Reversing Pcos Hair Loss

Yes, you can absolutely grow your hair back after PCOS related hair loss and I'm going to tell you exactly how I did it. Hey guys welcome back to my channel, so I'm just gon na cut right to the chase. I have joined a lot of PCOS related Facebook groups and in every single group there are girls in there that are asking about hair growth after hair loss, that's related to PCOS, and whenever I say that I grew my hair back, everybody says what I didn't even Know that was possible and it is possible, but that just goes to show that there's so much information misinformation out there about PCOS. So I'm going to tell you exactly how I did it so just to summarize back in 2018, I started noticing that I was losing hair in the crown of my head and right in the front and when I say losing hair I was losing quite a bit Of hair, the bald spots were very, very obvious, and I had no idea. I had PCOS to a bunch of other health. Related instances happened, and I really advocated to find out what was going on and I found out it was PCOS, so PCOS, related hair loss is caused by an excess of hydrogens in your system, and androgens are testosterone or the male hormone. So when you have an excess of those in your body, it can cause hair loss, and that was what was happening with me. So when I went to go see my doctor, he said that the only really thing out there was to take oral contraceptives, and I did not want to do that because I feel like they really mess with my mental health. So I decided to not go that route and to start seeing a naturopath, and let me just tell you my life has completely changed. So I'm going to tell you exactly what I do From the Inside Out in order to get my hair back. It'S not fully a hundred percent what it used to be, but it's way better than it was before, and I'm going to tell you how I kind of covered things up. While I was waiting for my hair to grow back in so we're going to start from the inside out we're going to talk about what I eat and the supplements that I take, I do have a whole what I eat in a day, video, which I will What I eat in a day with PCOS video, which I will link Down Below in the description box, but I'm just going to cut right to it here I do a gluten and dairy-free diet. I'M not super super tricked on it. I try to do 80 20, but now that I cut out a lot of gluten and dairy from my diet, I find that my stomach doesn't really react well to eating gluten and dairy, so I might as well just not do it at all, but basically cutting Out gluten and dairy kind of helps, balance out your hormones and also helps with inflammation so those painful periods that you get I'm just feeling very sore and inflamed throughout your body. That diet will really really help bring down that inflammation, and it's helped me so much at first. I found it to be a bit of a challenge. You know trying to figure out how to do this whole gluten and dairy-free diet, because before this I had never really restricted myself in terms of food or diet or anything. But it's actually super easy and there are so many gluten-free and dairy-free Alternatives out there that I'm really finding that I'm not missing it all that much, and it really is worth it for the way that it makes me feel. On top of that, I try to incorporate different things into my diet, like um, a tablespoon of flaxseed every more morning on my breakfast, so flaxseed just helps balance out your hormones a bit more. I try to eat a lot of pumpkin seeds because pumpkin seeds are known to lower testosterone within the body which helps with producing hair and then also spearmint tea. I hate the flavor of spearmint tea, so if I'm I love peppermint, but something about spearmint. I just don't like it so I'll mix it with like another tea like I'll put a ginger tea in there, something with like a stronger taste and then I'll mix it with the spearmint um. I I'm not as diligent with that, because I just again I don't like the flavor of spearmint, but the pumpkin seeds, the flax seeds. I do that all the time the gluten and dairy free. I cannot say enough how much it's helped, not only with the way that I feel, but also it kind of helped me maintain my weight, because you know with PCOS you can. I I at least feel like some months or some weeks, even I'll, just balloon up and then the week after I just like go back down and it's gone instantly fluctuating and it makes it so hard for I don't I mean if you don't have PCOS, you Might not understand the struggle, but it makes it so hard for planning in advance if you have an event or something, and you want to get an outfit before you don't know how inflamed your body is going to be leading up to it. So you don't want to get something super form-fitting in case you're super inflamed, and it's going to be uncomfortable on you. So there's a lot that there's a lot of nuances within this whole PCOS world that you don't really understand unless you have it. So I found with the gluten and dairy-free diet with reducing inflammation in my body. I still have those days and I still have the more inflamed weeks, but it's not as bad as it was before. So that says something right, so anyways I'm going to continue to do this because it's working for me - and I mean, if you want to try it out - there's no harm in trying it um might make you feel better and then, along with the diet, I do Take a ton of supplements, which I did talk about, not what I eat in a day Vlog, but I'll, just splice In that clip right now, um! So but before I have lunch, I need to take my supplements, so I'm going to show you what supplements I take every single day, so I do iron um two a day every other day, so it doesn't cause any tummy troubles. I get these from my doctor. He gives me a prescription for them, but I think you can get them over the counter. I think I also take NAC, which is a natural supplement, that kind of mimics metformin and if you're, somebody that is um aware of you, know, insulin, resistance or diabetes, or anything like that. You may have heard of Metformin before metformin also causes a lot of tummy troubles and it is a uh. It'S a prescription that is usually given to people with PCOS so or diabetes, so NAC kind of mimics. That - and that is what my naturopath has me on, and it has helped a lot in terms of the insulin resistance, and I know that because I would get anxiety after eating a lot, and I I didn't know what it was from and I realized it was Because of the sugar spikes that I was having - and I haven't had that very much since starting NAC - I also take B6, so B6 helps with cramps. If you have PCOS, you know that the cramps around your period are sometimes just horrible, so B6 actually helps with cramping, and then I also have the 12, which helps boost your metabolism, which is always a good thing and then D3. I take two of these a day. So if you know from my previous videos, I did have a bit of a vitamin D deficiency which is actually super super common, not only for people in North America, because we don't really see the Sun that much throughout the year. But it's also super super common with people with PCOS, so vitamin D is always good to have in your in Your Arsenal. Is that the word I also take oh and then the NAC? I I take twice a day, so I take one in the morning and one before bed, so I also do an omega-3 twice a day once in the morning, once at night and Omega-3s, it says it just helps, maintain cardiovascular health and reduce uh, serum triglyceride triglycerides. We'Ll pretend we know what that means, so anyone with PCOS knows that sometimes the mood swings are pretty intense. I know mine can be and they just come out of nowhere, and I told my naturopath I feel crazy, sometimes like I feel absolutely insane because I just feel like you know, once the hormones start going through my body, I just lose sight of sometimes any rational Thinking so I am on a mood support supplement, which kind of works like an antidepressant, but it's not like if I decided that you know I don't want to take these for a month or anything, I'm not going to have any kind of effects, adverse effects or Anything they're very um, they're, very easy on the system, and then I match that with addresset, so addresset is also a Cog, helps support cognitive function and reduce mental fatigue, and that is something that I deal with a lot which is brain fog. Sometimes I just feel like I'm just floating throughout the day, and I have no idea what I'm doing or anything so address that helps with that paired with the mood support, um, it's helping boost my moods and also get rid of that brain fog and then last, But not least, I know this is a lot of supplements. I only take these before my period And when I'm on my period - and these are just Ginger supplements, so the ginger supplements they help with nausea. They help with the upset stomach and my naturopath was telling me that they actually also help with um uh speaking of brain fog. What was I trying to say? Actually, if you take them regularly, like you, take them maybe four days before you start your period and then during your period over the next few months, you'll start noticing that your cramps are less less and less and they're 100 natural. So, even if I just have an upset stomach, um randomly throughout the day, I'll take a ginger pill or a peppermint pill and it'll help reduce that kind of inflammation and that stomach upset. So those are the pills that I take every single day. The supplements that I take every single day and I have to say, they've, been helping. I really think that the NAC and the iron pair together are the reason why my hair has grown back to the thickness that it was before, which I'm so thankful for paired. With the 20 grams of protein per meal um, I really think those two plus all the little diet changes I've made have really helped make a difference in Just My overall health, so between my diet and between all the supplements that I've been taking, I've been really Taking care of myself from side out - and I do have to say that this is a slow, slow process, so throughout this process it might feel discouraging it might feel like. Why am I even doing this? Because nothing is happening, but trust me it takes time, but it does work um. So I started on this whole journey. It hasn't even been a year. It hasn't even been a year, maybe it's a year now, but I was thinking back to it like early late spring early summer last year I was not eating gluten and dairy free. I was not taking these supplements, I was not. I have no idea how to take care of my body in this way and so yeah. It'S been probably about a year-ish now and I have seen results pretty quickly, just because I'm really really diligent with all of this, but in that process there is the process of having to cover up those bald patches or having to find workarounds and take care of Your hair, while you are waiting for it to grow back in, so I'm going to tell you exactly how I did that too, to I'm not the best with having my hair natural, because my hair is I'm Middle Eastern. So my hair is a mix of like coarse wavy frizzy, it's not a nice texture. If I just let it air dry, I just don't like it on myself um. So I do use a lot of heat tools and I have used. I have been putting tape and extensions in my hair, so I actually have tape and extensions in my hair right now, which I'm actually going to get removed in a couple of hours, and I think I'm just going to leave my hair just natural for a little While and give it a break, I was putting in the tape and extensions because I felt like I wasn't confident with my hair and I didn't feel very feminine having the thin hair and then, as soon as I would put the extensions in, I felt more feminine. I felt more confident, but really it is detrimental to your hair to have them in too much, and I know that so uh. If I'm going to be taking care of myself this way and I'm going to be doing this work, I shouldn't keep ruining my hair with tape and extension. So that is why I'm going to get rid of them for a while, and let me tell you - I am actually very anxious about that - I'm anxious about how I'm going to view myself, I'm not anxious about how I'm going to view my my own femininity, my Own self-worth, my self-value and again, that's something that not a lot of people talk about when it comes to losing your hair and not feeling like you're, attractive enough, not feeling like you're beautiful, because your hair is falling out. It'S it's a scary thing. It'S a very scary thing and all my girlies out there with PCOS know exactly what I'm talking about and that's why I kind of wanted to make this video, so we can know that we're in it together and that your value does not lie in the way You look or how thick your hair is. Your value lies in your heart and that's all that matters really so with trying to be gentle on my hair, I've kind of been going with the no poo method, so the no poo method is using shampoos that don't have high or have no sulfates in them. So I really like the ordinary four percent sulfate free, hair and body cleanser. I think that's what it's called, but I'll put a picture of it up right now, so I've been using the shampoo and conditioner very affordable. I think they're nine dollars each which, in terms of shampoos that are actually good for your hair, that is, on the very, very cheap end. There was a while that I was buying kerastos products, which I love kerastas products, but let's be serious. It'S it's way too expensive and it's not feasible to just keep buying kerastas um, so I switched over to the ordinary and my hair has been in such good shape. I also love curl Smith products, so I did buy some curlsmith products which I haven't been using. Much ever since I got my tapins in because I mean I'm not going to be putting those leave-in conditioners and stuff in there, because it'll take my extensions out, but now that I'm going to be going natural again, I think I'm going to be using a lot More curl Smith products and, if you're somebody that has curly wavy textured hair of any kind, I would highly recommend to go on the curlsmith website. Do the quiz on there and see what products are good for you, because when I was using curlsmith, my hair was in the best shape ever. I think I'm going to start using curl Smith again, actually so um curl Smith and the ordinary have really worked for me because their shampoos that actually work with your hair, rather than work against your hair and strip those natural oils strip. All that good stuff that you want in your hair. Another thing is a scalp massage, so you can buy those little scalp massagers that they have out there. But honestly, I just use a hairbrush. I have a paddle brush and then at night I'll brush my hair and I'll brush. It a lot to the point where I can kind of start feeling like on my head, that, like a scalp, massage ish, because that's stimulating the hair follicles and that's stimulating hair growth, so at night I'll be watching TV and I'll just kind of be brushing. My hair and then I'll just kind of be giving myself that scalp massage to stimulate that hair growth and that actually helps so much. And it's just something that, like you know that I remember when I was younger, I would always hear people say brush your hair. A hundred times a night and I'm like what? What does that even mean? I think it's because they mean when you're, giving yourself that scalp massage when you're brushing your hair. It'S stimulating the hair growth, it's stimulating the follicles, it's giving your head a nice massage. I don't know that was a weird sentence. Let'S move on when I get out of the shower, I will put put a little bit of olaplex 6 olaplex olaplex olaplex six on my hair, which just kind of helps seal in the shine and then I'll use the kerastaws leave-in conditioner, and just put that in My hair and it does kind of the mix of those two just kind of make. My hair feel a lot more silky. So if I'm blow drying my hair, I don't feel the need to put too much heat Style on it, because then uh it's already like silky and nice, and I could just kind of leave it that way. So I think, using good products in order to get your hair in the best shape possible, with as minimal heat as possible, is a good technique to have, because then you're not damaging your hair too much and the hairs that you do have you're keeping them healthy And you're allowing a good environment for new hair to grow in in terms of disguising the areas where I had hair loss. That was a difficult one for me because when I first started noticing they say when you first notice that you're losing hair you've already lost 33 percent of your hair hair, and I had noticed in the back of my head. When I was, I don't know it was back in 2018, I started noticing that there was a bit of a split there, so I didn't think much of it. I thought I just had a bit of a cowlick and I even made a video about how to cover your cowlick and then I started noticing, eventually that I could see my scalp more like along my hairline and then what really made me realize is that I'm Losing my hair is, a friend of mine was doing an Instagram video and I was in it, and there was a very clear, bald spot right over here and that freaked me out, because I always had very, very thick hair and I was never kind of able To see my scalp and I was like okay something's going on here, um, so my bangs, it was just kind of this - was all bare and then the even now when I like, like look down my hairline is pretty sparse, but it's not as bad as it Used to be, and then I'll show you the back actually because I haven't shown you guys the back of my hair in a while. So I still have that split in the back of my hair. But it's not as bad as it used to be and it is really filling in and every time I see my mom, she always kind of checks to see how it's looking and stuff - and she even says she was very honest from the beginning of okay. You really need to go see a doctor about this, and now she says it's back to pretty much almost back to normal. I just kind of have to film that split and my hairline is still a little sparse, but it's much better also, I would say, find a really good hairdresser, who is empathetic and will work with you and will kind of learn about this stuff. Along with you, I'm going to, I have this amazing hairdresser, who I'm so sad, is actually moving, and today's my last appointment with her but um. She was on this journey with me from the very beginning, trying to figure it out, go to doctors and all that and throughout the entire thing, she was working with me to figure out the best haircuts and the best hairstyles and the best way to part my Hair that will cover the spots and also make me feel the most confident, and she has really really helped me throughout this journey, just kind of understand my hair, a little better and every time I go see her. She also is like blown away at the progress, because when I first started seeing her it was, it was bad. It was bald, it was like there was nothing back there and I would really have to hide it um. So I'm very thankful that the things that I've done have helped and it is growing back moving forward. I'M just gon na kind of continue with this diet continue with the supplements. I still do get days when I'm very inflamed, my PCOS is really flaring up. I do find that some days a lot of hair will come out in the shower or a lot of hair will come out in my hairbrush, but I do know that I'm continuously working on it from the inside out. I'M continuously caring for my hair every day. Also, when you're sleeping at night do not leave your hair down or in a braid or anything. So when you have your hair down and you're sleeping that friction between the pillow and your hair is actually causing a lot of heat back there, which is weakening your hair. So what I like to do is I get like a silk scrunchie and I'll put my hair up in a high bun, a high top knot on top of my head. That'S not pulling too much just a loose top knot on top of my head and that kind of helps prevent your hair from overheating on the pillowcase. Getting weaker falling out so make sure you do that every night also a satin pillowcase, makes all the difference. Because is you're not breaking the hair with those harsh materials, the satin kind of works, with the flow of your hair, the little hairs that fall out when you, because we're wearing our hair in a bun remember so the little hairs that fall out. It'S kind of keeping them secure and it's not snagging them when you're sleeping on a satin pillowcase, and that's pretty much all the tips that I have um. If you guys have more questions about this I'd be happy to answer them. Um, I'm in no way an expert about this, but I feel like I've been going to see all these Specialists like naturopaths doctors, hair stylists, just anybody to kind of dermatologists. Even anybody to really understand the function of my skin and my hair and my body and how it all works together in order to produce more hair on my head um, because yeah yeah so anyways. Thank you guys for being on this journey with me. First of all, and thank you for the questions that people asked me and I would be happy to answer any more questions that you may have, whether it be hair loss related, PCOS related whatever it may be so yeah. That is all that I have today. It'S a very short and sweet video, but it's to the point and anyways love you all. Thank you so much for watching and until the next one. I will see you guys later.