What you put into your body can show up in many forms. Because your body is your temple, when you use new products, feel stressed, or have an unbalanced diet, it will manifest itself in your skin, weight, and your hair. Often times, these factors and much more contribute to the reason why your hair texture and curl pattern changes. When you’re used to your hair curling a certain way and absorbing particular products, the shift can be alarming. Hair shedding or breakage is also an indicator that something could be happening internally. A visit to your dermatologist can help access your scalp and the potential reasons for the change but before you do, see if any of these factors are behind your new hair type.
Stress
If you’re under physical or emotional stress, your hair can end up taking the blow. Often times, high stress levels result in thinning of the hair. The follicles shed at a rapid pace, causing a temporary hair loss through a process called telogen effluvium. When your hair reaches the telogen phase, it is in a period of resting. When stress is involved, the hair switches from growing to resting, causing it to shed. Stress also causes an increase in the cortisol hormone. The increase may also result in an interference of your hair’s growth cycle. Once you’re able to manage stress, your hair will shift from resting to growing. This can take about 3-6 months.
Postpartum
If you’ve just had a baby, then you’ve just endured a full 9 months of thick, luxurious, fast-growing hair. With the increase in hormones, your hair and nails react in a positive manner. Postpartum, as your hormones re-adjust, you’re likely to experience a significant amount of shedding, hair loss or a shift in thickness. Although this can be a drastic change, your hair will return to normal in about a year.
Health, Diet and Sickness
What you put into your body shows up in your everyday life. Maintaining a healthy diet is vital to how your body works. Think of your scalp as soil and your hair as grass. If you tend the soil by drinking lots of water and eating the right food, you will directly contribute to your hair’s prosperity. Lack of hydration, iron and vitamin D will result in hair that isn’t reaching its fullest potential due to a deficiency in nutrients. Women with more melanin are prone to vitamin D deficiency. It is important to supplement the loss of iron and vitamin D with daily multi-vitamins.
Too much gluten, sugar, and caffeine can cause Candidiasis or Candida, a fungal infection caused by yeast. One of the side effects of the infection is a shift in hair texture, growth, and breakage. Vlogger Naptural shared her experience with Candidiasis and how she was able to combat it. Take a look:
Embedded content: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9SGGsG5DEI
Hypothyroidism is one of the most common reasons for temporary hair loss. The Thyroid Gland produces a hormone that controls your body’s metabolism. If your thyroid gland is not as active, it won’t produce enough of the hormone connected to your metabolism. As a result, your metabolism will slow down, thus slowing down lot’s of your body’s functions like hair growth.
Medication
New medication, or a change in dosage can result in hair breakage or thinning. Although medications are prescribed to aid health problems and conditions, they usually come with side effects that react to hormone changes. Speak with your doctor to see what the risks are of continuing the prescribed medication.
As you can see, there are many reasons that your hair can change in texture. The best advice that can be given is to seek the care of a medical professional the moment you see a shift in your hair. Your body will always tell you what’s wrong but often times, we ignore the signs. Regular check-ups that test your iron,cholesterol, liver and other organs are important. As proven above, a change in your hair is usually connected to a bigger issue.
Know of any reasons we might have missed, or have you noticed changes in your hair yourself? Share with us in the comments!
