Can Yoga Help Your Hair Grow? Here's What You Should Know

Yoga is an ancient practice that is still popular to this day. The practice aims to provide practitioners with a sense of tranquility, calm, and sense of well-being. According to a 2018 study, the number of people in the U.S. practicing yoga was 28.75 million and it's continued to rise. In 2023, more than 36 million Americans practice yoga. While yoga is a workout, it also doubles as a meditative practice that works to settle your body and mind through holding and moving through intricate poses and stretches.

There are many proven health benefits to yoga, ranging from reducing stress and aiding in digestion to encouraging relaxation. However, there's also a new claim. Have you heard that practicing yoga helps improve hair growth? It turns out that certain yoga poses increase hair growth by stimulating blood flow in the scalp. Before you invest in expensive haircare products that may or may not revive your thinning hair, step on the mat and practice yoga to boost your hair growth!

Hair follicles need blood and oxygen to thrive and grow without breakage. As per SkinKraft, increased blood flow in the scalp can make the hair grow longer. Proper blood circulation nourishes hair follicles with oxygen. When you have low blood circulation in your scalp, your hair follicles will gradually become dormant, which leads to thinning and weaker hair.

Kerry Fisher, meditation and yoga teacher, tells Stylecraze, "The yoga poses that are considered by some to be good for hair growth are divided into those poses that bring blood to the scalp, like inversions, and those poses that are relaxing to the body... When your body is at rest, your body can regenerate itself." Yoga poses that increase blood flow in the scalp include downward facing dog pose, standing forward fold pose, and child's pose. For your hair to benefit from increased blood flow to the scalp, make sure you nourish your scalp so that hair follicles grow freely.

Not only does yoga help increase the blood flow in your scalp, but it also relaxes your body and mind, which improves your overall mental health. Per Mayo Clinic, higher levels of stress can cause hair follicles to become dormant and to stay in a rest phase. This causes hair follicles to stop growing, so your hair starts thinning. According to a study in 2011, yoga, breathing exercises, and meditation can reduce stress, promote healing, and even enhance the quality of life for those with cancer. Practicing yoga regularly encourages you to slow your breathing and become present — taking your mind away from your daily stressors. 

If you're new to yoga, start with a guided ten-minute breathing exercise. Breathing Exercises on TikTok has various guided videos you can watch and follow along with as you learn to practice breathwork. Reducing your stress levels could be the key to reviving your locks and boosting your hair growth for longer and thicker hair.