Wishing for a pill to magically turn your skin, hair and nails into picture perfect is every woman’s dream. Even though that doesn’t exist, there are certainly supplements that can help to boost our beauty routine. Taking supplements regularly is basically a short cut to healthier skin, hair & nails. Beauty supplements generally don’t look any different than your vitamins. However, they also come in powder formulas, oils and liquids depending on the specific supplement you choose. Think of them as a type of supplement that has the added benefits of improving your skin, hair or nails thanks to a specific dosage of nutrients and minerals.
A very common hair vitamin is “Biotin” but that’s just the starting point. There are collagen-boosting pills and ones for thinning, brittle hair and nails. While beauty supplements seem like a fast-pass for beauty, results are anything but immediate. It may vary per brand or vitamin but usually it takes about one or two months to see results, especially with hair and nails. Before taking adding supplements to your diet, make sure to check with a doctor first to ensure you have no allergies.
HAIR
Biotin:
This is commonly used supplement by many women since it’s very beneficial for the health of your hair. Biotin is mainly known for stimulating hair growth whether you’ve got hair loss, thinning hair or you just want to speed up the growth of your hair. It can even be more effective when combined with other beauty supplements. As effective as Biotin is, be cautious with the doses you’re taking on a daily basis as it may be harmful to your liver when taking too much of it. The recommended doses is less than 10,000 mcg per day.
Probiotics:
Helps with healthier scalp. If you suffer from itchy dandruff, you might want to consider taking a probiotic supplement. Some evidence shows that these supplements can help soothe and balance a scaly scalp.
Iron:
Iron deficiency is one of the most common causes of thinning hair in women, considering we lose iron every time we get our monthly cycle. To keep your hair thick, strong, and healthy, try to eat more iron-rich foods like leafy green vegetables, and make sure to take an iron supplement or a multivitamin that contains iron.
Hyaluronic Acid:
If you’re concerned about hair loss, and you feel like you’ve tried every thickening shampoo on the market, you may want to add a Hyaluronic acid supplement to your routine. This hair supplement in particular can help to stop hair loss; it supports the immune system and fights the molecules that slow down the hair growth.
SKIN
Lycopene:
Lycopene is a vitamin that contains a lot in tomatoes and it helps with sun protection. It’s been proven that eating tomatoes can help you fight sunburn and sun damage; it may be because tomatoes have a high level of lycopene antioxidant. If you don’t like tomatoes, no big deal – replace them with lycopene supplements. Just remember that taking lycopene regularly doesn’t mean that you can skip applying your sunscreen.
Folic Acid:
When Folic acid is combined with other antioxidants, it helps to eliminate toxins from the body, which can reduce the appearance of acne drastically. However, it’s important to keep the level of folic acid at normal levels. Having a normal intake of folic acid can even help in keeping the skin moisturized, radiant and healthy.
Fish oil:
The omega-3 fatty acids in fish oil supplements are a natural anti-inflammatory, meaning that they can help calm broken out skin. They can also decrease a hormone that’s associated with both oil production and clogged pores. Not only have fish oil supplements been linked to clearer skin, but they’ve also been shown to help replenish your skin’s moisture, which is perfect if you have eczema or extremely dry skin. The recommended amount of doses is one to two teaspoons of a liquid fish oil supplement per day. Oil formulas are more effective than pills because your stomach absorbs it better and quicker.
Hyaluronic Acid:
Not only is Hyaluronic acid beneficial to the hair, it also boosts the health of your skin. It’s a common anti-aging vitamin that helps your skin hold onto moisture and improves the collagen and elasticity. It’s best to start early with beauty supplements as its more beneficial. Hyaluronic acid is recommended to start taking at the age of 25. As you age, you naturally produce less collagen and hyaluronic acid. When you supplement with collagen, it helps to provide more structure, smooth out the skin and essentially slow down that process of skin aging.
NAILS
Iron:
Having brittle nails can also be a sign of an iron deficiency. Look for iron supplements or consume more nuts, lean red meat and green, leafy vegetables. These all contain essential vitamins for healthy nails.
Biotin:
If your nails are constantly breaking and flaking, considering adding a biotin supplement to your diet. It’ll help you grow healthier nails and will keep dry, brittle nails from ruining your next manicure.
Zinc:
Increased white spots on your nails, along with poor growth and inflammation of the cuticles are also signs you need to add more zinc to your diet. If you don’t want to take a zinc supplement, some foods that are high in zinc include dark chocolate and peanuts.
B-12:
Excessively dry and darkened nails could mean you’re not getting enough of the good vitamins for nails; in this case take Vitamin B12. This comes in both a capsule form or it can be found in rice and soy.
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