What your hair is trying to tell you

There was a time in my life when my hair started falling out and didn’t stop for months (this has actually happened a few times). I was losing handfuls of hair in the shower and I avoided putting it up because I could see how much thinner it had become around my temples.

I was SO distraught about losing my hair, and simultaneously judging myself for being so upset... it’s just hair, after all.

But if I’m honest, it wasn’t just hair I was grieving.

My hair had always felt like a part of my femininity. It made me feel beautiful and wild and healthy and sensual, and watching it thin felt like watching some essential part of my vitality disappear.

I think a lot of women know this feeling but don’t talk about it because we’re afraid it sounds shallow.

I don’t think it is.

⚠️The quality of our hair, skin, nails, and teeth are little messengers from the body. They’re often among the first places we notice when something deeper is out of balance, whether that’s chronic stress, hormone imbalances, nutrient deficiencies, gut issues, or simply trying to run on empty for too long.

At the time, I wasn’t eating enough protein or absorbing nutrients well due to weakened digestion, I was rushing around all week long, and I thought because I slept well that I was resting enough (my Oura ring dispelled that fantasy 😂). In Chinese medicine, we’d call this yin deficiency.

⛲ I love the concept of yin because it’s the deep well that nourishes life. While yang is all about doing, producing, and achieving, yin is substance. It’s blood and hydration, rest and replenishment, pleasure and receptivity. It’s the rich soil that allows beauty, fertility, resilience, and vitality to flourish.

And so many women I know are profoundly yin depleted.

We push through exhaustion, skip meals, survive on caffeine, and treat rest like something we have to earn. Then we wonder why our cycles change, our nervous systems are fried, our libido disappears, and our hair starts falling out.

🌿 Looking back, healing my hair had very little to do with hair. It had everything to do with nourishing myself. Eating enough, healing my gut, supporting my hormones, slowing down, and building a life with enough spaciousness that my body could finally exhale.

If I can have super long, shiny, strong hair as someone with celiac, hypothyroidism, a ferritin level that I can barely keep above 30, and thin hair genes on both sides... there is hope for anyone.

🍯 In Chinese medicine, we think of the hair as an extension of our Kidney Jing, or life essence. Lustrous hair has long been considered a sign of abundant vitality.

What your hair may be telling you:

➡️ Early or rapid greying: mitochondrial stress, high cortisol, copper or other mineral deficiencies. Even with a genetic component, this can sometimes be slowed or improved.

➡️ Thinning: chronic stress, post-viral syndrome, low hormones, thyroid dysfunction, nutritional deficiencies, or simply under-eating.

➡️ Breaking or dullness: protein insufficiency and nutrient deficiencies.

And because I know you’re going to ask... here are some of my favorite rituals for long, luscious, healthy hair: 💁‍♀️

🤍 Daily collagen peptides and minerals: exactly what I use and give my patients here.

🤍 Castor oil hair masks.

🤍 I gua sha or massage my scalp with my hands for a few minutes every morning and while I shower in the evenings. Blood flow is key!

🤍 I use this shampoo and this conditioner

🤍 No hair dye. Evening showering and air drying. I blow dry maybe once a month.

🤍 90+ grams of protein a day.

🤍 Silk pillowcases

(None of these are affiliate links except the Fullscript supplement pharmacy. That’s simply the only way I can give you access to professional-grade products.)

Love,

Caite

P.S. 🌹 Need support getting your health and radiance back? Book a Vital Woman Health Consult. The best beauty treatments work from the inside out.