Unexplained hair loss

Ahh, what a topic for a Thursday morning. Yet, unavoidable. After showering, I brushed my hair with a pick, and it seemed as though an 1/8 of an inch closest to the handle was covered in a wet, black mat. Don’t gasp in horror. For me, this is not unusual. Rog’s nickname for me is “cousin it.” I suppose telling the world gives everyone the right to yelp out “Hey! Cousin It!”at the grocery, and be rewarded with a smile and a cheery hello. It’s a compliment after all, to have hair sprouting out the top of my nose (ok, not really), but close. I’m one woman who must get a full facial wax every few months, or look like Grizzly Adams without the Adam’s apple. The saving race is I’m relatively blond, which is helpful for arm hair, for I could never wax such a large part of my bod. Yet, as follicularly blessed as I am (was that a word?), even I suffer from weird bouts of hair loss. So let’s address this subject head on (sorry) and get to the root of matter (sorry again. this subject is just so ripe with funnies).

Normal, explainable hair loss…these would be age, genetics, menopause…things that have been proven to affect a person’s hair quality and quantity. I don’t look forward to dry, brittle, thinning hair as I age that won’t take color, but I think I’m doomed. What women escapes this…kind of like the imminently balding man. It seems that every article I look up on the subject of hair loss discusses to DHT, which stands for Dihydrotesterone and is a chemical that is five times more potent than testosterone and blocks the pathway of certain nutrients getting in to the hair, causing the hair to fall out. That’s all well and good, but it’s silly to think that extreme events in ones life doesn’t play a huge role.

Stress and eating
Work stress, life stress, baby stress, are all major, disruptive events that can cause hair loss. A dear friend suffered a late-stage miscarriage and her thick, auburn hair fell out in clumps. Another girlfriend went on a radical diet, and she too, lost hair, though it was in the front–around her hairline. A relative changed jobs and gained weight—she lost hair, also in clumps around her entire head, her hair thinning and her body expanded. Life changes, like moving can take a toll on the hairline, and of course, eating badly. In October, I read a piece that covered how bad eating habits lead to hair loss…processed foods take a toll on hair, as does drinking soft drinks and eating too much sugar. The short version….processed foods strip out nutrients, as does high quantities of sugar. With the system out of whack, the adrenals go in to overdrive, leaving skin and hair to show the damage.

What to do…what to do….beyond surgery for those wanting transplants, changes in diets are a no brainer. If not for the body and waistline, for the hair. It’s the first thing people see isn’t it, and the one part one can’t hide with clothes (though I have male friends who wear hats out of bed and take off as they slip the covers over–or so their wives tell me). For the rest of us…

Supplements…Omega 3 fish oils, Biotin and Vitamin B. In our stash, we also have Prenatals, which I’ve been advocating for years thanks to positive fingernail, hair and skin results. Now, in this wild and wooly search for things hidden in the cupboard, I found a few other things Rog has been sneaking in…

• Garlicin for cardiovascular health
• Glucoasime-highest potency for joint care
• Cranberry tablets, for a healthy urinary tract (always important when “peepsing” as my daughter says)
• Cholesteral Shield “proven to help reduce cholesteral’
• Maximum Strength Resveratrol with red wine extract, a “protective antioxidant”

This was more enlightening than finding out Rog is eating a cup of nuts a night for good oils. In any case, whatever voodoo the man is injesting/doing, is working. He keeps getting younger looking I age. He’ll be glowing like a yellow flashlight in three-thousand years but no matter. At least he’ll have his hair.