Hair Loss – The new Epidemic
The average adult head has about 100,000 to 150,000 hairs and loses up to 100 of them a day; so, it’s possible what you are experiencing isn’t even hair loss after all. (1) That being said, the number of young people coming to see us for hair loss has risen at an alarming rate, and the ‘that’s what happens when you age’ answer just isn’t’ going to cut it. Nor should it, as many of these women are in their 20’s. Plus, if you know me, you know I believe that just because it’s common doesn’t mean it’s normal. Aging doesn’t HAVE to mean a steady decline; we just have to work a little harder.
There are 3 phases of hair growth, the most important in the hair loss story being telogen. This is the resting phase which lasts about 2-3 months. Here, the hair follicle is at rest, and at the end of the resting phase the hair is shed, and a new hair replaces it and the growing cycle restarts.
The most common causes of hair thinning include:
Involutional alopecia – this is the ‘natural thinning as we age’ that is spoken of. In this type of hair loss, more hair follicles go into the resting phase, and the remaining hairs become shorter and fewer in number.
Telogen effluvium is temporary hair thinning over the scalp that occurs because of changes in the growth cycle of hair. A large number of hairs enter the resting phase at the same time, causing hair shedding and subsequent thinning.
So, what’s the cause and what can we do about it? That is the question.
Nutrition
It’s shocking how many of us are deficient in necessary nutrients. So many of my female patients admit to knowing that they are iron deficient but are not managing it. If you are iron deficient, you most likely are deficient in other needed nutrients as well. Malnutrition in a sea of abundance it’s called and is a major cause of premature hair loss. Iron, B5, biotin, silica, zinc, protein – the list goes on; but these nutrients are important for hair health. A hair mineral analysis is a great way to see what you might be lacking.
Hormones
Hormone dysregulation can cause all sorts of skin, hair and nail issues. Of course, testosterone, estrogen and progesterone are pivot in hair growth, and even slight variations can cause hair loss (one reason why it’s a side effect of the birth control pill). But ALL our hormones work in harmony, so an imbalanced thyroid gland, adrenal gland, poor sleep (melatonin hormone) can all contribute. Melatonin has been used as a supplement, both topically and orally for hair loss. If you’re getting enough naturally, I applaud you, if not, we all need to rethink our relationship with the vial hormone. Melatonin is produced in the pineal gland, right between your eyes. Many individuals express concerns about “altering hormones, such as with melatonin” – however, if you have light bulbs in your home and ever stay up after 10pm, you have ‘altered your hormones’ as you’ve decreased your melatonin levels.
Which leads us to another common cause – underlying illnesses.
Underlying illness
We all get it, stress can cause…well, everything bad to happen, including hair loss, but why? Well, when the body is very stressed, the adrenal gland – the master gland of our stress response – wants to conserve energy. We don’t like to think of stress as an ‘illnesses. ‘I can handle it’, I’m ‘supermom / dad’, ‘everyone has stress, right, get over it’. Well, that’s not how your body sees it. Daily stress causes your body to go into ‘survival’ mode. It tells the body to put extra hair cells into the resting, or telogen phase. hair loss or ‘thinning’.
Your adrenal glands and thyroid work together, so maybe you’re not even stressed, but have an over or active thyroid gland, this too signals the body to start shedding those hairs. As a matter of fact, a sign of thyroid issues is hair loss.
Any stress on the body, say – pneumonia, childbirth, trauma, autoimmune or other illness can also cause hair loss.
Mitochondrial Dysregulation
A 2018 study showed that wrinkles AND hair loss can be supported with mitochondrial restoration. Your mitochondria are your powerhouse of energy, they make your ATP. As we age, they slow down, they call this the ‘natural process of aging’. I’m finding a lot of ‘biohackers’ are finding their way to Naturopathic Living, because we’ve been supporting mitochondrial dysregulation before it became cool. I bought the Nano VI for this very reason, and strongly believe that to ‘aging gracefully’ requires mitochondrial support regularly. You can read more about the Nano Vi here.
As you can see, there are so many factors that can be contributing to your hair loss, but once you find the underlying cause, reversal is common, allowing you to go back to your full, glossy head of hair.