People who have gone for a keto-Diet have regularly reported hair-loss, hair thinning is a major concern when it comes to keto-diet. It happens three to six months after a diet and only a small amount of hair is lost.
Keto diet is commonly linked with hair loss there are many scientific reasons behind hair loss
Weight-loss
Massive weight loss is a shock to our bodies. As a result, the body sheds hair, however, the hair will grow back in a few months.
Dehydration
During keto diet when you deplete your glycogen stores you lose a lot of water and often get dehydrated, this is since glycogen draws water and with less glucose or glycogen you will be able to retain less water. With waters, many electrolytes such as sodium, zinc and other necessary ions are lost. These electrolytes are needed for hair growth and healthy hair.
Biotin
Biotin is vitamin H, it is necessary for increasing the thickness of follicles and helps your body convert food into energy.
A low carb high-fat diet has sometimes caused biotin deficiency. People opting form keto diet should consider taking biotin supplements during a ketogenic diet or go for ketogenic foods containing biotin. Our body needs 30 micrograms, so a small dose of biotin is the way to go.
Stress causes hair loss
Stresses are always the reason for hair loss whether it is psychological stress or dietary stress. When going from a conventional diet to keto diet stress is high this is due to calorie restriction, deficits, nutritional deficiencies, psychological stress, keto flu, and keto rash all of which occur during the keto-diet.
This stress can lead to loss of clumps of hair in areas around the scalp, hair readily falling out and trichotillomania in which people pull out their hair during combing without realizing it.
Protein and Iron deficiency:
People on a keto diet can sometimes underestimate proteins since excess proteins can knock out ketosis. You can easily end up with amino acid deficiency which is needed for hair growth.
You can often become iron deficient during a ketogenic diet. Ferritin which is an iron storage protein eventually decreases once you become iron deficient, this decrease in ferritin can cause symptoms of hypothyroidism which can cause hair loss.
What to do if you are experience hair loss during keto diet?
Methylsulfonylmethane builds keratin, a structural protein responsible for hair health. It contains a high amount of Sulphur which makes cystine that is needed to form keratin.
MSM can be taken in supplement form.
Collagen is a protein found throughout your body in connective tissues and is necessary for muscle, skin and hair growth. When it comes to hairs it is a content of hair follicle stem cells.
You can use perfect keto collagen as a collagen supplement. Perfect keto collagen is a collagen derived from cows and combined with an MCT oil.
You can also prevent hair loss in a keto diet from keto foods with high amounts of zinc such as lamb and pumpkin seeds. Coconut oil which has nutrients and iron can help with iron deficiency during a keto diet. This can be used topically or orally.