body does not simply prioritize our hair when there’s a shortage of nutrients and other essential compounds. This probably explains why hair loss (in varying degrees) is very common to all of us. When our body realizes that it does not have as many nutrients as it needs, it allocates the remaining nutrients it has to the more important parts of our body, such as our brain and heart.

That being said, one of our main priorities to prevent hair loss and deal with other hair problems is by taking enough collagen to get its best effect for our body. Once we have enough collagen (and other vitamins and minerals), our body will return to its normal distribution and will take care of our hair even more. In these instances, it can lead to hair growth since our body enjoys enough nutrients such as collagen to keep going.

As mentioned earlier, collagen also aids in moisturizing our hair, which is very important to keep our hair strong, thick, and shiny. By keeping our hair healthy, hair loss won’t be much of a problem.

Best Food Sources of Collagen

Some may think that collagen can only be taken through dietary supplements, but that is far from the truth. Although we’ll deal with supplements later, let’s take a look at how we can get collagen through our diet alone.

Here are the 4 best food sources of collagen that you should consider adding to your diet.

Bone Broth

The best way to get collagen is to eat where it comes from cartilage! But of course, nobody likes to eat cartilage, but there’s another way to get its benefits: by eating bone broth. Bone broth is simply a stock that comes from a pig, beef, chicken, or any animal bone. Bone broths are simply delicious to begin with, plus you’ll get the collagen it has!

There are plenty of bone broth options out there, making this an easy addition to any diet. There are even some popular choices within the supplement industry like Organixx Organic Bone Broth Protein, Terra Origin, and Kettle & Fire Bone Broth.

Bone broth is Food Source of Collagen

Eggs

 If you love eggs, then we have good news for you! Eggs are rich in collagen, especially their whites. But to get the best of it, consume both the white and the yolk because the yolk makes the whites more bioavailable, hence making it more digestible to your body. Besides, whites are simply not tasty without the yolk.

Citrus

Unlike the first two in this list, citrus does not provide any collagen at all. However, what it does provide is vitamin C, a vitamin that is essential for collagen production. Without it, it will be hard or possibly even impossible to kickstart your body’s natural collagen production.

Salmon

Like citrus, salmon barely provides us with collagen (it may have some collagen, unlike citrus, but it’s very low). But what it does provide is zinc and omega-3 fatty acids, both of which are also key components in our body’s collagen production. This works as building blocks to support other things as well, like keratin proteins.

Best Collagen Supplements

Now that we discussed some of the best food sources for collagen intake, let’s now discuss some of the best collagen supplements which you can try out. Here are our 4 collagen supplements that we recommend you to try out.

1) LiveWell

Best Collagen Supplements-LiveWell Collagen Peptides

LiveWell Collagen Peptides is one of the most popular collagen supplements in the market today, especially when skin, hair, and nail refreshment is what you’re looking for. LiveWell’s collagen is mostly focused on providing not only replenishment to your skin, hair, and nails, but also provides anti-aging effects, which are very important if you are to look younger.

LiveWell Collagen Peptides provides up to 41 servings, and it is friendly for the ketogenic and Paleo diet.

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2) Vitauthority

Best Collagen Supplement-Vit Authority Multi Collagen Protein

Vitauthority is another well-known collagen supplement in the market today. Vitauthority Multi Collagen Protein boasts not only its complete set of collagen types – Type I, Type II, Type III, Type V, and Type X – but it also contains hyaluronic acid and vitamin C. As mentioned earlier, hyaluronic acid improves the moisturizing effects of a collagen supplement while vitamin C is essential in kickstarting the natural production of collagen in our body. Also, having vitamin C is simply great because it boosts the antioxidant effects of the supplement.

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3) Tone it Up

Best Collagen Supplement-Tone It Up Marine Collagen

Tone It Up Marine Collagen is a collagen supplement that is made to support our skin health, replenish collagen in the cartilage, and promote fuller and stronger hair. Tone It Up Marine Collagen is packed with 10g of collagen, so you’ll get enough collagen to meet your body’s needs.

Tone It Up Marine Collagen is gluten-free, sugar-free, non-GMO, and it is Kosher Certified.

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4) Great Lakes Gelatin

Best Collagen Supplement-Great Lakes Gelatin Collagen Hydrolysate

Last but not least, we have the Great Lakes Gelatin Collagen Hydrolysate! What’s amazing with this supplement is that Great Lakes Gelatin is, being a collagen hydrolysate supplement, is only made up of one ingredient, and that, of course, is collagen. Great Lakes Gelatin contains 12g of collagen hydrolysate, so you’ll get a lot from this supplement.

Great Lakes Gelatin provides beauty benefits such as benefits for the skin and support for nails and hair. It also provides health benefits such as support for our joints and even post-workout recovery.

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5) Vital Proteins Collagen Peptides

Best Collagen Supplement-Vital Proteins Collagen Peptides

One of the most popular brands on the market, Vital Proteins, provides consumers with a variety of collagen peptides to choose from. They have a variety of flavors, different types, and even ones that you can take on the go.

If you’re looking to boost your skin and hair health, Vital Proteins has a variety of products from powder to capsules to explore.

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Conclusion: Collagen for Hair Growth

Adding a collagen supplement to your diet can be helpful if you are looking to help support your hair growth (and hair follicles) and maintain an overall healthy head of hair. Additionally, collagen can also support bone health, skin health, and even strengthen your nails. There are many ways collagen can help support your body, so give it a try!

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Leslie Waterson

Leslie has been passionately involved in the health and fitness industries for over a decade. She is constantly reviewing the latest scientific research and studies in order to take a research-backed approach to lifestyle optimization. Her main areas of interest include nutrition and supplementation. Leslie shares her findings on Fitness Clone to help other health enthusiasts choose the products and routines that will help them achieve their goals.