Hair Loss
hair lossIf you’re looking for a cure for male pattern baldness, you won’t find it here. Hair loss is a trait inherited through the maternal side of the family.
If your mom’s dad or her brothers are bald, the cards are stacked against you. Unless you’re willing to spend hundreds of dollars a year on hair-raising new drugs that may or may not produce results, you’ll just have to resign yourself to a future of diminishing strands.
Not all hair loss is inevitable, however, nor is the decline entirely controlled by genes. Stress, hormone changes, and vitamin or mineral deficiencies can lead to fast fallout. Moreover, you’re likely to lose hair faster if your hair follicles become inflamed or if you get skin disorders that affect your scalp.
Even women aren’t immune to some of the fallout from these problems. "I’ve had women patients who have lost all their hair due to major stresses in their lives," says Hope Fay, N.D., a naturopathic doctor in Seattle. "When you’re under stress from illness or work, sometimes the circulation in the scalp is so constricted that the hair follicles lose blood supply, which causes them to die and fall out." Dr. Fay is quick to add, however, that if women lose their hair, it often grows right back in when they’re no longer under extreme stress.
To help the hair return when the loss isn’t a matter of inherited baldness, you can try a number of tactics. The solution usually lies with improving your diet and making lifestyle changes to relieve stress, says Dr. Fay. In addition, you can supplement your diet with nutrients that aid in hair growth, she says.
In other words, you’ve got to feed your head.
Mine Minerals, Pluck Nettle
When a mineral or vitamin deficiency is at the root of your hair loss, you simply need to correct the deficiency. Maybe it’s the result of improper digestion, or perhaps you’re not absorbing the necessary vitamins and minerals as well as you need to, notes Elizabeth Wotton, N.D., a naturopathic doctor at Compass Family Health Center in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
Deficiencies of selenium and zinc generally lead to hair loss, researchers have observed. These minerals aid in immune function and in the utilization of protein that your body needs to help produce hair.
Selenium and zinc are known as trace minerals because the body does not need large amounts of them. Normally, plants get these minerals from the soil, animals get them from plants, and humans acquire their needed amounts of trace minerals with breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
It doesn’t always work that way, however, says Dr. Wotton. "Unfortunately, in some areas of the United States, some trace minerals just aren’t in the soil in high enough quantities," she observes. "So they aren’t being taken up by food crops. You could be eating what you think is a good diet but still be lacking."
If that’s your problem, there’s a quick fix. Simply go down to the local health food store or drugstore and pick up a trace mineral supplement. It should include a wide variety of trace minerals, including amounts such as 200 micrograms of selenium and 20 milligrams of zinc.
"I would just follow the dosage directions on the bottle and try it for several weeks." says Dr. Wotton. "It will be a while before you know if it’s working."
You can also try taking 30 milligrams of zinc daily and see if you stop losing hair or even start to grow it back, says Dr. Wotton. If your hair loss is due to a zinc deficiency, you could see regrowth in as little as a week. You should talk to a doctor before taking this amount of zinc, however.
While you’re at the store, you might also look at some herbs that could help. One is nettle. "It’s really high in mineral content and can make your hair much healthier," Dr. Fay says.
Nettle can be found in a tincture or capsules. In either form, simply follow the dosage directions on the bottle. For 480-milligram capsules, for example, the typical dose is one capsule twice a day. A typical tincture dose is 15 to 20 drops in ¼ cup of water or juice twice a day.
Regulating Hormones
In the first few months after their children are born, some women are distressed to find that their hair begins to fall out. The problem is usually due to hormonal changes. The body’s hormone ratios are radically revised during pregnancy. After delivery, the body has to establish a new balance.
Hormone upsets aren’t limited to new mothers, however. Stress, menopause, and illness can also bring on changes.
To ease hormonal transitions, Dr. Wotton suggests giving your body the nutritional building blocks it needs to manufacture and regulate hormones. You can begin by eating more foods containing phytoestrogens, plant compounds that mimic the biological activities of female hormones. These foods include legumes and soy products, such as tofu.
Dr. Wotton also suggests supplementing your diet with a few important minerals and vitamins. She recommends 150 milligrams of magnesium twice a day, 400 to 800 international units (IU) of vitamin E daily, and a daily vitamin B-complex supplement that contains 100 milligrams of B6 and 50 micrograms of biotin.
"With these supplements, you’re giving your body all the right raw materials," Dr. Wotton says. "If hormones are your problem, your body should eventually right itself."
In addition, you might consider supplementing with essential fatty acids from flaxseed oil or evening primrose oil, says Dr. Fay. These kinds of fats form the biological backbone of many hormone molecules. The oils are rich sources of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, good fats that are important for healthy skin and hair.
Dr. Fay suggests taking 1,000 milligrams of evening primrose oil three times a day or one teaspoon of flaxseed oil once or twice a day. You can take the flaxseed oil by the spoonful or put it on salads and other foods.
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