While it’s normal for most people to lose anything from about 80 to 100 hairs a day, excessive hair loss or thinning can be alarming. However, it is often linked to a number of common external factors, including stress, hormones and poor nutrition.
Ageing can also have an impact, as NHS and TV doctor Dr Sara Kayat points out. 'Nearly everyone notices hair loss as they age and this is because the rate of hair growth declines, the strands become thinner, and the hair is less pigmented, so hair can look thinner, finer and lighter in colour,' she says.
If you’ve noticed your hairline is receding or that your ponytail feels thinner than it used to, introducing a hair health product, such as Viviscal, into your regime could help, alongside a healthy diet and lifestyle. Here’s everything you need to know about the award-winning supplements.
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What is Viviscal?
To help maintain healthy hair growth, taking a supplement can be a great place to start. Viviscal is the UK’s most scientifically researched hair-supplement brand*, backed by over 25 years of scientific research and seven published clinical studies. Helping to nourish hair from within, the healthy-hair supplements are designed to be taken twice daily for thicker, fuller-looking hair within three to six months.
How does Viviscal work?
In order to keep our hair looking its glossy best, the body needs a variety of essential vitamins and minerals. 'A number of nutrients are required for optimal hair health, including vitamins A, C, D and E, zinc, B vitamins, iron, biotin, protein and essential fatty acids; a deficiency in any one of them can impair hair growth,' says Dr Kayat.
Alongside antioxidant-rich millet seed extract, Viviscal contains active ingredients such as iron, biotin, zinc and vitamin C. While iron is a crucial element in cell repair and growth, and vitamin C helps the body absorb iron, biotin is essential for the creation of protein, which gives healthy hair its structure and strength.
Other key ingredients in Viviscal include; silica (which helps the body create and maintain collagen), calcium and Viviscal's unique AminoMar C™ extract, a rich marine-collagen complex that works to support protein levels and help keep hair strong.
What else can you do to reduce hair loss?
On top of implementing a good supplement regime, it pays to look after your scalp as well as your strands. 'A healthy scalp is so important, as follicles that are affected by infection, dandruff, oil and debris may affect the growth of hair,' explains Dr Kayat. 'Signs that your scalp may not be healthy include itchiness, flakiness or dandruff, redness, oiliness and spots or bumps.'
Trying to limit your hair’s exposure to heated styling tools and taking steps to reduce your stress levels are also sensible precautions when it comes to warding off premature hair loss and thinning. 'Acute stress is certainly a known cause of hair loss, as it can push the hair from the growing phase prematurely into the resting phase,' Dr Kayat adds. If hair is pushed prematurely into the resting phase (where growth ceases) then it’s time for growing is shortened and the process of moving into the exogen (falling out stage) comes quicker.
A healthy lifestyle of low stress, proper diet, and gentle hair care should help promote a healthy hair growth cycle.
To find out more about Viviscal and to shop the range, visit viviscal.co.uk, hollandandbarrett.com or boots.com
*Based on the number of studies undertaken for Viviscal, using the Nielsen definition of the UK healthy hair maintenance category.
