Hair loss?
CryingBlue
Posts: 270 Member
I have been keto since August. I have lost about 35 pounds now and I have noticed that my hair is thinning right up front on top of my forehead. I don't feel like this is a drastic amount in that amount of time. I still have another 25 to 30 pounds to lose before I'm a "normal" BMI. I dont want to stop keto as its helped a lot of digestive issues for me and I'm feeling pretty great. But I don't want to have my hair fall out.
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Replies
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I don't know a lot about this but I believe you could be too short on nutrients, from not eating enough, so you may need to eat more or at least make sure you are getting nutrients from supplements. I bit of thinning hair seems pretty normal but if it is getting to be a lot then you may want to change something.
Also, thinning hair (and fatigue, dry skin, brain fog, constipation, cold/low temeperature) are signs of hypothyroidism. Some people find they become more hypo on a LCHF diet so if they are on meds, they need to increase it a bit. If you haven't had a problem in the past, but have other symptoms, you may want to get your free T3 and T4, and TSH tested.
I'm sure others will give better advice.
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I don't know a lot about this but I believe you could be too short on nutrients, from not eating enough, so you may need to eat more or at least make sure you are getting nutrients from supplements. I bit of thinning hair seems pretty normal but if it is getting to be a lot then you may want to change something.
Also, thinning hair (and fatigue, dry skin, brain fog, constipation, cold/low temeperature) are signs of hypothyroidism. Some people find they become more hypo on a LCHF diet so if they are on meds, they need to increase it a bit. If you haven't had a problem in the past, but have other symptoms, you may want to get your free T3 and T4, and TSH tested.
I'm sure others will give better advice.
Oh I wonder if I should be tested again for hypothyroidism. Last time 10+ years ago I was borderline.1 -
I would retest for sure then.
Also anytime you lose weight no matter what way you choose to do it can cause this. Are you eating at your calorie goal all the time? How is your protein? How about fat? Are you getting enough from fish avacados, nuts, etc?2 -
Too steep a deficit is usually the culprit in these cases7
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I aim to eat around 1570 calories with my macros being 98g of protein, 20g of carbs and 122g of fat. I'm normally pretty close to my goals, but I rarely hit them. I'm 5'4 and 169 pounds.
I was doing alternate day fasting for a while (2 months?) I would eat 1 day of 500 calories and the next about 1800.
I rarely eat nuts, fish and avocados, but I can add those in, new things to eat would be nice.
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Too steep a deficit is usually the culprit in these cases
Concur.
While hair loss may occur, it is not what I would call a normal side effect to weight loss. Millions lose weight and do not lose their hair. The appetite suppression from keto is nice but that doesn't mean your body will function fine without the nutrients from food...in the longer term.
This topic comes up every 5 or 6 months in the forum. I'll bite my tongue when someone says, "No worries. I lost mine too but it grew back".
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Too steep a deficit is usually the culprit in these cases
Concur.
While hair loss may occur, it is not what I would call a normal side effect to weight loss. Millions lose weight and do not lose their hair. The appetite suppression from keto is nice but that doesn't mean your body will function fine without the nutrients from food...in the longer term.
This topic comes up every 5 or 6 months in the forum. I'll bite my tongue when someone says, "No worries. I lost mine too but it grew back".
Yes I REALLY don't want to lose my hair, even if it does grow back. I'm going to get some blood work this week and hopefully get some answers.1 -
I hope you do get it figured out. Gladly you have a doc appointment for tests. Certainly it seems you are getting plenty of food in regards to calories so long as you're not into extreme exercise. I've read that biotin is supportive of hair health but couldn't say for sure. Other folks may have more actual experience/results with supplementation.2
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CryingBlue wrote: »Too steep a deficit is usually the culprit in these cases
Concur.
While hair loss may occur, it is not what I would call a normal side effect to weight loss. Millions lose weight and do not lose their hair. The appetite suppression from keto is nice but that doesn't mean your body will function fine without the nutrients from food...in the longer term.
This topic comes up every 5 or 6 months in the forum. I'll bite my tongue when someone says, "No worries. I lost mine too but it grew back".
Yes I REALLY don't want to lose my hair, even if it does grow back. I'm going to get some blood work this week and hopefully get some answers.
The thing is: it IS common to lose a lot of hair during weight loss (for you to suddenly lose a lot of hairs at once and for it to thin out some.) But not to the point you are starting to get noticeable balding spots or anything. It's called "telogen effluvium."
The body, a few months out in your weight loss journey, sheds some all at once. It often seems like a big clum, because it is. But people usually, when they inspect the damage, aren't experiencing "hair loss" as in balding. It is freaky though.
This is normal. For more details on it:
https://www.dietdoctor.com/can-low-carb-diets-result-in-hair-loss
It is common to lose hair when you lose a lot of weight. I lost lots of hairs. And my hair did thin out. But it was temporary; the larger clumps of hair in the shower. I stopped losing as much. It didn't all grow back. But I stopped losing a lot of hairs at a time. My hair is thinner than it used to be. Which is fine, as it was rather like an unruly, curly bush before.
In general, people should try to eat enough, get their protein, not exercise too hard or too often, rest enough. That will minimize the stress to the system that causes telogen effluvium.
Normal: going through a period of losing more hairs than usual. Not normal: losing scalp coverage in a noticeable way or balding.
@CryingBlue : I'm sorry you are dealing with this. What you are experiencing is what I would call "not common." I hope the dr turns up something for you.
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The hair on my head has been thinning for the last 20 years, but I don't think it is related to diet for me.2
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I've lost hair in the exact same area. Been doing Keto for 3 months and lost 25Lbs. I thought it was because I wear a headset during the day at work and at night I use head phones over my head in that area too....starting to think otherwise now..lol1
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CryingBlue wrote: »I don't know a lot about this but I believe you could be too short on nutrients, from not eating enough, so you may need to eat more or at least make sure you are getting nutrients from supplements. I bit of thinning hair seems pretty normal but if it is getting to be a lot then you may want to change something.
Also, thinning hair (and fatigue, dry skin, brain fog, constipation, cold/low temeperature) are signs of hypothyroidism. Some people find they become more hypo on a LCHF diet so if they are on meds, they need to increase it a bit. If you haven't had a problem in the past, but have other symptoms, you may want to get your free T3 and T4, and TSH tested.
I'm sure others will give better advice.
Oh I wonder if I should be tested again for hypothyroidism. Last time 10+ years ago I was borderline.
You can order your own blood work online at www.healthcheckusa.com and there are other places that also offer blood work without the hassle of going to the doctor first. Be sure and order a FREE (not free as in price, it's the name of the test) T3 and FREE T4 AND!!!! a Thyroid antibodies test. 4 -
CryingBlue wrote: »I don't know a lot about this but I believe you could be too short on nutrients, from not eating enough, so you may need to eat more or at least make sure you are getting nutrients from supplements. I bit of thinning hair seems pretty normal but if it is getting to be a lot then you may want to change something.
Also, thinning hair (and fatigue, dry skin, brain fog, constipation, cold/low temeperature) are signs of hypothyroidism. Some people find they become more hypo on a LCHF diet so if they are on meds, they need to increase it a bit. If you haven't had a problem in the past, but have other symptoms, you may want to get your free T3 and T4, and TSH tested.
I'm sure others will give better advice.
Oh I wonder if I should be tested again for hypothyroidism. Last time 10+ years ago I was borderline.
You can order your own blood work online at www.healthcheckusa.com and there are other places that also offer blood work without the hassle of going to the doctor first. Be sure and order a FREE (not free as in price, it's the name of the test) T3 and FREE T4 AND!!!! a Thyroid antibodies test.
I got blood work done today. I'm just waiting on the results. I'm pretty attached to my hair, so I'm wanting to get to the root cause of this.2 -
Thank you all. I got my results today and everything looks pretty good, even my liver looks good. (I was a bit worried I damaged it in the past)
My cholesterol looks great and my thyroid levels are all good.
So now I'll be shopping for a good multivitamin and biotin and hoping this hair loss does not continue.2 -
Also remember hair has to fall out to make room for the new hair coming in. Perhaps a spurt in hair growth is preceded by a spurt in hair falling out?0
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MSM is supposed to be a good supplement for hair, and it's pretty cheap.1
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I have had the same experience and there is not much out there as to the cause. It is related to the fat loss. I also lost large amounts of hair after giving birth to my children. That is said to be the result of a drop in estrogen that is high during pregnancy. I have read that losing so much fat so fast also causes the hormone to drop. I have found that I need more carbs and can't go so low which means my weight loss has to be slower. My hair has grown back and stopped falling out so drastically once my weight loss decreased. Biotin and collogan has helped.3
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CryingBlue wrote: »I have been keto since August. I have lost about 35 pounds now and I have noticed that my hair is thinning right up front on top of my forehead. I don't feel like this is a drastic amount in that amount of time. I still have another 25 to 30 pounds to lose before I'm a "normal" BMI. I dont want to stop keto as its helped a lot of digestive issues for me and I'm feeling pretty great. But I don't want to have my hair fall out.
I just read an article here about keto-flu but it went further to explain that doing low carb changes/effects our electrolyte levels and how we need to compensate, especially Magnesium (which low magnesium would contribute to hair loss)1 -
I also had a tremendous amount of hair loss at the beginning of my Keto lifestyle change, my hairdresser was shocked! But luckily over a year later things are much better, I'm not shedding nearly as much and it feel thick again. I do take collagen powder in my coffee and tea now also. Not sure if that's what has helped or not.2
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