I sometimes get emails that ask for advice on "what to take to stop hair shedding." Specifically, people want to know if there's a shampoo, pill, herb, essential oil, or vitamin that can stop or diminish their hair shedding. The answer is going to depend on the reason for their shedding in the first place. I'll elaborate more in the following article.
Can You Take Or Use Something To Stop TE (Telogen Effluvium) Shedding?: That depends on what is the cause of the TE. I'm sure you know this, but telogen effluvium is caused by some abrupt changes in the body (changing medications, illness, giving birth, having surgery, new scalp issues, etc.) In some instances (like pregnancy), you can take biotin and a multi vitamin to support your hair as it is regrowing, but this isn't going to stop the shedding by itself. Time is just needed for that. Your body will adjust as your hair follicles reset to growing rather than resting - and this will happen in a few weeks or months.
If the TE is caused by a medication, you can likely try something new to see if it is more hair friendly. If you're suffering from a medical issue, you can work with your doctor to come up with a solution. Very often, effluvium is caused by hormonal fluctuations. I realize it can be tempting to try new birth control pills or bio identical hormones or even things like premarin. But sometimes this backfires. Women who get TE are often hormonally vulnerable, so changing hormones AGAIN may just kick off a new TE. Use caution and go slowly. I think that it is preferable to try topicals or natural herbs first.
Androgen Related Shedding: What Supplements Or Vitamins Help With This?: Genetic thinning or shedding that occurs because DHT or androgens are choking out healthy hair is another story. You need to get this substance off of your scalp before the shedding can slow and regrowth can start. Of course, many people will turn to propecia or spiro because they don't know what else to do. Again, though, these cause hormonal changes that could cause a worsening shed. You really have to work with your doctor if you're going to go this route to make sure this is the right treatment at the right time. Again, maybe I'm very conservative, but I prefer topicals first, herbs second, and medications last. Saw palmetto and beta-sitosterol can be applied topically before it is ingested internally. Making internal changes run the risk of more loss. Sure, sometimes you do have to resort to internal treatments, but I believe you should try other things first.
Scalp / Yeast Issues And Shedding: If you have a scalp or dermatological issue, then you must treat the scalp instead of going internally. There are a lot of natural substances that can help with this including tea tree oil and herbs that reduce or fight candida. Severe dandruff and / or psoriasis can also cause inflammation followed by loss in some instances. Many conventional treatments for this dry the scalp even more and worsen the problem. Often dandruff is tied into sebum which is tied into DHT. So in these cases, it doesn't hurt to look both at the scalp and at the androgens.
Autoimmune Shedding: When most people think of autoimmune hair loss, they think of AA and patchy loss. But there are several autoimmune conditions that can cause more diffuse patterns. Examples are lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and even some conditions that are thought to have an autoimmune component like interstitial cystitis, Epstein Barr, chronic fatigue, and fibromyalgia. Sometimes a progressive dermatologist will agree to give steroids to try to stop the autoimmune response, but there have been some promising results from an overseas study that concentrated on essential oils.
I hope this article has shown you that what is going to help your hair is going to depend on what is causing the hair loss in the first place. It really does no good to focus on taking biotin if DHT is miniaturizing your follicles in the same way that taking saw palmetto isn't going to help if you have TE due to a thyroid problem. You must pinpoint the cause first and focus on the treatment second.
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