Has anyone here ever managed to improve their hair through a change in their diet?  I mean just with food, not with supplements.

After I changed and improved my diet, started eating right in other words, I noticed after a while (and it does take a little while for new growth to reflect the change) that my hair was growing REALLY FAST! And was shiny and healthy looking too!!!

This change came about when I discovered a book on nutrition and how it really affects everything in a woman's body.  And since I can't swallow pills, I concentrated on high nutritional eating.  

So it is definitely possible to improve the condition of your hair with food only.  It worked for me.  (Plus I feel better overall too!)  

Annelise

P.S.  The book that helped me to understand the importance of overall good nutrition is by Marilyn M. Shannon.
It's called  "Fertility, Cycles and Nutrition."  (Take what applies to you, leave what doesn't!)

Good question--I have noticed a big improvement in my whole self as I slowly transition toward a diet based good quality nutritious food.  

However, to really show an improvement in hair, one must eat protein.  I'm not a vegetarian, but I don't like to cook meat and will often choose a vegetarian meal when we go out.  I try to get as much protein as I can other ways, but I think I might have to bite the bullet and learn how to cook meat.  

Hmmm...I'm a bit sceptical about this whole thing. I have always had very good skin and good hair, though my diet hasn't been very healthy. In my case, I just have good genes. I don't say that things couldn't be even better, but I don't think that eating optimally does miracles, nor that a less than optimal diet is disastrous.

Now I'm on a diet, and a bit troubled of how it will affect my hair. But then...now I'm taking hair vitamins (biotin & silica) that I didn't take before starting the diet, so hopefully the end result isn't worse.

I'm not a vegetarian either, but I still eat only little red meat. I don't think this is a problem: one doesn't really need much meat in order to fulfill her nutritional needs. Besides red meat, there is chicken, fish, eggs, beans and peas. If one tries to eat a little of everything, I don't think that leaving something away would be bad. Besides its protein content, meat isn't that healthy.  ;)

i don't just try to eat well for my hair ... i just couldn't support going through life as a wreck. i think for hair one should eat enough protein of course. eat whole foods, avoid refined stuff that are just hollow stomach fillers. essential fatty acids are supposed to be beneficial too: take flax seed oil and eat tuna and salmon (leave the salmon a bit rose inside, otherwise you kill all the goodies). eat cucumber and dark lettuce for silica. stay away as much as you can from bovine meat and pork. there's so much better: try ostrich! it's prepared like red meat and is so much leaner.

but most of all: physical activity is important (i plead guilty on that one, i should bike more in front of tv instead of lying on my bed).
also stress is the worst probably, but a good diet and sport reduce stress as well.

I 'm a vegetarian, haven't any eaten meat since I was about 8 or 9 years old. I don't think the lack of protein has hurt my hair. My hair seems to have really grown fast in the last few years, I take vitamins and supplements so that has most likely improved the overall quality of my health including my hair.  :) I think genetics plays the larger part in hair length because my mother had long hair at various times and so did my two aunts (and they were on my father's side) so I inherited the long hair gene from two sides.  ;D

I'll agree with autumn.
I've eaten eggs dairy and fish(not shell) as my only animal proteins for decades (my body can't digest meats, several difficult to digest vegetables, and many bread products -  and I finally gave up being the middle man - [between the plate and the potty]) - my hair has always stayed reasonably healthy.  I eat much protein, lots of vegys, drink 3 liters of water every day, and take many, many vitamin supplements.
nightowl

I take a heap of supplements and must say I think it would be cheaper to eat  ::).  But I've almost given up that that is going to happen so I'll just keep trying to improve and take supplements unless I ever get there.  I do believe supplements keep me kicking and I don't think you have to have meat to be healthy - it appears (according to my doc) that if you don't eat meat *the red bloody stuff* you may need to take iron supplements.  Something to do with how it absorbs and stores as opposed to the kind we get in spinach, for example ... other'n that gimme chocolate and cheese, g

yes,  the form of iron in spinach and other veggies are not easily absorbed at all. has to do with the charge of the iron ion. but i also learned that vegetarian get an iron-absorption system that is close to 100% while it's just around 60% for the rest us (that what you eat never equals what you absorb, whether it's about vitamins or even calories ... reason i find coundting calories and multi vitamin tablets one big heap of b*** sh**).  especially multi vitamin ... they're containing all needed vitamins and minerals, not counting on the fact some might be antagonist.