Eating disorders and growing to Classic

[ClassicAim]

Hello,
I am new to this forum and have a few questions. I recently (3 months ago) decided that I wanted to grow my armpit length (when straight) 3c/4a hair to classic length (straight). I am currently in the process of attempting to recover from anorexia and bulimia. I have made some progress but I do have a long road ahead of me.
I was wondering if anyone here has ever suffered from an eating disorder and how it has affected their hair growth?
My diet over the last few years has not been very good at all but I am trying to improve that, To what extent do you guys thing this would affect my hair growth goals?
Is 6 years a fair estimate for growing from armpit length to classic length? (I’m relatively short at 5 ft 1)

My hair regime currently:
Wash hair once a week. I pre-poo with coconut oil, honey, conditioner, and olive oil and let that sit with a shower cap on it for 1-5 hours depending on how much time I have. I do a protein deep condition with the GPB protein conditioner for approximately 40 minutes once a month by putting the protein conditioner in my deep conditioning mix rather than a moisturising conditioner. I then wash my hair in 6 sections by shampooing with a sulphate free shampoo and conditioning, when the conditioner is in my hair I finger detangle under the shower stream and do a two strand twist. I then put more conditioner on the twist and repeat. Following this I rinse a portion of the conditioner out, pour cold aloe vera juice/water mix over my hair and dry with a towel. I then seal my hair with coconut oil and put the twists in a pony to keep out of my way. When they are 90% dry (or before bed) I put the wrap the twists into a bun and there they stay unless I add moisture during the week.

Is there any constructive criticism for my regime?
Additionally, how long does your hair need to be to pool in your lap when you sit down?

Please be sensitive towards my eating disorders, I don’t talk about them often.
Looking forward to your replies and thanks in advance and sorry for the length of this

Love,
Classic Aim x

[Knifegill]

I was mildly orthorexic when I first tried healthy eating. Sort of treated it like a religion. But due to my orthorexia, I was eating mostly fatty meat, vegetables and berries, nuts and eggs - a perfect hair diet overall.

Depending on your hair type, protein may or may not be indicated. Is your hair coarse, medium or fine? Does it stretch at all when dry or wet?

[ClassicAim]

My hair is medium/ coarse and stretches when wet :). If i wash it and do nothing to it it shrinks up to about ear length (my hair is really coily) but when wet its past shoulder length.

[ClassicAim]

Thank you very much for your reply :) xx

[Knifegill]

I hope more knowledgeable care experts can chime in, I'm new here!

[ClassicAim]

Hello Knifegill :) x

[Knifegill]

This is what I get for using the same name everywhere, isn't it? You from one of the other forums I frequent?

[ClassicAim]

Probably not :), im not on many forums :) x

[sarahchant]

I just wanted to say hello and good luck with hair growing and your goal to improve your eating. I suffered from eating disorder for several years but have managed it better in the last few years. Of course health and eating habits are so connected, and usually hair will improve in health and strength when you're feeding it nutrient rich food and drinking lots of water.

This may not be helpful, but I will say my hair still grew but got thinner when I was struggling with eating.

Best wishes.

[lapushka]

There was a time where I was really thin, on the border of an eating disorder (in my teens), and my hair had thinned out pretty significantly (and my behavior wasn't even problematic). Before I could barely close a barrette over a ponytail, and the year I was really way too thin, it basically slid out of my hair. It took me years to recover and gain the thickness of my hair back.

[ClassicAim]

Sarahchant - I'm glad to here your managing it better, this gives me hope that one day I will be able to too :). I have to an extent also noticed my hair thinning out, it may just be in my head but when i eat healthier for a few weeks i feel like my shedding is reduced.

Lapushka - I haven't paying attention to my hair enough to notice any thinning in it but if i commit to recovery maybe I'll notice it getting thicker :).

Maybe its odd but little things like the possibility of my hair getting stronger and thicker make me want to recover more. I'm really hoping I can go on my journey to health in conjunction to my journey to classic length hair :)

[brickworld13]

Hi :waving: and welcome. Most of the active members don't come over to this board much. If you want advice from a larger section of the population you should post this in one of the discussion boards. I'm not sure which one it would belong under though. It's about your hair and your health. It's either the Mane board or the Health and Body Beautiful board. Probably the Mane board will get you more hair tips and the Health board will get you more tips for dealing with your eating issues.

I wish you luck in your journey. Recovery from any type of disordered eating is not easy and is a lifelong commitment. :flowers: If your hair is inspiring you to make healthier choices, that is a fantastic motivator. I have really uneven thickness from when I had a depression related eating disorder.

[SummerCherie]

Hey, eating disorders are not good. Try to turn your disorder into a health freak disorder. If that makes any sense. Try to go Vegetarian and help the animals. Check out myfitnesspal and fitbit. As for hair eating disorders such as anorexia or bulimia can cause the hair to become brittle and break off due to loss of nutrition. Your outside hair care routine will not do any good, you have to be healthy on the inside. If you would like someone to talk to about this email me at belladoll2014@hotmail.com. ;)

[Knifegill]

A redirected food obsession is an untreated food obsession. A vegan who will drive 30 miles to buy cruelty-free shoelaces will become a Paleo'er who will spend weekends barefoot hunting squirrels in the park. Once you get locked into a serious food obsession, the tendency is to push it as far as you can. It's not what's on the plate, it's what's in the mind. Genuine one-on-one or group treatment with good thought journaling and similar interventions etc., tend to have the best outcomes.

[sarahchant]

Maybe its odd but little things like the possibility of my hair getting stronger and thicker make me want to recover more. I'm really hoping I can go on my journey to health in conjunction to my journey to classic length hair :)

I hope this can be inspiration for you and that you are successful in managing your eating disorder. Certainly healthier hair would be a nice reward for your effort.

[McFearless]

Welcome to the forums. :)

This (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=1881&page=58) is the official thread for type 4 hair. You might get some ideas about hair care routines there. Yours seems thorough and pretty great so keep doing whatever gives you positive results.

Hair, nails and skin are a reflection of our diet and ability to properly digest the nutrients we take in. Our bodies do not prioritize hair health and growth so only once all body functions are taken care of will left over nutrients encourage healthy hair + nail growth. As you continue to recover your hair will keep on thriving. Best of luck to you. :flower:

[Caraid♫]

Maybe its odd but little things like the possibility of my hair getting stronger and thicker make me want to recover more. I'm really hoping I can go on my journey to health in conjunction to my journey to classic length hair :)
It sounds like you have a good routine! I just wanted to say that in my experience, yes an eating disorder can make it a lot harder to grow your hair out and can prevent you from acheiving your potential thickness and length. When I recovered, my hair gained a lot of thickness. It sounds silly, but taking an interest in hair has helped me a lot in becoming more interested in taking more care of my health. It's hard to see your body objectively, but seeing your hair grow in more healthily is a tangible, visible sign that you're doing better. Whenever I think about restricting again, I think "but what about all those thickness gains! I can't bear to start shedding all my work!" Maybe I've traded in a food obsession for a hair obsession, but if the hair obsession keeps your body healthy, I say go with it!
Good luck to you in recovery :flower:

[ClassicAim]

brickworld13 - Thank you for the advice :) I may post in the health boards soon to get some help with the eating issues x.

SummerCherie - I was vegan for about 10 months a few years ago and spent probably about half of high school on and off vegetarian :). I am lactose intolerant so I don't eat any dairy and I don't like the taste of many meats. The only non-veggie things I eat are eggs, chicken and bacon and I think this is a comfortable balance for me at the moment :). Thank you for offering yourself as someone to talk to, it means a lot to me :) x.

Knifegill - I agree, mostly :). I'm going to try and get myself back in treatment again soon.

sarahchant - Yeah, it would be a lovely reward :) x.

McFearless - Thanks for the direction to the type 4 thread. I've been lurking at it over the last few days and i think I will post in it soon :) x.

Caraid♫ - DAMN! This is exactly how I feel. In all my past recovery attempts I've been focused on my body and improving it but that leads to so many difficulties because I don't really see my body objectively. Thank you so much for this post :) its so on point its amazing, i've been feeling this way for a few months now and trying to articulate it has been very difficult. It's really nice to know I'm not the only one that feels this way. Thank you so much :) x

[Caraid♫]

so glad you could relate to my post :D I really hope haircare can help channel your focus away from your body and help you get better like it did for me. There are probably lots of other interests and hobbies that could help take the focus away from your body, feel free to message me if you ever need :flower:

[ClassicAim]

Caraid♫ - I hope so too :). At the moment I find learning to play guitar and focusing on hair are helpful hobbies, I'm on the search for more things to distact/ keep my mind occupied and away from freaking out about recovery. And thank you so much for the offer :D! I'll take you up on it :) x

[Majorane]

Hello ClassicAim! Another reformed ED-er here :flower: First off, many congrats on deciding to try to beat it. You can, you know!! :) As for hair, what is said above is all very true. Unhealthy eating = less awesome hair. In my case (I never was very malnourished for a longer period, but more doing tricks with eating, so to speak) my hair wasn't what suffered most, but my overal health became really poor. I found it very confronting during recovery just how much my body had suffered and how much it was protesting against building up muscle and stamina again. That was really important for me at the time (becuse I loved my sports! Not because of ED related things) and it was a huge incentive for me to keep on eating normally and, in my case, unhealthy again! (....as I wasn't allowed to eat unhealthy things. Which is a very unhealthy thing in itself!)

So, I found that for me, too, focussing on letting my body flourish instead of tearing it down helped me getting my head straighter and helped me heal. I hope your hair cn do that for you too, without it becoming a redirected obsession.

Okay, that might have been slightly off topic, but I wanted to chime in, and I'm sending a ton of happy mental brainwaiviesenergy to you, and good luck with it all! :flowers:

Edit: Oh and the hair DID become much nicer after all, too, it never did shed so muc but the healthier hair was so much stronger and less fruzzly, so! Compeletely forgot to add that hairy detail, on a hair board no less :0

[ClassicAim]

Majorane - Thank you so much for the happy mental brain waves :). Your post gives me lots of hope by focusing on developing something else in my body will help me as it helped you. Again, Thank you so much for your post :). Sometime's its lovely to know others have been where I am too and beat it :) x

[ghost]

A redirected food obsession is an untreated food obsession. A vegan who will drive 30 miles to buy cruelty-free shoelaces will become a Paleo'er who will spend weekends barefoot hunting squirrels in the park. Once you get locked into a serious food obsession, the tendency is to push it as far as you can. It's not what's on the plate, it's what's in the mind. Genuine one-on-one or group treatment with good thought journaling and similar interventions etc., tend to have the best outcomes.

Knifegill, I'm quoting this because I'm really impressed with a)the point you made and b) redirecting advice that, while given with good intentions, could be triggering. It's very true that it's easy to channel your eating disorder in another direction and claim "recovery".

ClassicAim, I struggled with anorexia and exercise purging for years. I'm sorry that you're struggling, and I wish you good luck with your recovery! It's not always the easiest thing, but it's so much more worth it. For what it's worth, my hair did continue to grow at its normal rate while I was actively using ED'ed symptoms, but it was also falling out all over the place and got very thin compared to how it used to be. I'm still trying to thicken up my hemline >_>

If you ever need support, distraction, whatever please feel free to PM me!

[YvetteVarie]

Hey ClassicAim. I am also a recovering borderline anorexic. My hair health wasn't too bad, although it never grew long and my nape always thinned out or broke off first. All the best with your recovery, I'm rooting for you. Oh yeah, feel free to PM me when you want to vent or something

[ClassicAim]

YvetteVarie - I also have a slight problem with my nape and general perimeter of my hair being a bit thinner than the rest. Thank you so much for commenting, I think one of the scary things about this is for a long time I was so private about it and it made me feel even more alone and everything seemed so much more scary. Thank you and everyone so much for helping me to see I'm not the only one in this. Good luck in your recovery too and thanks for offering to let me PM you :D. Means a lot to me :) x

[ClassicAim]

ghost - Thanks for your comment. I'm sorry to hear you also struggled but I am glad overcame it :). This give me hope. I have a very strong feeling its going to take me a really long time to thicken up my hemline as I recover and my hair grows. But as you said, this will all hopefully be worth it :) Thank you for the offer to PM xx

[harridan]

Former anorexic here. My hair has been through a lot but it never looked as miserable as when I didn't eat properly. It was falling out in balls and was extremely dry regardless of the masks I used regularly. The condition of my hair was my strongest motivation to get better too. It got much stronger and shinier after I started eating properly. Of course, it takes a while but the effect will be visible if you keep nourishing your body. Whether you'll be able to reach classic length or not depends on your genes but even if you don't, you'll still have beautiful hair. Good luck!

[sunnylove]

Okay, you might not like my response. I had bulimia for two years. It completely destroyed my hair, which was waist length at the time. I have been recovered since August 2012. My hair is still a complete disaster. It's now shoulder length (with no major cuts, it fell out/stopped growing) and just awful. It's brittle and dull, it's the kind of hair where you can pull a piece away from your head and it kind of stays there. I have to add that it is bleached, but nothing extreme (no bleach on top of bleach). I had beautiful hair before the ED while bleaching it. I have good nutrition now, so I don't know what else to do. If I wasn't getting married in 7 months I would seriously consider shaving my head.

[Federica]

Hello and welcome!
I personally never suffered from EDs, but my mother did suffer from anorexia for many years and her hair was quite destroyed from that.
I don't want to discourage you, but hair, nails and skin are good mirrors of your general health.
If your body doesn't get the nutrients it needs, it starts to "save" the energies, cutting the resources to the parts that aren't essential to the survival and, at last, it starts to digest itself, taking the nutrients from your muscles and bones.
A good alimentation makes hair, as the whole body, healthier and stronger, and makes it grow faster.
I hope this, with many other reasons I'm sure you already know, will help you to fight this disorder. It can be beaten and you can fully recover.
This community is very supportive and you'll find a lot of encouragement here.
I wish you the best for your goal of reaching calssic.

[ClassicAim]

harridan - That is very encouraging :). I'll be very happy with waist length hair, classic is my ultimate goal but I'll be fine with it if i don't quite get there :).

sunnylove - Thank you for your honesty, it means a lot to me. Your hair will probably will recover, your in the right place to get advice and be able to recover it. I've only been here for a little bit and my hair habits have improved. I'd recommend coconut oil if you haven't already tried it and gentle shampoos without sulfate :). Congrats on your engagement and oncoming wedding :D!

Federica - Thank you for welcoming me and wishing me luck in recovery. I'm sorry to hear about your mother :( x. Thank you for reminding me of the other things my disorder affects, This is going to keep me in the mindset that the recovery of my hair is inexplicably linked to committing to recovery from my eating disorders for the long haul.

[MsBubbles]

Hey, eating disorders are not good. Try to turn your disorder into a health freak disorder. If that makes any sense. Try to go Vegetarian and help the animals. Check out myfitnesspal and fitbit. As for hair eating disorders such as anorexia or bulimia can cause the hair to become brittle and break off due to loss of nutrition. Your outside hair care routine will not do any good, you have to be healthy on the inside. If you would like someone to talk to about this email me at belladoll2014@hotmail.com. ;)

I'm sorry - this is extremely irresponsible advice. Eating disorders are 'not good'? No kidding. Recommending online calorie or anything-counting websites is going to send someone with disordered eating down a bad path. Did you know 'health freak disorder' is actually a thing? It's orthorexia, as Knifegill pointed out. While I agree that someone with an ED might do well to put the emphasis back on nourishing themselves lovingly, telling them to try to go vegan, or telling them what to do AT ALL, is just not the way to help.

Thanks for the follow up answer, Knifegill.

ClassicAim I wish you all the best on your journey back to health, and long hair! I went through an anxiety-related extreme weight loss 8 years ago and lost half my hair thickness (it shed). Good news is, it grew back no problem.

[winnifred17]

Did the individual strands get thinner? And how is your hair now? Did the strands thicken up?

[lapushka]

Did the individual strands get thinner? And how is your hair now? Did the strands thicken up?

My strands stayed the same as they were. If you go back to eating properly, it will sort itself out, don't worry.

OP, focus on getting healthy all the way and staying that way, because it can be hard! Good luck! :D

[LadyArwen]

Additionally, how long does your hair need to be to pool in your lap when you sit down?



Mine is 38 inches and it does pool in my lap(I am about 5'6)...it probably would have 2 inches ago... so 36 inches of hair would be what I needed. So we are five inches apart...maybe 31 inches for you. 31 inches x 2 =62 months/12 months = a little over five years of hair to pool in your lap

[winnifred17]

Former anorexic here. My hair has been through a lot but it never looked as miserable as when I didn't eat properly. It was falling out in balls and was extremely dry regardless of the masks I used regularly. The condition of my hair was my strongest motivation to get better too. It got much stronger and shinier after I started eating properly. Of course, it takes a while but the effect will be visible if you keep nourishing your body. Whether you'll be able to reach classic length or not depends on your genes but even if you don't, you'll still have beautiful hair. Good luck!

When you were malnourished did each individual hair strand also get smaller in diameter and then thicken up again once you had better nutrition? My hair has thinned in that way and I'm hoping it returns to its previous thick state.

[winnifred17]

It sounds like you have a good routine! I just wanted to say that in my experience, yes an eating disorder can make it a lot harder to grow your hair out and can prevent you from acheiving your potential thickness and length. When I recovered, my hair gained a lot of thickness. It sounds silly, but taking an interest in hair has helped me a lot in becoming more interested in taking more care of my health. It's hard to see your body objectively, but seeing your hair grow in more healthily is a tangible, visible sign that you're doing better. Whenever I think about restricting again, I think "but what about all those thickness gains! I can't bear to start shedding all my work!" Maybe I've traded in a food obsession for a hair obsession, but if the hair obsession keeps your body healthy, I say go with it!
Good luck to you in recovery :flower:

When you were malnourished did each individual hair strand also get smaller in diameter and then thicken up again once you had better nutrition? My hair has thinned in that way and I'm hoping it returns to its previous thick state.

[winnifred17]

I just wanted to say hello and good luck with hair growing and your goal to improve your eating. I suffered from eating disorder for several years but have managed it better in the last few years. Of course health and eating habits are so connected, and usually hair will improve in health and strength when you're feeding it nutrient rich food and drinking lots of water.

This may not be helpful, but I will say my hair still grew but got thinner when I was struggling with eating.

Best wishes.

When you were malnourished did each individual hair strand also get smaller in diameter and then thicken up again once you had better nutrition? My hair has thinned in that way and I'm hoping it returns to its previous thick state.

[ExpectoPatronum]

As someone who's recovering from an ED...I can confirm that my hair is growing so much better now. My bald spots are actually filling in, and I didn't think they would! It should return back to it's previous state, but be aware that it may take some time. I've been eating better for a few months now and have just really noticed that my bald spots are disappearing.

[lapushka]

When you were malnourished did each individual hair strand also get smaller in diameter and then thicken up again once you had better nutrition? My hair has thinned in that way and I'm hoping it returns to its previous thick state.

Winnifred, you keep asking the same question, I think we get the gist of it by now. :flower: :o

What have you noticed yourself since getting better? I believe it's much more useful to keep an eye on *you*, on your nutrition and health and on how *your* hair is doing and growing in? How's it doing?

[winnifred17]

Winnifred, you keep asking the same question, I think we get the gist of it by now. :flower: :o

What have you noticed yourself since getting better? I believe it's much more useful to keep an eye on *you*, on your nutrition and health and on how *your* hair is doing and growing in? How's it doing?

My hair hasn't gotten any thinner recently but has also not thickened up yet. I am eating lots of healthy proteins and fats... just trying my best to get my hair back to normal.

[Sarahlabyrinth]

My hair hasn't gotten any thinner recently but has also not thickened up yet. I am eating lots of healthy proteins and fats... just trying my best to get my hair back to normal.

Good that you are eating better. It will take time for your hair to get back to normal, so don't give up on the idea :)