Losing weight is something that many of us would welcome; losing hair, on the other hand, is seldom desirable. So what do you do when the two things happen simultaneously? Weight loss can sometimes be a contributing factor in hair loss. In this post, we’ll tell you why—and, we’ll show you how you can avoid it.
How Weight Loss Leads to Hair Loss
To understand how weight loss leads to hair loss, you first have to know how the hair growth cycle usually works. Your follicles alternate between a resting phase and a growing phase; in the resting phase, your follicles shed old hair to make room for new growth. This is all good and normal, and at any given time you have around 10 percent of your follicles in the rest stage, the rest in the growth stage.
Sometimes, though, that balance can be thrown off. More hair than normal can go into the resting phase, which means you’re growing less and shedding more. When this balance is tipped too much, it can cause baldness.
Emotional and physical stresses can sometimes throw off this hair growth balance—and the physical strain of a diet is sometimes all that is needed to make this happen.
Avoiding Hair Loss During Weight Loss
With that said, there are some steps you can take to ensure that you don’t lose hair as you lose weight. Here are our recommendations:
- Make sure you’re getting a reasonable number of calories. You can eat more nutritiously without starving yourself, which can cause shock to the body and lead to hair loss. If you’re not sure how many calories you need per day, ask your doctor.
- In particular, make sure you’re getting some lean protein each day, which your hair needs in order to grow.
- Also make sure that you are getting enough fruits and vegetables, which provide nutrients that are vital for hair growth.
- Taking a nutritional supplement can also keep your body fortified; even a multivitamin can go a long way.
- Don’t try to lose weight too quickly. Most doctors caution against losing more than two pounds per week. Weight yourself weekly to make sure you’re not being reckless in your weight loss.
Hair Loss Solutions
Even those who go about weight loss in responsible, healthy way may notice some signs of hair loss—possibly for reasons unrelated to the dieting. Regardless of the cause of your hair loss, there are always ways to treat it. LH Hair is proud to provide the safest, most effective solutions in hair replacement; to learn more about these possibilities, we encourage you to contact LH Hair today.
