Quitting smoking

[Britok]

Has anyone seen a noticeable difference in the quality and length of their hair after quitting smoking? Before/after pics? I quit back in november and am wondering if I will see an improvement in my hair as an added bonus

[PixieP]

Go you! :D

I quit in october, AND I smoked inside so I was always in the smoke, and sadly I gotta say I don't see a difference in my hair (or skin, or ability to walk up three flights of stairs without getting out of breath XD ). But still worth it! I have lots more money to spend ON my hair now XD

[Wildcat Diva]

Congratulations on doing something that is often very hard. What a good decision for your health!

[lapushka]

Quitting is hard.

My mom is 71 right now, has smoked all her adult life, and has also cut back (she makes her own filtered cigarettes from scratch). My dad is 70 and used to roll his cigarettes (unfiltered). Both of them have cut down in recent years. My dad has given up cigarettes fully, all he does now is smoke tiny cigars about every day. At this age, I doubt it makes a lot of difference, but still, every tiny bit helps. ;)

[Serimel]

Congratulations! It's an amazing life changing decision you've made! Best of luck on your journey! :) PixieP has a good point on saving more money for your hair hahaha. :D I think healthwise, hair included, it will take longer time to see some results. I don't know how it goes elsewhere but in Finnish health care you are looked as a smoker for as long as 5 years after quitting. That says something about how long the toxins linger in your system afterwards. It takes some time for the body to purify itself.

[Ophidian]

Go you! Quitting is no joke. I did it a little less than a year ago, but it coincided with my starting a medication that aside from its primary purpose is also used as a smoking cessation aid so this helped a lot. I do feel like my hair got a lot healthier, but I also started taking better care of myself overall so I can't attribute it only to quitting. My skin is better too. Honestly one of the nicest things hair-related is I don't smell like stale smoke which grossed me out even as a smoker. Again, congratulations!

[enterafox]

I think my hair is growing faster since quitting smoking. I could go three months easily without redoing my roots while I was a smoker. It was growing about 0.5" every two/three months. Now I think I'm at 0.5" per month! Which is GREAT. I don't know if it's the change of caring for it, but it does seem softer and less easily broken.

[emilyogini]

I picked up the habit, unfortunately. While I see no difference in my growth, I'd still love to quit. My fear is how frustrated/stressed/moody it will make me when I try to stop, especially since I work around other people.

[nycelle]

I picked up the habit, unfortunately. While I see no difference in my growth, I'd still love to quit. My fear is how frustrated/stressed/moody it will make me when I try to stop, especially since I work around other people.

There's no getting around that, just need to control it.

I quit 6 years ago using the patch. It works just fine on the nicotine addiction part. The harder bit is retraining your brain. So I tried thinking like a non-smoker. For instance, instead of saying "I quit smoking", I'd say "I don't smoke." Little things like that to rework my brain. Incredible how much it helped.

[embee]

I also did mental work, saying "I'm a non-smoker" and it did help me. When I saw someone smoking I was grateful that I did not, made a point of the gratitude.

For me, the difference was rapid - I could walk up the stairs much more easily within a week, which shocked me. I had smoked most of my life... 40 years of smoking when I quit.

[flowerbabies]

Congratulations on the decision! I feel like any bad health habits can contribute to less than optimal hair, skin, nails. If it doesn’t help your hair look better, it certainly will smell better!

[mrsmushroom]

I noticed a huge difference, but for me that is probably because smoking caused a terrible flare-up of my scalp psoriasis. I stopped about 8 months ago, and after 6 months of scalp light therapy it is finally clearing up. My hair had completely fallen out in patches along my hairline... thank god it's growing back and is much healthier now.

[Frazzled]

....retraining your brain. So I tried thinking like a non-smoker. For instance, instead of saying "I quit smoking", I'd say "I don't smoke." Little things like that to rework my brain. Incredible how much it helped.

Don't underestimate the value of this! I tried to quit a number of times throughout my life, but it never stuck until I figured out the mindset element of it. Simply thinking of yourself as a non-smoker is a huge part of the battle. I finally quit last December and will never go back. I don't know if my hair has improved yet (this takes a lot of time), but nearly every other aspect of my life is better since quitting.

One other thing that also really helped me stay motivated was physically saving the money that I would've spent on smokes. I currently have an envelope with $2,100 in it. If I ever feel like lighting up, I can just look at that stack of cash and realize that it's not worth it. This helped a lot in the first few weeks, because it's something that is tangible.

[Margarita]

I have never smoked, nor im interested in doing so but, congratulations you are strong enough to quit! I doubt smoking affects hair and skin but again im glad you quit! =D

[spidermom]

Even if you can't exactly figure out the benefit, stopping smoking has to benefit your hair because it benefits your blood circulation and oxygen-carrying capacity.

[lapushka]

I have never smoked, nor im interested in doing so but, congratulations you are strong enough to quit! I doubt smoking affects hair and skin but again im glad you quit! =D

For my mom and her sisters/brothers it didn't. My youngest aunt is a smoker too and has thicker hair than me. I believe she hits 5 inches.

[Margarita]

For my mom and her sisters/brothers it didn't. My youngest aunt is a smoker too and has thicker hair than me. I believe she hits 5 inches.

It didnt affect, right? Sounds like all of your family members are very healthy!. My mom and grandma smoke too and i can tell their skins are pretty good. Especially my grandma's, she is 69 and the only deep wrinkles she has are ONLY around her mouth. My mom(age 43) also lack wrinkles, although she has very oily skin. Both my mom and grandma care for their skins everyday. I guess its also the genetics that surely affect a big number in someone's body and health. Im curious about smoking but, im also NOT interested. Everything should be done with limits in this life if you want to be alive and healthy =D

[Strawonaberry]

It didnt affect, right? Sounds like all of your family members are very healthy!. My mom and grandma smoke too and i can tell their skins are pretty good. Especially my grandma's, she is 69 and the only deep wrinkles she has are ONLY around her mouth. My mom(age 43) also lack wrinkles, although she has very oily skin. Both my mom and grandma care for their skins everyday. I guess its also the genetics that surely affect a big number in someone's body and health. Im curious about smoking but, im also NOT interested. Everything should be done with limits in this life if you want to be alive and healthy =D
I once saw a series of pictures from a twin study, where there were pairs with a smoking and a non-smoking twin, and I don't remember their hair, but the difference in skin was definitely noticeable. So I would assume, for someone with good genes like your family, one can still look good while smoking, but a twin version of them who didn't would probably look even better?

Congratulations for quitting Britok :) I think maybe visible changes (I'm sure on the inside you're healthier already) would take a bit longer to appear.


I don't know how it goes elsewhere but in Finnish health care you are looked as a smoker for as long as 5 years after quitting. That says something about how long the toxins linger in your system afterwards. It takes some time for the body to purify itself.
Especially considering this!

[Margarita]

I once saw a series of pictures from a twin study, where there were pairs with a smoking and a non-smoking twin, and I don't remember their hair, but the difference in skin was definitely noticeable. So I would assume, for someone with good genes like your family, one can still look good while smoking, but a twin version of them who didn't would probably look even better?

Congratulations for quitting Britok :) I think maybe visible changes (I'm sure on the inside you're healthier already) would take a bit longer to appear.


Especially considering this!

Yes, i've also saw that experiement with the twins you say. I can also say that in the most smokers(on the pictures next to their non-smoking twin) skins has difference, sometimes bad, sometimes not bad. For the skin and hair(and health in general sure) to be totally affected by smoking, it has a big part of HOW MUCH do someone smoke. For someone smoking more than 1 pack a day, its OUT OF THE LIMITS, so that means it can damage you badly. Exercise and healthy diet is the best way to have total control of how you smoke, its possible for a person to smoke only 1 cigarette a day, it wont damage anything, the person will stay healthy and strong. Anything can actually damage you, caffeine is also a drug MOST people consume everyday on coffee, coca cola, drinking every day hot tea, and its horrible. The brain is stronger than nicotine, everyone can fight smoking =) This is my opinion! =D

And! I totally agree with Serimel! Although, i have read that when someone quits smoking, around after 30 mins to 3 hours the body begins getting back to normal, especially it has something to do with the blood. My aunt quit smoking 9 years ago, she is 39 now and she looks 10 years younger.

[nycelle]

It's impossible for their not to be a difference in the skin for long term smokers. People may still look good due to good genes, but that doesn't mean they wouldn't have looked better had they not smoked.

I look at my own skin, and I'm lucky that right now, I only have a few fine lines. But smoking caused dryness, hyper pigmentation around my bottom lip, enlarged pores on my nose, and I'm sure a few other issues.
But no one that looks at me ever guesses my age, or that I was ever a smoker. Though I know that if I never smoked, many of the skin issues I have now, wouldn't exist.

I personally believe that long term smokers, even those that smoke less than a pack a day, do develop skin issues. I just don't think that we're always aware that whatever skin problems we may be having, is a direct result of smoking.

[Margarita]

It's impossible for their not to be a difference in the skin for long term smokers. People may still look good due to good genes, but that doesn't mean they wouldn't have looked better had they not smoked.

I look at my own skin, and I'm lucky that right now, I only have a few fine lines. But smoking caused dryness, hyper pigmentation around my bottom lip, enlarged pores on my nose, and I'm sure a few other issues.
But no one that looks at me ever guesses my age, or that I was ever a smoker. Though I know that if I never smoked, many of the skin issues I have now, wouldn't exist.

I personally believe that long term smokers, even those that smoke less than a pack a day, do develop skin issues. I just don't think that we're always aware that whatever skin problems we may be having, is a direct result of smoking.

You're right and i agree with you. In your own case of being a former smoker, it happened for you to develp some issues by that on your physical appearance by the time you smoked. I dont know if smoking caused you any issue on your health, i dont even know if you were a heavy or long-term smoker. How old are you? Are you 30-?

We can somehow combine it with the water. What i mean? A person who drinks 5-8 glasses of water everyday, her/his skin would probably be more healthy, bright, clean etc.
In the opposite, a person who may drink only 1-2 glasses of water a day(like me) may have not enough healthy skin like the person above with the 8 glasses. But hey! Just because i drink that little water, for me, my skin is good and clean, naturally dry as always, translucent pale, i have also noticed some tiny discoloration around my eyes than the rest of my face. Im also an athelete so that has affect my total looks. I dont smoke, and probably i will never ever do this. Even in the worst case of deciding of doing this, i believe i could control it and smoke atleast 2 cigs a day. I do not wish for things like this, but im being neutral and objective and absolute AND optimistic, trying to imagine every case of each side in my mind.