Severe Hairfall In Women

Are you in your 20s and have a sudden severe hair fall and don’t know why it’s happening suddenly? Then you have come to the right place. Because I was also in the same situation a few months ago when my hair started falling off suddenly without any reason. At that time, I was in my 20s, healthy, normal weight, no other diseases or health problems, and all my blood reports were also normal. But I was so concerned that I went to the hospital to understand why it was happening. And what the doctor told shocked me for a minute. I never thought this would cause such a serious problem in our body and our overall health. I was happy that I rectified the problem very early or else I may have lost all my hair, and my body also would have become very weak, and I would have not been able to do even simple household work. In this article, I will tell you the exact reason of sudden severe hair fall in women, men and also kids. And why you should take care of your hair and your body regularly though it doesn’t seem important when you are young. This article is for all hair types and for people of all ages.

My hair Before My Marriage: –

I was always concerned about my hair since my teenage. I have a curly and thick hair, and it stopped growing in length once I reached 10 years of age. Since then, my hairs length is the same. But it has volume and curls. Since my mother hair is also the same, I thought I got the same genes. And many people said that curly hairs don’t grow very long. Though my hair was short just below the shoulders, everyone loved it as it was curly, black, and thick. But I always wanted a long hair. I don’t believe in any hair masks or medications so never tried to do all these things to my hair. I was busy with my studies and never really cared so much about it. Since we are Muslims, we cover our head when we go out. So, I didn’t have any insecurity of showing my hair to other people. Even in parties and functions, I used to wear hijab to cover my hair as hijab looked more beautiful on me. I just used a regular shampoo and did head bath once a week.  I didn’t care about it so much because though my hair was short it looked very beautiful and I loved it but, in our society, people want long hair for all women. They used to think that long hair girls are the ones who take care of the home and short hair girls are the ones who go out and work in offices. When I was in my 20s, during marriage proposals, everyone was checking my hair length. For them, long hair is beauty and short hair is ugly. I didn’t say anything to them at that time and kept quiet. I loved my hair, so I don’t need any other people’s validations.

After My First Pregnancy: –

After my marriage, when I got pregnant with my first child my hair suddenly started to grow a few inches long and thicker. I was literally shocked as it never grew before in all my past years. After some research about this magic, I read that in pregnancy due to some hormones, there are many body changes that happen unexpectedly. Hair growth and shine is also one of the pregnancy symptoms. I felt very happy at that time. It didn’t grow too long. Just 2 more inches from my normal hair length. After delivery, when my son was 5 months old, my hair started falling off slowly due to dandruff and hair insects. But still, my hair was healthy. It didn’t become thin or short. It was normal in length just like before due to regrowth of the hair. But since I had so many hair insects and dandruff at that time, I used to wash my hair thrice in a week and comb it twice regularly. I didn’t use any other hair products or moisturizes. Because I don’t believe in all those stuffs. The lighter you apply products on your body, the more results you will see. I used only Meera shampoo for thick hair growth and Head and Shoulders shampoo only if I had dandruff. Other than that, no extra hair products. I used parachute coconut oil twice a week to massage my head before head bath. In between, I tried some new hair oils, but it didn’t work for me. My hair felt week and thin. After doing some research on hair, I found out that hair growth and hair nourishment completely depends on your lifestyle and what you eat. All the products that you apply are only for your outer scalp.

This may sound very weird to you that before my marriage and in all my teenage years, I used only Mysore sandal soap or Reetha for my hair wash. Because my family members didn’t believe in shampoos and other hair products. They told us to use either bath soap or Reetha also known as soapnut. Reetha was a traditional shampoo and is very good for your health. It comes in both powder form and whole. But we prefer whole as it is natural without any added chemicals or preservatives. But since this was available in India, and we lived in gulf, we didn’t find it anywhere in the gulf country. So, we had to bring it from India in huge quantity to use it for the whole one or two years. But it was always less. So, we used bath soap and Reetha occasionally till we go back to India and buy Reetha again. But today, everything is available online. Even in Riyadh and Dubai, there are many online shopping apps like Amazon, Noon, Lulu, etc, where Reetha and all other traditional Indian products are very easily available in both the powder form and dry whole form.

After My Second Pregnancy: –

During my second pregnancy my hair was normal. It was not too thick or long. It was just like before. But in this pregnancy my hair didn’t grow long like it did in my first pregnancy. Hair fall was also normal and not severe. Even after my c section delivery, it was good and strong. When my daughter turned 1.5-year-old, my hair slowly started falling off occasionally. It was not regular, so I didn’t care much about it. In the same year, we had to move to Dubai due to my husband’s job change. After going to Dubai, the hair fall became severe. It was so severe that there was hair all around my house. When I did head bath and dried my hair, the hair fell down and spread all over the room. I had to crawl like a baby and remove all the hair strands from the floor. This was like another task for me every time I had a head bath. And also, there was so much dandruff in my hair. Initially I thought that this is happening due to climate and water change as we just shifted to Dubai and we all know that in gulf countries, we use tap water that is very salty for bathing and cleaning. This went on for 6 months and later we shifted to Abu Dhabi. After going there, my hair fall became very severe along with other symptoms like collar bone pain, jaw pain, irritation, mood swings, tiredness, nausea, body pain, headaches, and frequent colds and coughs. I was not able to do normal household work too. So, I went to a general physician to know the cause of this.

The Main Cause of Hair fall: –

The doctor asked me about my last pregnancies and deliveries and if I had any diseases before and told me 2 things. She told me that hair fall and all the other symptoms that I had, happen either due to thyroid issues or vitamin D deficiency. She told me to do all the blood test, vitamin D test, thyroid test, and also ECG to check my heart health. My blood reports were normal, ECG was normal, Thyroid test was also not above the mark, but my Vitamin D test results were shocking. I never expected this would happen to me. Normally it should be above 30, but I had only 12.3 in my body which means I am deficient. Here is a table for you to understand the vitamin D levels better.

The doctor told me that this is the reason why I have severe hair fall and body aches. She told me that vitamin D is very important for our immune system and bone health. If our immune system is strong, we will not get frequent fevers and colds, and our body will be healthy and will recover easily. She gave me a high dose vitamin D tablet that should be taken once a week for 3 months on the same day and at the same time. There were also some other lifestyle changes like going out in the sun for 15 to 20 minutes daily in morning from 7am to 10am or in the evening after 4.30 pm, eating vitamin D rich foods like salmon fish, cheese, egg yolk, dairy products, cod liver oil, sardine fish, mackerel fish, tuna, and beef liver. The doctor told me to do all these things for the next 3 months and come again to the hospital and do the vitamin d test again to know if there is any improvement or not so that she can either increase the vitamin d dosage or decrease it.  This treatment was very easy, so I did my best to make my vitamin d levels up.

The early morning walk for sun exposure was a bit difficult as I had a school going son who should get ready by 6.30 am to go to school. So, I had to pack his lunch and breakfast. I woke up every day at 4am to make lunch and breakfast ready. At 6.15am, I used to wake up my son and get him ready for school. At 6.35am, we went down and waited for his school bus. His school bus used to come exactly at 6.40 or 6.45am. After dropping him, I had only 15 to 20 minutes to do a walk in the sun in front of our building. Because my husband used to go to office at 7.20 am. So, I had to pack his lunch bag and give him breakfast too. I used to start walking at 6.45am till 7.10 am and come back home. In the evening after 4.30pm, I used to sit in my balcony for 10 to 15 minutes as sunlight reached there directly after 12am. Sometimes, I used to take my kids to the nearby park after 5.30pm for sun exposure and activity. This helped me a lot. I didn’t do any major changes in my food as I didn’t like to eat any type of fish. But since it was a major concern, I had salmon fish only occasionally. I loved eating cheese, but I was gaining more weight after I started eating it twice a week for vitamin d. So, I stopped it completely and ate some other healthy options like egg yolks, milk and curd instead. I used to have cheese only once a month. Taking the vitamin d tablet on the exact day and time of the week was also difficult. I used to forget the day and take it the next day. So, I put a reminder of the vitamin d tablet on my phone to know when I should take it. This was very useful.

After doing all these things, it took me one month to see the improved results. My hair fall reduced a bit than before, and my body Pains also reduced. But not completely. From now on, I started taking care of my health without neglecting anything. My food habits changed and my lifestyle too. I started moving around often without sitting at one place and ate healthy food as much as possible. My mother also made dry fruit laddu for my immunity which also had flax seeds, watermelon seeds, sesame seeds, and coconut powder along with pista, walnuts, cashews, Badam, raisins, and jaggery that are good for hair and body.

What really caused vitamin D deficiency in me?

During my second pregnancy, I put on so much weight. At the time of delivery, I was 100kg. I looked awful when I looked myself in the mirror. I lost my confidence and started feeling depressed. But losing weight at that time was not possible as I just had a c section delivery and had to breastfeed my daughter. So, I started intermittent fasting after my daughter turned 1.5 years old. I ate normally from morning 10am to 6 pm at night. After 6pm I didn’t eat anything. So that I can fast for 14 to 16 hours at night. This is actually a very effective method for weight loss, but you have to eat healthy and proper diet in your eating window. I ignored this part. I ate whatever was there in my home including snacks, junk food, fried items, and also normal food all through my eating window. I continued this for 6 months, but there were no results. So, after 6 months, I started eating less in my eating window and fasted for 14 hours at night. Here also I didn’t focus much on getting enough vitamins and protein from my food. I just ate what I cooked for my family in little portions. After doing this for 2 months, I started feeling weak. My weight went down rapidly to 72kg. I felt very happy and at the same time very weak. I lost the glow on my face and my face became very thin. There were dark circles under my eyes and my skin color also became a little dark. Everyone told me to stop this as I am losing my beauty instead of becoming more beautiful. I didn’t listen to them as my only goal was to lose weight. Since our home was packed without any balcony, I didn’t get any sun exposure from day to night. I am a homemaker, so I didn’t even go out every day. I was just busy taking care of my kids and doing household work in home. This is also another main cause of vitamin d deficiency as lack of sun exposure is very dangerous for your health. This went on for 3 months and I felt terrible. This is when I went to the doctor for a checkup and found out vitamin d deficiency. Only after experiencing all these, I understood that you can stay fit only by changing your lifestyle, eating healthy food and avoiding junk food as much as possible. I made a mistake by starving my body from all the healthy food which had vitamins, nutrients, minerals, and protein along with no outdoor activity and sun exposure. And ended up losing muscle mass instead of fat.

From then, I started eating 3 healthy meals a day with small fruit snack in between without doing any intermitting fasting. This made me feel healthy and my body also looked good like before. I had junk food only once a while in a very small quantity. All my body pains and headaches reduced. My hair fall became almost zero. And I felt active and much stronger than before. I learned all this only after experiencing severe pain. I don’t want you to do the same mistake as me and that is why I am sharing my personal experience with you so the same doesn’t happen with you too. Eat healthy, avoid junk, sugar, packaged foods, stay hydrated, do some outdoor activity, walk in sun for 15 minutes, and most important STAY HAPPY. Because stress and lack of sleep can also cause weight gain and other problems in your body.

Tips for a strong and healthy hair: –

• Don’t use any fancy hair products or creams.
• Try traditional hair masks and shampoos instead.
• Wash your hair twice a week with mild shampoo.
• Eat healthy and stay active to nourish your hair.
• Use sulfate free shampoos.
• Rinse your hair with cold water after head bath.
• Avoid brushing wet hair.
• Use silk or sati pillowcases when you sleep on pillows.
• Don’t tie your hair too tightly.
• Massage your scalp twice a week with coconut hair oil.
• Trim your hair every 8 to 12 weeks to avoid split ends.
• Stay hydrated.
• Avoid any type of chemical treatments on your hair.
• Avoid too much sweat in your hair.
• Dry the sweat completely as soon as possible if you get it.
• Take vitamin d, collagen, and biotin tablets only if you are deficient.