CBD Oil for Hair Growth: Everything To Know
Cannabinoids like CBD have developed a substantial following within the holistic wellness community. Many cannabinoids provide benefits that help to enhance our everyday lives. There’s a laundry list of claims about CBD and the benefits it’s capable of offering, with hair growth becoming an emerging area of interest.
CBD might help to naturally support your body’s ability to grow healthy hair depending on how you use it and the reason why your hair isn’t growing the way you’d like it to. Here’s what you need to know before you get started.
What Is Hair and How Does It Grow?
Hair is made when hair cells, mostly composed of a protein called keratin, begin to harden and form in a hair follicle. As more of these cells begin to accumulate, they add to the strand of hair from below the surface layer of your scalp. They’ll continuously grow until the strand breaks or is naturally lost from the follicle.
Everyone has their own unique hair growth cycle, which is how their body grows and maintains hair. The average person can shed up to one hundred strands of hair each day, but those strands won’t be missed. New hairs begin to grow, and hair will find a median length.
The hair on your head can have a growth phase that lasts several years. If your hair is properly maintained and your body is able to properly produce hair cells, your hair could grow indefinitely. Most people will shed and replace their hair at a natural rate that prevents excessive length, but everyone is different.
The current world record for hair length is over 18 feet, and it took Xie Qiuping about three decades to achieve that record. Most people won’t be able to achieve that length. The average person’s hair will grow up to six inches per year, and the average duration of a growth cycle is three to five years. At that point, all the hair on your head will have gradually been replaced and grown to a uniform length.
Can CBD Make Your Hair Grow Longer or Faster?
Now that you understand how hair grows, it’s easier to see how it’s a stretch to claim that any supplement, food, or nutraceutical can alter the process. Your body manages the process itself. It has its own limitations, timing, and capability.
You can’t do anything to substantially change that process, but you can positively impact it. Your body will do the work, but you can provide it with what it needs to do the work a little better. If you simply want to prevent breakage or improve the overall health of your hair, CBD might have some modest holistic benefits that contribute to your body’s natural hair growth process.
CBD is unlikely to make your hair grow longer or faster, but it may help your hair grow healthier and prevent breakage that leads to shorter hair.
Are There Studies on CBD and Hair Growth?
One very small study conducted in Canada with 35 people experiencing androgenic alopecia observed the use of cannabis-derived products as a possible solution for hair loss. Some patients saw an improvement, but the results weren’t uniform.
More research is needed before CBD can be definitively declared a remedy or treatment for hair loss, as the conclusions left much to be desired. If you have a medical condition like alopecia or a hormone imbalance, the only way to restore hair growth is through medical treatment.
However, CBD won’t play a role in that process. If you’re losing your hair, if your hairline is receding, or if you’re noticing bald patches, you should see a doctor.
How CBD May Help To Support Hair Growth
While your body is hard at work growing beautiful new hair, it needs a little help from you. There are some things you’re doing that could be hindering the health of your hair, and there are some things you can do to make healthier hair even healthier.
Providing Holistic Balance to the Body
When your body is experiencing mental or physical stress, it doesn’t perform the way it should. Providing holistic support to your body can help to improve your wellness during periods of increased strain.
Build a wellness ritual that involves getting plenty of sleep, drinking the right amount of water, eating a balanced diet, exercising several times a week, and tending to your mental health. Then, add CBD to that ritual.
CBD can work to support many of the essential systems of your body. The soothing effects of CBD can ease mental and physical tension, making it easy for you to calm down, rest up, and get adequate sleep every night. It’s a little booster that encourages your body to perform its best.
In addition to the many wellness benefits CBD helps to encourage, you might find that your hair and nails grow a little healthier. Just make sure you’re using CBD in conjunction with a comprehensive approach to your overall wellbeing.
Moisturizing Your Hair
CBD-infused hair care products often boast their ability to improve the health of your scalp and the hydration of your hair. These claims are partially true. It isn’t CBD that provides this benefit, but the omega fats in hemp seed oil. There’s no need to splurge on CBD-infused hair care products unless you really want to.
Hemp seed oil is an occlusive moisturizer that helps draw water to your skin and hair, helping them retain moisture. The natural fatty acids help condition your skin and hair, leaving them softer to the touch.
The best news? You can buy a huge bottle of organic hemp seed oil in the baking aisle of your local grocery store for less than what you’d spend on a takeout lunch. Since you only need a few drops, that bottle might even last you an entire year.
Does CBD Contain THC?
You might think twice about using CBD to promote hair growth if it means you’ll have to ingest THC. Some people aren’t comfortable with the idea of using products that contain THC, even if they live in a state where THC use is legal.
Almost all CBD oil is derived from the flowers of hemp plants, and hemp plants can contain a maximum of 0.3% THC by dry weight. Some companies will further process the hemp extract to attempt to remove the THC, but it’s hard to guarantee that all the THC will be gone.
Peels is different. We don’t use hemp plants to create our CBD. Instead, we use a proprietary process to turn the aromatic compounds of oranges into bioidentical CBD. Your body will use it the same way it uses CBD derived from hemp, but there’s a 0% chance that you’ll encounter any THC.
This makes Peels accessible to everyone, everywhere.
If you’re interested in the moisturizing benefits of hemp seed oil, you’re also in luck. Hemp seeds don’t contain any CBD, but they also don’t contain any THC. It’s safe to use hemp oil in cooking and personal care products if you can’t or don’t want to be exposed to THC.
What Else Can I Do to Promote Hair Growth?
There is no supplement that will replace a balanced diet, a healthy lifestyle, and proper hair care. Here’s what you should know about caring for your hair.
Wash Your Hair With Gentle Products
Many shampoos are loaded with sulfates, detergents that cause your hair to lather when you’re washing it. Sulfates can strip your hair of its natural oils, leading to brittle and weaker hair and a dry scalp. Many people find that avoiding shampoos and conditioners with sulfates leaves their hair in better condition and prevents it from weakening.
Avoid Causing Breakage
Hair strands are very thin and fragile by nature. Some of the things you do might be leading to breakage of hair strands, leading to the appearance that your hair isn’t growing. Dyeing or bleaching your hair, using heat styling tools, aggressively towel drying your hair, or brushing it too hard can lead to breakage. Be gentle and patient with your hair, and learn to love its natural hue.
Take Your Vitamins
Most multivitamin supplements contain biotin, also known as vitamin B7. Biotin may play a role in the health and growth cycle of hair. While it won’t work miracles, it doesn’t hurt to assure you’re getting an adequate amount of every vitamin in your daily diet.
In Conclusion: Hair Health Requires a Multifaceted Approach
Nothing can stop proper hair care and a healthy lifestyle from promoting hair growth. CBD might be able to help provide holistic support to your mind and body while you strive to make these positive lifestyle changes.
Add Peels to your wellness ritual for a little extra help.
Sources
What is the structure of hair and how does it grow? | InformedHealth.org | NCBI Bookshelf
Hair Regrowth with Cannabidiol (CBD)-rich Hemp Extract –A Case Series | Research MJ
Biotin – Vitamin B7 | The Nutrition Source | Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health