Silica for Hair: What the Research Shows

Silicon is a trace element found in hair itself, and it's one of the few minerals with a placebo-controlled hair trial behind it. In that trial, women with fine hair who took a bioavailable form of silicon for nine months kept more hair strength and ended up with thicker hair.

Here's what that research found, where the studied form fits among silica products, and how to get silicon from food.

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Key Takeaways

• In a nine-month, placebo-controlled trial in 48 women with fine hair, choline-stabilized orthosilicic acid (ch-OSA) kept hair strength from falling and increased hair thickness.
• In a second trial, women taking ch-OSA for 20 weeks reported less hair and nail brittleness than at the start.
• Both trials used one specific form, ch-OSA. The results may not apply to other silica products.
• Solid foods are a major source of silicon: in a large US study, beer and bananas for men, and bananas and string beans for women.

What Is Silica?

Silicon (the element in silica) has been suggested to play a role in forming connective tissue, and it's present in hair at 1 to 10 parts per million. Silicon supplements come in different chemical forms, and the ones used in the hair research were specific.

Why Silica Is Of Interest For Hair

Most mineral-for-hair claims rest on lab studies or theory. Silicon is different because it has trials in women, measuring things like hair strength and thickness. That makes it worth a closer look, as long as the form matches the one that was tested.

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What To Look For

• The form studied. The trials used choline-stabilized orthosilicic acid at 10 mg of silicon a day. Check the label for the form and the amount.
• Realistic timing. The hair trial ran for nine months, so judge any silicon product over months, not weeks.
• Food first. See the dietary sources below.

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What The Research Shows

Hair Strength And Thickness

In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, 48 women with fine hair took 10 mg of silicon a day as ch-OSA or a placebo for nine months. In the placebo group, hair break load fell significantly (-10.8%), but in the ch-OSA group it did not change significantly (-2.20%). Hair cross-sectional area, a measure of thickness, increased significantly in the ch-OSA group but not in the placebo group (Wickett et al., 2007).

Hair And Nail Brittleness

In 50 women with photodamaged skin, 20 weeks of ch-OSA (10 mg silicon a day) lowered volunteers' own scores for hair and nail brittleness compared with their starting scores. The study's main focus was skin (Barel et al., 2005).

Silicon In Food

In Framingham study cohorts, men's silicon intake averaged 30 to 33 mg a day and women's 24 to 25 mg a day, falling with age. The major sources were beer and bananas in men, and bananas and string beans in women. On average 41% of the silicon people ate showed up in their urine, suggesting it's readily available from foods (Jugdaohsingh et al., 2002).

Is Silica Safe?

We didn't find safety data in these abstracts beyond the trials above. Check with your doctor first if you're pregnant, breastfeeding, have a condition or take medication.

Bamboo extract is one product sold as a silica source; see bamboo extract and hair.

See also: Choline for Hair: Benefits, Best Food Sources & Why Most People Fall Short

To see how this fits with the other nutrients hair needs, read our guide to the best vitamins for hair growth.

Silica (orthosilicic acid) is one of the ingredients in FullyVital's Hair Revival Supplements and Hair Skin Gut Collagen. For how the evidence for each ingredient in the line stacks up, see our evidence-tier breakdown.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does silica help hair growth?

We found no trial measuring hair growth rate. In a placebo-controlled trial, ch-OSA helped women with fine hair keep strength and gain thickness.

Which form of silica should I look for?

The hair research used choline-stabilized orthosilicic acid. Other forms haven't been tested for hair in the studies we found.

What foods contain silicon?

In a large US study, major sources were beer and bananas for men, and bananas and string beans for women.

References

1. Wickett RR, Kossmann E, Barel A, et al. Effect of oral intake of choline-stabilized orthosilicic acid on hair tensile strength and morphology in women with fine hair. Arch Dermatol Res. 2007. PubMed
2. Barel A, Calomme M, Timchenko A, et al. Effect of oral intake of choline-stabilized orthosilicic acid on skin, nails and hair in women with photodamaged skin. Arch Dermatol Res. 2005. PubMed
3. Jugdaohsingh R, Anderson SH, Tucker KL, et al. Dietary silicon intake and absorption. Am J Clin Nutr. 2002. PubMed