Are you noticing more and more hair in your brush after you brush your hair or find clumps of hair falling out during your shower? If you’re experience hair loss, you aren’t alone. I myself experiences severe hair loss just a few years ago. It seemed like no matter what I did I had heaps of hair falling out per day.
Although, it can be alarming there is usually no immediate threat to your health. Hair loss does give us a insight into imbalances within body. There can be many reasons as to why you are losing your hair and in this post we will cover a few main reasons we find in our practice.
Diet
This is one of the main reason we see women losing their hair. The way we eat affects every function within our bodies. When we start to lose our hair, our bodies aren’t getting enough nutrients in order to see maintaining hair a necessity for life. Lack of a balanced diet can lead to many other issues such as metabolic syndrome, thyroid imbalances, nutrient deficiencies and more. And you guessed it, those conditions are linked to hair loss.
Let’s look into imbalances within your diet that can lead to hair loss.
- Not eating enough throughout the day
- Not eating enough protein. Protein is needed in order for hair health and growth.
- Lack of vitamin Bs in diet
- Vegan or Plant Based diet. These diets are usually low in B vitamins, iron, and complete proteins that are needed for hair health and growth.
- Imbalanced blood sugar
- Lack of water consumption
- Low fatty acid consumption
Your diet is strictly related to your hair health. Your hair takes a lot of energy and nutrients to grow. So, if you have been on an extreme diet, elimination diet, or don’t prioritize a health well rounded diet you can be certain to find your hair thinning.
Stress
Stress is another one of those things that we all experience and that we find very common in our wellness practice. Your body rapidly uses minerals and nutrients in order to respond to the stress in our lives. When we have chronic stress in our lives it may be hard for our bodies to have enough nutrients or energy to keep our hair growing and healthy. When you have too much cortisol in your system it can push your hair into a ‘resting phase’ which is where your hair isn’t growing. And over time, it can lead to hair thinning.
Let’s look into different types of stress that could be contributing to hair loss:
We have a few different types of stress. Make sure to read our blog post explaining these types of stress HERE.
- Blood sugar imbalances
- Extreme or restrictive dieting
- Not liking your job
- Not feeling seen or valued
- Non supportive partner or friends
- Repressed trauma
- Grief
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Lack of purpose in life
- Over exercising
- Intense Exercising
- Fasting
- Lack of relaxation time
- EMFs
- Toxins and Chemicals in daily products and food
- Nutrient imbalances
- Unclean air
- Living or working in a water damaged/moldy environment
- Divorce
- Loss of job
- Injury
- Natural disaster
As you can see there are MANY stressors we may experience in our day to day life. It is important to learn how to manage your stress and find more space and relaxation in your days.
Hormonal Changes
It is probably no surprise to hear that hormones play a role in maintaining our full head of hair. The key when it comes to hair loss and the hormone connection is knowing the imbalance of hormones is what creates the loss. When estrogen or progesterone or too high or low it can effect the hair cycle. If you are on hormonal birth control this can also cause hair loss and effect the health of your hair.
Thyroid Imbalances
A common symptom of thyroid imbalances is hair loss this is because the thyroid hormone plays an essential role in the development and maintenance of the hair follicles. When our thyroid hormone is impaired in anyway we can see that our hair starts to thin and become lackluster. It is important to ensure our thyroid is working properly. In order to do this go to your healthcare practitioner and pull a full thyroid panel to see if you have a thyroid condition.
If you have had a thyroid panel but your results are within ‘normal’ range, you could have a mineral imbalance that is directly impacting your thyroid. In any case, we always recommend getting a HTMA hair test that looks at the mineral levels within the body. The cool thing about this this test and thyroid conditions is that we can see a thyroid imbalance happening years before it shows up in your blood tests. If you are interested in getting an HTMA test done, reach out to us today to book a free 15 minute consultation on how we can work together HERE
