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  • KhaasLadkiKhaasLadki Raw Newbie

    Wow, lovetobenatural – your story sounds EXACTLY like mine! I stopped eating fat last year and also lost my period (but I stopped eating fat because I had TMJ and did not have a CLUE what I was doing nutritionally [yet]... saw a nutritionist and that helped a lot!). I now eat so much fat I’m surprised I don’t weigh a bajillion pounds! I probably eat 2 – 3 avocados a day, along with lots of seeds, some nuts, and a bit of oil (coconut, olive, flax).

    My hair was sooooo thick and beautiful and long (I’m putting pics of before and after below) and I had always been very happy with my hair… “For a woman’s hair is her glory.” type thing. Then when I stopped eating fat and lost 40 lbs, my hair started coming out in clumps! I could run my fingers through it and pull a handful out! This went on for about 3 months, until I had lost over 2/3 of my hair’s thickness (kept telling my mom but she didn’t listen to me until I made her hold it in her hands). So we went to my doctor and she said she thinks it was from the lack of estrogen, which was due to the lack of fat!

    So my OB/GYN (wouldn’t have one if this hadn’t happened!) told me to try to gain a little bit of weight, because Estrogen is stored in fat and apparently I don’t have enough! I think I’m getting better though, because this last week my hair stopped coming out, and I have little ‘buffalo horns’ now! Hopefully eating more good fats (and I also have at least 1 hefty green smoothie a day) has helped.

    Hope yours starts coming back soon! I almost cried when I realized how thin mine had become – used to take 24 hrs to dry after a shower and now it dries in 15 minutes… :-(

    Before I Stopped the Fat

    After I Stopped the Fat

  • greenghostgreenghost Raw Newbie

    This is a very interesting (and rather scary) thread.

    I find it disconcerting to see how many people (especially women) have at one point or another in their lives completely cut fat out of their diets. That is such insanity! Every single cell in our bodies REQUIRES fat.

    Fat is needed to regulate cholesterol metabolism….Fat is also a precursor to prostaglandins, hormone-like substances that regulate many body functions. Which, incidentally is related to the hair-loss issue—Hormonal imbalances are a cause of hair loss.

    Many people have already written really really great dietary advice & info here, but I believe that anyone having hair-loss issues should (as Stylishchick mentioned earlier) go and have their THYROID levels checked. There are 4 different thyroid hormones. Your doctor should do a baseline study and get blood work done to check all 4.

    Another cause of hair loss is Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. When a (pre-menopausal) woman does not menstruate regularly her doctor should test to rule-out this potentially dangerous medical condition too.

    http://www.ovarian-cysts-pcos.com/female-hair-l…

  • KhaasLadkiKhaasLadki Raw Newbie

    Greenghost, I know what you mean. When I wasn’t eating fat, I wasn’t doing it intentionally, and as soon as a realized what I was (or wasn’t) doing I panicked! Then when I started researching nutrition I found a lot of people saying that they wanted a completely fat-free diet and all that – I was amazed. It is so unhealthy to avoid fat! They recently discovered that low levels of HDL (‘good’) cholesterol may actually cause Alzheimer’s!

    I found this list of foods that are good for hair on another site, and notice that all of them are rich in healthy fats! (I’m not suggesting we need to eat all of this – this is just copied from the site)

    • walnuts
    • almonds
    • salmon
    • avocados
    • seaweed
    • cheddar cheese
    • yogurt
    • granola
    • eggs
    • sunflower seeds
    • peanut butter
    • almond butter
    • black beans, any kind of bean
    • soybean
  • greenghostgreenghost Raw Newbie

    Nice referrence list Khaas Ladki. There are a number of good raw foods there.

    BTW—- I hope I didn’t sound accusatory or judgemental. Like you said – you didn’t even skip fats intentionally. And in other cases… some people have just been sadly misguided by strong advertisements & media diet frenzy to follow what they think is good advice.

    I did this too. Years ago I was convinced that dairy was “good for me” and that a high protein diet was the best way to stay thin and “healthy”

    Boy was I a dope. It took a 3 month stint in the hospital with a broken back to shatter all illusions I had held that my diet (pre-injury) was “healthy”.

  • NuttgirlNuttgirl Raw Newbie

    I just feel so lost right now. This has been an ongoing problem since last year. It got better for awhile but now its worse. Last year I went to the doc and had some blood work done and my iron levels were fine and my thyroid was fine. I started mixing the Vitamineral Green into my smoothies and juices and it worked just great to help stop the hair loss and hair dryness. Now, however it is not working even though I use it daily. I am now 75% raw and have not lost huge amounts of weight either. I used to be high raw but I fell off the wagon. :(

    And to add to my misery I have been coming down with these small cracks on the side of my mouth called Angular Cheilitis. It might be due to an iron or vitamin B deficiency. I just keep wondering if these mouth sores are related to my hair problems…Am I deficient in the B vitamins? I have been using nutritional yeast in my salads but maybe that is not enough…I don’t know. I was taking a multi-vitamin (One A Day) that contained all of the B vitamins too but I didn’t see any results as far as less hair shedding. That is why I recently switched to the GNC vitamins.

    Sorry for the lengthy post! I’m hoping that maybe someone here can shed some light on my hair issues.

  • I gave up all fat when I had a gall bladder problem a few years ago. It made me ill. The naturopath I saw told me that I wasn’t getting enough fatty acids. So, consume the good fats and leave out the bad fats. Our brains are a good percentage of omega 3 and we need all the other good oils from nuts and seeds. They are as essential as food and water.

  • ZoeZoe Raw Newbie

    I don’t know if anyone has mentioned this in the thread because I haven’t read all the posts, but I have heard and keep hearing from people that rubbing their own urine into their scalp and hair works wonders. I know gross, but some people don’t mind, and if you’re one of them well, it wouldn’t hurt to try would it? Maybe try the website *Curezone”, I am sure they have the lowdown on it on there. It is a brilliant site for natural health information.

  • Hi! I joined this site a while ago but had to activate my account still and when I saw this thread I did it immediately! I have worked in a holistic nutritionist’s office for about 8 years and I’ve seen this scenario a dozen or so times over the course of those 8 years. The nutritionists I work with, and I’m studying to become one myself, focus on cleansing and detoxification. Over the years when clients have had hair loss the area that the nutritionist’s always address is the liver and gallbladder. The reason being is that there is usually impaction in those areas in the form of stones. As most people have never cleaned out their livers or gallbladders they are usually not fuctioning optimally to begin with, and as the body goes through it’s detoxificaton process that area often gets mucked up with more gunk. When this area is clogged the body does not absorb it’s nutrients properly, so even if we are ingesting enough we will not be absorbing enough. Usually gallbladder stones and sludge are the culprit in cases of hair loss, that I’ve witnessed. In the office I work in, when there are stubborn cases, such as what yours sounds like, the nutritionists recommend a liver/gallbladder flush. I have seen every single person’s hair loss reversed by doing these. You ought to check out the fantastic book by Andreas Moritz, titled, The Liver and Gallbladder Miracle Cleanse. It will explain everything you need to know! That may be all you need. By the way, after all those years of seeing others go through a hair loss bout, it happened to me last year and through a course of 2 liver/gallbladder flushes along with high amounts of Gold Coin extract in tincture form that issue was fixed! Phew! It did take several months. This may not be all of the answer for you, but it may be a significant piece. I wish you the best.

  • I just bought a new product, it is a blend of all organic cold pressed oils from flax, hemp, coconut, green tea, blueberries, raspberries, and a few others. It is rich in all essential fatty acids and alot of other great things! I started taking almost a tablespoon each morning. Im on day 4 so hopefully I will see results in a few weeks!!

  • 1sweetpea1sweetpea Raw Newbie

    13 years ago, I lost 100 pounds. I needed to lose about 80, but I went too far. The diet was reasonable in the beginning, but whenever I thought the weight loss was slowing down or stopping, I upped my exercise and dropped the daily caloric intake, specifically fat. Once my weight fell below 100 pounds, my period disappeared and my hair started falling out. I changed my hair length so it wouldn’t be as obvious. It stopped falling out and looked better when I began to eat a little more, work out a little less fervently and got my period back. Though I had an anorexic attitude in some ways, I was really a bulimic. It continued for 13 years. About 10 years in, my hair started falling out again. It felt like clumps were coming out, but the hair loss was evenly distributed. My hair just got so thin and dull-looking. I was devastated. I’d pick up the hairs that had fallen out and examine them. They had virtually no follicle, which is necessary to make and keep healthy hair. I’m convinced that my body was so depleted of nutrients that it was using up anything stored in my body to keep me alive.

    I’m now recovering from bulimia. It’s been 6 months. My hair has largely stopped falling out. A few hairs come out every day, but no more than is normal. My hair looks better now that it’s being nourished. I have a head of alfalfa sprout-like baby hairs, as well as longer wisps that look a little like layers cut into my hair, or catfish whiskers, as my boyfriend refers to them. I was fortunate that I had really thick hair to begin with. I have lost at least 50% of that thickness, but out in society, I look perfectly normal. My hair is just a little thinner than average. I’ve made a concerted effort to eat avocados, nuts, seeds, leafy greens, a variety of fruits and vegetables and a little bit of olive, flax and hemp oils. I don’t eat a really high fat diet, but I try not to restrict fats too much anymore either. I can honestly say that my entire body thanks me for this. I look much better after only 6 months. I’m sure better nutrition overall has played an enormous role in all of this, but I know that had I just started eating fruits and vegetables, but no nuts, seeds, avos or oils, my hair would still look dull and awful. I wonder if it will ever regrow fully. My guess is that it will return to about 75% of what it was when I was an obese, junk food eating, dairy-loving-yet-lactose-intolerant vegetarian. I don’t ever intend to return to that lifestyle and size, so I don’t expect my hair to be supersized either! I’m working toward whatever normal is for me.

  • I have fine hair as well, Sweetpea, and I find that using no shampoo or conditioner (conventional ones) works great, just using baking soda, vinegar, and sometimes avocado oil on the ends before curling.

    I’m sorry you suffered through bulimia. Hugs to you and hope you keep recovering. Eat as much fat as you feel well eating; you’ll figure it out.

  • kauaigirlkauaigirl Raw Newbie

    I have some thoughts on this issue since I have been dealing with it also for the last two years since going vegan. My first thought is that perhaps while are body is detoxing from going vegan or raw, our bodies are ultra-focused on repairing the most important parts of the body, our organs. Like queenfluff says, the hair is the last place to get nutrition and like David Wolfe says…so many vitamins and minerals are required for the detoxification problem that we really need an OVERLOAD during the initial cleasing period. This cleasing period can go on for years, so the teeth & hair may suffer for a while during this time.

    My second thought is that if we look at healthy children, their hair is almost always thin & fine. We see plenty of unhealthy people with thick, coarse, full hair. Maybe that is not what is healthiest? Maybe the loss of hair is a return to balance? I know my hair was the thickest and fullest when I was on birth-control, eating SAD, getting highlights, using chemical treatments and using a curling iron/blow-dryer daily. Now that I am eating amazing, using no harmful chemicals or tools(just airdrying) and off birth-control…my hair has gotten much thinner. Doesn’t seem logical. We can try to pinpoint nutrients all day long but something larger must be at work. Curious what queenfluff has to say about this…

    Also, I’ve heard David Wolfe say that these type of things are something of ‘a test’ and I intuitively think he’s on to something. It’s so easy to get wrapped up in the fear of missing some valuable nutrient/protein/whatever and question the raw food choice. I try every day to trust my body’s process.

  • So its been about a week since I started with the oil blend and I was just wondering if it did effect my hair and loss of period.. about how long would it take to see any sort of results? Iam patient, just wondering.. any thoughts?.. Kauaigirl your post was very interesting! If you dont mind me asking, have you experienced any changes in your period?

  • WinonaWinona Raw Newbie

    I’ve been studying horses lately. Perhaps what works on them will work on humans? Number one: diet. Hair and nails are the first things to suffer on poor diet. Improve your diet, improve your hair. Get rid of parasites.

    2: BIOTIN! Other recommendations for improved horse hair is this:

    Cider vinegar is extremely beneficial for the internal workings of a horse. Not only does it possess a degree of healing properties as an astringent, it can also combat microorganisms that sap nutrition and cause disease.

    Flaxseed and kelp promote healthy cell and hair growth, so both supplements can greatly benefit your horse.

    And last but not least, biotin. This vitamin is arguably the strongest secret weapon when it comes to supplements. Present in all living cells, biotin is a necessity in the production and growth of cells, tissue and of course hair.

    Parasites are one of the main causes of malnutrition, so be sure to incorporate a consistent and effective de-worming program.

  • 1sweetpea1sweetpea Raw Newbie

    Kauaigirl, I’m really fascinated by your post. My hair was crazy-thick when I was very overweight and living on candy and junkfood. It was at its thickest when I was at my fattest and discovering that I had developed Grave’s Disease (a form of hyperthyroidism). The disease, the meds, the radical weight loss—maybe all three caused a lot of hair loss, which levelled off once I got off the medication (which I’m positive that I was able to do because of the weight loss) and stabilized my weight. Putting aside all the terrible bulimic years, what’s happening now that I eat mostly raw vegan food, is that my hair is quite healthy, but it’s just not really thick. Perhaps this is what my hair was supposed to be like all along. The thick hair might have merely been due to all the terrible things I was putting into my mouth in huge quantities.

  • CalebCaleb Raw Newbie

    I’m glad I saw this. I posted about my hair loss a while back but didn’t get much response. I think my diet is okay based on what I am reading hear. I get a lot of the stuff mentioned here daily or at least a few times a week.

    I am starting to think stress is the contributing factor. I started going raw about the time of a break up and it’s still getting to me, so perhaps that is the reason for my hair loss. I am hoping that is the case because sooner or later that will be under control.

    As far as biotin goes though. How much would I need? How many grams or micro grams should I take a day? I currently take a b-complex but there is very little biotin in it.

  • queenfluffqueenfluff Raw Newbie

    Hey kauaigirl!

    Haven’t you around much for a while – glad to see you back! ;)

    I actually do have my own theory on what you were posting about. Whether or not it there is any real scientific truth in it – I don’t know – I would have to do a study.:) It in all the studies that have been done on hair loss there haven’t been any that I know of that look at people on pure raw diets and compared them to SAD eaters. Of course, doctors would say that we are protein deficient and leave it at that and say the the raw diet to blame your our hair loss.

    Like you were saying people with unhealthy diets seemed to have thick hair while some rawies tend to be loosing theirs. Of course, not all SAD-type eaters have great hair – my dad eats tons of meat and he is almost completely bald. So there are other factors to consider (genetics etc) – also very overweight people seem to have some pretty bad thin hair. I have also heard some rawies talk about that when they go back to eating cooked food their hair loss significantly slows down.

    My personal theory is (based on my hair knowledge and raw food nutrition knowledge and NOT traditional nutrition or medicial science) is that the reason unhealthy eaters may have the thick hair is they eat TOO much UNNEEDED protein. Like I said the hair is one of the last places to get nutrition so if you got a ton of extra protein – it could very well end up in the hair. And we know that lots of unhealthy eaters eat lots of meat. Meat is not the most usable form of protein and although I am not a nutrition expert – my belief is that the protein is not usable by most parts of the body and therefore it ends up in the hair.

    There is also the very good point that kauaigirl said that maybe hair wasn’t meant to be super thick. Since most of us grew up eating SAD type diets with lots of animal meats most of us probably had relatively thicker hair when we were younger (fyi, hair thickness is also determined by not only genes but hair color – black hair is normally thicker than blonde) and we base our “hair healthiness” by that. We think that are hair is supposed to be thick – well, it very well may be possible that it isn’t.

    If you have ever been to a museum were they have fake statues of prehistoric man you can see he had practically no hair. Sure he ate meat but not like people do today. Meat today has all those hormones in it and who knows what else. Prehistoric man also ate other things too – he foraged for wild things also. Also realize he didn’t have all our modern conveniences like combs and brushes to make the hair look nice – he probably had some dreadlocks going on.

    Of course we are different have prehistoric man but just as an example to see that hair wasn’t always the “crowing glory” it has brought itself to be today. :)

    Another one my theories too is for people who are sick and are on meds etc. I think that when you started to heal that the body is often to busy applying all the healing to other areas of the body – the hair is not on the top order of importance in the body when their is major healing to be done. This is because the hairs only real function is to slightly protect the scalp. Other than that the hair is not necessary for survival. But we have always been told that hair loss means you are unhealthy – hmm, is that really true? I mean, if you are healing other major problems, that is good right?

    Regardless though, no one likes hair loss. Because it is seen by our society as a sign of beauty – esp for women. So it causes so much unneccessary stress. I mean, there are plenty of bald people out there and they are still alive – and some of them might be pretty healthy too! :)

    My other muse on hair thickness is just based on own experiences. My hair was at its best and thickest when I was getting TONS of exercise – I was a vegetarian but I was eating dairy etc and I hadn’t been a vegetarian for long. I am not sure why my hair was so thick at the time (could have been the products I was using on it too) but I did have a small quarter shaped bald spot – I didn’t even notice it the rest of my hair was so long and thick and it was hidden under the rest of my hair. It was the weirdest thing – of course the hair in that spot grew back but I still wonder how did I get that little bald spot.

  • shawnieshawnie Raw Newbie

    So if you need extra protein for thick, fast growing hair, how many grams of protein would you need to eat daily?

    Is there any possible way to get it all from raw foods? I have even been considering adding eggs to my diet, as I’m determined to grow my hair longer as fast (and best looking) as possible with the right eating.

    Also, I know you can do rinses to make your hair softer and shiner, which is a temporary thing. Does anyone think eating more foods with silicon would make it naturally shiny?

  • ajchanterajchanter Raw Newbie

    What works wonders for me and my hair is when i eat seaweed everyday. Worth a try? (: Good luck!

  • shawnieshawnie Raw Newbie

    Hmmm, I’ve heard seaweed is great for your hair too!

    I can’t buy or pick raw seaweed where I am. Do you think it would be worth it to eat the packaged kind? Or is there a good place online to buy it?

  • kauaigirlkauaigirl Raw Newbie

    lovetobenatural…yes, my periods have adjusted to the moon cycle, are much shorter and lighter, but I have an intense few hours of cramps that I never got before. I feel this is very cleansing because I get very emotional and then suddenly the cramps are gone and I feel great.

    I should mention that I stopped taking birth control pills right around the same time that I went vegan and the hair loss started exactly 3 months later (that’s usually how long it takes for them to get out of your system). So I even though it’s been over two years…I still feel like my hormones are out of balance. I know women typically lose hair after giving birth and being on the pill is like being pregnant for years. Can’t be good.

    Thanks for all the feedback, queenfluff…I’m still trying to figure out the whole ‘poo problem ;) I feel like my hair was shedding the least when I was no ‘poo. I really want to start a urine regime like someone mentioned but I can’t stand it when my hair gets tangly b/c then too much comes out when I try to comb it out. But sometimes it seems like ‘poo is irritating it more and I should just stop. Constant battle ;)

  • kauaigirlkauaigirl Raw Newbie

    Khaas Ladki Can you tell me more about how TMJ is related to fat intake and hair loss. I definitely have an issue with this as well, I wasn’t aware of any connection. Thanks!

  • ajchanterajchanter Raw Newbie

    Hey, Valeria! Yeah, there’s even a whole article about it in Get Fresh! magazine (Summer 2007). It also says dark leafies are good,too but I think most people know that! (:

    Dried I think are fine, as long as they are sun-dried/low-temp dried, and you also usually have to rehydrate them before you eat them.$

    Here’s a few clips from the article (By Tonya Zavasta) called, The Mermaid’s beauty secret:

    “(...)My second hip replacement – 2 surgeries in 5 days – so shocked my body I was afraid I’d go bald. My pony tail looked more like a mouses tail. (...)

    I decided to try seaweed, also called sea vegetable. Research shows sodium alginate, a compound found in most seaweed, binds with heavy metals and chemical poisons, flushing them from the body. Sea vegetables help the body to discharge radioactive wastes. They nourish the endocrine system, especially the thoroid and adrenal glands. Iodine in seaweed keeps the thyroid functioning normally, and is high in natural sodium.

    Sea vegetables, especially Wakame and Nori, served me well, improving kidney function and completely ridding me of those dark circles, all this within just weeks after surgery. Sea vegetables, providing plenty of proteins, complex carbohydrates, carotenes, and chlorophyll, stimulate and strengthen the skin, hair, and nails. Brittle hair, caused by a shortage of minerals, too much salt or animal food, oe excessive use of drugs, can be restored by eating sea vegetables.

    (...) Whey you first begin to eat a high-raw diet, you might loose some hair. This is part of the cleansing process. But since the diet will give excess nourishment, your hair will begin to thrive and be much stronger in the long run. (..)

    (...) A healthy human scalp contains about 100,000 hairs, blondes often having more, redheads fewer. Normal daily loss is about 100 hair strands. If you suspect you are losing hair, most likely you are. Now that the cleansing of my body is compete, there are days when I find only a few or no strands of hair on my hairbrush after grooming. What a thrill!

    (...) Mermaids are often portrayed combing their hair. The scalp, being an extremity, is deprived of good blood flow stimulation. I am a big believer in 100 brush strokes per day, 50 in the morning, 50 at night. To brush properly, bend your head forward from the waist down. While brushing, the blood will rush to your face and hair, bringing additional nourishment This helps open the pores, removing diet and dead cells and distributes oil from the scalp towards the end of your hair. The capillaries on your scalp will become unclogged and more nourishment will reach the hair roots. Brushing massages the scalp and stimulates hair growth. (...)”

    Okay, wow, sorry that was long. But i hope it helped!! (:

  • shawnieshawnie Raw Newbie

    Ajchanter – no way that was too long, the more information, the better :)

    Well it’s off to buy more seaweed today. It’s going to be a slight struggle eating it daily, but it will be worth it in the long run! I’m excited!

    I’m also going to purchase some Flax Oil, as I hear it does wonders aswell.

  • ajchanterajchanter Raw Newbie

    yay, thanks! :) Cool – Good luck!

  • I know someone else mentioned this, but I’d like to reiterate that you should get a thorough thyroid and hormone panel done by your doctor. I started experiencing the same issues last year and a hormone panel revealed that I had extremely high prolactin levels. Many doctors don’t check prolactin. Good Luck!

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