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8 Benefits of Avocados for Healthy Hair

Few people know that the avocado, also known as the alligator pear, is actually a fruit, and not only that, is a very large berry. While no one knows the exact origins, the avocado is thought to have originated in central Mexico hundreds, if not thousands, of years ago. The bright green flesh of the avocado is still a popular component in Mexican and Central American dishes to this day. Within the past century, many people outside of these areas have started to utilize the avocado in a variety of different dishes as well as enjoying Mexican and Tex-Mex cooking.

While it is generally popular for its cool and refreshing taste, there are a host of different benefits associated with avocados throughout the entire body. Indeed, there is evidence that well over two thousand years ago, ancient Egyptians were using avocados to promote healthy hair. Here are ten hair specifics benefits to eating and utilizing avocados in your beauty regiment.

How to Use Avocados for Healthy Hair

There are a couple of different ways to utilize avocado for healthy hair.

The first is to eat avocado regularly as to reap the health benefits. While there are multiple different whole body and specific benefits to avocado consumption outside of the hair, the benefits will not be specific or centralized to the hair and scalp, though regular consumption can definitely produce shinier hair and a healthy scalp. You can also apply the flesh of an avocado directly to your hair as the only or one ingredient in hair masks. Of course, this can be a little bit messy, though an effective way to reap the benefits of avocados.

One of the easiest and mess free, as well as the most effective, methods to utilizing avocado is to find concentrated avocado oil and apply it to the scalp and hair. You can also add the oil to your current shampoo or conditioner.

Many hair care companies have discovered the potential in utilizing avocado oil, and there are many different products on the market that contain avocado oil. However, there are benefits to using raw ingredients on your hair to reap maximum benefits.

Can You Extract Avocado Oil At Home?

The one potential downfall to avocado usage is the cost. Both avocados and avocado oil, depending on your location as well as the season, can be significantly more expensive as compared to other fresh produce. However, it can cost much to purchase avocados and produce your own oil at home than to purchase avocado from your grocery or health food store. You can find step by step instructions to extracting oil here.

1. Avocados are a Natural Sun Block

Most people are aware of the necessity of wearing a sun block with SPF for healthy skin. However, not everyone is aware of how important it is to have an SPF on your scalp and a sun block on your hair, particularly in the summer. (1) Unless you are planning on wearing a floppy hat for the entire season, it is much easier to use avocados and other natural sun block to protect your head and scalp.

While the summer sun can add a natural, sun kissed look to your tresses, too much sun can fade your color treated hair more quickly as well as make hair dehydrated and prone to breakage, even if you do not have overly processed hair to begin with.

It would not be practical to put avocado straight onto your hair and going outside to use as sun block. However, you can use an avocado mask regularly to receive the benefits of sun block or use avocado oil prior to going out in the sun.

2. Avocados are High in Healthy Fats

A good conditioner is essential for healthy hair, and avocados are definitely a great source of moisture. Avocados have a high healthy fat content, and work as a great conditioner or hair mask to infuse more moisture and shine into your locks. For best results, this is a good time to use avocado mixed with olive oil and apply directly to the hair for at least ten minutes to reap all of the benefits. (2) Rinsing with warm water will help to seal in the moisture.

3. Avocados are Great Detanglers

Avocados also make a great detangling mask. (3) Tangles in the hair is a source of frizz as well as breakage, so preventing tangles and avoiding roughly brushing your hair can ensure your hair is kept smooth and healthy. Mixing together avocados, Shea butter, and apple cider vinegar will help to fight tangles and leave hair feeling smooth and frizz free.

4. Avocados Aid in Anti-Aging

While most people don’t think of hair as needing help in anti-aging help, but experts definitely say that hair, along with skin and nails, can benefit from anti-aging help. (4) Not only does hair start to lose its natural pigment and start to turn gray, it also starts to lose its thickness. While this happens naturally and cannot be prevented forever, avocados can help prevent the process of aging in the hair, scalp, and the entire body. Avocados help to eliminate free radicals throughout the body, that cause premature aging as well as causing cancer.

Thankfully, the scalp generally does not develop cancer and hair is made up of dead cells, which cannot be affected by cancer. Unfortunately, chemotherapy and radiation, common cancer treatments, notoriously affects hair by weakening the structure and causing widespread hair loss. Avocados can help with all cell re-growth, including new hair growth after cancer treatments.

5. Avocados Keep Your Scalp Healthy

Avocados are not just for healthy hair, they also help to keep your scalp flake free and healthy. (5) Vitamin E as well as the healthy fats in avocados helps to nourish the scalp and ease dandruff. Avocados can also help to get rid of any skin conditions, such as pimples and eczema that can occur on the scalp and can be difficult to treat due to the skin being completely covered in hair. It is also believed that a healthy scalp can lead to increased hair growth.

6. Avocados Help Hair Grow Faster

Avocados are full of all sorts of different vitamins and minerals, including Vitamin C, as well as a healthy dose of protein. While hair generally grows at different rates for different people, the average rate of hair growth is about six inches a year. Having a diet high in vitamins, protein, and healthy fats are going to grow faster than if you were eating a diet did not have these essential properties to it.

7. Avocados Contain Biotin

Biotin is also known as Vitamin H, and is very important for health of skin, nails, and eyes, and avocados are one of the few fruits and vegetables that are high in this vitamin, as most of the other foods that are good sources are cheese, liver, and eggs. Without this essential vitamin, hair is brittle and dull. (6)

8. Avocados Leave Your Hair Moisturized But Not Greasy

As anyone who has tried to use at home beauty treatments for their dull or overly dry hair can attest to, other oils to increase moisture levels can work wonders, but can also leave your hair feeling overly oily and the scalp looking greasy, and can be tough to rinse out fully. Thankfully, avocado oil does not leave the hair feeling this way, and only requires a mild rinse in order to remove avocado masks instead of a harsh shampoo that can redo the damage that the mask was trying to reverse.

Conclusion

Avocados are delicious, soothing, and have many properties that make them ideal for keeping healthy throughout your body. Avocados are also beneficial for all hair types, whether you have thin, straight hair or coarse hair with corkscrew curls.

With how many different ways to uses for avocados and the various benefits, the possibilities for avocado usage are endless.