Swathy

A normal, healthy person sheds about 50 to 100 (or up to 200 because of the lifestyle choices) strands of hair every day, and most of these hairs grow back. A healthy hair has a life cycle of about three to six years, depending on your termination length. Hair loss becomes a problem when the hair do not grow back or when hair sheds at an abnormally rapid rate (several hundreds hairs per day), the latter case generally seen during pregnancy.

A hair’s life has three phases – growing phase, maturing phase (in which it stops growing and follicles prepare for resting phase) and resting phase. Thus, even the actively growing hair may go into the resting phase. This occurs because of an increased amount of estrogen (called happy hormones) in the body. Increased number of hairs enter the resting phase, disturbing the normal hair growth and loss process and causing more hair than usual to fall out.

During pregnancy, the body’s resources are more necessary for the foetus development so the external functions of the body which are not directly related to the regulation of body functions are temporarily suspended. My experience was really weird during pregnancy. Even when I got my hands waxed, I couldn’t see any growth for many months which was great but I also noticed hairs on my scalp were comparatively thinner.

So, I asked my husband for advice and I am sharing all of them with you.

• Improve intake of vitamin C : Vitamin C is required for the synthesis of collagen which in turn supports hair follicles and keeps blood vessels in the scalp healthy.

• Improve intake of Protein : Hair is 95 percent protein and a diet too low in protein may cause hair loss.

• Step up your Silica intake : An adequate intake of silica is thought to prevent baldness and stimulate hair growth. Silica is present in substantial amounts in a wide range of foods, including strawberries, green and red peppers, miller, barley, wheat, cucumbers, oats, rice, bean sprouts, potatoes.

• Iron : Hemoglobin is needed for transporting oxygen from the lungs to the other tissues in the body, including hair. An undisrupted supply of oxygen is necessary for healthy hair. So eat more spinach & beet root which will improve your iron intake as well.

Since he is a doctor, his main focus is always a better diet to fulfil all the nutritional deficiencies. Hope this helps you all 🙂 Do let me know how you like the post.