Hair loss can be distressing for many women, especially when compounded with the fear that things will get worse. Losing our hair is one of many ways that our body alerts us to internal struggles and imbalances. At Hope and Healing Naturopathic, we focus on a customized, whole-body approach to find and address the root causes to WHY you may be losing hair rather than offering temporary or ineffective “band-aids.”
Why Am I Losing My Hair?
Hair loss can be due to various internal imbalances. Identifying the cause(s) to your hair loss is the key to successful, long-term results. Some of the most common causes include:
Nutrient Deficiencies
Nutrient deficiencies can have a profound impact on our energy, immune function, nails, and hair. Our body requires proper nourishment to support healthy hair growth. Just as it’s impossible to make an omelet without eggs, we need specific building blocks such as iron, zinc, Vitamins A, B, C, D, E, fatty acids, and protein to promote healthy hair growth.
It may not be sufficient to only supplement or increase these nutrients in your diet if the digestive system is impaired. “Leaky gut” is a common term that means intestinal hyper-permeability, or an impaired digestive system that is unable to properly absorb and assimilate nutrients. To fully heal, it is important to address the underlying causes of why someone has these ‘leaks’ in their digestive tract. Leaky gut can be caused by medications including anti-biotics, stress, infections, parasites, mold, toxicants, eating an inflammatory diet high in sugar and processed ingredients, and/or consuming dietary intolerances.
Chronic Stress and Trauma
Chronic stress leads to cortisol imbalances, which wreaks havoc on the body’s ability to regulate other hormones, absorb nutrients, maintain a healthy weight, and have healthy hair growth cycles. Elevated cortisol levels can lead to hair follicles being in a prolonged resting phase, leading to excessive shedding and slowed re-growth. Emotional or physical trauma (often 3-18 months prior) further compounds this issue by keeping the nervous system in a ‘fight, flight, or freeze’ state, which can impair circulation and cellular repair. Improving stress resilience through nervous system support, emotional healing, and lifestyle adjustments is crucial in restoring hair health.
Digestive Issues
As mentioned above, poor gut health affects nutrient absorption, which can impact hair strength and growth. Imbalances such as leaky gut, dysbiosis, SIBO, SIFO, Crohn’s, IBS, IBD, Celiac, and Ulcerative Colitis, or even insufficient digestive enzymes can prevent the body from effectively absorbing nutrients that are essential for hair health.
When we consume foods that our body is unable to break down, it creates toxemia, or garbage rotting in our digestive system, which promotes leaky gut, as well as gas, bloating, and discomfort. Addressing digestive health with proper evaluations, dietary modifications, boosting natural digestive processes, and improving parasympathetic nervous system tone are crucial to promote optimal hair growth.
Hormonal Imbalances
Hormones can get misinterpreted as good or bad, yet the issue isn’t with the hormone itself, but whether it’s too high or low or imbalanced during certain times of life. It’s most common for hormone imbalances to occur during times of stress, pain, illness, puberty, pregnancy, menopause, or when we’re not prioritizing health and self-care. When hormones are balanced, not only can your hair grow, but you can feel more calm, resilient, confident, and unphased by menstrual cycles or changes.
Autoimmune Conditions
Conditions such as alopecia areata, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, and lupus can involve hair loss, yet the hair loss is just a symptom of much deeper issues. The body is designed to heal itself and work in our favor, so when it is unable to do so and has mounted an autoimmune response, it is essential to look at all potential causes.
To give the body what it needs to heal and bring itself back in balance, it’s essential to focus on much more than just labs, supplements, or medications. Improving diet, sleep, and lifestyle factors, decreasing toxic burdens and improving detox pathways, resolving emotional stressors and structural abnormalities are all puzzle pieces to consider addressing. Keep in mind, by the time someone is diagnosed with an autoimmune condition, their body has been out of balance for many months or years so it can take some time and require addressing various causes to heal from within.
Toxic Overload
When our body isn’t able to keep up with and detoxify toxin exposures, our body gets over-burdened and hair loss can occur. Think of detox organs and pathways like garbage buckets. If too much garbage is poured into the buckets, or if it’s not taken out frequently enough, toxicity occurs and our body lets us know with symptoms ranging from weight gain, fatigue, pain, high blood pressure, and/or hair loss. If toxicity continues, worse issues like autoimmune disease, Parkinson’s, cancer, or dementia can occur.
When addressing toxicity, it’s important to consider genetic variables, diet, heavy metals, mold, medications, and of course what chemicals you may be exposed to on a regular basis such as cosmetics, laundry and cleaning products, pesticides, water source, plastics, etc.
We help educate and empower patients to reduce their daily exposures, while improving the body’s ability to detox. We do not promote ‘cleanses’ or ‘detoxes’ very often as they tend to be aggressive, may be harmful if people recirculate toxicants instead of eliminating them, and they don’t promote long-term healing. Rather, we teach people how to ‘pour less into the buckets’ and allow their body to ‘empty the garbage more frequently’ so their body is able to function optimally without hair loss.
How Our Scottsdale Naturopathic Doctors Can Help with Hair Loss
Rather than offering a one-size-fits-all solution (which doesn’t work), we utilize a personalized approach and treatment plan that addresses the root cause(s) of each patient’s hair loss.
Boosting Deficiencies & Supporting Weakened or Damaged Tissue, Glands, or Organs
Hair health requires sufficient vitamins, minerals, and proteins, as well as proper functioning of the thyroid and adrenal glands, liver, and digestive and nervous systems. We conduct comprehensive assessments to pinpoint deficiencies or weaknesses, then improve the body’s ability to absorb nutrients, produce hormones, be more resilient through stressful events, and optimize detoxification so the body has the tools it needs to rebuild and sustain healthy hair growth.
Supplementation is used to boost or support deficient nutrients, systems, or natural body processes, vs. attempting to suppress symptoms, which doesn’t work and becomes tedious and costly for patients.
Nervous System Support to Release Stored Trauma and Stress
Chronic stress and unprocessed trauma can significantly impact hair growth/loss by disrupting hormonal balance, impairing circulation, and keeping the body in a prolonged ‘fight/flight/freeze’ state. Hair health becomes low priority for the body when we are in survival mode, therefore, it’s essential to incorporate specific techniques that allow for more parasympathetic tone, so you can feel calmer, and be able to digest, sleep/rest, and have healthier hair.
We have noticed the most profound shifts for people who are experiencing anxiety, panic, worry, insomnia, or hair loss with any of the following – prescribing the indicated homeopathic remedy, Bio Craniopathy, QNRT, NET, acupuncture, or scalar or frequency devices, which can all help the body shift out of survival mode and into a state of repair and healing.
When the nervous system is more balanced, people notice improved ability to roll with life’s stressors vs. being consumed by them, improved sleep and energy, less pain, more balanced hormones, and healthier hair!
Food Intolerance Evaluation & Digestive Healing
When the gut is inflamed, leaky, or overburdened, it is unable to process or absorb nutrients effectively, which negatively affects our hair health. Finding out, then avoiding personalized food intolerances decreases the toxic burden and promotes tight vs. leaky junctions. This allows for optimal digestion and nutrient absorption, promoting hair growth, increased energy, more balanced weight, and healthier skin! Addressing hiatal hernias, reactions to stress, medication use, infections, low stomach acid or enyzmes, or imbalanced microflora/dysbiosis is also necessary as those may be underlying causes to your hair loss. Our approach includes focused dietary guidance, targeted gut-healing supplementation when necessary, improving the body’s ability to respond to stress, correcting structural imbalances or infections, and supporting the body to produce sufficient enzymes, acid, and flora now and in the future.
Hormonal Balancing
The body is designed to maintain balance (homeostasis) and is very skilled at doing so, until it is overwhelmed by too much for too long. Too much stress, dietary indiscretions, toxicity, work, drugs, exercise, or anything damaging or excessive to the body can create imbalances in any hormones, especially insulin, cortisol, estrogen, testosterone, and TSH. Relying solely on bio-identical hormone replacement therapy (BHRT) often doesn’t address the underlying causes and may or may not be indicated or helpful. Instead, it’s important to find out WHY hormones are out of balance and contributing to hair loss. We use a holistic approach that includes homeopathy, herbal medicine, nutrition, stress reducing treatments, lifestyle interventions, and when indicated BHRT to successful restore hormonal balance.
Comprehensive Assessments or Testing
To truly address hair loss, we take a deep dive into assessing lifestyle, nutritional, dietary, and genetic factors that may be contributing to your symptoms. We gather information by conducting a thorough patient intake, physical exam, urinary indican test to assess digestive integrity, genetic based food intolerance evaluation, applied kinesiology or structural assessments, and any indicated lab work to analyze nutrient or hormonal imbalances, inflammatory markers, and toxicity.
Tests and supplements or medication alone typically do not resolve hair loss or the causes behind it. When evaluations and tests are combined with looking at the full picture, we can create a successful customized treatment plan that works for you, your goals, lifestyle, and preferences.
Improve Detoxification Abilities
Our body’s ability to detox is due to many variables including our diet, environment, genetics, hydration, medication use, age, lifestyle, and movement. We focus on supporting our body’s ability to detox naturally through gentle methods rather than extreme ‘cleanses’ that can cause more harm than good.
Our approach includes optimizing liver and lymphatic function, reducing toxic exposures (diet, medications, heavy metals, mold, chemicals, environments, or people), dietary guidance, movement or lifestyle suggestions, and incorporating supportive therapies like homeopathy, herbal medicine, and drainage therapy. By clearing out what doesn’t belong and reducing the toxic load on the body, health shifts from within to stop hair loss and promote strong, healthy hair.
Healing from the Inside Out
At Hope and Healing Naturopathic, we empower patients with a comprehensive plan tailored to their unique needs. Hair loss is not just a surface-level issue – it’s a sign that the body is out of balance. By addressing the root cause, whether it be stress, hormone dysregulation, nutritional deficiencies, or toxicity, we create a foundation for lasting hair restoration and overall health.
If you’re experiencing hair loss, schedule a consultation. Together, we can develop a plan to restore your hair, your health, and your confidence.
