im losing tons of hair! what gives?

ttoosday

So I started using cg friendly products a couple of months ago and have been very gentle with my hair since then. Switched to a satin pillow case. I use t-shirts to squeeze my hair dry. I diffuse on low strength with medium heat. I oil prewash sometimes. I cowash gently, i gently apply a curl definer on damp hair. I never have tangles. I wear loose ponytails on day two. I have *always* been a big shedder.

My hair is falling out more than ever since I began all of this. In the shower it feels like I barely have any hair at all. It comes out during washing, it comes out during rinsing, it comes out during drying, and then all day it come out. I will look down and there will be hair all over my desk, my clothes, even my food plate (yes I know, gross but I can't tell u how many times I've wondered if that hair in my food is mine...probably is). I can barely lightly run my fingers over the top of my hair and hairs come out. With bulbs on the end. All with bulbs. Towels, hair ties, it's all over the floors in every room. I find my hair everywhere, in the dishwasher, the washer and dryer, the fridge. It's so scary. I had my thyroid checked a few weeks ago, completely normal, they said the most perfect mid-normal range they have seen. The only time I don't see as much shedding is when it's kept cut chin length and kept straightened every day.

Why am I losing so much!? I am going to have *no more* hair left at this rate. Plus I can just see all the &?@#% frizz I have and am going to have with new growth coming in. It's one of the reasons I can't do curly hair, such low density and so much frizz. It looks so messy and unkempt! But still somehow looks like I have a lot of hair. What do I do?

lolo918

If there are bulbs, it may just be time for the hairs to be shed and nothing to worry about. You may want to check for vitamin/mineral deficiencies if you are still worried. I think there was one somewhere about iron deficiency and hair loss I saw at one point?

For me, I did not have tons of shedding before but did notice less during detangling when I started using hydrolyzed protein (collagen) regularly. I didn't feel the need to use protein like this until I went cg, but may not be the same for you.

I do hope you get thing figured out!

Sent from my VS980 4G using CurlTalk App

Blueblood

ttoosday wrote: »

What do I do?

Go back to your doctor asap. State all your symptoms not only your hair loss but any fatigue, frequent infections, poor condition of nails, poor condition of skin, heavy periods etc. Ask for a full nutrient blood test covering haemoglobin, ferritin, vitamin D and vitamin B12 levels. This is important as many doctors don't understand the importance of ferritin levels.

Each lab has a specific set of tests they run when asked to do a full nutrient blood test with vitamin D. So you will probably end up having your calcium levels and folate levels checked as well.

Then make sure you get a print out of the results as if the doctor is a family doctor they may state that ferritin or B12 level at the lower part of the range is ok when in fact that's what is causing your hair and other problems.

If you don't have a severe deficiency in any one of them then you need to see a trichologist or a dermatologist as you may have low levels in one or more nutrients causing your hair loss.

If you do have a severe deficiency that is treated and you are still having hair loss problems, go and see a trichologist or a dermatologist. You can have more than one deficiency at a time.

If you do have any deficiencies or low levels it can take over a year for your hair to get back to normal. Your body provides nutrients to your internal organs and skin before it provides nutrients to your hair and nails. You can live bald but you can't live without a fully functioning liver.

Also avoid manipulating your hair and straightening it as much as possible as it will make your hair loss worse.

Edited to say:
Your hair will feel terrible and not act properly until your nutrient levels have risen.

If you are on any medication e.g metformin, the pill they can cause you to become deficient in one or more nutrients like B12. As you need to continual your medication you need to find out what you are deficient in then take supplements.

If you have any food intolerances however minor you need to modify your diet to ensure that you avoid the foods that cause you problems as it will stop you absorbing the other nutrients you need.

However you may still need to supplement as depending on your lifestyle it may simply not be possible to get all of a particular nutrient you need from food and the environment. For example you cannot reasonably expect an office worker who lives far from the equator to get all their Vitamin D from the sun and oily fish.

Lots of people make a fuss about having to take an iron, B12 and/or vitamin D pill until menopause or for the rest of their lives. The fact that taking that supplement will help prevent you getting much more serious illnesses shouldn't be over looked.

ttoosday

• Well something could certainly be amiss, as I tend to show lots of symptoms of hypothyroidism. But as I mentioned before, my levels were normal. One big issue is that I am a pretty healthy person, as in I don't suffer from colds or flu, I don't have any health issues that I know of, so I don't have a regular primary care doctor. I have a gyno that I see anually, she ordered my thyroid checked for me. Other than that, I really never go to the doctor. But what you have said makes me begin to wonder. It's probably time to get established and get yearly physicals and checkups for normal health care as I approach 40.

ttoosday

What the heck? Don't even ask me how I got my reply to be a quote of a post I hadn't even made yet. Wow.

Blueblood

Report the mishap to admin.

sixelamy

Do you have hard water? If you do, you might need to chelate. I found that I was shedding a ton more hair, and I didn't know why. I recently moved and my hair got really greasy and gunky after a couple showers. I didn't know what was going on. I moved to much lesser hard water than where I came from, and I had mineral buildup big time. I chelated and my hair hasn't been losing as much as before. I still shed a lot, but it's about half the amount than it was when I had untreated hard water. Try that out and see if it helps. If not, I agree to visit your doctor.

ttoosday

sixelamy wrote: »

Do you have hard water? If you do, you might need to chelate. I found that I was shedding a ton more hair, and I didn't know why. I recently moved and my hair got really greasy and gunky after a couple showers. I didn't know what was going on. I moved to much lesser hard water than where I came from, and I had mineral buildup big time. I chelated and my hair hasn't been losing as much as before. I still shed a lot, but it's about half the amount than it was when I had untreated hard water. Try that out and see if it helps. If not, I agree to visit your doctor.

Oh yes, we have hard water. We have white hard buildup on every faucet that I have to soak off with vinegar.

sixelamy

ttoosday wrote: »

Oh yes, we have hard water. We have white hard buildup on every faucet that I have to soak off with vinegar.

There's your answer right there! We had the same thing, scum everywhere, all the time. It was so gross. A shampoo with citric acid high in the list helped me (Yes to Cucumbers sulfate free). It doesn't work on me anymore, since the hard water thing is resolved, it just dries my hair out.

If you have a Sally's, ION Crystal Clarifying Treatment is absolutely amazing.

followmesky

Try getting a shower filter.

sixelamy

I had a shower filter in my shower, it does help but not as much as you would think. A good one costs an arm and a leg.

naturecat

Vinegar to chelate is helpful (for my hair, as well as my dishes!). I use ACV. It's calcium carbonate that makes my water hard and create buildup, and vinegar works well at removing that. Personally I've found the fenugreek treatment to instantly strengthen my hair and prevent the excessive shedding I've become prone to. Mine was like yours, with the bulb at the end too. But I also agree with others who mentioned getting checked for other causes, nutritional deficiencies, etc, just to rule that out.

Blueblood

I've lived on and off in hard water areas for years makes no difference. Then again I'm not afraid of using shampoo.

frizzinfla

sixelamy wrote: »

ttoosday wrote: »

Oh yes, we have hard water. We have white hard buildup on every faucet that I have to soak off with vinegar.

There's your answer right there! We had the same thing, scum everywhere, all the time. It was so gross. A shampoo with citric acid high in the list helped me (Yes to Cucumbers sulfate free). It doesn't work on me anymore, since the hard water thing is resolved, it just dries my hair out.

If you have a Sally's, ION Crystal Clarifying Treatment is absolutely amazing.

I second the chelating advice and the ION treatment. I chelate about once every 4-6 weeks when my hair becomes straw-like and I see increased shedding. Treatment works like a charm. I follow with a deep conditioning treatment to restore lost moisture.

hennared

Is no one else screaming 'thyroid' here? I'd get that checked.

It sounds like we are hair twins of a sort. My hair - always a big shedder, but was always thick and I never noticed a change - suddenly MASSIVELY started shedding when I was 42. I lost about half my hair in just a few months :-( Saw tons of doctors (all useless). I took tons of supplements that seemed valuable for me (I tested low in D and ferritin (iron) so focused on supplementing those) and gave things long trials, but no help for the shedding (did see improvements in texture from nutrition though). The ONLY thing that I think did help halt further shedding for me, was when I finally got diagnosed as hypothyroid. Took me two years to be diagnosed (I do have peculiar lab numbers). Once my doc put me on Armour thyroid my hair at least stabilized.... now its been 6 years and I have los a bit more, but I guess that's due to age. I have tried many, many nutrition regimes..... many helped how my hair felt, but NONE had my head grow more hair, just fyi, my experience.

I would also consider totally changing your routine again and seeing if your hair/scalp really does have an issue with what you are doing right now. (Not likely, I think? But you never know!)