Sadly, one common health struggle that so many women deal with is hair loss. It can be heart breaking to struggle with seeing clumps of hair coming out as you shower, but ultimately, there is hope. Many times this loss is due to undernourishment, high cortisol, a major drop in estrogen, or autoimmunity.
(It's important to note that I am referring to new or unexpected hair loss, not Alopecia areata, an autoimmune condition that is caused by the immune system).
Step 1: Assess Nutrient Status
Many times, low nutrient status can be responsible for hair loss. When hair follicles are undernourished, they will not grow, and hair loss is also more likely. When I say "undernourishment", I am referring to a variety of different things: mineral status, vitamin status, and even low levels of particular macronutrients. Oftentimes, low iron and copper, vitamin D, B vitamins, vitamin A, and protein are the main contributors to this particular state of struggle. Oftentimes, when I see these situations together, they typically are issues with the gut that is contributing to malabsorption. Although I often see this with SIBO, there can be issues with malabsorption that might not be directly linked to bacterial (or fungal) issues.
Action steps: track your daily food intake for two weeks into a free tool, Chronometer, and if needed, look into functional testing to assess nutrient status.
Step 2: Lower Stress
Cortisol is a stress hormone that serves very important purposes, but in excess, it can contribute to hair loss. To get an accurate read of cortisol, I only suggest the DUTCH test, which I order and interpret for my 1:1 clients. A saliva or blood test will not be accurate enough for assessing cortisol, and many times, the finding with a DUTCH test will be opposite of a blood test or saliva test. If you are needing to assess cortisol status without testing (although I suggest testing eventually), then the symptoms of high cortisol include:
Weight gain, insomnia, morning fatigue, anxiety, acne, painful periods, high insulin, hair loss, and beyond.
To help normalize cortisol, take the steps below:
- have a regular bedtime, and aim to fall asleep at 10 your time
- aim to prioritize morning workouts vs. workouts later in the day, and stick to slow and steady workouts that do not increase heart rate into the 70% capacity rate, instead, stick to staying at a maximum of 50% capacity
- incorporate EFT (emotional freedom technique), or try prayer, mindfulness or whatever brings you peace
- spend time in nature and having fun + resting after working
Step 3: Look Into Mineral and Hormonal Status
Your mineral status impacts your hormonal status, so this is why ideally, an HTMA (hair tissue mineral analysis) test would be run to assess the full picture. Just how hair loss can occur postpartum due to a drop in pregnancy hormones (also, you do not loose as much hair during pregnancy, so this plays a role), hair loss can occur in a non-pregnant or postpartum woman due to hormonal fluctuation. Looking into mineral status, thyroid health, estrogen, progesterone and testosterone levels, in addition to cortisol (mentioned above) are all great steps to help you identify what is triggering hair loss.
Six Steps to Preserve Hair Health:
Preserve the hair you do have by avoiding over-washing and over-styling, and if needed, take a break from coloring treatments to aid in the recovery process
Prioritize protein by making sure that you get at least 120 grams a day, through various sources such a bone broth, dairy, high quality meat and organs
Try a castor oil hair mask to optimize growth
Aim to increase blood flow to the scalp to aid in growth by adding in an herbal approach: he sho wu is an amazing Chinese herb that is very supportive of hair health and growth
Try red light therapy to stimulate new growth
Avoid unnecessary stress and if stress is unavoidable, re-think your responses to stress (repressing emotions, overworking, and over-caffeinating are common responses to stress that do not serve those struggling)
