In Episode 41 of The Holistic Nutritionists Podcast, Natalie Douglas and Kate Callaghan discuss natural hair loss treatment options and what hair loss treatment is best for women.

• Random/unplanned rant about food intolerance testing and food intolerances
• When to be concerned about hair loss.
• Causes of hair loss
• Personal experiences with hair loss
• Diet strategies to combat hair loss
• Lifestyle strategies
• Supplementation & essential oils for hair loss

Intro 0:00
Welcome to The Holistic Nutritionists Podcast where you’ll find the inspiration and answers to how you can become the healthiest, happiest version of you using whole food nutrition, smart supplementation, movement, and lifestyle hacks. Your host, Natalie Bourke and Kate Callaghan, a degree-qualified Dietitians and Nutritionists, certified fitness instructors, speakers, and authors with extensive knowledge and clinical experience in the wellness industry. So sit back and enjoy the show.

Natalie K. Douglas 0:38
Welcome back to the podcast, everybody. Good morning or afternoon, Kate. Oh, wait. We’re, oh, it’s like 12 o’clock where you are, I believe, maybe?

Kate Callaghan 0:47
Yeah, two minutes to 12.

Natalie K. Douglas 0:48
Oh, I just scraped in. It’s still morning. Well, it’s 10 o’clock here, so I’m allowed to be a little bit off. Anyway, do you have any updates or anything like that you wanted to start the podcast off with since we do like to ramble a bit at the beginning?

Kate Callaghan 1:11
Do I have any updates? Not really, I’ve changed direction a little bit with my focus of light moreso because of personal reasons. I don’t know if you’ve seen my social media, but there’s been a little bit of anxiety triggered in my life.

Natalie K. Douglas 1:26
I did see one post but please expand so we can share with everyone. So what do you mean by change in direction?

Kate Callaghan 1:34
Well, in terms of sharing so because I’m over-sharer. It seems that people appreciate when I share what I’m going through. And I always one of my big things is always being authentic and honest and real and open and not trying to be an Instagram bullshitter basically.

Natalie K. Douglas
I like it.

Kate Callaghan
All my life is perfect and shiny. And you can see that from my Instagram anyway because it’s really not styled as you’d like it to be styled and I really love a pretty Instagram account but you know.

Natalie K. Douglas 2:07
I know, the struggle is real, I don’t know how they do it.

Kate Callaghan 2:11
I can’t be bullied.

Natalie K. Douglas
I know.

Kate Callaghan
Too much thought. And I do find that people appreciate when I share my experiences and also share what’s what I’m finding useful. And I also like to reach out to my community to get their input as well. And that’s one of the big things that I do like about social media, it’s that sense of community where we converse with each other, rather than just talking at people. So, it’s kind of been triggered recently by a few things, mostly sleep deprivation from Ed. So, yeah, extra stress in the life, and a little bit of overwhelm probably, and maybe if I’m being completely honest with myself a bit too much caffeine, which is a vicious cycle with the sleep deprivation. So I’m getting onto it, I’m getting back into my meditation and also trying to sort his sleep out which I’m wondering if he has an intolerance to eggs. So this is day one of no eggs for me and for him.

Natalie K. Douglas 3:13
Oh, I find that how hard it like I, so hard in the beginning to get rid of eggs. But then once you do, and you find some ways around it, you’re like, okay, but I feel your pain. I’ve done that in the past when I, when actually when I was having a lot of thyroid issues, and I was doing everything I could to try and figure them out. And then I decided to take a food intolerance test. I kind of don’t use them as a first port of call. But I do find them useful once you’ve healed the gut and tried a few other things. And I like my like egg intolerance was off the charts. But then since then, I’ve reintroduced them, and actually getting another food intolerance test, I kind of like to because I’m prone to them. And because I have a really bad habit of eating the same things like every day, especially like foods that like eggs that are quite easy to develop an intolerance to. I’m actually I actually try and get one get an intolerance test every two years also because they’re expensive. But mainly what drove it was yeah, like you Kate, I’ve been going through a bit of overwhelm and feeling quite rundown of light. And so I’m not, I’m back to off the caffeine, because just like you I kind of go in cycles. And I know I’m like, oh, no, this is not good, and I’m like, but it’s so good. And I’m like, okay, stop it like, and I am with caffeine, I am a bit or all nothing. And everyone works differently. But in all honesty, I either want to have it all, or I don’t want it at all. So I’m you know, not at all phase at the moment. But yeah, and then just doing rechecking my thyroid because I do have a history of thyroid issues. So doing some investigations. And yes, meditating too, which is nice except.

Kate Callaghan 5:00
We’re listening to this podcast but like girls, sort your shit out.

Natalie K. Douglas 5:03
I know. Whatever, man, we’re human. And still showing up for life, which is good. But yes, I would I would be lying if I said that everything was perfect at the moment. So I feel your pain and yeah, I think you know, it’s just about recognizing it and then getting on top of it. And like you Kate, I really value sharing, honestly, and openly with my audience as well. Although lately, I haven’t done a lot of social media sharing, because I’ve just been busy trying to sort everything out. And sometimes I find I just need a break from it but I do love a good Insta story every now and then, just because it’s great to babble.

Kate Callaghan 5:39
Man, I babble. What’s the food intolerance test that you take? I’m sure people will be interested in that.

Natalie K. Douglas 5:47
Yes, so. It’s so it’s just it’s an IgA or IgG food intolerance test. I get it done through a lab, or what are they called, because I get it done through research nutrition, but you need to have a practitioner, order the test kit for you so that they can also interpret it. And basically, it just goes through a bunch of foods, I think it’s about like, there’s different amounts of foods that you can get tested. But I just get the basic one, I think it’s about 96 foods, and then it just test your test you for whether you have any kind of IgA or IgG reaction, which is kind of just like a delayed immune response to the food proteins that you’re ingesting, it’s not it’s not like a allergy test, it’s an intolerance test. And the reason why I don’t do them first up with patients is because if you have any gut issues going on like, if you have leaky gut or something like that, you’ll come back with multiple food intolerances. And it’s not because you’re truly intolerant to those foods, it’s because your gut is leaky. So if I ever get a food intolerance test pack, and there’s heaps and heaps of intolerance is on the air, I don’t think this person can eat all of these foods, I think, okay, there’s something causing a leaky gut here. So it’s not for everybody as a first port of call but it’s definitely interesting. And with all the test there’s always, you know, flaws or, you know, imperfections but if you as long as you know how to interpret it. And even if it does come back as a food intolerance, for example, to eggs, it doesn’t mean you can never eat them again, what I would usually do is take them out for a short period of time, so maybe like, three weeks or so and then I just get people to rotate them back in. So every, you know, three days or so instead of having them day in and day out, rotate them around and that can really help with avoiding developing an intolerance but I’m saying that some people eat every day and they don’t have any intolerance. So don’t freak out if you’re like, oh, my God, I eat eggs every day. It’s okay.

Kate Callaghan 7:53
I remember the last day I didn’t eat egg.

Natalie K. Douglas 7:57
Yeah. What are you going to have for breakfast, man? What about your banana pancakes? The struggle is real.

Kate Callaghan 8:02
I had quinoa porridge this morning.

Natalie K. Douglas
Nice.

Kate Callaghan
It was it was good.

Natalie K. Douglas
You’re like it was good. Could do it for the egg.

Kate Callaghan
First five hours being freeze been okay?

Natalie K. Douglas 8:14
I think there’s actually some pancake recipes that are autoimmune paleo-friendly, which would work with your egg experiment. So if you get those but I don’t know. I’m not a very good baker. I don’t know about you but everything I try and bake, probably because I don’t follow directions. Never works out.

Kate Callaghan 8:29
If I’m baking, I have to follow a direction to a tea. Otherwise, it doesn’t work out and I got oh, well.

Natalie K. Douglas 8:38
Yeah, same but I hate like, I just don’t like following stuff. Like I want to cook and just chuck everything in. But anyway, I’ve stopped baking. So anyway, we’re actually aren’t talking about our problems and our food intolerances today. We’re actually going to what we plan to talk about was hair loss because I think that given you know, Kate, you have a lot of women following you with hormonal issues, and I have a lot of people with thyroid issues, it’s definitely something that would come up a lot. And we haven’t actually discussed it before. So I thought where we would start with this one is just discussing when to actually be concerned about hair loss. So I guess my very simple answer to that, and you might have a fancy one, Kate, but my simple answer to that would be when it’s becoming abnormal as in abnormal to you as in, you’re starting to notice, oh, wow, like, I’m losing a lot of hair. And it’s not and you know, it’s continuing for weeks on and it’s not just, oh, you know, a bit of extra hair fell out today. It’s something that seems to be occurring day in and day out and is a lot more than usual. Kate, do you have any fancier answer than that?

Kate Callaghan 9:52
No, that’s as fancy as it gets.

Natalie K. Douglas
All right.

Kate Callaghan
Especially, if you leave it long enough when you start noticing those the bald patches that.

Natalie K. Douglas
Security indication, you’re in trouble.

Kate Callaghan
Yeah, you just notice the thinning, you know how we tend to play with our head generally. When you’re putting in a ponytail or bun, you’ll notice that it’s getting a lot thinner.

Natalie K. Douglas 10:12
Yeah, yeah, definitely. Okay, well, then I guess we’ll jump straight into causes of hair loss. So I might start with low thyroid function, because that’s a really big one. So thyroid, like basically your thyroid hormone is really important to hair growth, because there are thyroid hormone receptors on every cell in your body and including everything relating to hair growth. So that’s definitely one of them that can cause an issue. If you, particularly low, low thyroid function, so one of the key signs or symptoms of of Hashimoto’s or hypothyroidism is that people start to notice hair loss and they can also start to notice thinning of the as they age their eyebrows as well. So that’s one to keep an eye on. The next one I would probably mentioned would be birth control. So being on the oral contraceptive pill, and this type of hair loss is actually a bit more gradual, usually, so it doesn’t really happen in most cases for a few months, sometimes actually even years. And the main reason why it would be causing the hair loss is because a lot of the older types of birth control pills contained a particular progestin, which is synthetic progesterone, that’s quite similar to testosterone. And so it gives male hormone side effects basically, so hair loss being one of them. If you’re not on one of those kinds of pills, and you’re on a different progestin, it doesn’t mean the pill isn’t the culprit of your hair loss. The reason for that is because all oral contraceptive pills stop ovulation and ovulation is necessary for healthy hair. And the only way to ovulate is to produce adequate amounts of you know, natural estrogen and progesterone, not the kind that is found in the pill because your hair loves estrogen and loves progesterone. And so it’s really important, as I said that you are actually having a regular cycle that is your own. However, I should mention that stopping the birth control pill, actually, usually worsens hair loss, because there’s a sudden hormonal change, which triggers hair loss, basically. So it should improve after a few months, as long as you start to ovulate and have regular cycle, regular cycles. But Kate, just on that note before I continue, so I just mentioned that obviously stopping the pill. So stopping having artificial hormones is going to cause hair loss. I know that you’ve had your own personal experience with actually post-birth hair loss. Can you explain why that actually happens as well?

Kate Callaghan 13:13
Yeah, so a few things with post-birth hair loss. So when you’re pregnant, you’ve got all these beautiful hormones flowing around, so elevated levels of estrogen and progesterone. And that’s when you’re going to notice, you know there’s long, thick luscious hair because you have this abundance of hormones, more so than usual. And when you give birth, those hormone levels just go completely bottomed out, really. And so that’s sudden fluctuation in hormones, that sudden drop in hormones is going to cause that that hair loss. And, and also, you know, associated mood mood concerns because of those hormone fluctuations. You know, and that’s something that I would see, with my clients with amenorrhea as well. Nat, you know, as you said, you need to be ovulating to be producing these beautiful hormones that help with hair growth and to help keep our hair thick and healthy. When we’ve got amenorrhea or hypothalamic amenorrhea, we’re not ovulating to produce those. So a lot of my clients will notice that their hair is starting to fall out if not, it’s already pulling out a lot.

Natalie K. Douglas 14:22
Definitely, and that’s something that happened to me for sure. My hair was falling out. And mine was, well it fell out twice once was when I had hypothalamic amenorrhea. And another time was when I had quite low thyroid function. And Kate, I know you, did you experience post-birth hair loss with both Olivia and Ed or was it just with Olivia or just with Ed?

Kate Callaghan 14:50
I can’t remember post-Olivia, that was a bit of a blur. I was dealing with a whole lot of other stuff with her but with Ed I definitely did. I can’t remember being as concerned about my hair with Olivia but this time I remember looking in the mirror and I was putting it back in a ponytail going oh my god, I’m bald.

Natalie K. Douglas
Yeah.

Kate Callaghan
Just on there there’s corner bits. Above temples, sorry, above your temples. They were quite, quite thin, quite bald to the point that I would, I styled my hair to pull it down over those bits to cover it up. And I would notice when I was getting in the shower my hair was always falling out when I was washing it. Yeah, very concerning, actually.

Natalie K. Douglas
Oh, yeah. Have you ever like pulled your hair out of the drain or Bowen does it for me it’s so gross.

Kate Callaghan
Yeah, yeah. And I’m used to do that.

Natalie K. Douglas 15:44
I’m just avoiding it cuz I’m like I don’t want to know how much hair I lost back then. And then Bowen comes out with this huge chunk of hair and I’m like what is that. And he’s like, looks at me, and I’m like, oh, what’s that.

Kate Callaghan
You’ve got really long hair.

Natalie K. Douglas
I know. Like, like, for those listening who haven’t seen my hair it’s probably like down to my butt almost. So, yeah, I don’t know if like half of it is falling out and that’s why it’s that long. Like it’s just caught all the way down or if it’s actually that long.

Kate Callaghan 16:15
I guess we should we should also point out that some hair loss is normal, it’s just.

Natalie K. Douglas 16:19
Yeah, yeah. Like, don’t freak out if a few strands coming out when you’re like brushing your hair, or there’s a little bit of hair in your brush. We’re talking like, you know, you could, it looks a bit like a furball.

Kate Callaghan
Yeah.

Natalie K. Douglas
I don’t know but yeah. Like that’s how I would describe it but.

Kate Callaghan 16:34
I was turning into a bath because hair is clogged up that much.

Natalie K. Douglas 16:36
Yes, yes, that that is true. Anyway, so now that everyone knows there are the struggles. Let’s move on. So, let’s talk about actually treating it. So now we’ve explained a big chunk of the causes, like there’s probably some other ones like there is some conditions where it like alopecia where there’s it’s just hair loss happening usually. And there’s also come, like there’s another thing that happens sometimes with this female baldness, again, they’re more uncommon, the more common ones that we see, especially the kind of people that are listening to this podcast would be hormonal driven, or thyroid driven, or stress is the other one.

Kate Callaghan
Absolutely stress.

Natalie K. Douglas
Yes.

Kate Callaghan
Can I also add on, I don’t think we’ve touched on polycystic ovarian syndrome.

Natalie K. Douglas
Yes.

Kate Callaghan
One big issue that I see, where you see male pattern baldness where it is above those temples that goes quite bold.

Natalie K. Douglas
Yeah. And again, just to explain it further. It’s usually because of the increase in androgen, so male hormones driving that, that change. So there is definitely ways we can address all of these situations. So, um, in terms of diet, I would just say generally, eating a whole foods based diet, as we always suggest, is a good idea. So you know, having adequate, all of the things so adequate protein, adequate carbohydrates, adequate fat. However, I also would say that understanding the cause of the hair loss would also dictate dietary treatment. So for example, if the cause was low thyroid function, perhaps looking at supporting gut health, making sure you’re not going to low carb, so you can help the conversion of inactive thyroid hormone to active thyroid hormone, removing any inflammatory foods, particularly gluten would probably be the best start. But then, you know, on the flip side, if the cause is perhaps insulin-resistant type PCOS, then the treatment, the dietary treatment might look a bit different. So Kate, in that situation, what what would you change if if someone had hair loss that was related to insulin-resistant type PCOS, would you would you make adjustments to the diet that I mentioned above? Like, what what other strategies would you put in place?

Kate Callaghan 18:56
Totally, it’d be almost be the opposite.

Natalie K. Douglas
Yeah. Yeah. Awesome.

Kate Callaghan
So, if it’s insulin resistant related and polycystic ovarian syndrome, then we’d be looking at more of a modified sort of a low carb high-fat diet to help get those insulin levels under control. Those blood sugar levels under control and to reduce that what we call aromatization of estrogen to testosterone, which occurs when we have too much insulin in the body.

Natalie K. Douglas 19:23
Yeah, awesome. So and then I guess some other general things is you’re really looking at getting adequate zinc and iron and long-chain omega-3s and lots of minerals. So looking at eating grass-fed protein, because they’re quite rich in all those and wild-caught fish for the long-chain omega-3s. And also nuts and seeds can also provide some minerals as well but definitely not to the extent of high-quality animal protein. And you know, of course, eating lots of plant foods as well. So vegetables and fruit are going to just provide a lot of the micronutrients as well. So there’s different kind of tweaks for the different situations. But as always, you want to address the underlying cause of the hair loss to actually treat it properly and be patient because as we mentioned, particularly if you’re in the situation, of post-pill, hair loss, or if you’re in the situation of post-pregnancy hair loss, it can take time because hair actually grows in phases. So what you’re kind of seeing now is more of a reflection of a few months ago, so just stick to the treatment that you’re doing and be patient because it will pay off it’s just that you can’t stop once. Hair basically enters a particular phase where it is going to fall out no matter what you do, because once it enters, enters that phase, I think it’s called like, gosh, telegen, something, something like that, that phase, then it’s like track its track there, and it has to fall out. But it doesn’t mean what you’re doing dietary wise, lifestyle wise, supplementation wise, isn’t working, it just means it needs more time to actually work. And yes, so that would kind of be the diet side of things. Kate, what about lifestyle strategies?

Kate Callaghan 21:20
Biggest thing to focus on number one would be stress management. Absolutely, so whatever that looks like for you meditation would obviously be amazing if you can do it. My favorite app at the moment is the 1 Giant Mind app, I find it really, really easy to use. And it also has a 10-day challenge and then a 30-day challenge. So if you’re a type A personality like me, who likes challenges. Just to add a little bit of Type-A to meditation.

Natalie K. Douglas 21:50
Look, if it gets it done, it gets it done.

Kate Callaghan 21:54
And 10 minutes a day I do it before bed, I would ideally like to do it in the morning but that’s not realistic at the moment with crazy children. So before bed works. But even if that doesn’t work for you just taking some time out each day to practice some deep belly breathing. So this is actually the fastest way to get out of that fight or flight stress mode and into that calmer state where everything is in that rest, digest, reproduce modal activating that parasympathetic nervous system. So all you do is place your hands on your belly and as you inhale, you feel the belly right, belly rise. As you exhale, you feel your belly full. Just do that 10 times throughout the day. Every anytime you feel yourself getting worked up or stressed. I also like people to do Viparita Karani at night, which is legs up the wall pose for 5 to 10 minutes really kind of. It’s so good. So calming on the central nervous system and beautiful, a beautiful practice before bed and another thing would be keeping a gratitude journal for every night writing down three things that you’re grateful for and a really fun, this is an effective way to keep in a positive mind frame and reduce stress. It’s very hard to be stressed or angry and anxious when you’re in a in attitude of gratitude.

Natalie K. Douglas 23:06
Yeah, I love it. I’m going to add one that I’ve been using lately, so lately at work, like not to my private practice work but my other work. It’s been quite stressful and very busy and I’ve been finding that I’ve been getting frustrated. I’m pretty easygoing, and pretty patient, usually with people but lately, I’ve been finding that I’m getting annoyed at things that I wouldn’t usually and really getting affected by other people’s energy around me. And so what I’ve been doing is picturing like, an energy bubble around me that protects my energy from everyone else’s. And yes, it does sound hippie woo woo and it is and I love it. And basically, I just picture like this big, kind of like a glass bowl around me and it has light off the sides. And whenever I’m around someone who is, I don’t know, just in a really bad mood, or they’re frustrated or something like that. I picture that around me so that I don’t pick up their energy. And no, it does not work every single time but when I’m really actually focused on it, it does make a difference. And Kate, I totally agree with the gratitude that like that grounds me every single time. Whenever I’m in like, you know, a first world problems, why me, kind of mood if I come back to gratitude. It definitely helps just put everything into perspective. So I love those tips.

Kate Callaghan 24:35
You want to hear my hippie woo woo thing that I’ve been doing lately?

Natalie K. Douglas
Yes.

Kate Callaghan
Okay. A few things. So, I’ve been listening to Gabrielle Bernstein’s audiobook, The Universe Has Your Back. She’s amazing.

Natalie K. Douglas
Oh, I love that book. Yeah.

Kate Callaghan
Massive girl crush on her. Anyone go and read her books? Yeah, awesome. So when I am getting worked up, or angry or anxious, or just feel just that tightness that you know, that is that stress coming on. I think to myself, or even say out loud, I choose love, or I choose to see peace. I choose peace instead of this. I choose love instead of this. And I think over and over and over or sometimes I will tell myself, this is easy, this is simple, this is fun.

Natalie K. Douglas 25:22
Cool. I like it. I’m going to use that one because I’m coming up against a lot of new things in business at the moment and I’m like, like, I was almost going to swear. It’s not a swear word. I can’t do this like, I’m just not like a business person or I’m not this or not that. And I find yeah, like that would be really helpful because, yeah, it’s funny, this personal growth journey it’s equal parts rewarding and equal parts like oh, my God, somebody help me.

Kate Callaghan
It’s challenging.

Natalie K. Douglas
Yeah.

Kate Callaghan 25:52
And when people are pissing you off, sorry, I’m not looking for that, sir.

Natalie K. Douglas
That’s right.

Kate Callaghan
I always try and remind myself that everyone is doing the best that they can.

Natalie K. Douglas
Yeah, I love it.

Kate Callaghan
It’s sometimes hard to see that but I do try and tell myself over and over. Everyone is doing the best that they can.

Natalie K. Douglas 26:10
Yeah. Nice. Well, now that everyone had like everybody. I hope someone practice what practices one of those stress tips because there were some good ones.

Kate Callaghan
Yeah, all right.

Natalie K. Douglas
I know, it’s just the virtual pat on the back. So moving on to supplements, I will choose one and then you can choose one if you like, Kate, because I know I always take everything. And then you’ll have to practice your kindness and stress management. So, my first choice would be zinc and basically zinc works by well, a few different ways. So one way it works is it actually inhibits the overactivity of a particular enzyme that it kind of converts testosterone toward a more active form of testosterone. So by actually decreasing that enzymes activity, we can decrease the most potent form of testosterone in the body. And that’s actually one way it helps to treat PCOS symptoms. So you might have heard us talk before on the podcast about PCOS treatments, and one of them being zinc and that’s the reason why it works but it can also be applied to any kind of hair loss, as well, or even hair, like facial hair overgrowth, which happens in PCOS as well. And then the other way, it also helps is by inhibiting excess prolactin, which can actually stop you from ovulating. And we know that ovulating is really important for really healthy hair. And then the final way that zinc helps would be that it supports thyroid, thyroid health. So basically, it’s essential for the production and activation of thyroid hormone. And interestingly, proper thyroid function promotes better absorption of zinc. So it’s a bit of a, you know, nice relationship there. So definitely zinc can help. And I usually recommend about 25 to 30 milligrams a day, my favorite is either zinc picolinate or zinc bisglycinate but depending on whether like it doesn’t like they both have good evidence around them and I’ve had a lot of success using both. So yes, those will be the forms and about the dose. If you are already on zinc, or you have zinc in other supplements, then I would probably adjust that dosage and even just check that you have like check your levels in your blood as well because you can have too much zinc and it will throw off other minerals in your body, particular copper. So make sure that you know if you’re if you’re supplementing for longer than you know three months or so, then maybe just get a blood test to make sure that you’re not throwing off any other minerals in your body. Kate, what would be another supplement that you would use for promoting hair growth or preventing hair loss?

Kate Callaghan 29:05
Oh, I’ve got a few.

Natalie K. Douglas
Good.

Kate Callaghan
So, I would say if your if your hair loss is due to depletion or something. So if you’ve been pregnant, or if you come off the birth control pill, or if you have amenorrhea or if you have struggled with an eating disorder, some sort of lack then I would definitely get into a good quality multi to replace all of the things for even if it’s just for short term to replace things, and to restore those levels in your body. But a big one that I’m going to say and everyone. I’m not going to expand on this because you can look back on our podcast on it is maybe collagen collagen and or gelatin powder that you can add into the diet very easily each day because protein is essential for hair growth for reproduction and collagen in gelatin are really wonderful for that.

Natalie K. Douglas 29:59
Nice, I love it. All right, um, the next one, if we’re going well, I’ll do one more and then you could do one more if you like. I’ll just mention it so, silica would be another one. So but just be mindful that it can take a few months to work. So don’t take it for like a couple of weeks and being like this shit is stupid, it’s not working. Give it a few months to actually work. Just getting blunt now. Sorry.

Kate Callaghan 30:28
Okay, I’m going to give.

Natalie K. Douglas 30:30
You can give more than one. I can hear you struggling.

Kate Callaghan 30:33
Struggling, okay. One, one would be dependent, okay they’re both dependent. So if you have iron-deficiency anemia, which can contribute to hair loss, then I would recommend either taking an iron supplement or having liver on a regular basis, daily, or every second day to start with, that’s a really quick way to restore your iron levels for hair health. If you do have polycystic ovarian syndrome, then I’d maybe looking to something like myo-inositol, to help regulate those insulin levels and blood sugar levels and help to promote ovulation.

Natalie K. Douglas 31:06
Yep, definitely. And I’m going to check in magnesium and B6 for if it’s hormonally driven. So you know, just go to the pill shop, the pill shop, just go to the supplement store and stock up on everything. No, we’re just giving you options. And it’s like diet and lifestyle are always going to be the foundation but definitely filling the gaps depending on what the cause of your hair loss is, it’s definitely going to be beneficial and get you there faster if you do use some supplements and then quickly before we have to jump off essential oils for hair loss. So, I actually have been using the doTERRA Root to Tip Serum, which I love. And I know I’ve also used Rosemary in the past. Kate, do you use Rosemary or the Root to Tip Serum or do you use anything else on top of that?

Kate Callaghan 32:00
I do use Root to Tip Serum now, now that I started actually putting some effort into my hair and styling it.

Natalie K. Douglas 32:03
Yeah, I know you’re saying. Like little bald patch at the front.

Kate Callaghan 32:07
But what I, the concoction I actually used to regrow my hair which I posted on Instagram it was friggin amazing and actually blew my mind was a blend of rosemary and cedar woods. The cedar wood has a lot of research around it for hair growth as does rosemary, geranium, and lavender in some jojoba and coconut oil mixed together. I use that as a bit of a hair mask.

Natalie K. Douglas 32:29
Oh, I love it. So did you do it? How long did you leave it on for or did you just leave it in and then next time you washed your hair like a week later you, I’m just kidding. Like a few days later.

Kate Callaghan 32:38
Gross. Kind of stinky, smell like a herb. I left it on for about 20 minutes each time and the protocol was actually meant to be every day. But I’m pretty lazy and I forget these things. And so I did it kind of once or twice a week and still noticed awesome results. I suspect if you did it every day, you would notice even better results. So, I’d leave it on for 20 minutes and then wash it out. Otherwise, you’re going to have really greasy herby hair.

Natalie K. Douglas 33:06
Delicious. How to get everyone’s attention.

Kate Callaghan 33:09
You can also put, if you don’t do the hair mask, you can also put a couple of drops of each into your current shampoo or conditioner and get it in that way.

Natalie K. Douglas 33:18
Yeah, that’s true. Good tip. All right. Well, we are out of time. Was there anything else that you wanted to add before we wrap up?

Kate Callaghan 33:29
On the stress note and a little bit more on polycystic ovarian syndrome and obviously amenorrhea. There is more information in my book Holistic Nutrition, if people are interested in checking that out.

Natalie K. Douglas 33:41
Awesome, and there are also lots of previous podcasts that talk about a lot of this stuff as well. But if something comes up and you’re like, oh, why don’t you talk about this, then please send us suggestions because we like talking about what you want us to talk about as much as we like just talking.

Kate Callaghan 33:59
Hearing our voice.

Natalie K. Douglas
Yeah. It’s pretty nice.

Kate Callaghan
I actually don’t hear my own voice because I don’t ever listen back.

Natalie K. Douglas 34:05
I actually do but that’s just because I’m like, I wonder what I said this time or like one of my family members’ messages me and was like, why do you like, you’re so embarrassing, and I’m like, I don’t remember being embarrassing on that podcast but anyway, I feel like I do pretty well but anyway,

Kate Callaghan
Pretty well.

Natalie K. Douglas
Thank you. Especially compared to what I can be like a jeez. Anyway, um, yes, thank you everyone for listening and Kate we will. We will talk again soon. Have a lovely day.

Kate Callaghan
Thanks, Nat. Bye.

Natalie K. Douglas
Bye.

Outro 34:39
Thanks for tuning in to The Holistic Nutritionists Podcast. Remember, we love to make the show relevant to you. So, if you have any questions or topics you’d like discussed on the show, simply submit them to [email protected] or [email protected] and we’ll get them answered for you. Also, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and review the podcast on iTunes and share it with your friends and family too. Need more personalized nutrition advice? Why not invest in a consultation to accelerate your journey to your optimal health. You can find Nat over at HealthByWholefoods.com.au and Kate at TheHolisticNutritionist.com. See you next time guys.