Hooray, my hair is coming back

A few months ago, I posted about hair loss as a result of being on Optifast.  I know it's not something I was alone in when participating in a program with rapid weight loss. My dietitian told me that not only do people who have participated in liquid programs go through that, but so have some bypass patients and others on different programs.  I knew this could be a possibility going into it, but I just couldn't imagine that I'd face the day that my hair was actually falling out in clumps.  When I had cancer, my hair didn't fall out like it was when I did Optifast.  If you're reading this and considering doing such a program, just be prepared for the very real possibility that it will happen to you, too.  Not everybody has that experience, but I did as well as others I know.  I not only lost my hair, but my naturally curly hair somehow lost the curl.  It's funny ... I always wanted thick, straight hair not these ringlets of endless curls. 

So, anyway, I chopped my hair off since I was losing so much of it anyway and figured it would eventually grow back.  The clinic promised me that all patients get it back that lose it while on the products.  That's good because I seriously looked like I was going to go bald any second!  Okay, perhaps I'm exaggerating a wee bit, but people who know me in real time saw it happen.  Lately, though,

I've had a lot of people comment that it's coming back.  What am I doing to make it happen?  Well, time has been a big factor.  Getting off the products and adding in food stopped the loss.  I also tried a myriad of hair products that were supposed to help.  Let's see ... I tried Ovation Cell Therapy and other hair products in their line.  That didn't work.  I tried Nioxin shampoo, conditioner and their product that is supposed to stimulate growth.  They didn't work either.  I even tried Rogaine for Women.  Nope, that wasn't successful either.  Don't get me wrong - my hair was silky smooth but my head was not full of new hair.  Instead, what has been working for me has been taking supplements in addition to making sure I'm getting plenty of fruits and veggies in my diet.  I take a multi-vitamin supplement and 5,000 mcg's of Biotin.  Some people take a lot less of the Biotin but my clinic has told me that taking up to 5,000 in a day is perfectly fine.  They even sell capsules in that quantity at Target and Costco.  Before I knew it, hair was coming back.  Yippee!

I know that sometimes we tend to not talk about these embarrassing things like hair loss when doing a weight loss program like Optifast.  And while I'm no longer on Optifast, I have absolutely no problem talking about it.  Who knows, maybe someone out there in Cyberland will benefit from my experience.  I know people are very interested because it's one of the most read posts on my blog.  It's the things that sometimes we're embarrassed about that we definitely need to talk about.  I'd rather do that than eat over something like less hair on my head!  Besides, you guys probably know way too much about me already that the simple topic of my hair is nothing in comparison.  Maybe I'll even get my curls back as my hair grows longer and I promise, cross my heart, that I will never complain about my curls ever again.