Hello all.
I read the posts on here religiously!! I thought it was time to ask for a little help as you all seem to have beautiful healthy hair.
Im 21 yrs old, have noticed my hair thin (it used to be very thick) over the past 3 years.
I assumed it was due to poor eating (i had anorexia/bulimia between age of 11-17) and poor dye jobs on my hair.
Hair on my temples is def. thin, on the left hand side around my fringe its def thin (and i presume this is due to sufferin a reaction to hair dye 2 years ago?)

I saw a trichologist in london belgravia centre, who informed me i was wrong completely and its purely genetic loss. My mum does have thin hair however it became thin after she hit 30 and after kids etc. Plus the trichologist went on to try n sell me minoxidl. It was odd..
I went home that night and cried my eyes out

Ive been researching ALOT and found this place and understand that I can make my scalp healthy and maybe eventually restore some of my hair.

Has anyone got any experience of having poor hair health and making it healthier? If so, how?
Or am i being too optimistic?!

Many thanks for reading!!!

Hi, Nidsy and welcome!  My intuition is leaning towards hormones as a factor.  Perhaps a chat w/your gynecologist will shed some light on this issue (sorry, no pun intended).
Diet, diet, diet.  We are what we eat, and healthy foods produce healthy being.  The trick is to find the healthy foods that work for you.  I have food sensitivities, healthy foods like wheat, corn and dairy are not so healthy for me and I need to be very careful if I do choose to eat some.  If I eat something from all 3 at one meal I'm in trouble.  It saps my energy and makes me feel terrible.
A visit to a naturalpath or homeopath can help you determine if you have food sensitivites or even allergies.

Good luck, Nidsy.  Take care of yourself.

Hi and welcome Nidsy!

Maggie, Sakina, and BB gave great advise, but I'm just a 16 year old girl who started on the whole healthy body, hair a few month back, so i hope i can help you with what i know, and read.

ok, i know that it has been medicaly proven that basil-either oil massaged into the hair, or as an herbal rinse- helps stimulate hair growth (hope i'm using the right word here )as well as rosemary, and sage.

and maybe if your putting your hair in tight buns or ponytails may also cause the hair thinning.

oh, and i also heard that the stuff (don't know what it's called) that is sprayed on the veggies and fruits, does a lot of harm to your health, so maybe eating, and using (shampoos and soaps)organic products maybe helpful too.

i think i should shut up now, i'm talking too much


Hope This Helps

Welcome, Nidsy! I don't really have anything to add, but I'm glad you're here and I hope you find information that will help you! 

Yes, I would definately eat healthy and take a good vitamin.  My mother and grandmother have very thin hair but since I have put my hair on a schedual it seems noticably fuller and thicker than theirs.

Greetings, Nidsy.

Sorry to hear about your ill-health in the past, but we're all glad that you're on the right track now.

Interestingly enough, no one has yet mentioned stress as a cause of thinning hair, when in fact it is among the leading causes.

Emotionally/psychologically taxing problems at home, work, etc. can have a serious effect on your hair if you encounter them on a daily basis. Even if they don't seem like much at the time, the stress that accumulates over time as a result of having to deal with them every day becomes a veritable force to be reckoned with!

Case in point, my former husband obsessed for years over daily dilemmas that arose from his career as a computer programmer. Now, thanx to a combination of genetics and work-related stress, he is severely balding at only 27years of age. In fact, he has far less hair than my 50-year-old father!

My point is...just as a healthy body is essential to growing long hair, so is a healthy mind. Learn to relax. Share your problems with your friends, your boss, your church officiant, or a therapist. Sometimes all it takes is a different perspective.

If stress is not the problem, then definitely talk to your dermatologist. They specialize in hair problems as well as skin.

Hope that helps, and good luck! 

Yep, stress is definately something that can promote hair loss. About three summers ago I was under a lot of stress because of my college course load and shed about twice as much hair than was normal for me when I shampooed. At that time I was shampooing everday, so I cut back to every other day and I ended up chopping my hair to a bob because I was paranoid that it looked thinner (not that I'm reccommending doing that). Since that time I've tried to make sure that I'm not under too much stress and my hair is almost as thick as it was before the massive shedding.

The Ultranourishair might work. But, speaking from personal experience, the pills are really easy to choke on; you might want to cut them in half.

Hi Nidsy
I too went through a bout of anorexia in my early 20s (mid 30s now), and for a while I noticed my hair was thinning and my skin wasn't as healthy. The health of your hair reflects what you were eating (or not) in the months and years prior to now. So don't give up hope that it will improve if you are getting enough protein and nutrients now! If you can eat meat, do it. If you weren't getting enough protein for a while you might be seeing the signs of that, and it will be good for you to get extra protein for a while because eating disorders can cause a lot of stress and strain on your body. Also, take a calcium supplement, because if your hormones were out of whack and you weren't eating enough calcium, it would take a toll on your hair and skin.
I think the hormone suggestion is probably on target, although that is only from my experience, I'm obviously not a doctor. I went on the pill for about a year or so to get my hormones back on track because I was so skinny for a while that I stopped menstruating. Maybe doing some kind of hormone therapy, like the pill, would help out. Definately see a gynecologist to see if this is an option!
As far as things other than diet and hormones, get your hair trimmed regularly for a while until it gets healthier, and try not washing it every day and using a very gently shampoo. My hair recovered dramatically using aveda damage relief shampoo. It's remarkably the most gentle shampoo I have ever used. Maybe also get some deep conditioning treatments once a month or so for a while.
Don't start thinking that it won't improve though, because it will get better!