The Hairless Side of Crash Diets

With the socially-induced definition of beauty, many women who fail to meet the status quo fall back to drastic “beauty-enhancing” measures like crash diets. But while it’s flattering to hear you’ve successfully chopped off an excess flab, you must know that something else is at stake - your hair.

Crash Diets and Hair Loss
Hair is basically composed of dead cells but at the seat of every strand is a biological activity taking place, causing the hair to grow longer and shed off at any one time. This is where the hair follicles reside. Hair follicles are hair manufacturers and require oxygen and nutrients to perform their role. However, since hair has no survival purpose, it ranks last in the priority list of parts in the body to receive nutrients. Therefore, when the body has a faulty replenishment system, hair is very likely to suffer in the process.

Crash diets can help you cut down on calories, fat, carbohydrates, etc. But when fat is trimmed down, there is a separate reaction. The body loses a significant amount of omega-3 fatty acids and vitamins C & E as well. These nutrients are necessary for proper hair growth and cycling. However, in the vast majority of cases, hair thinning is a result of the lack of protein and essential amino acids like lysine since hair is basically made up of protein.

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