Cardi B Drinks Alkaline Water to Promote Hair Growth — Can That Help?

Cardi B's hair always looks amazing, whether she's sporting a mini pink bob for the Grammys or a longer, glossy style for one of the many ads in her Reebok partnership. But it's not just about debuting new colors, lengths, and styles for the 29-year-old singer. Behind the scenes, Cardi B puts in effort to maintain healthy hair.

On Saturday, the "WAP" singer shared the progress from her efforts on Twitter. "​​So I've been so consistent with my hair mask routine and drinking alkaline water, and look how much my hair has grown," she writes in a tweet alongside a selfie. "I was so scared of my hair falling out after my son's birth because I'd been growing it for years now, so I made sure to keep up with it and I actually [gained] hair." (

While her hair masking routine isn't new news — she revealed her favorite DIY mixture last summer — the alkaline water part is. If this is the first you're hearing of it, alkaline water is water that has a pH of over 7, rather than a more acidic pH. It's become somewhat of a health food trend, and is available through faucet attachments or bottled water.

And, as unlikely as it may seem that the water you drink could actually affect the way your hair grows, certified trichologist William Gaunitz, founder of Advanced Trichology, says that it may. "Every day the vast majority of what we consume as food or drink is considered to be acidic," says Gaunitz. "When our bodies process the acids, they're striving for a neutral pH around 7.3." To get back to the neutral pH, your body relies on stores of alkalizing minerals such as calcium, magnesium, potassium, and sodium, he says. "In many cases, that creates inflammation which then directly impacts the hair growth cycle." The idea behind drinking alkaline water is that "you're giving your body a high level of alkaline minerals ready to be used to neutralize those acids so that your body does not have to steal them from other organ systems like your bones, internal organ development, or skin and hair," he says.

However, not everyone buys into the purported health benefits of drinking alkaline water. Skeptics argue that the water you drink can't affect your body's natural ability to regulate a pH imbalance. The Mayo Clinic states that there isn't enough research to prove that drinking alkaline water can affect blood pH, and according to the Cleveland Clinic, "there have been no empirical studies showing that alkaline water has health benefits." (

Still, something's working for Cardi B, and she has her recent photo to prove it. It doesn't hurt to sip on alkaline water if you're intrigued, and by all means, steal that hair mask recipe.