Hello, I’ve been a member here since 2019. I read a lot and have posted occasionally. I appreciate the information I have learned through the years!
Before I ask the following question, I want to assure you that I have read through the archives to get any information I could.
Although I began following a Ketogenic Diet in June of 2019 (and did well on it) I came to realize that as the years went by, I was becoming lax and and not paying the same attention as I had in the beginning. I knew I wasn’t following it right and could tell in many different ways.
Finally, 6 weeks ago I decided to start over and track everything I ate…WOW! That was an eye opener! I have honestly kept the Carbohydrates well below 20 and Calories around 1,500 or so (not by force just seems to be what my body needs). I am Female, 61, 5’1 and started at 164.6. I have lost 10.2 lbs now and feel great! I do have a concern though. I am starting to lose hair at a pretty rapid rate. I only take a natural dessicated thyroid pill daily and no other medications. Nothing else has changed. I have seen in the archives that people have experienced this.
My question is: is anyone still on here that did have this happen and it rectified itself? Or are you bald like I’m afraid I will be?? It has become pretty traumatic for me to brush and wash my hair now.
I would appreciate any feedback or information that anyone can offer!!
My Hair Is Falling Out!
Two suggestions from my own personal experience. You may want to start a slow reverse diet, adding in 50 for a few weeks, and then adding another 50 calories for the next few weeks, etc to raise your metabolic rate and provide more nutrition for your body. Just my opinion, but you are likely eating too little for your body. See stuff by ketosavage.com or his youtube stuff on Live Savage.
Second, you may also need trace minerals. I use the Keto Chow Daily minerals for this purpose. Without realizing it, I also ate too little on Keto and lost a lot of hair. It seems to have stabilized and I am now trying to increase my calories slowly. I can’t promise this will help, but it’s what I am trying. Good luck!!
Hair loss can be a consequence of any dietary change, not just going keto. It didn’t happen to me, but what I learned from the discussions of it here on these forums is that it is temporary, and the hair will grow back. But apparently it is quite scary while it is happening. You should be fine.
P.S.—I just read the comment by @GreeneggsNham, which contains a lot of good advice. Hope it helps you too.
P.P.S.—I should also mention that while keto did not cause me any general hair loss, it has accelerated the receding of my hair line, probably from the increased testosterone level resulting from eating better.
This is not meant to be discouraging, however, I suffer from significant hair loss as well, and mine has never resolved. I don’t have anything to base it on, but I firmly believe that it is not my lc way of eating. For me, I think it’s just genetic. And you’re right - it is traumatic, especially after a shower. At its height, I have pictures of literally losing a lock’s amount of hair after every shower. I’ve tried hydrologized collagen, twice a day in my coffee, gelatin, vitamins, etc., without much success. I used to have so much hair, I honestly could not fit it in a standard barrette or elastic hair tie. I’d say, since my 40s, I’ve probably lost at least 50% of my former hair volume. I’ve been to two dermatologists, an endochronologist and my gp over it. None of them were any help. I am now the proud owner of a hair topper and a full blown wig, both of which I wear for various occasions. They look completely natural and better than my natural hair. I feel great in them and am not self-conscious. The rest of the time, I just go out as I am and it’s fine. I’ve seen women with severe alopecia, and I don’t have that - just very thin hair.
If it’s any consolation, for most women, hair loss is cyclical and does lessen/slow after weeks/months. I hope that is true in your case.
If essentially nothing has changed as far as diet goes, what are you using to track? If it’s Cronometer, look at your micronutrients average. How much protein are you typically consuming. The standard is 1g/lb of bodyweight, but as we get older we need more as you become anabolically resistant. Gabbie Lyon has some great videos on it. Ultimately bumping to 1.2-1.5g/lb is enough.
Which NDT are you taking? Assuming it’s a combo like Armour that’s giving you both T3/T4? When your doc does your panels are they doing actual thyroid panels or are they just looking at TSH? If not sure you (should) be able to log into your portal and see all your own labs, if so compare as many as you can as see if theirs a negative trend. Sadly many docs are terrible when it comes to Thyroid optimization, which is absolutely what you want, not just being in the reference range.
The other thing to keep in mind, since you said you started keto in '19 then got lax, depedning on how lax you got, and how things were moving around macro wise there’s always the chance even though you were eating mostly keto, that combined with recently weight loss you’ve created some hormonal flucations, which is common with quicker weight loss regardless of anything else, hopefully that’s all it is, and if it is it’ll self correct, but still definitely take a look at your Thyroid labs.
I did a rather extreme diet including some extended fasting a few years ago, and it happened to me. Actually it was quite astonishing. When it did grow back, I had a reaction very similar to what people on chemotherapy sometimes report. It was thicker than it had ever been in my life, and curly for a while. It is normal again now, unfortunately.
Ever have your Test or DHT levels checked? On one end low carb can drop Test levels, but the higher cholesterol can raise it, people can go both ways on it, but it’s the conversion to DHT that gets your hair, that’s dependent on how much aromatase enzyme you make. You can slow that down with 5AR Inhibitors, being a gym freak I’m not a huge fan of them, but they do work for a lot of people. I grew a ton of hair back with Finasteride, but could definitely tell the difference in the negative way as well. Then went into guinea pig mode with RU58841 which grew it back like miracle grow, but can’t stay on that forever. Now just fighting my bald gene with everything I got until I eventually lose. Then it’s off to Turkey to have a new head of hair installed 
If I cared, I might have, but I expected to be bald by the time I was 35, because my maternal grandfather was. So the fact that I have hair at all is gravy. (I made a promise to myself, no comb-overs or cheap toupées!)
And compared to all my maternal relatives and several of my paternal ones, I have lots and lots of hair, so I’m cool with whatever keto throws my way.
Thank you so much for your response! I do take a multi vitamin/mineral (Mega Food) daily, as well as electrolytes on most days. You may very well be right that I may not be eating enough. I do think my protein intake my be a bit lower than it should be. I just don’t seem to experience physical hunger much at all anymore and when I do eat, I feel full fairly quickly. I actually dread washing my hair today!
As always Paul, I appreciate your knowledge! I believe GreeneggsNham made some valid points. Hunger has seemed to disappear the last 6 weeks! I believe I have been too low in protein, which I know is necessary for many things (including hair!)
I appreciate your response!
I have always had fine, but thick curly dark hair. I don’t use any color, perms etc. I realize there could be way worse things in life than loss of hair…it’s just been unexpected and shocking!!
I do use Collagen Peptides but I have for about a year, so it doesn’t line up with the shedding!
I’ll be sure to give updates!
Ifod, thank you for your advice and suggestions. I use the Carb Manager App, and I do see where my protein intake may be lower than it should be. I can honestly say that I have little to no appetite and when I do eat, it doesn’t take much to fill me.
Concerning my thyroid, I am on 3 grains (180 mgs) Armour Thyroid. My Dr checks TSH, T3 & T4. I am getting levels checked today because he thinks I may need less due to the loss if weight. My last labs showed a bit over normal in the T3, so I imagine it will be even higher now.
I will write a post with results. Thanks again!
I’ve always had fine, but thick, naturally curly hair. I realize it’s only hair, but I really want to keep it!! Thank you for your encouragement!
30 years ago, when I was in my late 30s (and, man, does that feel weird to say!) I thought I was going bald because the hair on the crown of my head was getting thin. I thought that was a great thing because I wouldn’t have to fuss over it. And then the hair loss just stopped. It has been about the same ever since.
26 years ago, when my wife went through breast cancer, I shaved my head in support. That’s way too high maintenance. I settled for keeping it short enough that if I have to comb it, I cut it back.
My hair used to break off when I did Weight Watchers from not eating enough fat. My stylist flipped last time I was in “what are you doing different, your hair is so healthy” I’m not knowledgeable enough to help but I suspect that it might have something to do with the thyroid pill over the diet. Just my gut—anecdotal/subjective.
Oh I understand, it was devastating when it started falling out. I lost at least a third of my hair and it made me very unhappy, pretty much every time I would run a hand over my head or look in the mirror I would feel miserable, when it seemed the fallout was slowing down I’d get excited, then it would start up again. Definitely not fun to go through!
Losing hair is an indicator your body is using essentials for other tasks, like keeping muscle, heart and lung tissues supplied. I lost some hair, but it grew back once I upped my feasting after my fasting. I had been doing a lot of fasting. Also my nails were crap doing all that fasting without the feasting. I was in my 60s, I also have very fine, but very thick hair.
This search thread has a ton of good info on hair loss, links to videos, etc. included in many of them.
https://www.ketogenicforums.com/search?q=hair%20loss%20