the great hair race: month 1

Long before I ever felt confident in my skin, I was confident in my hair.

In the early 2000s, we were blessed with alcohol-based toners, Proactiv, and Noxzema (they were all recipes for skin disaster).

Haircare, however, I felt was basic. Basic enough where I couldn’t possibly ruin my hair unless I slathered it in bleach or fried it in my $10 Conair straightener. As long as I didn’t do those two things, I should be fine!

My hair is medium, straight, dark brown-black (essentially a 1b hair type). It takes a few days to get greasy and is relatively thick. But this all changed when I lost 45 pounds in the last year. An unintended side effect of weight loss? Intense hair shedding/hair loss.

Fortunately, this is very common and does not last indefinitely! This type of hair loss is caused by a stress response from your body’s systems — your body recognizes a change and this is its “thank you” to the latest and greatest update. This is not limited to just weight loss, any stressor can trigger this type of hair loss (covid, a breakup, giving birth). Hair loss takes place anywhere from 3-4 months after the stressor has occurred and just when we think we survived the worst, stress comes back with shiny, bald vengeance.

March 2023

My ends were beginning to look super stringy

i had no idea what to expect

I was showering and when I ran my hands through my hair I noticed some shedding… then more shedding… and the shedding did not stop until I had a ball of black hair in my hands. I immediately thought I was having an allergic reaction to one of my favorite shampoos and tossed everything out, thinking I had a bad batch (I regretted it). And for the next month or two, the hair loss did. not. stop.

It was the gift that did not stop giving.

I noticed the hair loss begin to slow down about 2 months after the initial shower incident. The aftermath was not cute. My hair was raggedy, thin, and just didn’t look the same. Any products I put in it made my hair look limp and lifeless and if I didn’t want the thinning to show in any way, I had to style it. The hair on my temples receded and my scalp was beginning to show. The ends of my hair started breaking and it was just a bad time.

i tried “HaIr GrOWtH” products

AKA: Vegamour, Viviscal, BondiBoost, scalp sprays, DIYs, Biotin, Oils, you name it.

The scalp was scalping, that was for sure.

This was the aftermath: my scalp was showing, my hair was thin, yet I had some small regrowth

Hair care companies these days have a new marketing strategy towards consumers wanting growing longer, thicker, shinier hair — and I will confess that I was their consumer and I was EATING it up.

After throwing money at anything with the word “hair” in it didn’t solve my problem. I did some research into the study featuring rosemary oil versus minoxidil. Although I wasn’t exactly suffering from Androgenetic Alopecia (that I know of), I figured I could give rosemary oil a shot.

what else could I lose?

Month 1: DIY Rosemary Water and Vitamins

I cut my hair on June 5th, 2023.

I mixed a moisturizing toner, rosemary essential oil, peppermint essential oil and sprayed it on my scalp once a day, everyday (super experimental, I would not recommend anyone else try this. I’m just willing to sacrifice my scalp for science :)). Weirdly enough, I found that this mixture never made my scalp oily — I was still able to go 3-4 days without washing. I really enjoyed the tingling sensation from the peppermint oil — eventually it subsided.

I also recently cut my hair; I wanted a fresh start and a baseline to see my new growth. In conjunction with my Great Value minoxidil potion, I added daily vitamins and hair masks to promote growth and retain length (very recent additions since I’ve noticed more breakage in my ends).

My goals for this journey are to promote longer, thicker and stronger hair.

In the photos below, the left is how it started versus how it’s going. I’ll continuously update with my routine and document the journey!