Hair raising

Alongside a weight problem I've had a parallel problem, a follicular one and unfortunately because of those darn hormones it's all too common when you have a weight problem.  Fear of hair loss can creep into your dreams in the form of a night terror, it certainly does mine.  It is one thing a man losing his hair, and certainly not an aspect of manhood he'd embrace.  So imagine, if you will, the experience of this loss for a woman. 

Remember, even before we go into puberty we use our hair to enhance our femininity.  Hair is so aptly named is the crowning glory, it's the main outward sign of our femininity and losing it rips away a portion of one's feminine identity. 

When I was at my heaviest my hair, which remained styled long, was the one thing that I still liked about myself - losing it was desperately painful.  

My personal hair loss happened a  little under three years ago now.  There may be a couple of photos lurking somewhere as a reminder of that desperate period. In the meantime I'm wachful with my hair and hope one day my weight loss will induce my deviant hormones to balance.

Unfortunately a few weeks ago my hair was beginning to look rather thin again.  One aspect of the advice I was given (see previous post) was something I found really hard to maintain... Leave it alone!

I still don't entirely know what had caused the loss.  It hadn't been looking it's best for a while so it could have been hormones but then I was very ill.  The doctor suggested to me that i't used to be said that a febrile illness could trigger hair loss'.

Overall, apart from the hard cut back, and massage I think the advice not to wash ones hair too often was probably the best advice.  I have always had greasy hair, so I have always washed it on a daily basis,  That's not really the best thing you can do for your hair but I am completely phobic of greasy hair and working in a customer facing role it's not really the best look.  Back to the beginning of this year I was back to a washing it every morning,  yet it'd still be  greasy hair by the evening. My reaction waas then to manically wash it until it it'd got to a point that it'd started to look thin again.

The tricholosist was excellent in that she recognized that the hair loss was happening.  I was, at this point, brushing just a a few remaining long strands over my head, yet people were telling me that I was imagining it or that I shouldn't worry about it.  This was despite the fact I was by now almost completely bald.   I was starting to doubt if what I was seeing in the mirror really was my reality.

However when Wendy examined my hair she was able to tell me that the hair follicles were OK and there was actually new growth there.  The bit I didn't like was that it all had to go and she set about hacking it off there and then.  It looked a little better, not like I was trying to hide what was plainly missing.  It was kind of cute when it grew back curly, and I liked returning to the elfin look I'd been given as a child. 

The best advice from my experience is to see a  trichologist (rather than a hairdresser) for support and for a better insight into what I was dealing with.  This was far more helpful than the medical doctor.  In the meantime you can check for hair growth yourself by; near your parting hold with your hands flat against your scalp, hold your hair down on both sides so it's flat against your head.  You will, hopefully, see very short strands standing out.  This is your new growth.

With my recent thinning the action I've been taking, along with increasing the days between washes, is that I've stopped using regular shampoos.  Kind of in line with my Caveman diet.  I'm not putting parabens into my hair any more and I intend to start making my own shampoos shortly.  I'm not sure if it's the less frequent washing or reduction of chemicals but in just 6 - 8 weeks I can see a marked increase in new hair growth and the grease problem seems also to have balanced itself.  My my hair looks glossy, has a better texture rather than being greasy at the roots and brittle and dry and frizzy at the ends.  Actually it looks like my hair used to be - and there's a lot of it!!

Finally, cant resist a paleo note.  Yes, I do think looking to nutrition is an extremely important to good hair.  Look to increase densely nutritional foods and reduce that stress.  It will show up in your hair and will affect your weight.  My grandmother used to recite a story about her friend whose daughter, Heather, suddenly died at the age of 6.  Her friends hair did go white overnight as a result of the shock. 

I heart my hair...

Comments

[goodbyetoallfat]

Hi Jenny,

I have almost the opposite problem, possibly also caused or exacerbated by my weight. Not too much hair on my head (just the normal amount) but excessive extra hair growth in places where I don't want -- and not the usual moustache or chin or anything -- oh no, my darned hair folicles are wayyyyyy too clever for that. What I get is "ingrowing" hairs erupting in the strangest places, one on the side of my face, a few on my arms, 3 on my legs, often in or near a mole, but some of them totally on their own and nothing to do with a mole.

I did mention them once to my GP with a long list of problems, but I just got fobbed off with "lose weight". The weird ingrowing folicles drive me mad, the skin around them gets red and itchy, then I try and pick at it but never can get at the hair (even with tweezers) because it is growing backwards not upwards !!!!

Ggggggggggggrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

The trials of life, eh?

[Jenny]

Hi Sharon,

Thanks for dropping by again. I can sympathise. I do have had this problem, hormones being so screwed up,but hesitated before mentioning it. However, at one point it was so bad I couldn't keep up with it, even with tweezers. Of course the doctor is right when he says lose weight but when you have so much weight to lose it's not going to happen right away and this is the kind a problem you want to see results with right NOW.

Ultimately I would like to invest in some laser treatment, although I am quite confident that of once he weight goes so with the hirsuitism. However, my problem is more or less resolved now so I do have a tip.

I'm not to keen on medications but when it comes to excess hair sometimes we girls have to make exceptions.

From my other job I got to hear about a cream called Vaniqa, actually I heard about it before my GP was aware of it and before it had even hit the BNF (British National Formulary). But basically it's a hormonal cream. Our excess hair is usually cos there's too much testosterone floating around and Vaniqa you can put the hormones where you need them. If you're GP hasn't suggested it before visit him armed with this info. It's relatively new here and has only been around a year or so, it may not even have been around for him to suggest when you saw him about the problem. Good luck