Does Ashwagandha Improve Skin & Hair?

Ashwagandha probably is best known for its ability to lower cortisol levels and help manage stress and anxiety.

But did you know that it’s also believed to be an amazing beauty supplement?

Ashwagandha can help improve skin health and appearance, and it does this in a fairly simple way.

Ashwagandha For Skin

It’s all to do with cortisol. When your cortisol levels are too high, a number of negative things can happen to your body.

You can feel more stressed, you can gain weight more easily, your sleep pattern may become erratic, and your skin can also suffer.

This is because cortisol inhibits the production of certain vital compounds and proteins that our skin needs to remain healthy.

These include such compounds and proteins as:

Hyaluronan
Elastin
Collagen

Each of these is individually responsible for keeping the skin hydrated, strong, and looking supple. And, when any of these are inhibited by high cortisol levels, your skin can soon start looking dull, dry, and aged.

So, how might Ashwagandha help with this problem?

Ashwagandha is believed to lower cortisol levels (by as much as 30% in some studies)allowing these essential skin-building proteins and compounds to function as necessary.

Ashwagandha doesn’t only help maintain beauty, though.

One study has shown that Ashwagandha could help induce apoptosis, which is the programmed death of cancer cells. This means that it may possibly be able to play a role in preventing skin cancer as well as other types of cancer including breast, lung, and ovarian - however, much more clinical evidence is needed here.

Does Ashwagandha Cause Hair Loss?

There is no evidence to suggest that Ashwagandha causes hair loss.

In fact, it might have the opposite effect. The reason for this is that one of the main causes of hair loss is stress, which is again caused by high levels of cortisol.

Stress can cause inflammation and, when this happens, our immune system goes into overdrive as it starts to repair damaged cells. As it does this, it creates a priority imbalance, focusing all of its attention on repairing the inflammation and sacrificing certain cells that are less important, one of which is hair.

With this in mind, Ashwagandha may be able to help prevent hair loss in two different ways.

First of all, Ashwagandha has been studied extensively for its ability to lower cortisol levels. The lower our cortisol levels are, the less risk there is of developing stress-related inflammation. In turn, our immune system doesn’t have to go into overdrive and sacrifice our hair follicles in the process.

The second way in which Ashwagandha may help to prevent hair loss is by reducing inflammation. One study on this found that Ashwagandha has the ability to increase the activity of the body’s natural killer cells. These are the cells that are responsible for fighting infection and keeping us healthy.

With all of this in mind, it’s safe to say that Ashwagandha is not a cause of hair loss.

Does Ashwagandha Reverse Grey Hair?

If you’re looking for a herbal supplement that can help stall premature greying, Ashwagandha could be the ticket.

One study found that it may be capable of stimulating melanin production and restoring lost melanin. If you’re not sure what melanin is, the simplest way to describe it is as the pigment that gives our hair its natural colour.

It isn’t an immediate solution to greying hair, though. In a clinical trial conducted in India, a 300mg daily dose of Ashwagandha was given to a group of men with grey hair.

Eventually, they started showing signs of increased melanin production, but it took 12 months to happen.

Is Ashwagandha Anti-Aging?

Ashwagandha is a super-powerful medicinal herb and it can affect the way we look and feel. While many people use Ashwagandha to manage stress, it can also actually help to reduce the signs of aging in a couple of different ways.

As we’ve mentioned, it helps to lower your cortisol levels. Cortisol is the stress hormone that our adrenal glands produce when we’re faced with stressful situations.

Balanced cortisol levels are essential for certain body functions including:

Managing how our body uses carbohydrates, fats, and proteins
Preventing and reducing inflammation
Regulating blood pressure
Increasing blood sugar levels
Controlling our circadian rhythm (sleep/wake cycle)
Boosting energy

However, when our cortisol levels are too high, we can suffer from stress-induced inflammation. This can cause the elastin and collagen in the skin to start breaking down and, as a result, our skin starts to lose its elasticity. This is when wrinkles occur.

This isn’t the only way that high levels of cortisol affect our skin, though. It can also inhibit the production of compounds and proteins that keep our skin strong, hydrated, and healthy. These include Hyaluronan, Elastin, and Collagen.

Since Ashwagandha is believed to keep our cortisol levels in check, there’s less of a chance of developing stress-induced inflammation.

In turn, we have less of a chance of losing skin elasticity. There’s also less risk of inhibiting the compounds and proteins that our skin needs to remain healthy.

The anti-aging benefits of Ashwagandha may run more than just skin deep, though. It is also believed that Ashwagandha can help to improve brain function and memory.

One study conducted on a group of men found that a 500mg daily dose of standardized Ashwagandha powder (or the equivalent of approx. 1 standard Ashwagandha capsule) helped to improve reaction time and task performance.

Similarly, another study found that a daily 300g dose of Ashwagandha root extract over a course of 8 weeks significantly improved task performance, attention, and general memory.

Furthermore, there is a known relationship between Ashwagandha and testosterone production which has a very important role in keeping the body youthful in many different ways.

With all of the above in mind, it’s fair to say that Ashwagandha could be a great supplement for anybody looking to delay both the physical and mental effects of aging.

Is Ashwagandha Good For Eyes?

Photographer: Victor Freitas | Source: Unsplash

The health benefits of Ashwagandha are plentiful, however, there currently isn’t any research to suggest that it can directly help to improve eyesight.

With that being said, it may be capable of helping to maintain eye health, especially if you find that your vision fluctuates.

There are many things that can cause vision to fluctuate or become blurry, including:

Eye-strain
Dry eyes
Poor sleep habits
Diabetes
Cataracts
Certain medications

Ashwagandha won’t be able to help with all of these, but there are a couple of these issues that it may be able to help with when it comes to fluctuating vision.

The first of these is poor sleep habits. Our bodies run off a circadian rhythm, which is also known as the sleep/wake cycle. Put simply, this rhythm tells us when it’s time to go to sleep and when it's time to wake up, and it uses a variety of hormones to do this.

When it's time to sleep, melatonin levels are higher. When it's time to wake up, our cortisol levels are higher.

When we are stressed, our cortisol levels are much higher and, as a result, we can start developing poor sleep habits. However, since Ashwagandha is believed to help lower cortisol levels, it could be capable of keeping our circadian rhythms working properly. As a result, poor sleep habits are beaten and fluctuating vision could improve.

The second issue that Ashwagandha may help with when it comes to fluctuating vision is diabetes. While it can’t be considered as a cure, there have been studies that show it can reduce blood sugar levels in people suffering from diabetes.

To finish up - the quick video below is an excellent breakdown of how Ashwagandha can help with many of the issues we’ve covered in this article - check it out!

Conclusion

As we hope you’ve picked up in this article, Ashwagandha is a brilliant ayurvedic and adaptogenic herb that can help with many different aspects of your health including skin, hair and premature aging.

Its ability to help these issues comes from bringing your cortisol levels down, reducing inflammation and helping you manage your stress levels. When you’re feeling less stressed on the inside, it shows on the outside.

But, it’s not all about outer-youth. Ashwagandha is believed to have brain-boosting power as well, keeping your memory and your mind sharp!

While there isn’t any current evidence to suggest that Ashwagandha can cure poor vision, it may be able to help with fluctuating vision by lowering your cortisol and blood sugar levels - helping other systems in your body that relate to eye health.

So, if this has piqued your interest at all as a herbal remedy that could help your situation, check out our top Ashwagandha suppliers and start your tonic journey!