My Raw Odyssey: Attacking the Hair Loss Problem

Based on the raw food message boards I peruse, so many people lose hair on raw that it seems to me it really should be made a prominent issue on raw food forums as obvious sign of the change in one's nutritrients. Hoping for a renewal in my battle to get my hair to stop thinning I went back to Raw Food Talk, one of my favorite forums, looking specifically for causes of hair falling out (not breaking off or failure to grow).

Some of the ideas they listed included "your hair follicles are repairing themselves," nutritional deficiency, "too much sebum in the scalp which 'starves' hair follicles," and detox. The detox answer is too vague for me (and seems to be the universal answer to health problems related to raw diets). However, I found all of the responses interesting and really appreciated the opportunity to read about others' real-life experiences.

The forum search reminded me to incorporate more greens in to my diet. I eat salads, but I really don't eat enough lettuce itself. I saw the greens idea several times on the RFT forum alone, and I've read about greens before. I posted a question at Roger Haeske's website, wondering what he might think. His immediate response was:

Hi Allison,
Can never be sure of the exact reasons for this happening. But this has happened to several people when switching to a raw diet. It's possible that your body is not absorbing amino acids well enough. It takes a little while for the body to get used eating new sources of food. Over time this usually just corrects itself. But make sure to eat lots of leafy greens. Try getting the equivalent of at least a head of romaine lettuce per day. Also make sure to eat enough calories. Some people do better with green smoothies in order to help them increase their consumption of greens. Check out this site: http://www.howtogoraw.com/Green-For-Life.html
There are several theories as to why some raw foodists initially lose hair. But it could simply be that the body is rebuilding with better building materials and discarding the old cells. So of course the old will fall away gradually and be replaced by the new. You just need to have some faith and make sure to eat as well balanced a raw diet as possible. Get plenty of exercise, rest and sunshine. This hair problem even happened with my ex girlfriend. But after a few months it started correcting itself. But we also found out that her mother is losing hair like crazy and she doesn't eat a raw diet. I think with women who have long hair it's more of a problem. It tends to crack and break easier. That hair is much older. If you cut your hair often and it's shorter it can renew faster. Roger

I found hope in the fact that people talk about the problem reversing itself after a few weeks or months, sometimes after they refined their diets to address the problem, and for others simply after they kept on with the raw foods.

Today I'm going to start by making green smoothies in my blender. I'll try various ingredients to make it taste good- tomatoes, cucumbers, herbs and spices, whatever it takes. I don't have a juicer for those kinds of foods so I might be chewing my smoothies down- but it's for a good cause! In the meantime, I cut my hair short so that I will avoid hairstyles that will pull my hair out, and I continue to wear it natural- I was never a big fan of perms and lye anyway.


Wish me luck!