The Different Ways That Your Diet Can Affect the Health of Your Skin and Hair

At Eternal Dermatology and Aesthetics in Fulton, MD, we know the direct correlation between diet and hair and skin health. Botox, dermal fillers, skincare, and hair growth treatments and products can all help improve the appearance of your skin or hair, but without eating the right nutrient-dense foods, you’ll never achieve your healthiest or best quality skin and hair. You can transform your skin and hair with simple changes, additions, and subtractions to your diet.

How Your Diet Affects Skin and Hair Health

What you eat on a daily basis affects the health and appearance of your skin and hair. The presence or absence of certain foods from your diet can be the missing link keeping you from achieving your healthiest skin and hair. Nutrient-rich foods can help prevent signs of aging like lines, wrinkles, elasticity loss, hair loss, and dehydration.

Additionally, nutrient deficiencies can affect hair health and promote hair loss or slowed hair growth over time. By eliminating foods from your diet that don’t support hair and skin health and adding those that do, you can ensure that you’re taking the necessary dietary steps to support your skin and your hair daily.

Foods That Don’t Promote Skin and Hair Health

There are several different foods and food groups that don’t promote skin and hair health. Eating these foods regularly can work against your skin care and hair health goals by accelerating the aging process and even causing hair loss. These foods should be severely limited or eliminated altogether if you want to take every possible step to ensure that you’re eating the healthiest diet to achieve beautiful skin and healthy hair.

Dairy

It’s no secret that dairy products can contribute to inflammation and breakouts, but they can also promote hair loss. Many dairy products cause increased testosterone levels, which can also promote hair loss. Limiting the total amount of dairy you eat in your diet can help improve your skin, decrease internal bodily inflammation, and prevent accelerated hair loss from high levels of DHT.

Sugar

Sugar is inflammatory, addictive, and negatively impacts the skin and hair. Eating a diet high in sugar promotes increased free radicals in the body, which leads to oxidative damage that appears on the skin as accelerated aging and affects the hair.

Sugar causes premature aging on the complexion in the form of elasticity loss, decreased collagen production, dryness, the development of wrinkles, and volume loss. It also can contribute to hair loss by negatively impacting blood sugar and causing erratic hormonal levels.

Alcohol

Alcohol works against hair and skin health. Consuming moderate to excessive amounts of alcohol weakens the hair over time and can cause hair loss. It dehydrates the body and does nothing to support nutrient absorption. It also negatively impacts the skin by promoting accelerating aging, dehydrating skin which causes hollowness and the appearance of lines and wrinkles, and decreases skin elasticity.

Refined Carbohydrates

Eating a diet high in refined carbohydrates negatively impacts blood sugar, affecting hormone levels, which ultimately decreases skin and hair health. Refined carbohydrates can increase insulin levels and promote acne and redness, as well as visible skin inflammation. Refined carbohydrates also affect the hair by forcing the body to increase the production of androgens, male hormones that in excess can lead to hair loss.

Salt

Eating a diet high in sodium negatively impacts the skin and the hair. Regarding the hair, consuming excess salt can negatively impact hair follicles by decreasing blood circulation to the area, directly impacting nutrient absorption. It also affects the skin by contributing to dehydration, promotes bloating and puffiness, and can make eye bags appear more noticeable.

Foods That Improve Your Skin and Your Hair

Conversely, there are plenty of healthy foods that, when added to the diet, will promote healthy skin, healthy hair, and an overall youthful appearance. Nuts and seeds, fatty fish, leafy greens, antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables, and proteins all contribute to hair and skin health.

Additionally, avoiding preservatives, chemicals, and foods with added hormones will promote healthy skin and hair and overall health. Decreasing alcohol consumption, monitoring caffeine intake, reducing dietary sugar and sodium, and focusing on eating the healthiest diet possible will help create visible improvements in your skin and hair.

The Importance of a Healthy Lifestyle

Living a healthy lifestyle is one of the easiest ways to promote skin and hair health. A comprehensive hair and skin care treatment plan includes dietary changes, lifestyle modifications, and effective in-office skin care and hair restoration treatments that will all work together to help you achieve the healthiest skin and hair possible.

How To Promote Hair and Skin Health

You can take several steps to promote healthy hair and skin, including changing your diet to incorporate foods that promote skin and hair health, drinking enough water to promote hydration, and limiting stress to promote balanced cortisol levels.

You should also evaluate your skin and hair products to ensure they have ingredients that will promote your goals, and if you’re unsure how to achieve your healthiest skin and hair, you can schedule a skin and hair health evaluation. We can help you determine what changes are necessary to help you achieve healthy skin and hair so you can look and feel your best.

Achieve Your Best Hair and Skin Ever

Eating a healthy diet is critical to achieving the healthiest skin in hair, but so too is undergoing a skin and hair health evaluation to determine which in-office treatment can help promote beautiful skin and beautiful hair. If you’re interested in addressing your skin and hair concerns, we can help. Contact us today at Eternal Dermatology and Aesthetics in Fulton, MD to schedule a skin and hair health evaluation so we can design a treatment plan that’s right for you.



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