Try These Natural Treatments for Hair Loss
Sleep/Stress
If you are experiencing hair loss, the very first thing you should do is examine your lifestyle. Have your sleep or stress levels suddenly changed? If so, that may be the root of your problem.
Try to readjust your schedule. If it’s difficult to unwind after work or before going to bed, try meditation. Carve out 10 minutes that are absolutely to yourself. Set your phone to silent and put it in a different room. Then, with the door closed to any distractions, sit down comfortably, cross-legged if you can. Close your eyes and clear your mind, focusing in on your breath is it flows in and out of your lungs. If you are a visual person, imagine that air is a color, and that you can see it filling up and emptying out of your body. If any other thoughts—be they from your personal life, your work life, or something else—start to cross your mind, consciously let them go and return your thoughts to your breathing.
Foods that Prevent Hair Loss
If you are getting enough sleep and are not experiencing stress, consider your diet. Are you getting all of your nutrients?
Iron, protein, and omega-3 deficiencies have all been linked to hair loss. On top of that, vitamins and minerals are necessary for healthy hair follicles and scalp, both of which will keep you hair healthy and decrease hair breakage.
General Diet Tips for Healthy Hair
- Web MD recommends eating six to 10 servings of vegetables daily.
- Eat two to four servings of fruit daily.
- Get enough protein—either two to three servings of meat a day or four to five servings of dairy and beans (keep in mind that a serving meat is three ounces, no larger than the size of your cell phone).
- Eat foods rich in omega-3, such as eggs, nuts, seeds, and fish.
- Mix it up! Don’t eat the same foods every day. A variety will ensure that you get all of the vitamins and minerals that you need.
- Add a multivitamin to your daily routine. Eat it with food to increase absorption.
Foods for Healthy Hair
Need ideas for specific foods? All of the foods below have been recommended for hair. If you eat these regularly, you will natural treat any deficiencies that may be causing your hair loss.
Salmon, sardines, trout, and mackerel: All of these fish will provide protein, vitamin D, and omega-3. Your body cannot create the fatty acids found in omega-3 on its own, and those fatty acids make up 3% of your hair shaft and are also found in the skin on your scalp, so you need to eat them somewhere!
Avocado, pumpkin seeds, and walnuts: These foods are also rich in omega-3, and don’t have the risk of mercury inherent in some of the bigger fish. These fruits and nuts are boons to vegetarians, because they need omega-3 fatty acids for their hair as well. All of these foods also have zinc, the lack of which can lead to hair loss.
Oysters: Oysters also are rich in zinc, iron, and protein. Really, really rich—just six oysters have 220% of your Daily Value of zinc, 33% of your Daily Value of iron, and eight grams of protein.
Sweet potatoes and carrots: These vegetables contain vitamin A, which is crucial for the health of your scalp. Deficiencies in vitamin A can even lead to dandruff.
Eggs: Eggs have protein, zinc, selenium, sulfur, and iron. Since iron is one of the most common deficiencies that lead to hair loss in premenopausal women (who lose some every month with their menstrual cycle), the importance of these minerals cannot be overstated.
Spinach and other leafy greens: In addition to other minerals, these vegetables are important for their iron. They are an excellent source of iron for vegans, and have less cholesterol than animal-based sources.
Effect of Smoking and Drug Use on Hair Loss
Smoking is related to hair loss and baldness, according to research by the US National Library of Medicine and National Institutes of Health. Other drugs have a similar correlation. If you are taking prescription medicine, consult your doctor or check the side effects to see if that could be a cause of your hair loss.
Medical Treatments for Hair Loss
If the natural treatments above do not work, it is time to consult a doctor. Hair loss can be a side effect of a serious medical condition such as thyroid problems or diabetes. Doctors will also run a blood test to definitively rule out any deficiencies.
If your hair loss is not caused by lifestyle, diet, or disease, then it is due to changes in your hormones related to aging. There are two medicines that can help treat this type of hair loss.
- Rogaine (minoxidil). Rogaine is an over-the-counter medication that is applied to the scalp. It works best on hair that has just begun to thin. According to Web MD, “[more] than 50% of users claim that it can thicken hair and slow hair loss.” Once you begin using Rogaine, you must continue to use it indefinitely in order to maintain its effects. If you go this route, Costco sells minoxidil at a significantly lower price than most pharmacies.
- Propecia (finasteride). Propecia is a pill that can treat more developed hair loss in men. It works by blocking the hormones that cause hair loss from reaching the skin. Consult your doctor before taking Propecia.
Homemade Natural Rogaine Hair-Loss Treatment Recipe
This recipe does not contain minoxidil, but worked for my own hair loss. You can see the story for how I discovered the recipe below.
Ingredients
- Water
- Licorice ( It has been proven that it kills the bacteria )
- Burdock Root. (This root also has been shown to relieve eczema, as well as acne, psoriasis, and other skin conditions.)
- Dandelion Root. (This root is filled with the vitamins and minerals discussed above, including vitamin A, B, C, and D, iron, potassium, and zinc.)
Directions
(1) Rub licorice in a glass and fill it halfway with water.
(2) Rub the burdock and dandelion root against a stone to make a fine paste.
(3) Mix the paste with the licorice water, and apply it to your head.
(4) Leave paste on scalp for whole day it will stick to your head like white cement. Dont wash your head until its necessary. (I used to apply it in the mornings and took it off in the evenings).
Three Ingredients
Burdock
Dandelion
My Own Experience with Hair Loss, and What I Did about It
I first would like to share with you my experience with my own hair. When I was in school, I used to apply lots of gel on my hair to set it like rock-hard thorns. I applied gel continuously for five or six years, and when I was in higher secondary school, I was shocked to see that my hair was starting to fall out easily. I went to the pharmacy and asked them if they had any kind of hair loss treatment oil or something like that. They gave me some oil costing Rs 250. I applied it, but nothing happened—it was no more effective than using coconut oil.
Sometimes when I touched my hair or used a comb, it would be painful. Online, I bought a hundred products that told me, “Order this bottle and gain hair in one week,” or “Order this ebook; it contains healthy diet for your hair.” None were effective. I lost much of my hair. The middle of my head was particularly bad, and my friends began saying things like, “I can see your bald spot.” I was so lost as to what to do that I started surfing on net again. Again, nothing helped me.
Suddenly one of my friends fell sick. And guess what? His hair started falling out. The doctor told him that it’s some kind of disease, and it resulted in small bald spots on his head. He also tried many cures, but nothing happened. After two months, someone took him to an Ayurvedic doctor. The doctor gave him two roots and told him to rub them with licorice water to make a fine paste and then to apply it to his head.
He did exactly what he had been told. In 10 days, small baby hairs started coming in on his head—and with time, his full head was restored. I told him I also wanted those roots. So he took me to the Ayurvedic doctor. The doctor gave me two roots and told me to put water and licorice root in a glass, then use that water to grind both roots against a hard stone and make a fine paste of them to apply to my head. I followed his directions precisely, and applied the paste to my hair daily. My hair became thick, silky, and strong after washing the head with that paste. More importantly, it began growing back. An amazing hair-regaining recipe I had never heard before was restoring my hair, thanks to that doctor.
I wanted to tell others about these medicinal roots, but I didn’t actually know the names the two roots he had given us. But at last I put that together as well. I have discovered the ingredients, and you can get the recipe for free!