Last week when I was talking about my new Retin A routine, I got a comment from a reader asking for updates on my hair. I’ve been meaning to do an update for a while so the timing was perfect.
To recap: this summer I started to have a lot of hair loss well beyond the typical healthy daily hair loss. Every time I took a shower I lost handfuls of hair and eventually I could visibly start to see that my hair was thinning. A lot of you commented that it could have something to do with a hormonal imbalance or low iron levels so I decided to go get things checked out with my doctor. He ran a number of blood tests and tested my thyroid and everything came back completely normal. Good for my health but it didn’t solve my hair problem. After talking a little further about life and external factors, my doctor said that stress was most likely the key factor in my hair loss.
At this time, I also started to notice that my scalp was extremely itchy and irritated, something I’ve never experienced before. After doing a little research, I started using T/Sal shampoo a couple days a week to reduce the itching and restore the health of my scalp. A few of you also recommended using the Aveda Invati line. The Invati products were a nice reprieve from the medical scent and feel of T/Sal (it’s called “therapeutic shampoo” for goodness sake!) and the reviews online were fantastic.
So where are things at today?
I continued to use T/Sal shampoo a couple of times each week for four to five months and continue to use the Invati line (just the shampoo and conditioner) off and on throughout the week. My scalp no longer feels itchy and for the last four or five months I have no longer been noticing significant hair loss! It should also be noted that some of the big stress points we had been working through also subsided around this time, making it hard to tell if it was the hair products or the lifestyle changes or perhaps a combination of both. I also became more diligent about taking my vitamins (multi, omega 3 and calcium/vitamin D) on a daily basis.
The most encouraging development has been the fact that I’ve seen new hair growth. It’s a bit annoying since I have a number of short pieces around my hairline that have a mind of their own but it’s hair growth so I’ll take it! I also visited a new stylist here in Minneapolis for the first time and she assured me that she could see new hair growth.
I know a couple other readers had mentioned they had experiences with hair loss and regrowth, so if you have anything else to add, please share! I would love to hear what worked for you and what didn’t.
Madison