Hair care after months of hair loss

1 week into in our 2 week trip in Vietnam had me watching my hair fall out in clumps every time I washed or brushed it,

I initially thought it was natural hair-fall, but soon I started to get scared it was something a lot more serious. By the time we got to Dalat I was completely hysterical, and in tears I asked Min if he would still love me if I went completely bald...

Everyone loves a drama queen 😉

Anyway, I think my hair fall had started months earlier, and my guess is that it was caused by:

1. Natural seasonal hair fall cycle, coinciding with;
2. Not taking any vitamins since we left London,
3. Hard water in SE Asia, and
4. My body catching up after having been constantly on the go for a year or so

It’s been over a year and a half now, and thankfully all is back to normal (I think)

Ok, I don’t have nearly as much hair as I used to have, but my length and shine is back, and I don’t have clumps of hair falling out anymore (hopefully I’m not jinxing it!)

In case it helps anyone else who might be worrying about hair loss, these are some things that I think helped me get back to normality:  

1. Take vitamin tablets with iron and Vitamin D in it consistently (include the recommended break, by ‘consistently’ I just mean don’t have 1 a week - if you’re meant to have one every day for 30 days that is what I do without fail)  
2. Don’t comb your hair when wet. I brush my hair when I’m roughly drying it with a hair dryer so it’s less likely to break *Edited in June 2020* Actually, now I only brush my hair when wet after washing. This tip was recommended to me by Reema to stop my hair from consistently shedding during the week, and it works!   
3. Hold your hair up when you’re washing it so the weight of the wet hair doesn’t pull down 
4. Use oil that is stimulating for your specific skin type (I massage Lee Stafford hair oil into my scalp when my hair is dry for a couple of mins, once a week)
5. Do not use dry shampoo at all or hair spray much, apparently the build-up of that stuff on your roots cause it to fall out
6. Wash your hair more often rather than use that stuff so your scalp is cleaner i.e. your pores aren’t blocked. I wash my hair twice a week, on a Tuesday and a Friday. This prevents too many greasy days: the greasier it gets, the more falls out.   
7. Use shampoo that is best for your hair and scalp. My hairdresser recommended that I switch from E45 to Tea Tree shampoo because I have a naturally flaky scalp; I do 2 washes twice a week with it and it’s genuinely worked wonders (Australian Organic Tea Tree Shampoo) 
8. Massage the right type of oil into your scalp however often you want. I do it about once a month, and I use 2 tbsps of heated castor oil (25 secs in the microwave) with a drop of Vitamin E oil and drop of coconut oil, leave it in for about 30 mins, then wash it out thoroughly. *Addition in June 2020* This month I've been using Fable & Mane's HoliRoots Hair Oil which has been created with love by my talented niece and nephew, siblings Niki and Akash Mehta. The smell of the oil is gentle and calming, and the oil leaves my hair feeling light, soft and shiny. I'm using it once and week (i.e. every other hair wash). Receiving this sample from them to try has prompted me to get into a better routine of massaging my head weekly and allowing my hair to dry naturally in the sun whenever possible. The bottle has a pipette which I use to drop the oil directly onto my scalp before massaging upside down over the sink, as well as into my palms which is the method that is recommended by them.  
9. Go for a trim every 6-8 weeks (I’ve converted from a cynic to now thinking that really does help because my hairdresser gives me reassurance that she can also see the difference, which really helps!). I go for a blunt cut to maintain the weight, I've gone through the phases of thinning out my hair and having short choppy layers to have volume and bounce but this cut suits me a lot more. 

If you have any other tips that you recommend, let me know 😊

2018 to 2020

Love,

Priya x