Hair loss?

[momonmission99*]

I have literally lost HALF of my hair volume. I broke my vacuum because I didn't clean the brush for 4 weeks. I cut enough hair from it to roll up into a soft ball. Now my hair is very long, but this is absolutely ridiculous.

I guess because I've lost 60+ pounds in less than 6 months it is considered "extreme weight loss" and there is some hair loss with that?
I have recently stopped trying to lose weight. Over the past few weeks I have consumed carbs that I'm not 'supposed to have'. Thankfully I haven't gained and have stayed the same weight, but my hair loss is still happening and it is SO frustrating.

Anyone experience this and find a way to stop it? If I didn't have TONS of really thick hair, I would seriously be bald right now.

[Sd1136]

Re: Hair loss?

I have lost hair the first time around, but for me its also genic
Others here will give you better advice, but I am taking b and multi and hoping that helps this time around

[Fat Cat Mama]

Re: Hair loss?

Oh honey, me too!!! My hair is getting thin and I am very depressed. I started taking a vitamin that I got at wally world called "hair"

[ErinB]

Re: Hair loss?

I lost hair due to the long period of time it took to get my med levels right after beginning treatment for an underactive thyroid and probably also due to the fact the thyroid condition went undiagnosed so long.

After several months eating this way and taking supplements, my hair began to return.

I seriously doubt, if you are following the plan, that this is the cause of your hair loss. I think, if I were you, I would see a doctor who, hopefully, will run tests to try to determine the cause. Hyperthyroid comes to mind as a possible cause of hair loss, particularly because of the rapid weight loss. That's just a stab in the dark, though, since hair loss can be caused by so many things.

[ChantillyLace88]

Re: Hair loss?

It can also be something as small as shedding because it is summer. We do every year, and when winter comes, we grow our hair back. I know I lose a LOT of hair when it gets hotter out.

[mizski]

Re: Hair loss?

Here is an article on low carb diets and hair loss. Atkins is specifically mentioned.

Many women complained of hair loss when I was doing Medifast. The recommendation was to take a biotin supplement. Watch out for some of the "Hair, Skin & Nails" or Hair supplements as many of them contain a lot of Vitamin A. Depending upon your daily multivitamin and foods could put you way over in your Vitamin A consumption. Vitamin A is fat soluble and can be toxic in large amounts.

As a precaution, I took a biotin supplement and also used Vitatress by Nexxus hair products. They contain biotin and collagen. Can't positively say that these things worked but I never had any hair loss problems (then or now) and I have very fine, thin hair.

[keriann_forgoodthistime]

Re: Hair loss?

I don't have any answers - but I totally feel for you.
It doesn't matter WHAT kind of diet I'm on - my hair just falls out.

genetics. my dad's mom was completely bald by her 60's and wore wigs all the time. my mom's family's females had a FULL HEAD of THICK hair up til death. so I'm sorta stuck in the middle. I have a lot of hair - but it falls out.

I am actually going to talk to my doc (who's the one who put me on atkins...) and see if there's anything we can do - but I honestly don't think it's got anything to do with my diet.

[Momtofour]

Re: Hair loss?

I remember reading on here years ago that hair loss is from the stress on your body as you lose weight. It lasts for a short period of time and then the hair starts to regrow. Hair loss will happen from any type of stress on the body. My father in laws stroke caused hair loss, my Dad's heart attack caused hair loss, my mother in laws thyroid problems caused hair loss...you get the idea. I lost hair for about 4 months from losing weight on Atkins and then it started coming back. Keep in mind it takes a long time to start regrowing to the point where you will be able to notice it getting thicker.

[matawguro]

Re: Hair loss?

From Dr. Mike Eades' Protein Power Blog...

You are experiencing a common problem called telogen effluvium, which is the medical term for acute hair loss due to a metabolic, hormonal or drug stress.

So you can better understand what has happened, let’s take a look at the normal hair growth cycle. Hair has a growth phase call anagen and a resting or dormant phase called telogen. Typically for hair on the head, anagen lasts around three years followed by telogen that lasts about three months.

During anagen, the growth phase, the hair follicle is active and the hair grows; during telogen the hair follicle becomes dormant and the hair quits growing. But the hair stays in the hair follicle, and since you can’t really measure the growth of a single hair, you don’t know that the hair is actually dead and the follicle dormant. When the follicle reactivates during anagen, the new hair growing in pushes the old, dead hair out, and the hair falls from the scalp. That’s why we all find hairs on our pillows, in the shower, and other places it’s noticeable. Those old are hairs pushed out by the new hair growing in.

This waxing and waning of anagen and telogen is why we continuously lose hair and yet our head of hair doesn’t continuously thin. And, I suppose, it goes without saying that not all of our hair is in lock step in this cycle otherwise we would have hair for 2-3 years, then it would all fall out at once. The estimate is that about 10% of hair on the head is in telogen at any given time, which means that the other 90% is growing normally. And even the 10% in telogen appears normal if you looked at an individual hair. It’s just not growing and will ultimately be pushed out when the follicle converts to anagen.

But sometimes this cycle can be disrupted.
A number of stresses can send hairs from anagen to telogen before their time. Pregnancy, a major illness, a high fever, an injury, surgery (usually from the anesthesia), some medications and a major change in diet, especially going on a starvation diet.

So, the take home message is that if you lost a lot of hair during your time on Kimkins (or any other diet), don’t sweat it. It will come back. If it doesn’t, then you’ve got something more going on than telogen effluvium, and you need to pay a visit to your doctor. But usually if you look closely at your scalp (or have someone look for you), you’ll see little hairs growing back in. If you’re a female and have long hair, it will take a long time for your hair to grow back to its full length, but it will.


Is their anything you can do to hurry it along? Just make sure you get plenty of good quality protein and essential fats. And don’t worry about it.

[irismanz]

Re: Hair loss?

I have been losing alot of hair since I started the diet also. I started taking Biotin which my hair dresser recommended.

[7Miriam]

Re: Hair loss?

I know how you feel!!! I lost 65 pounds in 6 1/2 months, and was losing lots of hair. I started out with thick hair and it got pretty thin. I stopped doing Atkins about 5 months ago, and after a while the hair seems to have started to grow back in. It was very scary to me before it started coming back!!! That is pretty much why I stopped doing Atkins before. But then I regained a bunch of the weight (I'm up almost 20 pounds now - but still down 45 from before I started). So I'm restarting Atkins but plan to stay at a higher OWL rung so that I don't lose as quickly. Never thought I'd not want to lose as much as I could as quickly as I could. I read about hair loss on the web a lot, and came to the same conclusion you did, that it was from rapid weight loss and should come back after a while (which it seems to be doing).

Good luck to you - hope you find a way to deal with this without regaining any weight like I did - it is very frustrating to have to relose the weight again,

[momonmission99*]

Re: Hair loss?

Thank You everyone! I've upped my carbs a ton and I'm still losing hair. I guess the doctors say you can't reverse it, it's a process that stops on it's own. So my maintaining isn't going to do anything. ugh LOL! I guess I better get back on the bandwagon and at least if I'm going to continue to lose hair, I'll continue to lose that last bit of weight I Want.

It's so frustrating!!!

[momonmission99*]

Re: Hair loss?

It can also be something as small as shedding because it is summer. We do every year, and when winter comes, we grow our hair back. I know I lose a LOT of hair when it gets hotter out.

LOL I can be sure it's not that. Especially when I can fill a brush every time I brush my hair. And I mean fill the brush.

I broke my vacuum! LOL
Just from not cleaning the brush for almost a month. Smoke started coming out. I have lost SO much hair that if I put it in front of you, it would look like a wig.

[msanjelpie]

Re: Hair loss?

Once you reach goal weight... about 6 mos after that your hair should start to grow back in... it takes the loss of stress and about that long for hair to show on top of your head... hair actually starts the growth process inside of your scalp before you see anything... Usually about 18 mos after reaching goal, you should have your whole head of hair back again...