Whether you’re still growing out your TWA or trying to maintain your new-found natural kinks, coils and curls, drinking daily smoothies is a must for your daily regimen.
If you haven’t already, you should look for ways to improve your diet, so that your hair can benefit from the nutrition it provides. When you have poor eating habits, it really shows — typically in the form of dry scalp, thinning hair, balding and even graying.
Implementing smoothies into your beauty regimen can do wonders for your hair, as well as your health. You’ll look and feel youthful, and have improved energy to do the things you love to do. With these healthy smoothie recipes, you can give your natural hair a nutritional boost.
Mango-liscious Banana Smoothie
This blend of tropical fruits smells and tastes great, but even better, it’s packed with hair-lovin’ nutrients. Bring the island home to your smoothies and your hair will thank you.
Mangos are rich in vitamin C, which is required for the production of collagen (what provides your hair with structure). In the body, vitamin C* is needed in order for you to absorb iron, which we know is highly-necessary.
When you’re iron deficient, you disrupt your hair’s normal growing cycle, which can result in hair loss. You’ll also find plenty of vitamin A (fights dandruff) and vitamin E (improves scalp circulation, promoting hair growth).
In this recipe, you can use freshly chopped mangos or cheat with a 100% mango fruit juice:
2 cups water or fruit juice
Half of a mango (if you didn’t use juice)
1 ripe banana (also filled with hair-lovin’ vitamins)
1 tb boabab fruit powder (multi-vitamin boost)
Nutty Strawberry Smoothie
In this smoothie, you have almonds and walnuts, which have a lovely milky taste, making it perfect for a strawberry “milkshake”. You wouldn’t think that these two nuts would be anything special, but to your hair, they’re a God-send.
Walnuts are great sources of Omegas 3, 6 and 9 fatty acids, as well as potassium. It’s known for strengthening your hair’s follicles, making it strong, long, healthy and glowing.
With that said, it also helps to prevent balding and gets rid of annoying dandruff. Overall, you’ll have a healthier scalp and hair.
Almonds top all the nuts when it comes to hair health. It helps maintain scalp circulation and promotes healthy well-moisturized hair. It too has omega 3 fatty acids, which help give your hair volume and gloss. Since it has lots of vitamin E*, it can also assist with preventing unsightly split ends and give your hair the boost it needs to grow long and healthy.
There are two ways you can make this recipe — either with almond and walnut milk or by blending the nuts in water and straining the contents — your choice. Either way, you have yourself nut milk.
1 cup of almond milk
1 cup of walnut milk
2 tb strawberry powder (organic)
3 tb hemp powder (nice milky taste)
100% pure maple syrup as needed
Healthy Hair Hemp Protein Shake
Protein — it’s considered to be one of the staple nutrients needed for our hair. So it only makes sense that you consume protein to give your hair a sufficient supply.
But you don’t want to take just any ol’ protein — hemp is the super food you want to get your paws on. It provides a plant-based protein that is bio-compatible and easily absorbed by your body.
It has tons of essential amino acid that your hair and body needs, making it quite versatile and healthy. For instance, it can provide you with omega 3 and 6 fatty acids, minerals, vitamins, probiotics, enzymes, fibers and antioxidants.
The fatty acids found in hemp is known to be one of the most powerful for growing hair. Proteins are made up of amino acids, which your body needs, but can’t produce on its own.
Omega 3 helps to promote blood circulation and cell growth in your scalp, helping it to produce new hair follicles. So if you suffer from hair loss (whether from stress, poor nutrition or a disorder), this smoothie is for you.
Also, when your body lacks essential fatty acids, it can result in your lustrous locks becoming brittle and dry and your scalp could get so dry that eczema forms.
Word has it that hemp can help heat damaged hair, since it provides your cell membranes with nourishment so that it can produce healthy new growth.
Ready for the recipe? Here it is:
2 cups almond milk
3 tb hemp protein powder
1 tsp spirulina powder (extra plant protein)
2 bananas (sweetener)
2 tb strawberry powder or your other favorite fruit
100% pure maple syrup if needed
Miraculous Moringa Leaf Smoothie
You won’t hear the end of moringa oleifera leaf this week because especially in the natural hair care community it is not as popular as it should be.
If it has yet to reach your computer screen (or mobile device), then here is a breakdown of the hair benefits moringa offers:
1. Has vitamin A*, which promotes healthy hair growth
2. Contains zinc and silica, which work together with vitamin A* to stop your scalp from drying and to promote natural sebum production by keeping your sebaceous glands unclogged.
3. Helps promote blood flow to the scalp using the powerful antioxidant vitamin E*. This allows your hair follicles to absorb more of the nutrients it needs.
4. Prevents hair loss, with its high content of vitamin C*.
5. Has lots of minerals that are essential for healthy hair, like copper, iron, magnesium*, potassium, manganese, selenium and calcium.
6. People say it helped with their balding and turning their hair back to its natural, youthful color after turning gray!
The leaf of the Moringa tree (aka tree of life) is all you need to enjoy the benefits it offers. Here’s how you can put it to use:
2 cups almond milk
2 tb moringa
2 tb boabab powder
3 tb hemp protein powder
2 tb strawberry powder
2 ripe bananas or 100% pure maple syrup as a sweetener
Now, these recipes aren’t set in stone. In fact, look at it as an open door to creating your own smoothies. These can easily be manipulated to include your favorite milks, fruits and powdered ingredients. Give them a try to see how you like them and how you can improve on them, not only in taste, but in nutritional content!
