VITAMIN B6 FOR HAIR
Did you know that vitamin B is one of the most helpful vitamins you can take for hair and skin? You may have guessed it if you have ever turned over a bottle of soap and looked through the list of vitamins included. Many soaps, lotions, ointments, shampoos, and other personal care products contain vitamin B in a number of forms: B1, B2, B3, B6, B9, B12, and B5. Let’s talk about how vitamin B6 in particular can help to improve the health and beauty of your skin and hair.
Vitamin B6 is an essential nutrient which helps your body produce hormones, antibodies, and other important components. It is also essential for breaking down proteins and supplying them to your body systems. While none of this may seem connected to hair or skin at first glance, upon a closer look, it is.
How so? A proper balance of hormones in your body helps to keep all of your systems functioning at their best. When your hormones are out of balance, it can show in your skin, usually in the form of acne. By getting plenty of vitamin B6, you are helping your body to produce hormones and stay balanced, preventing acne. The other connection is the protein breakdown. You need a diet rich in protein to maintain healthy skin, hair and nails. Hair is largely made out of protein, and so is collagen. Vitamin B6 is essential to process a protein-rich diet.
Because these benefits are indirect, a lot of people are unaware of how advantageous vitamin B6 can be for their appearance. As you might imagine, vitamin B6’s advantages go way beyond skin-deep. Many people observe that they not only look better, but also feel better, when they begin adding more vitamin B6 to their diets.
What Happens When You Have A Vitamin B6 Deficiency?
Thankfully, vitamin B6 deficiency is rare in developed countries. If you do not get enough vitamin B6 in your diet, though, you can experience anemia along with skin symptoms like rashes which itch, scaly skin on your lips, and cracks that form at the corners of your mouth. So you can see how vitamin B6 is directly tied to the health of your skin! If you do not get enough of it, your skin is one of the first places the deficiency will show.
What do you need to eat to get plenty of vitamin B6? There are many foods which are rich in this essential nutrient. Some of the best include the following:
- Poultry
- Fish
- Organ meats
- Potatoes
- Legumes
- Banana
- Avocado
- Whole grains
- Breads and breakfast cereals which have been fortified with vitamin B6
As you can see, those are all very common foods. And even if you are a vegetarian, you can get plenty of vitamin B6 so long as you make sure to eat starchy vegetables, legumes, whole grains, bananas, and avocados. Many of these foods also contain other essential B vitamins.
Do you really need more vitamin B6? You do not necessarily need to have anemia to benefit from more vitamin B6. Even if you are not deficient, you still may not be getting as much as you need to keep everything functioning optimally—especially if you do eat a demanding high protein diet (common for athletes). If this is the case, you may want to consider a B-complex supplement or a multivitamin which contains B6 along with other B vitamins. Notably, you need vitamin B2 to properly digest vitamin B6. So make sure that both B6 and B2 are included in your multivitamin.