Nearly 60% of Americans tried a new diet in 2025, a 23% increase from 2024, according to the latest nutrition survey data. Recent data analysis by Masumi Headwear reveals four widely practiced diets that could secretly damage your hair health.
Keto Diet
The wildly popular low-carb diet delivers fast weight loss, but might cause significant hair thinning due to cutting out almost all carbs. Missing B vitamins, magnesium, and phosphorus cause hair follicles to stop growing and start shedding noticeably across the scalp.
How to prevent: Add eggs, salmon, spinach, and avocados to your daily meals. These foods give your hair the nutrients it needs while maintaining the low-carb approach.
Intermittent Fasting
This trending eating pattern restricts food to specific time windows and helps people lose weight, but might cause significant hair loss. Research shows that prolonged fasting periods release harmful fatty acids that damage hair follicle stem cells and slow down hair growth by up to 18%.
How to prevent: Eat plenty of berries, nuts, and green vegetables during your eating windows, which protect your hair cells. Rub vitamin E oil on your scalp weekly for extra protection.
Vegan Diet
Plant-based eating offers many health benefits, but requires careful nutrient planning to maintain healthy hair. Without animal products, some vegans may develop deficiencies in vitamin B12, iron, zinc, and complete proteins that directly impact hair structure and growth cycles.
How to prevent: Eat tofu, lentils, and quinoa daily for protein. Choose spinach and pumpkin seeds for iron. Include nutritional yeast in your meals for B vitamins, essential to hair growth.
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Paleo Diet
The paleo diet may contribute to hair thinning despite its health benefits. This ancestral eating approach eliminates several food groups that contain important nutrients for hair growth, creating deficiencies in B vitamins, biotin, and certain minerals that maintain hair follicle function and lead to dull, brittle hair.
How to prevent: Eat plenty of eggs, sweet potatoes, and dark leafy greens daily. Include liver in your meals once weekly for concentrated B vitamins and biotin that keep hair follicles healthy.
The Expert Take
“These popular diets can offer significant health benefits, and many doctors recommend them for various conditions,” says Ali Nowroozi, Director of Masumi Headwear. “However, people need to be attentive to the potential side effects on their hair health, which often go unnoticed until significant thinning occurs. Hair loss can trigger additional stress that nobody wants to deal with. With some simple adjustments, you can keep the benefits these diets provide while maintaining healthy, full hair. Just add the right nutrient-rich foods that work within your chosen diet plan.”
