Let’s dive into an interesting angle on hair loss. Nobody likes losing their hair so we all try to buy the best external products to get our hair to look full, lush, and shiny, and of course stay in place. Most understand we need to nourish our body from the inside as well in order to have healthy, strong hair. But what if these things don’t work and we can’t get our hair to be like we envision it? Could it be linked to the lack of energy in our body in general?
The Anatomy of a follicle: “a small secretory cavity, sac, or gland.”
"A sheath of cells and connective tissue which surrounds the root of a hair."
Hair fall is extremely common, especially because our hair goes through three cycles: growth, transition and shedding. On any given day about 25 to 100 hairs naturally fall off. Hair fall becomes a concern though when we lose more hair than this.
There are 5 stages of hair growth:
The process of hair growth occurs in distinct sequential stages: anagen is the active growth phase, catagen is the regression of the hair follicle phase, telogen is the resting stage, exogen is the active shedding of hair phase, and kenogen is the phase between the empty hair follicle and the growth of new hair.
What does the hair follicle do?
The function of the hair follicle is to grow your hair, but this is not all. In addition to promoting hair growth, your hair follicles also help repair your skin after a wound or an injury, and they also form new blood vessels (angiogenesis).
Is hair loss an energy issue?
Perhaps hair follicles should be treated like mini “organs”?! The follicle needs nutrients, oxygen and energy.
Blood flow and circulation, aka a healthy metabolism, is how the nutrients, oxygen and energy get to the follicle. Part of a healthy metabolism is how well your thyroid is firing up your system with energy.
Even though our hair follicles are not technically "organs,” these amazing energy generators require a massive amount of glucose, protein, vitamins and minerals to produce robust and healthy hair. To quote Dr. Roger J. Williams, who perfectly summed it up, "The cells in hair follicles produce hair when they are furnished with everything they need. But in the scalp of a balding man, they do not get everything they need and as a result, the hair producing cells gradually die off. Here we have an example of a mild 'disease' which is caused by cellular malnutrition". This is why I always encourage folks to not ask the question "how do I stop my hair loss?", but rather "why did it start to happen in the first place?"
Hair follicles require ENERGY. They require you to eat enough carbohydrates, proteins, saturated fats containing fat soluble vitamins, and plenty of minerals.
Low carb diets and intermittent fasting are both much hyped diet trends that slowly deplete people’s bodies instead of nourishing them from the inside out.
Hair roots are hypersensitive to stressors like high cortisol, low thyroid function (hypothyroidism), elevated estrogen, and elevated serotonin. They are severely sensitive to endotoxin (from bacteria overload in the gut) and prostaglandins (inflammatory response). Hair, although wonderful, is not essential to our survival. Our body will prioritize things like our hearts and lungs if it is not getting an abundance of what it needs. Amazing things begin to happen when we start to nourish our body correctly and take steps to create a better environment for things like hair and skin to flourish.
Things you can do to start helping your hair right now:
Increase down time with real relaxation to reduce stressors in your life (physical, mental, and emotional).
Eat regular nutrient dense/balanced meals (aka Pro-metabolic!) You can read more about it in this very blog!
Check your thyroid levels and other metabolic markers via blood work to see if you are in balance.
Take bioavailable nutrients that your body can actually absorb.
Nutrients that help energy production and hair growth:
Bioavailable Trace minerals (I like the one by Creatrix, it’s called Healthy Salt)
Eggs for protein and biotin
Organ meat for vitamin A, Zinc, Copper, B vitamins and Selenium
Fruits for vitamin C
Dairy for calcium
When applying all these, I see results in my clients immediately. By around 2 months, things really start to turn around. Of course, there are other hacks you can do to nourish your hair follicles from the outside, with the hair mask and the “No Poo” method. We will get to all those aspects soon in another post.
References:
Hair Growth and Disorders
edited by Ulrike Blume-Peytavi, David A. Whiting, Ralph M. Trüeb
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