The foods to avoid (and to stock up on) if you have thinning hair

Ever feel like there's more hair on the hairbrush than your head?

For some of us it starts in our twenties, while for others it doesn't hit until middle age but plenty of us will know the struggle that is thinning hair and hair loss, especially after having a baby. Damaged, thinning hair can seem like an inevitable part of ageing, but before your resort to spray-on solutions, you might want to check your diet. Even a standard 'healthy' diet could be part of the problem, according to trichologist Anabel Kingsley. "At least once a day, a client comes to me professing they are eating an incredibly healthy diet," she told Good Housekeeping "They do not snack and they have fresh fruit for breakfast and salad for lunch with a bit of chicken or fish. "While this may appear fine for your body, it’s simply not enough for your hair – and the wrong diet is a very common cause of excessive daily hair loss (telogen effluvium)." Unsurprisingly, protein is your friend when it comes to healthy hair. "To help ensure you are taking in adequate nutrients for hair growth, eat at least 120g of protein at breakfast and lunch," she said. Energy to form hair cells drops four hours after eating, so she recommends having "nutrient dense carbohydrates" like fresh fruit or whole grain crackers as snacks. Foods high in mercury, including types of fish like shark, swordfish, king mackerel and tilefish, are to be avoided if you're worried about your hair. "Mercury is toxic and high mercury levels can cause many health problems, including hair loss," said Anabel.