You can be a man or a woman and have the hair on your head start to thin. Do you remember how thick it was when you were 10? How does it compare to that now?
It can be difficult to notice especially when it generally happens very slowly. Take a look at your hairbrush and the bathroom floor. Quick hair build-up in these areas is an easy tell-tail sign. Most people don’t notice any change until its about 40% GONE.You may have mentioned to friends, family or your doctor that you think your hair is thinning as you’ve noticed a lot of hair in your hairbrush and what do they (or the internet) tell you? “Don’t worry! We all loose around 100 hairs a day.” I think this is AN OLD WIVES TALE! I wonder how longs its been since anyone ever counted???
Well, I did, about 8 months ago. I was able to do this because I have long hair which I brushed thoroughly to remove any loose ones. I then tied my hair up in a pony-tale for 24 hours, brushed it thoroughly and then painstakingly counted...
Yes, the couple of days I did this I counted up to 98 hairs lost BUT, this was while I was going through chemotherapy. Now I think everyone knows or has seen someone who has lost their hair due to chemo... when it goes, ALL of it goes. The drugs I was on don’t generally make your hair fall out. I was very lucky that I didn’t loose my hair but my hair was (still) falling out in what seemed like large amounts.
The thing is, my hair had been failing out at roughly that same rate for probably 2 - 3 YEARS, that I can remember, prior to my cancer diagnosis (read about that on my other blog).
It had caused me some concern but I was reassured by the 100 hair a day myth. I thought it may have been zinc deficiency so a took the recommended dose (occasionally) but that didn’t seem to help.
Then the cancer was diagnosed and after surgery I went to the naturopath to get nutritional support for while I did chemo and beyond. One supplement was zinc. I made sure I took it EVERY day...
I started to notice a decrease in my hair loss.
After approximately 6 months on zinc supplements, my naturopath did a zinc test. The rating is; deficiency: 1, scaling up to not deficient: 4. I was about a 2.
I was surprised that after 6 months of supplements I was still deficient. I know it was a stressful time and stress increases your need for zinc, but it was still a bit of a shock.
After another few months I started to notice I had a lot more SHORT hairs on my head. Absolutely fantastic! My hair was growing back.
In the last couple of weeks I’ve had another test. I’m was still deficient (I’d just had a cold). I know I need to keep getting as much as possible. I still have lots of shorter hairs growing around my hairline and above my temples and its great.
I am starting to notice my hair BECOMING THICKER.
My naturopath suggested I get zinc test every 3 months and I will do so until I’m not deficient and then spread it out to 6 monthly test. I will gave to do another drop count again....
I have noticed that if I don’t take my zinc for a week or so, my hair drop increases and decreases when I start again. It is also helping to clear up my skin which has broken out in pimples a lot more since chemo.
The point of this blog is to let you know that if your hair is thinning it could very well be a zinc deficiency and you need to check and take supplements and check again and again as it can take months and MONTHS to build up. This is from personal experience.
Zinc Information:
- Zinc test are simple, easy and cheap: most health food stores do them for free or a couple of dollars, just ask. All you do is hold 10ml of a special zinc liquid in your mouth for 30 seconds. If you can’t taste it: you’re deficient, get some supplements, if you can: great! but it doesn’t taste that nice so you can be happy you probably don’t have to have another one for another couple of years.
- When you are deficient in zinc its harder for your body to absorb it as it is needed for digestion in your stomach. You NEED to take supplements.
- If your body cannot get the zinc it requires it will start using your selenium to convert to zinc.
- About 70% - 80% of people in Australia are thought to be deficient.
Please, please, PLEASE, even if you have not noticed your hair falling out, make it a priority to get a zinc test THIS WEEK. Its needed for so many functions in your body, which I will talk about a LOT more in blog posts to come, so make sure you subscribe in the box to the right, so you don’t miss out on helpful tips for your health and happiness.
Bye for now.
Sharan West
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