Your hair should be tensile enough to withstand the environmental factors that can weaken and damage your hair strands. However, vitamins aren’t enough to fortify those strands, and many believe that silica can help make your hair growth dreams come true.
But, what is silica, and how does it satisfy your hair care needs? Uncover the truth behind this mineral and get to know how you can make the most out of its benefits.
Silica: What is This Hair-Strengthening Mineral?
Silica is a trace mineral formed by combining the elements silicon and oxygen, and it has been known to contribute to bone growth and development. However, it does more than strengthening your bones. Silica also has something to do with your hair. Get to know the benefits that you can get from this mineral.
Staying Strong with Silica: What Hair Benefits Can You Get from It?
Below are the things you should know about silica and its incredible benefits to your growing locks.
1. It stimulates healthy collagen production beneficial to skin and hair.
Collagen is mainly responsible and vital for your hair and skin’s elasticity. Unfortunately, environmental factors can contribute to collagen degradation, especially the ultraviolet rays. Thus, it would be best to encourage collagen production to maintain your hair’s pliability at its best. According to various studies, silica is essential in stimulating hydroxylation enzymes, which are also vital in synthesizing collagen fibers.
2. It mitigates the chances of strand breakage and hair fall.
As mentioned earlier, silica contributes to your hair’s pliability, making it tensile enough to withstand abrasive hair care habits and chemical treatments. Silica also strengthens the roots, thereby preventing hair from falling out.
3. It helps balance your scalp’s sebum production.
Women like neither greasy nor dry hair. Hence, healthy sebum production can make their hair less oily. Therefore, the products that you apply to your hair should not aggravate oil production but balance it instead. Thankfully, silica can get this job well done because it can also quickly absorb the extra oils produced by your sebaceous glands.
4. It promotes good blood circulation.
Taking care of your cardiovascular system is also vital to attain healthy hair growth because healthy blood circulation is necessary to nourish hair cells. Silica can foster healthy hair growth by strengthening and widening your blood vessels, allowing blood to circulate and reach your hair follicles.
5. It may help prevent mineral build-up on the hair follicles.
Calcification can also become a threat to hair growth. When too much calcium builds up on your tissues, especially underneath the scalp, it can block hair follicles and inhibit hair strand growth. This build-up can appear on your scalp as white-colored stuff different from dandruff. Besides calcium, other minerals such as magnesium and zinc levels should also be well-regulated because these nutrients also normalize your hormones. Hence, it would help to use silica to prevent disturbing your body’s hormonal levels, hampering, or even cause hair loss.
6. It may help prevent hair loss problems.
Hair loss can be also induced by hormonal imbalance, which makes it challenging to treat the problem. But thanks to silica’s properties, you can prevent too much dihydrotestosterone (DHT), a potent form of testosterone, from adversely affecting your hormonal levels. Hence, you can mitigate the chances of suffering from hair loss.
Sources of Silica: Where Can You Obtain Silica?
Is it easy to obtain silica? If so, where can you get this mineral? Here are some sources for your silica content.
1. Horsetail
One of the most popular sources of silica is the horsetail plant, a medicinal fern known to treat various illnesses. This herb is also considered an age-old remedy to hair-related issues, thanks to its antioxidant properties and high silica content. Not only that, but horsetails are also rich in antioxidants and have anti-inflammatory capabilities. Though horsetails are considered wild plants, the shoots are edible. They can also be chopped and steeped to make your hair tonic.
2. Bamboo
Bamboo is another plant-based source of silica, bringing you various nutrients for hair growth. This tall grass plant does not only contain silica, but it also has amino acids, hair vitamins, and other minerals. All of its nutrients can help promote healthy hair growth. Bamboo extract also has potent moisturizing properties that have been taken advantage of by many hair conditioning and skincare products.
3. Brown Rice
Silica can also be obtained in your everyday meals. For instance, brown rice also contains silica but low in calories, making it an ideal part of a low-calorie diet. In fact, it is the variant of rice with the highest silica content, for it contains approximately 4.5 milligrams of silica. It also has magnesium, which can contribute to improving one’s cardiovascular health.
4. Iceberg Lettuce
Silica can also be obtained from leafy green like iceberg lettuce, making it another healthy source of this hair-strengthening mineral. It also contains vitamins A, C, and K, which are also vital in maintaining your hair condition. Not only that, iceberg lettuce may be low in calories, fiber, and sugar but extraordinary in water content, making it a very hydrating ingredient. This leafy green is perfect for making your meals visually pleasing as well as silica-enriched.
5. Dietary supplements
If silica-enriched foods aren’t within your reach, you can opt to buy over-the-counter food supplements with silica content. You can rely on these supplements as long as they are safe, non-toxic, and proven to contain nutrients beneficial to your health and hair growth.
Does Silica Pose a Risk to Health and Hair Growth?
Despite the benefits a person can reap from silica, some people are still hesitant to include silica-enriched foods or products in their hair growth regimen. To answer this most frequently asked question, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has clarified that silica is safe for humans as long as they don’t inhale its crystalline form. Hence, it is safe to eat foods rich in silica or use products with silica content. But, of course, everything should be expended in moderation.
Using Silica for Hair Health: Ways to Obtain Silica’s Secret Powers
Check out these various ways on how to ensure that silica gets absorbed by your growing hair follicles.
1. Brew some horsetail tea.
Horsetail is a recommended source of silica, and one way to obtain the mineral from this herb is to brew some tea for consumption. Horsetail tea may not be your usual beverage, but it does provide vitamins and minerals that can promote bone, hair, skin, and nail health. To make this drink, steep the horsetail leaves in hot water for a few minutes before adding some sweeteners if you’d like.
2. Add some bamboo powder to your favorite conditioner.
Bamboo is another potent source of silica, and you can use its powder form to enhance your hair growth’s conditioner hair-strengthening abilities. To make your bamboo powder, pulverize the bamboo stalks and leaves using a hammer, and don’t forget to air-dry them to remove their dampness from the bamboo water. You may also use store-bought bamboo powder if you don’t have ample time to crush the bamboo.
3. Use bamboo water as a hair tonic.
Not only is it easy to grow and harvest bamboos, but you can also reap many benefits from this plant wonder. As a matter of fact, you can use bamboo water not just for drinking but also for rinsing your tresses. This hair tonic is also rich in silica content that can strengthen and smooth your hair cuticles. Plus, it can cleanse your hair’s greasiness without leaving it dry and frizzy. To harvest bamboo water, cut the cylindrical stalk of the bamboo plant.
Let Your Hair Remain Strong, Soft, and Shiny with Silica’s Support.
Having thick or dense hair isn’t enough to say that you’ve got healthy locks. Your hair must also be strong enough to withstand any form of damage, and you can only achieve having stronger hair by relying upon hair-strengthening minerals like silica. With silica’s support, you will not only maintain your hair’s smoothness and suppleness, but you will also make every girl’s hair goal come true.
Choose Hair Growth Products with Horsetail Extract.
Don’t let your hair down; only use the best hair growth products that can fortify and keep your hair strands in their best condition. It would be best to use the best shampoo and conditioner with horsetail extract so that you can grow strong and thick hair, preventing hair loss problems in the future.