How to Thicken Hair Naturally

By Dr. Josh Axe, DC, DNM, CN

June 19, 2024

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Do you how to naturally thicken your hair — while also get healthier-looking skin and thicker, strong nails?

This is something I actually get questions about pretty frequently, so I’m going to go over the best foods, the best personal care products and the best supplements to take when it comes to having healthy skin, hair and nails — and specifically, we’re talking about how to thicken hair naturally and hair loss remedies.

Here are some of the best ways to thicken hair naturally:

1. Aloe vera juice

One of the best things you can take is aloe vera juice. The benefits of aloe vera include its healing effects on skin and wounds.

Within aloe vera juice are polysaccharides that aid your body in healing cuts fast, including both internally or externally. In fact, in 2009, a systematic review summarized 40 studies involved using aloe vera for dermatological purposes.

Aloe vera juice is also great for thickening your hair, so you’ll see a lot of natural hair shampoos and conditioners today that have aloe vera in the ingredients.

Aloe vera has tons of vitamins and minerals that are present keep your hair strong and healthy.

Because of aloe vera’s antibacterial and antifungal properties, it also helps with dandruff, and the gel’s enzymes can rid the scalp of dead cells and promote the regeneration of skin tissue around the hair follicles.

Taking aloe vera juice internally for starters is one of the things I recommend, so drink about a half a cup, twice a day.

Now you can buy aloe vera juice in small proportions, but I found, bang for your buck, getting a whole gallon of aloe vera juice is the better way to go. Beyond thickening your hair, it’ll also give you healthier skin and nails.

2. Flaxseeds

If you want to know how to thicken hair naturally, then you also need to consider what you’re eating. Along those lines, I also recommend that you introduce flaxseeds into your diet.

Flaxseeds benefits including thickening your hair because of its lignans — a group of chemical compounds found in plants — and omega-3 fatty acids. These anti-inflammatory ingredients also aid in improving your skin.

I would try and put about three tablespoons a day of flax meal into a smoothie or with some goat’s milk yogurt and fruit for breakfast.

3. Biotin

I personally use a natural biotin shampoo made by a company called Jason’s.

Biotin benefits include being known for hair fortifying and thickening, as it’s a B vitamin that helps with your hair, skin and nails — making all of them stronger.

According to studies, taking high doses of biotin can help treat weak hair and nails. In fact, this benefit of vitamin B7 biotin was first discovered when horses were effectively treated with biotin to correct problems with their hoofs becoming brittle and cracked.

4. Rosemary oil

Now, in terms of one of the most immediate results when trying to figure out how to thicken hair, I suggest you start using rosemary oil.

The uses of rosemary oil extend to helping stimulate hair growth, as when applied over the scalp.

Many people also claim that it can prevent baldness, slows graying, and can be used to treat dandruff and dry scalp.

While rosemary oil does need further study when considering hair growth, I’ve found it very promising.

Take several drops of rosemary oil, and mix it with some benefit-rich olive oil. Massage that mixture into your scalp for just a couple minutes, and leave it in there for anywhere from three to four hours.

5. Supplements

When you want to thicken hair, there are also supplements that will help.

Cod liver oil is highly recommended because it’s chock-full of omega-3s, including EPA and DHA, that help thicken your hair, improve your skin and even naturally balance hormones.

The deficiency of EPA and DHA in diet contributes to skin conditions such as dandruff, thinning hair, eczema and psoriasis, as well as age spots and sun spots. Simply put, without the essential fatty acids, too much moisture leaves the skin.

In fact, there’s about a hundred different great benefits of using fish oil or cod liver oil. The truth is that your internal health can appear on your skin, and if you take fish oil internally as a supplement, it may be as good as or better than applying conventional moisturizers.

Therefore, I recommend that you take about one tablespoon a day of cod liver oil or fish oil — in between 1,000–3,000 milligrams a day would be sufficient.

For the second supplement, take a B-complex vitamin or specifically biotin. B-complex has biotin (about 325 micrograms) as well as vitamin B12, both of which have been shown to help thicken hair, skin and nails.

These aren’t the only supplements to use if you wondering how to thicken hair naturally. Here are some more to try:

Saw palmetto: Research shows saw palmetto can improve hair quality, count, density and more.
MSM supplements: Animal studies have found that taking an MSM supplement may work as a way for how to thicken hair naturally.
Iron supplements: Iron deficiency is thought to play a role in hair thinning, so taking iron supplements may help thicken hair.

Looking for other options when it comes to how to thicken hair naturally? Here are some more things to try:

If you’re searching how to thicken hair naturally, simply put all the above methods in action. You’ll be well on your way to have better skin and nails, too.