Have you experienced hair thinning or hair loss? CBD oil for hair growth doesn’t have the same risks or side effects of many pharmaceutical options on the market, and it’s gaining popularity as a therapeutic alternative.
How exactly does CBD oil for hair growth work? It depends on a lot of different factors, including the core cause behind your hair loss. CBD oil isn’t a miracle worker, but its benefits for holistic health are undeniable.
Before you start taking CBD for any reason, you need to understand what it is, where it comes from, and who you can trust when it comes to selecting and buying CBD products. There are many variations when it comes to CBD oils, and knowing the basics will help you make an informed choice.
What Does “CBD” Stand For?
CBD is loosely used for a wide range of compounds that may include only CBD, or may include other chemical compounds as well. In its most basic sense, CBD is the acronym used for cannabidiol.
Cannabidol is a chemical compound from a group of such compounds called cannabinoids. There are two different types of cannabinoids: (1) endocannabinoids, which are produced naturally by your body; and (2) hytocannabinoids, which are produced naturally by plants.
What Do Cannabinoids Do?
Endocannabinoids made by your body interact with the endocannabinoid system (ECS), which is closely related to and involved with your central and peripheral nervous systems. When your temperature needs to be regulated, your sleep cycles want adjusting, or your mood requires balancing, your body makes endocannabinoids.
The endocannabinoids travel through the ECS and interact with receptors on the nervous systems. Some endocannabinoids are psychoactive and interact with the central nervous system, affecting perception and other functions by shifting the brain chemistry.
Other endocannabinoids interact with the peripheral nervous system, having a more general and holistic effect. They can improve sleep, keep the body from feeling too cold or too hot, reduce feelings of anxiety and stress, and dampen pain signals.
Phytocannabinoids can interact with the ECS in much the same way that endocannabinoids do. They also can boost the power of your natural endocannabinoids and make them last longer. So can other plant-based compounds, like terpenes and flavonoids. Most phytocannabinoids are non psychoactive, but there is one notable exception.
THC vs. CBD and Other Cannabinoids
Most CBD is sourced from varieties of the Cannabis sativa plant, which is rich in a variety of cannabinoids. The most prolific of these is CBD, but there’s another cannabinoid that is well known, and that is THC (tetrahydrocannabinol).
Unlike most of its fellow cannabinoids, THC is psychoactive, which means it can interact through the ECS directly with central nervous system receptors. Instead of indirectly affecting functions like sleep, temperature, and mood regulation, THC can cause experiences like euphoria or paranoia.
Since THC can make you “high”, it is considered a strictly controlled substance. In fact, the federal government has divided all cannabis plants into two classifications: (1) “industrial hemp”, which by law cannot contain more than 0.3% THC; and (2) marijuana, which is anything with more than that legal limit of THC.
As long as the amount of THC is under 0.3%, which is considered a “trace” amount, it cannot get you high. When you buy legal CBD products, they have to be labeled and proven to be sourced from industrial hemp.
There are plenty of other non-psychoactive cannabinoids with acronyms like CBG, CBN, and CBC. Like CBD, they are legal and they are present in many CBD oils. Additionally, cannabis plants contain terpenes (responsible for how things smell) and flavonoids (responsible for how things taste). When combined all of these chemical compounds have a secret superpower.
The CBD Spectrum and the Entourage Effect
Some CBD oils you find on the market are just CBD. The CBD is extracted from the flowers and leaves of the Cannabis sativa plant, purified, and then infused into a carrier oil. This is called CBD isolate because there are no other cannabinoids or chemical compounds involved.
Broad-spectrum CBD contains CBD plus a selected variety of other cannabinoids, terpenes, and flavonoids from the Cannabis sativa plant. The reason for including these other cannabinoids and compounds is a phenomenon known as the entourage effect.
When CBD is by itself, it can provide holistic benefits. However, when it is accompanied by other compounds for industrial hemp, those effects are amplified. This is called the entourage effect.
Think of it as arriving at an event by yourself, as opposed to showing up with a group of friends and supporters in tow. Your entrance and impact will be much greater when you have your entourage along!
The most effective and powerful type of CBD oils are full spectrum. This means all the compounds from the leaf and flower are included: CBD, other cannabinoids, terpenes, flavonoids, and the legal trace amount of THC.
Yummy CBD only makes full-spectrum CBD oils and other products. That’s because we want our customers to get the best possible experience with CBD and benefit from the entourage effect to provide that extra boost.
What Does CBD Have to Do With Hair Loss?
So, how can CBD oil affect you if you have hair loss? It all depends on why you’re losing hair in the first place. CBD can be taken for many of the same issues that cause hair loss and may be used to encourage hair regrowth.
Traditionally, many people try CBD oil for hair growth as a topical solution, much like you would rub-on tonics or prescription creams or gels. The idea is that the CBD oils will interact with the receptors found in the skin.
However, topical CBD isn’t the only way to help encourage new hair growth. Here’s why CBD oil taken orally can also help with hair loss issues.
Common Causes of Hair Loss
There are many reasons for hair loss, and only one of them is aging. Even seemingly age-related hair loss can have contributing factors.
Nutritional Deficiencies
A diet lacking in certain proteins, vitamins, or minerals can cause hair loss. Since hair isn’t technically required for bodily functions, it’s one of the first things affected if your body isn’t getting everything it needs from food.
Your body directs nutrients to major organs and energy reserves, and your hair and nails can be left to suffer. In fact, degrading hair and nail health are often the early signs of a nutritional deficiency.
If you are having issues with your appetite or suffer from nausea, getting enough nutrients into your system, getting the right kinds of nutrients, and keeping food down can be an issue. This can rapidly lead to nutritional deficiencies that contribute to hair loss.
CBD oil has been shown to both help boost appetite and help control symptoms like nausea. If your hair loss is related to deficiencies due to lack of nutrients or an unbalanced nutritional intake, this might be the solution for hair loss and you might be able to start regrowing healthy hair quickly.
Stress
Hair loss can also be a hallmark sign of stress or anxiety. When you get seriously stressed, your hair follicles can go into resting phase, and over the next weeks or months the hairs might abruptly start to fall out. If the natural hair growth cycle stays interrupted, new hairs don’t grow in, and you can get stuck with a balding head.
Severe stress can also affect your immune system, causing onset of a specific kind of hair loss known as alopecia areata. In this case, your immune system attacks the hair follicles, causing your hair to fall out.
Fortunately, one of the most popular benefits of CBD is stress relief. In clinical studies, it has shown much promise in reducing stress levels and balancing systems in the body. So, taking CBD oil on a daily basis to reduce stress may be helpful in addressing related hair loss.
Anxiety
Hand in hand with stress goes anxiety, another leading reason why people take CBD. Anxiety can cause stress, leading to alopecia areata, and this anxiety can manifest in behaviors that cause you to lose even more hair.
Trichotillomania is the irresistible urge to pull out hair from your scalp. Some people also find themselves pulling hair from their eyebrows or their arms as well, and others notice that they compulsively put their hair in their mouth and chew on it.
If your hair loss is due to anxiety, the effects of CBD oil might be enough to help you break these habits and preserve your hair. Then you can regrow your hair and restore your natural look, without any more pulling or chewing.
Addiction
Being addicted to certain substances can wreck your body’s ability to regenerate, which can cause problems like tooth and hair loss. If you have struggled with addiction, you may notice your hair is thinned or patchy.
This can negatively affect your self esteem, and make it even harder to stay on the path to recovery. Fortunately, many people find that CBD oil is a wonderful aid when recovering from addictive substances, and comes with many additional benefits.
With CBD oil as part of a well-rounded recovery plan after addiction, hair regrowth can wind up being a natural side effect of getting clean and healthy. It all ties back into whole body health, and your hair being vulnerable to changes in body chemistry.
Taking CBD Oil For Hair Regrowth
The good news is that taking Yummy CBD oil for any purpose is easy and enjoyable. We infuse our full-spectrum CBD into a medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) coconut oil, and lightly flavor it.
We use MCT oil because these types of fats don’t get stored in the body, but break down quickly and can be used as energy. It’s been proven that CBD works better when you have some fat in your system, so this lets you take your dose, enjoy the effects, then get rid of the fatty compounds quickly.
Our CBD oils come packages in a small, discreet bottle with a dropper that lets you carefully measure and adjust your dose. Some people prefer to apply their CBD oils topically or put them on food, but the best way to get maximized effects is to take your dose sublingually.
This means that you put the dose (usually around half a dropperful, which is equal to 1 mL) underneath your tongue. Hold it there for 30-60 seconds or longer, then swallow. Wait a little bit before drinking a beverage.
Sublingual application lets the CBD oil soak into the tissues and access the capillaries, which are very close to the surface. This fast-tracks the CBD into your bloodstream, and you can usually start feeling effects in 30 minutes to an hour.
Each bottle of Yummy CBD oil contains 30 mL, or about 30 doses. You can adjust your dose up and down until you find the right balance.
Orange Zest CBD Oil
The standard CBD oil tincture contains 33 mg of CBD per mL, so the bottle has about 1000 mg total. We’ve flavored out standard tincture with a fruity orange flavor, so you don’t get a weird taste while you’re holding the oil under your tongue. You can take this CBD oil daily to help manage stress or anxiety, or to boost your appetite.
Mellow Mint CBD Oil
The CBD oil sleep formula contains 67 mg of CBD per mL (around double that of the original formula.) We have also included 1 mg of melatonin per mL. This means that every bottle holds about 2000 mg of CBD and an additional 30 mg of melatonin.
Again, this is a 30 dose bottle, more or less. It’s designed to be taken before bed, to improve the quality of your rest and boost bodily functions while you sleep. The smooth, mint flavor is mellow and refreshing, making it perfect for bedtime.
Ready to get started with CBD oil for hair growth? You can check out our helpful CBD Buyer’s Guide, then head over to our SHOP page for full-spectrum Yummy CBD products, including oil tinctures and CBD gummies.