A portion of people who join the Code Red Lifestyle experience temporary thinning hair, a condition known as telogen effluvium.
It doesn’t happen to everyone. It really just depends on the person.
For some people, the hair thinning begins in weight loss mode. For others, it doesn’t hit until after they enter maintenance.
A lot of our vanity and identity is tied to our hair, so it’s understandable why seeing it thin can be distressing. Remember that if it’s happening to you, it IS temporary and will stop, and your hair will grow back!
What’s causing my hair to thin?
Any big shock to the body can cause hair thinning. It can be surgery, pregnancy, changing birth control pill brands, rapid weight loss, and even simply changing the way you’re eating.
Switching from the standard American diet to veganism, for example, can also cause it.
At any given moment, every hair on your head is in one of three stages: It’s either growing, getting ready to fall out, or it’s actively falling out.
Normally, 80 to 90% of your hair is in the active growth phase, which means only to 10 to 20% is either shedding, or in what’s known as the resting phase, where it’s not falling out yet, but it will as soon as new hairs start growing in behind it.
But when one of these big shocks to your body happen, your body goes, “Woa, what’s going on here! I’m not sure about this yet, so I’m going to stop spending resources on hair growth, because hair is not a vital organ, and I’m going to direct them to other parts of the body that are vital.”
When that happens, more of your hair leaves the active growth phase and goes into that resting phase, where it’s not growing anymore because you’re body doesn’t want to “waste” resources on it, but it not yet shedding.
This big “shock” where more hairs go into the resting phase doesn’t happen over and over and over.
But once it does, up to 50% of the hair on your head enters that resting phase (instead of the normal 10%). So when your body starts spending resources on hair growth again, new hairs come in behind those hairs in the resting phase and push them out.
This is happening on your head all the time anyway. But because so much more of your hair is in the resting phase, more will come out at once.
How long will my hair thin?
The average length of time seems to be 3 to 4 months. Again, if it happens at all, it really depends on the person.
And like I said, if it happens, it may start in weight loss mode, or it may wait until after you hit maintenance.
Is there anything I can do about it?
Click here to get some suggestions on supplements, shampoos, and other tips to help you.
Just remember that your body’s already decided how much hair it’s going to put in the resting phase.
Those hairs that have stopped growing need to and will come out because they’re not attached to a follicle anymore.
Also remember that the fact they’re coming out doesn’t mean you’re going bald! On the contrary, it means new hair is growing in behind them. That’s a good thing!
Use the tips listed here to encourage that new hair coming in to grow even faster, as well as cope and adjust in the interim.
Your thinning hair, if it even happens to you, is temporary and your hair will grow back. And as it does, you’ll be free of all that weight you’ve battled for years (maybe even your entire life), plus you may be off your medication and finally free of pain and fatigue and disease.
I love my hair and am always doing crazy things with it, but even so, I’d rather have my hair temporarily thin for 3 or 4 months and be at my goal weight for the rest of my life than stay fat, sick, and miserable just to avoid temporary thinning hair.
Hair’s not a vital organ and it grows back as your body figures out everything’s okay. I know it’s traumatic, but so is being fat, sick, and miserable, right? You’ll be okay, and so will your hair.
Always feel free to check with your doctor (and even your hair stylist!) if you’re worried about it. And know that there are tons of other Rebels who’ve gone through it and come out the other side. You can and will, too!