Hair, Hormones, Harmony

“I’m loosing hair!”

One of the scariest feelings is running your fingers through you hair and seeing a mound tangled between your fingers. It is so easy to assume that our health has gone awry. This is not always the case, on average we shed 50-150 strands of hair each day. As women, we see a spike in hair loss around pregnancy, menopause, and thyroid imbalances.

Simply put hormones are chemical messengers produced by the body that control and regulate our cells and organs. Our endocrine system is the network of glands that produce hormones and make sure they are communicating with our cells.

In our world today we are bombarded with endocrine disruptors. They are in our products, environment, food, furniture, cook wear, etc… The list could go on. It may seem overwhelming but their are small choices we can make everyday to hold our hormones dear (since they control EVERYTHING).

What am I eating?

What may seem so simple is key to hormone regulation. Health is wealth. This body is with you forever…that sexy chocolate bar is not. I’m not saying never treat yourself again, but their is clinical evidence showing that what we put in our bodies directly affects long term aging and hormone heath.

What am I putting on my body?

Fragrance

But, it smells soooo good! Most likely that “smell” is toxic and synthetic. Fragrance is a big red flag on the back of our products. Typically it is one of the only words we can decode on the long ingredient list. Have you ever wondered…what kind of fragrance? What is fragrance?

FDA guidelines haven’t changed since 1938. Their is still no premarket approval for cosmetic products or authority to disclose to the ingredients to the public. Without this regulation it is up to the consumer to see if a company is fully transparent or not. Furthermore if anything happened to the consumer they would have to prove what product was the culprit. Non disclosure protects the manufactures from liability.

This not only applies to cosmetic products but household products, clothing, etc... So being conscious of the ingredient list is necessary for overall hormone health. At the bottom of this article I will attach resources.

Has my doctor ever checked my heavy metals?

What are heavy metals? Lead and Mercury are some of the most talked about metals we hear today. But their are a plethora of more that sneak into our products, hair color, nail polish, food, cooking wear, etc…

Heavy metals and toxins block key pathways for growth and development in key organs and the brain. Eliminating my heavy metals have personally played a role in my overall hormone health. In the Fall of 2019 I was loosing hair, breaking out, fatigued, and anxious. I had just made a big move so I assumed these changes had to do with stress. Stress could have been a factor but I couldn’t ignore that my body was trying to flush something out. When I was tested for metals I was extremely Lead, Cadmium, Cesium toxic. The moment I started to detox these metals I saw a shift in my skin, hair, and fatigue. My hormones as a result of this toxic dump started to level out as well.

Metals affect the brain and the hair in a similar way. Not just because they are in close proximity but because heavy metals attach to enzyme pathways that are necessary for growth and development.

Have I been overly stressed?

“Oh, your just stressed! This is completely normal.” Have you felt the ostracized with one of these sentences? When you know damn well that something isn’t right? I have!

Stress is a significant factor in the change of our hormones and hair. But, I have seen this used as a blanket statement for hair loss. If you feel like it is more than just stress that is causing thinning or hair loss please consult with an physician immediately. Just know that stress induced hair loss doesn’t damage the hair follicles and can start to come back as soon as it left. Each person will have a different timeline of regrowth.

Aging?

Aging is natural and beautiful! Let me say it again for the people in the back.

AGING IS NATURAL AND BEAUTIFUL.

Women’s hormones change every 7 years as well as our hair. Interestingly enough as we age our hair follicle shrinks in diameter. Meaning you may not actually be loosing a lot of hair you just may be loosing the volume.

Moral of the story. Healthy hair is not a one stop shop. A supplement will only help so much when their are underlying imbalances in our system. This is not to discourage each of us about our hormone and hair health, but to empower us to take a second look on the back of our labels! This is not about shame party either, pretty marketing and false advertisement catch me everyday. It is a slow process in eliminating your cupboards and bodies of these endocrine disruptors. Financially, I needed to take things one at a time. For example/ a hair oil would run out and I would start to research for one with clean ingredient list. And, so on.

Now with some of the information I have provided in this passage and the education links below we can take one step together to not being “in the dark” about deeper reasons for hair loss and imbalance.

DISCLAIMER:

I am not a doctor. These are factors that have shaped my personal cosmetic health.

Please consult your physician if you feel any of these may be affecting your general health.

Further Education Links:

Eating Habits/Supplements

“Biotin—The Importance of Vitamin B7” by Dr. Jolene Brighten June 24, 2019 https://drbrighten.com/biotin/

Ingredients

What I use to scan my beauty products before I purchase: https://www.curiouschloride.com/

Documentary on daily product ingredients/fragrance. Available on Netflix: https://stinkmovie.com/

Metals

“Poisions That Make Your Hair Fall Out” by Janet Contursi December 05, 2018: https://healthfully.com/poisons-that-make-hair-fall-out-4018165.html

Detoxification

Ways to help eliminate toxins we have and will be exposed to: https://www.biotherapeuticdrainage.com/

Hair Loss

Clarification on why we loose hair and what we can naturally do to stop the process: https://draxe.com/beauty/hair-loss-remedies/

Hormones

“How Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals Causes Hormone Imbalances & What To Do About It” by Dr.Jolene Brighten April 23, 2019. https://drbrighten.com/how-endocrine-disrupting-chemicals-cause-hormone-imbalance/

“How To Balance Hormones Naturally” by Dr.Jolene Brighten June 11, 2019. https://drbrighten.com/how-to-balance-hormones/