What Your Hair Says About Your Overall Health
Many women go out of their way to ensure their hair is always looking its best. It’s easy to spend money coloring, straightening, curling, cutting, and treating your hair, but it’s also important to pay attention to how your hair feels.
Your hair is a great indicator of your overall health, and any hair problems can be linked to other things happening inside your body.
But what do issues such as hair loss mean? How can you solve the problem at the source?
Keep reading for a breakdown of what your hair says about you.
What Hair Loss Means
Hair loss can be a worrying experience, but remember that moderate daily hair loss is natural. In fact, the American Academy of Dermatology explains that the average person loses 50-100 strands of hair each day. When you wash your hair, this number can jump up to 250 strands.
But if your hair begins to part ways from your scalp in clumps, this can be a side effect of some other serious things happening in your body.
One cause of hair loss can be a thyroid issue. Your thyroid is an endocrine gland located in the front of your neck and is responsible for releasing hormones. These hormones then regulate your metabolism, control your body temperature, and maintain a steady heartbeat and breathing rate.
When you’re losing hair, you may have an underactive thyroid that isn’t producing enough hormones. Other symptoms of a problematic thyroid include weight gain, eye problems, and lethargy.
Are you someone who is constantly running around with high anxiety? If you are, stress and hair loss may be accompanying one another.
High stress can be another cause of hair loss, causing harm to your hair follicles and your hair to then fall out. In some cases, high stress can also create a condition that causes you to pull your hair out.
What Dull or Brittle Hair Means
Everyone wants to have shiny and voluminous hair, but what does it mean when your hair is the opposite? What does it mean when you have lackluster or dull hair?
Your diet has a large effect on your body’s wellbeing, and dietary deficiencies can be the root of many problems. One cause of brittle hair can be that your body is not intaking enough protein.
Your hair is made up of proteins, so getting enough protein is very important. When you don’t consume enough protein, your body will conserve what it has left. This can lead to your body using the protein it would normally use for your hair elsewhere.
Make sure that you are getting enough protein in your diet. Eat plenty of meat, eggs, and fish. If you are vegetarian or vegan, remember to include other protein-rich foods into your diet. Tofu, beans, nuts, and soy can all give you what your body is craving.
Aside from a protein deficiency, other dietary issues can also impact the state of your hair. Take a look at your diet, and see if there are any loopholes of other nutrients that you’re missing.
If you’re somebody who often eats fast food, understand the impact that it has on your body. Not only is high in carbs, sodium, and sugar, but it can put you at risk for a number of life-altering diseases. It can also impact the quality of your hair.
When eating fast food, you miss out on the required nutrients. Iron deficiency hair loss and zinc deficiency hair loss are two common occurrences. You also don’t have access to healthy fruits and vegetables, which contain nutrients and vitamins great for hair growth and maintenance.
Next time you go shopping, don’t just buy expensive hair products. Make sure you’re stocking your fridge with suitable food!
What Gray Hair Means
Gray hair is a natural part of life that happens to everyone eventually. But is there anything else that can cause it besides age?
Take a look at your family members. When do most people seem to go gray? In their late 20s, or not until their early 50s? Your genetic makeup has a huge influence on when you can expect your hair color to change. That number will be different from person to person.
As you age, your body begins to produce less melanin, which causes your hair to turn gray. Yet the time when this happens depends on your genes.
Remember that contrary to popular belief, plucking out a gray hair will not cause extra hairs to grow back in its place. Each follicle has only one hair, so that is impossible. But too much plucking can lead to a bald spot!
Aside from your genetic makeup, your stress and anxiety levels also control when you start to turn gray. It’s no secret that people under a lot of stress age more rapidly than those living calmly, but there is also a correlation between gray hair and stress.
If you feel that you’re living a highly stressful lifestyle, look at different ways for how you can release it and unwind. This may mean exercising, meditating, or searching for anxiety-inducing elements that you can eliminate.
No one wants to go gray earlier than they should. Live a healthy and peaceful lifestyle to ensure that doesn’t happen sooner than it should!
Listen to What Your Hair Says About You
If you care about your hair, odds are you spend a lot of time and money taking care of it. Yet aside from making sure it looks its best, you can also improve your general health and wellbeing by listening to what your hair says about you.
If you’re interested in improving the health of your hair, check out our full list of supplements. Give your hair the boost it needs to shine and be healthy!