Hair loss and how you stopped it?

[q1w2e3]

Hi ladies,

I am looking to hear your stories about hair shedding/loss and how you managed to stop/reverse it. I have been going through a massive shed and it's very frightening and alarming. It leaves me in tears at times. I really do not know what to do. Hoping to hear accounts of what worked for you guys..

[Mimha]

Hi q1w2e3.

There are a lot of threads about hair loss, with very detailed explanations, experiences, etc. Hair loss is a very broad subject (many causes, many ways to solve it... or not^^). Go and have a look using the search tool before starting another thread where people will have to explain all over again. (By the way, we are in high shedding seasonal period. It may simply be this. Explore this as well : there are a lot of things !).

All the best in here and welcome

[parkmikii]

Here you go, in case you can't use the search fiction yet:
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=134545

[vpatt]

Yes, do join in at the thread linked above. I think you will find lots of information and encouragement.

[Stars]

I'm sorry to hear you're going through a massive shed right now. I went through telogen effluvium/postpartum shedding in early 2013 due to giving birth. I lost a good 40-50% of my thickness and my hairline thinned out a little. The middle center of my hair line (where the widow's peak would be) was especially stubborn to grow back. Here are things I did to not only recover my hairline but to regain almost all the thickness I had before and a good 6-7 inches in length...this things also worked to stall the shedding and I got down to like 10-30 hairs a day, instead of the typical 100 hairs a day. I was losing a handful of hair whenever I would comb it before that:

*Took Doctor's Best MSM 1500mg (took 3,000 mg or 2 caplets every night before bed). I took them before bed to lessen the amount flushed out by the large amount of water I drink during the day.

*Took Swanson Bamboo Silica (not a lot in each bottle so I took 1 capsule a day)

*Added DE or Diatomaceous Earth to smoothies and juice every morning. I took 1 heaping teaspoon in apple juice before meals every morning.

*2,000-3,000 mg of Omega3 fish oil a day

*NAC or N-Acetyl-Cysteine capsules daily

*Neocell Type 1&3 Collagen caplets daily (3,000 mg...each caplet is 1,000mg or 1 gram)

*scalp massages using fingers after oiling with brahmi, neelibhringadi, or mahabhringraj oil (I have used those oils for years and they WORK to stop shedding and they work faster than any other rtooica agent I have tried).

*oiling scalp with essential oil and carrier oil blends...here are some of the oils I used:
-Jamaican Black Castor Oil (grew my eyebrows back as well after I had several major surgeries and they faded away like Casper, lol...also grew back my aunt's eyebrows when hers fell out due to hypothyroidism...)
-sweet almond oil
-extra virgin olive oil (do your hair and body a favor, and buy chef grade EVOO, as most olive oils in the stores are FAKE). I bought some by Herdade do Esporao de Galega, a Portuguese artisan brand available on Amazon). It is delicious but I have a separate bottle for my hair and skin :)
-vetiver oil
-rosemary essential oil (EO)
-wild mediterranean oegano oil with 75-85% cavracol (cavracol content is important for therapeutic purposes...most GMO oregano oil isn't high in cavracol)
-thyme essential oil
-basil essential oil
-marjoram and coriander essential oils
-patchouli oil
-cedarwood (Virginian or Texan), though Atlas will do in a pinch, and Lebanese cedarwood oil is even better if available
-amla oil
-Khadi triphala oil
-Neelibhringadi oil
-Lavender oil
-tea tree essential oil (EO)
-rose geranium EO
-African red palm oil (600 times more beta carotene that. carrots, and potent source of Vitamin E)
-Extra Virgin Organic Coconut Oil


And many more herbs, oils and things I have found to work at stopping shedding and increasing growth rate of current hair, as well as shown to grow new hair where there was none. You won't find studies or actual scientific articles on this stuff. But it works. Keep in mind Western medical science is about managing symptoms, not curing disease. So natural cures are shunned in allopathic medicine. All of these things work better than minoxidil (Rogaine) for women and finasteride for men (Propecia).

Coffee rinses and black tea rinses reduced my shedding on the spot. I do them to also strengthen hair and the follicles. Black tea can be drying to some hair types though, so you may want to rinse with that if you decide to try it and then follow with a conditioner.

HTH!

Reply if you have any questions! I have done a huge amount of research on this issue (hair loss and shedding) as I would suffer from increased shedding there and there due to being anemic.

[q1w2e3]

I'm sorry to hear you're going through a massive shed right now. I went through telogen effluvium/postpartum shedding in early 2013 due to giving birth. I lost a good 40-50% of my thickness and my hairline thinned out a little. The middle center of my hair line (where the widow's peak would be) was especially stubborn to grow back. Here are things I did to not only recover my hairline but to regain almost all the thickness I had before and a good 6-7 inches in length...this things also worked to stall the shedding and I got down to like 10-30 hairs a day, instead of the typical 100 hairs a day. I was losing a handful of hair whenever I would comb it before that:

*Took Doctor's Best MSM 1500mg (took 3,000 mg or 2 caplets every night before bed). I took them before bed to lessen the amount flushed out by the large amount of water I drink during the day.

*Took Swanson Bamboo Silica (not a lot in each bottle so I took 1 capsule a day)

*Added DE or Diatomaceous Earth to smoothies and juice every morning. I took 1 heaping teaspoon in apple juice before meals every morning.

*2,000-3,000 mg of Omega3 fish oil a day

*NAC or N-Acetyl-Cysteine capsules daily

*Neocell Type 1&3 Collagen caplets daily (3,000 mg...each caplet is 1,000mg or 1 gram)

*scalp massages using fingers after oiling with brahmi, neelibhringadi, or mahabhringraj oil (I have used those oils for years and they WORK to stop shedding and they work faster than any other rtooica agent I have tried).

*oiling scalp with essential oil and carrier oil blends...here are some of the oils I used:
-Jamaican Black Castor Oil (grew my eyebrows back as well after I had several major surgeries and they faded away like Casper, lol...also grew back my aunt's eyebrows when hers fell out due to hypothyroidism...)
-sweet almond oil
-extra virgin olive oil (do your hair and body a favor, and buy chef grade EVOO, as most olive oils in the stores are FAKE). I bought some by Herdade do Esporao de Galega, a Portuguese artisan brand available on Amazon). It is delicious but I have a separate bottle for my hair and skin :)
-vetiver oil
-rosemary essential oil (EO)
-wild mediterranean oegano oil with 75-85% cavracol (cavracol content is important for therapeutic purposes...most GMO oregano oil isn't high in cavracol)
-thyme essential oil
-basil essential oil
-marjoram and coriander essential oils
-patchouli oil
-cedarwood (Virginian or Texan), though Atlas will do in a pinch, and Lebanese cedarwood oil is even better if available
-amla oil
-Khadi triphala oil
-Neelibhringadi oil
-Lavender oil
-tea tree essential oil (EO)
-rose geranium EO
-African red palm oil (600 times more beta carotene that. carrots, and potent source of Vitamin E)
-Extra Virgin Organic Coconut Oil


And many more herbs, oils and things I have found to work at stopping shedding and increasing growth rate of current hair, as well as shown to grow new hair where there was none. You won't find studies or actual scientific articles on this stuff. But it works. Keep in mind Western medical science is about managing symptoms, not curing disease. So natural cures are shunned in allopathic medicine. All of these things work better than minoxidil (Rogaine) for women and finasteride for men (Propecia).

Coffee rinses and black tea rinses reduced my shedding on the spot. I do them to also strengthen hair and the follicles. Black tea can be drying to some hair types though, so you may want to rinse with that if you decide to try it and then follow with a conditioner.

HTH!

Reply if you have any questions! I have done a huge amount of research on this issue (hair loss and shedding) as I would suffer from increased shedding there and there due to being anemic.



Thanks a lot for the replies guys. I appreciate the link to the former thread on shedding. I had already read and gone through it. Was hoping to specifically hear about stories of what actually worked and I guess to have more personal and direct communication, lol?

Thank you so much Stars for the wonderful long post. I definitely have some questions for you if you can answer.

1) MSM and Swanson Bamboo Silica - do the brands matter in your opinion? I haven't tried MSM but have the Equate brand. I was just contemplating to buy Bamboo Extract from Amazon. Was leaning towards buying Bamboo Extract 300 mg 120 capsules by Piping Rock Health as it is the cheapest. Unfortunately the same products available on Amazon.ca compared to Amazon.com are twice/thrice the price :/. Do you know anything about this brand or does it look good enough?
Also, where can I get this stuff for affordable prices (at least what Amazon.com offers) in Canada?

2) Collagen - I am contemplating getting Beef Gelatin for this purpose. Do you think that would suffice? Again, the price available on Amazon.ca is a huge deterrant and all the stores seem to carry porcine gelatin..

3) I have brahmi powder - is that just as good as the oil?

4) You've listed quite a few oils..how'd you use them exactly and how many times per week? Currently I have almond oil, coconut oil, castor, olive, neem, and amla and I already feel so overwhelmed. I do not know how to even use them given that I wash my hair 2-3 times a week using Andalou hair thinning shampoo (btw, got any recommendations for shampoo? something that actually worked for you?)

5) Can you please tell me about the herbs and oils?

I am currently taking iron supplement 11mg x 3 daily since about 10 days and have been taking b12, c, d since months with no improvement in shedding at all..
i just purchased nature's bounty biotin 2500 mcg cherry flavour just today and a multivitamin (MultiSure for women).

I feel like a maniac obsessing over this issue and just blowing all my money on this considering I am a student and the price tag of all this weighs quite heavy on me...

Thanks so so so much for helping out. I am sure you can understand the pain and stress of this...