Shannon’s Story:
My friend Stacy was showing me last night how her hair was breaking and falling out. She told me she has Hypothyroidism, which has turned into Hashimotos Disease. She asked me what kinds of hair products she could use to help strengthen her hair or repair her hair from the breakage. I told her I knew two Brains who may be able to help…so I turn to you. You can certainly post this to your website, but please can you also email me back your advice? I really want to help Stacy because she is so upset that she is losing hair left and right. Thanks Brains!
The Right Brain’s Response:
Shannon, I’m sorry but we misplaced your email address so we’re just now responding to your question in this post.
Our condolences to Stacy on her condition. For those of you who don’t know, Hashimoto’s disease is a condition that causes your immune system to attack your thyroid gland, making it become swollen and irritated. Apparently one side effect is increased hair breakage. Since this condition has no documented cure (at least according to the medical sources that we saw) we can only offer advice on how to deal with the cosmetic side effects of her hair loss.
First, if the hair is falling out from the root, it’s pretty much a lost cause. By definition, cosmetic products can not affect the metabolism of hair that’s growing beneath the skin. (She might, however, ask her doctor if Minoxidil or Propecia – two over the counter drugs that can fight hair loss – might be appropriate for her condition.
If her hair is just breaking off mid-shaft because it’s weakened, cosmetics might offer some limited relief. Our advice is to avoid all the normal hair care practices that can be damaging to hair. Limit the number of times per week she washes it. Also use a good rinse out conditioner. Gentley towel dry. No blow drying or curling irons. And be VERY cautious when combing and brushing, and NO color (or other chemical) processing.
We wish we could be of more help, but as we said, there’s not much that cosmetic products can do in a case like this. Please drop us a line and let us know how Stacy is doing!
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
She needs better hormone replacement. I also have Hashimoto’s and the thing is, once your thyroid hormone levels are in a good range, the hair and skin issues go away. The only symptom that doesn’t seem to be completely resolved is the fatigue/sleepiness, which is still more than what it used to be, but everything else is pretty much normalized with proper treatment of the disease.
When I first started taking thyroid replacement for my hypothyroidism, about half of my hair fell out, and there was a lot of breakage. I cut it fairly short (it started out almost waist length, so short was just above the shoulders) so that the thinness wouldn’t be so obvious. It grew back as soon as my thyroid leveled out, though it was a different texture than before. So getting the thyroid meds right is the first thing you can do, and mitigating the damage is all you can do til then.