Paleo/Keto Diet and Hair

[mwagner987]

Hey all - first time poster here and incredibly excited to be a LHCer! I've just started out recovering my hair from a few years of highlighting treatments and rough brushing and general lack of knowledge about hair care. I've since done a baking soda/acv rinse and I can already feel a difference in my hair (softer and flufflier). Moving forward I'm going to start adding in treatments like SMT and hot oil sticking with each for 2 weeks to see if there is any change. The question I'm getting at here though, is I'm also about to start a modified paleo/keto diet and was curious if anyone saw any changes to their hair when they switched to this type of diet/lifestyle? Any idea of what I should expect?

Thanks in advance for the help/testimonies!

[Chromis]

My hair seems to like it! My scalp isn't nearly as dry and itchy after adding plenty more fats back into my diet. It's a pretty impressive change since I had tried pretty much everything to combat the scalp itchies. I had luck with doing henna now and then when the itching bugged me too much, but I have more silvers coming in and don't want to keep covering them up. The extra energy and slimming down has been nice too and my cholesterol stats are looking great now! I do keto, but not paleo, love me some dairy! (I think it is easier to keep the fat to protein ratio correct with dairy, many paleo plans are still too low in fat.)

[Knifegill]

My hair had a great time on keto. Did it for two years and my hair stayed great. It was a short cut, but no thinning or shedding happened. Kept growing fast, too. BUT I was making sure I was getting all my micronutrient needs met and eating to caloric sufficiency. Not everybody is ravenous enough to eat 3000 calories a day on keto or near-keto. I stayed very high protein so there may have been some gluconeogenesis.


On the flip side, I'm a guy. Females tend to be the primary starters of "My hair is falling out" threads over on Mark's Daily Apple. And you don't need keto to burn body fat and be fit and healthy.

Going from keto back to 33/33/33 ratios of macros was a lesson. I tried to eat some sweet potatoes, they got stuck in my gut (no bacteria to digest them), they created an ulcer, and a subsequent autoimmune attack nearly left me blind in one eye. I added starches back into my diet to fix my gut bacteria which I'd all but destroyed on keto. If you do keto, at least take some potato starch powder or other form of RS to keep your gut bacteria alive. Don't make my mistake.

[Zesty]

I did a sort of pseudo primal diet for a while and I think it benefited my scalp, which is often itchy and dry. I was never hardcore about it though, I just tried to avoid carbs/grain as best I could and that was that. If there were any benefits for my hair itself I didn't notice them, but anything that gets you enough nutrients in your diet should be good for your hair.

[Chromis]

My hair had a great time on keto. Did it for two years and my hair stayed great. It was a short cut, but no thinning or shedding happened. Kept growing fast, too. BUT I was making sure I was getting all my micronutrient needs met and eating to caloric sufficiency. Not everybody is ravenous enough to eat 3000 calories a day on keto or near-keto. I stayed very high protein so there may have been some gluconeogenesis.


On the flip side, I'm a guy. Females tend to be the primary starters of "My hair is falling out" threads over on Mark's Daily Apple. And you don't need keto to burn body fat and be fit and healthy.

Going from keto back to 33/33/33 ratios of macros was a lesson. I tried to eat some sweet potatoes, they got stuck in my gut (no bacteria to digest them), they created an ulcer, and a subsequent autoimmune attack nearly left me blind in one eye. I added starches back into my diet to fix my gut bacteria which I'd all but destroyed on keto. If you do keto, at least take some potato starch powder or other form of RS to keep your gut bacteria alive. Don't make my mistake.

Suspect a lot of the trouble over there is that women are more likely to try and stay low fat, or at least a lot lower than they should! People have been very sadly tricked into thinking that eating fat makes you fat. Also, some people are still using vegetable oil, which throws your fatty acid profile off.

I'm more a fan of just eating the whole food. People seem to go a little all or nothing when they don't need to. The carbs in one medium potato are not enough to throw you out of keto even for the strict and there's your resistant starch right there. Beans are even better for this! I haven't really had any trouble with menu-planning. Mostly just avoiding refined flour goes a long way!

[mwagner987]

My hair seems to like it! My scalp isn't nearly as dry and itchy after adding plenty more fats back into my diet. It's a pretty impressive change since I had tried pretty much everything to combat the scalp itchies. I had luck with doing henna now and then when the itching bugged me too much, but I have more silvers coming in and don't want to keep covering them up. The extra energy and slimming down has been nice too and my cholesterol stats are looking great now! I do keto, but not paleo, love me some dairy! (I think it is easier to keep the fat to protein ratio correct with dairy, many paleo plans are still too low in fat.)

I agree to the dairy! I don't think I could give up cheese unless it was absolutely necessary! I'm glad to hear that fats seemed to have a positive effect on your hair (yay more reasons to love coconut oil!). I plan on sticking to a majority fat, some protein and little carb plan without too much focus on exact macronutrient profiles.

[mwagner987]

Going from keto back to 33/33/33 ratios of macros was a lesson. I tried to eat some sweet potatoes, they got stuck in my gut (no bacteria to digest them), they created an ulcer, and a subsequent autoimmune attack nearly left me blind in one eye. I added starches back into my diet to fix my gut bacteria which I'd all but destroyed on keto. If you do keto, at least take some potato starch powder or other form of RS to keep your gut bacteria alive. Don't make my mistake.

Wow, thanks for letting me know. I had never really heard of this before, but had read some info on potato starches (and currently have a jar of it in my cupboard now), but haven't made an effort to incorporate it into my regular eating habits. Maybe I'll throw it into my protein shakes or smoothies in the mornings just to make sure my gut bacteria stays alive and well. Thanks for the tip!

[meteor]

Pure keto was not really doable for me (Knifegill is dead on the money about the gut bacteria adjustment!) and it's not optimal for me, because I love to exercise a lot and I do see a major boost in energy from a bit of carbs.
But generally primal diet is great for me overall, including my hair, and it's something I've always naturally gravitated to anyway. I do loosen the rules to include dairy and some other products, because they work for me.

I do believe that different people may flourish on really different foods - probably current health conditions and gut bacteria drive this.

Generally, whatever diet works for my health and well-being was always good for my hair, too. But I'd never target my nutrition for hair specifically, because hair is only a beautiful by-product of living.

[Knifegill]

People on MDA are avoiding seed oils like the plague. I, for one, make my own tallow and lard from lamb and cows, and cook with bacon grease.

Coconut milk was a very affordable staple of fat also, on keto. The Aroy-D brand is UHT and in a plasticized box - but no gums or other crud.

Potatoes are amazing and I eat tons of them now, and haven't gained any weight. Carbs don't make people fat, overeating does.

[Marbid]

Personally i had to do the keto diet for health reasons..... I did not see any changes in my hair... Only did it for 5 months or so... Not a lot of hair growth to decide in that time period...

[Nimia]

I've eaten a paleo diet for several years, and haven't noticed a difference in my hair. Of course, up until I joined LHC a few months ago, I was doing terrible, terrible things to my hair, so perhaps the fact that it survived at all is a testament. :)

[Teufelchen]

I am on a primal diet now for almost 2 years, first 1.5 years with very occasional indulgences, 6 month ago I was diagnosed with celiac, and I was very strict since.
My hair was always on the faster growing side, but the growth increased by 30% after switching to primal. But I contribute that to eating more protein that way, and hair is dead protein, so it makes sense.
In general I do it like Chromis.

[veryhairyfairy]

I'm not a paleo or keto eater, but like Teufelchen said; hair is protein (and a bit of fat and water), so more protein=more building blocks for hair, and more fat=more shiny blocks for hair (and more water is just better for your whole dang self). :)

(If you haven't been deficient in those things, though, you might not see a marked improvement in growth speed or quality. I still need to do an experiment where I double my protein intake to see if there's any difference in growth speed)

[Celtic_Willow]

Since going keto in February my hair growth has been better than usual! Naturally I'm a fast grower, but with keto it really took off! Scalp itchies are finally gone and my hair has been much shinier and healthier feeling :)