Sugar/high carb related hair shedding

[H.e.L]

I had crazy hair loss for a year or more, 200-500 hairs lost per day. I tried ALL THE THINGS to make it stop, mostly scalp treatments.
Nothing helped for a long time. I lost about an inch of thickness in my ponytail and resigned myself to more. Eventually I dropped my shedding down to 100-200 hairs per day by switching to diluted shampoo and considered it a bargain. (Apparently my scalp just LOATHES being touched by anything but sebum. I now do WO.)
Unrelated to this (as in I didn't do it directly as an attempt to further ameliorate the hairloss situation) I started to eat a well-balanced ketogenic style diet after cutting out sugar from my life entirely.
I was only on the keto diet for about a month and a half when my shedding was suddenly down to a lifetime low of 20-50 hairs per day!
You'd think I'd make the connection, but apparently I'm quite thick in some ways hahaha.
Anyways I started getting lax in my diet and started eating sweets and carbs much more again.
Lo and behold, my shedding is once again starting to accelerate. Sigh.
So I'm back on the keto wagon again, and we'll see how long it takes for my shedding to tone itself down once more.

My question is: Anyone else experienced something like this? Going sugar free/low carb in your diet and seeing your shedding dramatically decrease?

(And if you have crazy shedding and aren't sure what might be the cause, maybe it's excess dietary sugar. I don't know if this is common knowledge on LHC, I couldn't find any threads to this effect anywhere. But I'm kind of terrible at search terms.)

[akurah]

If ketogenic is gluten free, it makes me wonder if perhaps you weren’t actually celiac and were losing hair from that.

[H.e.L]

Oh interesting thought! I don't know much about Celiac disease, but I thought that normally came with painful digestion or other allergic responses to food containing gluten?
I never had any symptoms like that.
All I could determine (from my research after being on keto for a while) to explain my resolving problems was the lack of sugar. Found several articles linking excess of dietary sugar to hair loss.

[Kaoria]

Is there any correlation between your sugar intake and stress in your life? It’s not an unusual correlation and stress can cause massive hair loss (I thought I was going to go bald a few years back when my stress was at an all time high - no high sugar diet either). If it’s not stress then that’s a very interesting finding, sugar and hair loss!

Mind you, keto does all sorts of things to your body - I’m currently on whole 30, which is pretty similar and also a keyogenic diet and every time I do it my skin is awesome. Perhaps the high intake of protein and all the minerals and vitamins from the veggies also contribute? I suppose when we don’t eat sweets and grains we replace them with things that are actually good for our bodies and hair.

[lapushka]

Yes sometimes it's difficult to connect the dots.

I can't imagine you can lose hair from sugar intake; never seen any info (scientific) on that.

[renia22]

Have you ever had your hemoglobin A1C tested? If you are insulin resistant at all, increasing carbs/ sugars can absolutely mess with your insulin/ hormones, and contribute to hair loss.


https://dradatya.com/natural-treatments-hair-loss/

[cjk]

Kerogenic diets are low in sugars and carbohydrates, high in proteins and lipids.

And they tend to renirmalize a lot of the body's systems including hormone levels.

Could be...could definitely be causal.

[GrowlingCupcake]

While prolonged levels of high insulin may cause hair loss (I have seen no concrete evidence for this in research), that is unlikely to happen unless you're either insulin resistant or diabetic. It could be there is a correlation between stress, and high carbs/increased sugar; it's pretty normal for someone to want something sweet when stressed/depressed/etc. Otherwise, I'd say it's more likely the protein and/or fat aspect of a ketogenic diet.

[renia22]

While prolonged levels of high insulin may cause hair loss (I have seen no concrete evidence for this in research), that is unlikely to happen unless you're either insulin resistant or diabetic. It could be there is a correlation between stress, and high carbs/increased sugar; it's pretty normal for someone to want something sweet when stressed/depressed/etc. Otherwise, I'd say it's more likely the protein and/or fat aspect of a ketogenic diet.

^If that was in response to my post, that’s what I was saying about insulin resistance. The OP wouldn’t know for sure unless she had blood work done to rule that out.

[missmaggieeliza]

My question is: Anyone else experienced something like this? Going sugar free/low carb in your diet and seeing your shedding dramatically decrease?

(And if you have crazy shedding and aren't sure what might be the cause, maybe it's excess dietary sugar. I don't know if this is common knowledge on LHC, I couldn't find any threads to this effect anywhere. But I'm kind of terrible at search terms.)

I did go on a sugar free way of eating in 2014. I did not notice my hair loss getting any better. I was also stressing over my husband going through chemo and eventually dying of pancreas cancer. Then HUGE amounts of hair loss I am sure stress added to thet. Then to top it off I had my long hair get caught in the beater bar of the vacuum and it ripped tones of it out. I was heart sich with how much I had to cut off because it was so damaged and burnt. I have continued No sugars now since 2014. Finally I am not having as much hair loss and as of last year, I posted about it here months ago, my new hair coming in is dark!!! My whole head of hair has been light silver for 20 years or so. Now those dark hairs are longer so they are hanging on. Even my doc was surprised.

So I realy can not answer your question because I had too many things happening at once to contribute to my hair loss. I actually came in today to do a side by side photo comparison for you all to see my progress. I am thrilled. I have not really gained much length but my hemline is finally almost filled back in from the chunks that were ripped out and fell out from hair loss. My scalp is not nearly as visible as it was. Trying to find the thread to post this progress and got side tracked by this one. Oh Look Squirrel .............

[czech it out]

Just a friendly warning - rapid weight loss has been shown to cause shedding as well! Hope the keto/low sugar is still giving you enough cals.

[H.e.L]

czech, I'm careful to meet my recommended calories/macros. (I use an app.)
Thank you for the warning! I've heard of many people on Reddit who were blindsided by that particular side effect of quick keto weight loss.
It's sweet of you to warn me. :)
Thank you everyone who's replied to this thread so far! I really appreciate it!

[lakhesis]

I am eating very high carb (85 - 90 percent) and I didn't notice any shedding, I don't lose much hair anyway. However I am avoiding actual sugar and mostly eat whole foods. Can't say if it really improved my hair, because I started with this more than 3 years ago, around the same time when I stopped regularly bleaching my hair, but it definitely improved my skin and nails :)

[Joules]

While prolonged levels of high insulin may cause hair loss (I have seen no concrete evidence for this in research), that is unlikely to happen unless you're either insulin resistant or diabetic. It could be there is a correlation between stress, and high carbs/increased sugar; it's pretty normal for someone to want something sweet when stressed/depressed/etc. Otherwise, I'd say it's more likely the protein and/or fat aspect of a ketogenic diet.

I had very high insulin levels when I was in my teens (went away on its own), never had any hair loss issues. I agree with everyone who says it's just the overall healthy eating aspect of it that made the difference.

[H.e.L]

It's so interesting, seeing everyone's different experiences!
The first time I lessened my shedding was just with eliminating excess sugar (soda, swapping sugar or honey for stevia for sweetening, etc.).
So before I went keto, just removing sugar (continuing to eat carbs), still reduced my shedding dramatically.
Maybe I WAS insulin resistant or something?

[renia22]

^ It’s very possible. Insulin is a hormone, and one thing’s for sure with hormonal hair loss, is everything/ all systems of the body/ hormones work together, and it all really needs to be in balance for optimal hair growth. It can be very hard to isolate/ pinpoint an issue when something comes up, because it all should be working together.

Also, what exacerbates hair loss in some people doesn’t in others (*those* people who drink and smoke and eat crap diets and still have a thick head of hair..ugh), so just because another person with insulin resistance/ issues didn’t experience hair loss, doesn’t mean that it wasn’t the case for you. At any rate, it does sound like you figured out a diet that works for you, so that’s good.

[lapushka]

Also, what exacerbates hair loss in some people doesn’t in others (*those* people who drink and smoke and eat crap diets and still have a thick head of hair..ugh), so just because another person with insulin resistance/ issues didn’t experience hair loss, doesn’t mean that it wasn’t the case for you. At any rate, it does sound like you figured out a diet that works for you, so that’s good.

My aunt smokes and has thicker hair than mine. I, however, don't think of it in those terms. She smokes. So what? It's none of my business, and that she has thicker hair, well good for her! :D

[renia22]

My aunt smokes and has thicker hair than mine. I, however, don't think of it in those terms. She smokes. So what? It's none of my business, and that she has thicker hair, well good for her! :D

Lucky her! https://preview.ibb.co/hgCob8/7_A60440_C_306_F_4_DDB_9110_996_DD7_BCD50_D.gif (https://imgbb.com/)

[Joules]

My aunt smokes and has thicker hair than mine. I, however, don't think of it in those terms. She smokes. So what? It's none of my business, and that she has thicker hair, well good for her! :D

Everyone has The Aunt who does everything against the healthy hair law and still has gorgeous mane :bluebiggr

[lapushka]

Lucky her! https://preview.ibb.co/hgCob8/7_A60440_C_306_F_4_DDB_9110_996_DD7_BCD50_D.gif (https://imgbb.com/)

She had a thyroid issue as a teen (radioactive iodine) and that was its own problem! But she overcame that really well.


Everyone has The Aunt who does everything against the healthy hair law and still has gorgeous mane :bluebiggr

LOL! :lol:

[Five of Five]

I eat a very high carb diet (but mostly wholefoods and little to no refined sugar) and do not have issues with shedding unless my iron levels get low or if my digestion is out of kilter for an extended period of time.

There are so many factors to consider when it comes to a drastic change in diet and lifestyle, that it is hard to pinpoint one's particular issues onto one thing.

[lapushka]

I eat a very high carb diet (but mostly wholefoods and little to no refined sugar) and do not have issues with shedding unless my iron levels get low or if my digestion is out of kilter for an extended period of time.

There are so many factors to consider when it comes to a drastic change in diet and lifestyle, that it is hard to pinpoint one's particular issues onto one thing.

^^ Fully agree with that. The only way to basically tell is to have some basic bloodwork done to see if anything is off.

[ExpectoPatronum]

I noticed a similar thing. Had bad shedding for years that magically resolved after changing my diet and putting on a few (much needed) pounds.

Like others have mentioned, I also don't think it's from the lack of added sugar - I think it's just from eating healthier. For what it's worth, I'm a vegetarian and eat mostly whole foods and avoid processed snacks. My hair stopped shedding excessively when I gained the weight I needed to, corrected some nutritional deficiencies, and have adopted a healthy eating lifestyle. I'm not keto and I have a love affair with ice cream and pasta so I'm definitely still getting lots of carbs and sugars! A healthy diet can really work magic sometimes though :)

[Aredhel]

I was already eating quite healthy (was still eating carbs, but no sugar) before I went keto 8 months ago, and I noticed no difference in my shedding from cutting carbs honestly.

[Belle03]

I had crazy hair loss for a year or more, 200-500 hairs lost per day. I tried ALL THE THINGS to make it stop, mostly scalp treatments.
Nothing helped for a long time. I lost about an inch of thickness in my ponytail and resigned myself to more. Eventually I dropped my shedding down to 100-200 hairs per day by switching to diluted shampoo and considered it a bargain. (Apparently my scalp just LOATHES being touched by anything but sebum. I now do WO.)
Unrelated to this (as in I didn't do it directly as an attempt to further ameliorate the hairloss situation) I started to eat a well-balanced ketogenic style diet after cutting out sugar from my life entirely.
I was only on the keto diet for about a month and a half when my shedding was suddenly down to a lifetime low of 20-50 hairs per day!
You'd think I'd make the connection, but apparently I'm quite thick in some ways hahaha.
Anyways I started getting lax in my diet and started eating sweets and carbs much more again.
Lo and behold, my shedding is once again starting to accelerate. Sigh.
So I'm back on the keto wagon again, and we'll see how long it takes for my shedding to tone itself down once more.

My question is: Anyone else experienced something like this? Going sugar free/low carb in your diet and seeing your shedding dramatically decrease?

(And if you have crazy shedding and aren't sure what might be the cause, maybe it's excess dietary sugar. I don't know if this is common knowledge on LHC, I couldn't find any threads to this effect anywhere. But I'm kind of terrible at search terms.)

Yes, this hapened to me. I decided to cut carbs & sugar out of my daily eating habits for "Lent". My shedding reduced a great deal, and I could think more clearly. Overall I felt better.