If you’ve been struggling with hair thinning or hair loss, you are not alone. Stress from the past few years combined with long term side effects from covid have made women’s hair loss a major concern among females of all ages. To understand how to regain our natural long, full hair, we must first understand the causes.
My hair 2019; healthy, full, long
Hair Growth
Humans regenerate hair throughout their lives. The life cycle of hair is completed in three stages which is driven by stem cells that reside in the follicle. The first stage is growth, or the anagen stage, where stem cells divide to become new cells that create the strands of hair later pushed through the scalp.
Secondly, the hair ceases to grow during the catagen stage when the follicle at the base of the strand shrinks. The stem cells rest during this stage. Lastly, in the telogen stage, the hair falls out, leaving room for the cycle to begin again with fresh hair.
Until recently, researchers hadn’t determined exactly how chronic stress affected hair follicle stem cells.
Stress Effects on Hair Growth
Chronic stress causes a multitude of health issues in our bodies. Hair loss has long been on the list of issues, although the underlying causes have only recently been researched.
In 2021, a team of researchers studied the causes that link stress and hair loss. Their study involving mice determined that a major stress hormone puts hair follicle stem cells into an extended resting phase, and prevents regeneration of the follicle or the hair. The researchers identified the specific cell type and molecule responsible for relaying the stress signal to the stem cells, and showed that this pathway can be potentially targeted to restore hair growth.
My hair 2021; fragile, thin, unhealthy
Personal Experience with Hair Regrowth
Many of us have experienced greater than average chronic stress over the past few years. The mental exhaustion from surviving a global pandemic while working through the long term effects on our culture has aided in the taxation on our bodies.
Personally, 2020 stress began a number years of stress that progressively added to my chronic symptoms. I found myself exhausted, hurting, and losing my hair. The breakage of my hair combined with my follicles refusing to regenerate put my hair in a devastating condition. Finding myself with short, unhealthy, thin hair after many years of long, full hair only added to my stress.
This year I began researching why my locks refused to regrow after almost three years waiting for my hair to recover. I found several expensive treatments, supplements and shampoos that were expensive without much research into the effectiveness until I finally found reliable, reasonably-priced products that directly corrected the problem.
Supplements for Hair Growth
In my research I found two products that tackled the main chronic stress problems and increased the vitamins and minerals needed to regrow my hair.
The first is Adrenal Restore. From the mice study, we understood the way constant adrenal production dragged down hair growth. The overinflation of cortisol in our bodies lead to decreasing our ability to reduce stress levels. Living in a constant state of stress prevented the stem cells from dividing and our hair continued to shed leading to thin and fragile hair.
Restoring our adrenal glands involves creating a balance of the 50 + hormones regulated by our adrenals, most importantly adrenaline, cortisol, DHEA, progesterone and testosterone. With chronic stress, we experience an overproduction of cortisol which eventually taxes the adrenals as they are constantly working. We experience fatigue of the adrenals which causes symptoms like:being tired for no reason, feeling rundown and overwhelmed, having trouble getting up in the morning even though you’ve had a full night’s sleep, sweet and salty cravings, difficulty recovering from illness, heavy dependence on caffeine and energy products just to function.
Adrenal Restore tackles those problems head on and made my body return to its’ full functioning capacity.
Secondly, I added in Hair, Skin, Nail Essentials. While I’d love to receive all my vitamins and minerals from whole food sources, we lack that ability currently. Hair Skin Nail Essentials include vitamins, minerals, collagen, and other nutrients to help promote healthy stem cells, and increase natural production of collagen in all three tissues.
I have enjoyed the benefits of clear, firm skin, and strong, healthy nails but my favorite results are with my hair. This supplement increased the growth, thickness, texture, and shine of my hair in just three short months.
My hair 2023 (2 months into supplements)
Hair Growth and Wellness
Like many adults, I have been on the constant journey of discovering ways to keep supporting my body as I age. I hope these tips, and explanations can inspire you to find ways to keep making your health and wellness top priority.
As always, my research is founded in science, explained layman’s terms, and shared from the heart. I am so happy with the amount of growth my hair has seen these past few months and cannot wait to update with more in another three months.
Leave any questions you have below!
Lee
Hey Lee,
Great detailed article on this subject, I have a friend who has been struggling with this for years and now wears a wig – terrific to hear your story and see the results in your photos. That’s certainly a good result.
Have you altered your diet along with the supplements? Does exercise have any effect on managing your stress? I’m blessed with a good amount of hair but stress takes its toll in different ways with me so I use diet and exercise to help with that and a village of friends does wonders too!
Hey Amanda! Great questions. I didn’t alter my diet or exercise. My primary job is athletic trainer so I’m lucky to be in the gym half my days and teach nutrition so I knew that wasn’t the culprit for my hair change. Like everything, it takes time to build more change but I have been very happy to see the new growth occurring already. It feels like a subject all my girlfriends are talking about lately so I really wanted to spend my last year researching and trying the latest products to find the best resource available. Thanks for sharing your friend’s experience. I looked into wigs when my hair was at its’ lowest point and they are a beautiful and expensive investment but I am so glad they are a resource available for women to choose.
Your article on budget travel tips is incredibly informative! I appreciate the emphasis on planning ahead and researching budget-friendly accommodations. Have you ever encountered unexpected challenges while traveling on a tight budget, and if so, how did you overcome them? Personally, I’ve found that having a backup plan or emergency fund can be a lifesaver in such situations.
Moreover, your suggestion to prioritize experiences over material possessions resonates deeply. Traveling has taught me the value of creating memories and exploring new cultures rather than focusing solely on material possessions. How do you balance saving money while still enjoying unique experiences during your travels? Your insights would be greatly appreciated by fellow budget-conscious travelers. Thank you for sharing your wisdom!
I love hearing from fellow budget-conscious travelers! I really value word-of-mouth for a lot of travel recommendations and insights. We all travel such different places, it is so helpful to be involved in online groups or platforms that share ideas and free or budget-friendly activities so we can all experience the world.
For unexpected challenges or interruptions in travel, I definitely keep some backup plans in my pocket. I often will save my hotel points or airline miles for theses occasions to be prepared when I am not expecting a trip to change. When I travel solo, I often volunteer myself to be bumped if there is a value reward and I stack those in my airline accounts for rainy days. Knowing the closest safe hotels or hostels is another gem to carry along when going to new places or having the phone number of a friend or connection I have reached out to for emergencies.
As an outdoor enthusiast, I am lucky that many of my activities are nature-related and often free. Hiking, exploring new habitats, open air markets, or beaches are my favorite places to visit. If I am in a city or somewhere for art or music, I definitely plan ahead and shop at the market to make sure I conserve my food budget so that I can splurge on an experience like a live show or an art festival. My favorite resources for local things are locals! I’ll try to find someone on my plan going home and ask their favorite local haunts or places to explore or I will connect with the airline crews to see what they love doing on their layovers.
Hope these ideas add some to your travel plans! Happy traveling!