hair and weight loss question

  • Since I started this my hair has done some major changing. I used to have dry, frizzy hair that I had to oil and could not wash more than once every 2-3 days or it would look like total crud. My hair is now oily and needs to be washed at least once a day, sometimes twice. I don't know if it is the change in the foods I'm eating, the exercise, or the weight loss itself. Maybe the weight loss has changed my hormones and that has changed my hair. Has anyone else had such a thing happen? I hate it. I like everything else that is going on with me due to the weight loss, but this is bad.
  • Do you take a multivitamin? Sounds like you might be deficient in a vitamin somewhere. Or it could just be hormonal. When I as pregnant, my hair became SUPER greasy and didn't go back to normal until after my daughter was born.
  • Could it be weather or other environmental factors? With the snow and ice here recently, I was sometimes indoors for 3-4 days at a stretch, and the central heating made my hair very dull and greasy when it's usually just normal. I feel your pain - I hate it when it's so greasy you just have to wash it again the same day you already washed it (and I think that just made mine worse). I hope you can find a solution!
  • When I first started losing weight I also lots LOTS of hair, it was coming out in handfuls in the shower. It took about 3 months to iron itself out. Fortunately I have very long, thick hair so it wasn't really noticeable to anyone but me, and it's totally back to normal now. But the texture didn't change. Have you added a lot of healthy oils to your diet? Or are you eating things like low-fat baked potato chips with Orlistat? A call to your doctor might be in order.
  • I haven't experienced this, but just yesterday a cashier at whole foods was telling me how she lost 150 lbs and had started losing hair about halfway to her goal.

    For what it's worth, she attributed it to having stopped eating peanut butter; apparently she had eaten a lot of PB prior to losing weight. She started adding peanut butter back to her diet and the problem ceased.

    I've always had fine hair in need of daily washing.
  • This may seem strange but it seems my hair has gotten less curly. I even cut about 6 inches off which usually lightens the weight of it and gives me more curl but - nope. It is less curly. In my case it may be a hormone connection. The start of the curliness was hormonally linked so maybe my healthy eating is making my hormones more "right" adjusting the curls. We'll see what happens as time goes on.
  • I'm all for having your hormone levels checked too. Otherwise, I have hair that is oily at the roots and dry at the ends. Overwashing just makes me look like a frizzy greaseball. I can wash every other day, but if I notice my roots are looking oily I use a waterless shampoo. It comes in powder form and you just rub it into your roots. It absorbs some of the oil. Hospitals often use it when their patients can't take showers/baths.
  • Thanks everyone. I really hope it doesn't start coming out, it's thin enough as it is. I had it trimmed today and talked to the stylist about it. She gave me some shampoo advice for it. I go to the doc on Wednesday for my latest 3 month check and to get the results of my January labs. I will ask her about it. I do take vitamins and eat lots of veggies, so I don't think that's a problem.

    lovemyboy - I wish my hormones would take away my curls (either that or give me more). My hair usually decides to be curly on one side and straight on the other. Grrrr

    S.A.S.H. - Thanks for the info on waterless shampoo. That will probably be really helpful for me. My skin is getting dried out from the extra showers. Also, congrats on the no smoking that I see in your sig.
  • Thanks! I see you quit a while back,too. Here's to never going back!