Naturopathy for Hair Loss

Understanding Hair Loss: When the Strands Tell a Story

Hair loss can be a distressing experience, quietly impacting confidence, identity, and emotional wellbeing. For many people—especially women—it’s more than just a cosmetic issue. It can feel like shedding part of yourself, a silent signal from the body that something deeper is wrong and stirring beneath the surface.

In my clinic, I’ve sat with countless individuals who always had beautiful hair and watched as they had to navigate the complex emotions that come with losing it. Some come in confused, asking if they’ve done something wrong. Others already carry an emotional backpack full of stress, grief, or physical exhaustion—and now this. It’s important to say this from the outset: Your body is simply speaking and giving you feedback, not failing you.

Let’s unpack the different kinds of hair loss, including a deeper focus on the most common one I see – telogen effluvium.

The Natural Hair Cycle

Before we dive into the various types of hair loss, it’s helpful to understand how hair naturally grows and sheds. Think of your hair follicles as tiny gardens on your scalp, each going through seasons of growth, rest, and renewal. This cycle has three main phases:

Anagen (Growth Phase): The active growing season, lasting 2-7 years. About 85% of your hair is in this phase at any given time, growing about half an inch each month.

Catagen (Transition Phase): A brief resting period of 2-3 weeks when growth slows and the hair follicle shrinks.

Telogen (Resting Phase): The final phase where hair rests for 2-3 months before naturally shedding to make room for new growth.

Exogen (Shedding Phase): Can last several months, new hairs are growing in the follicles as old hairs fall away.

In a healthy scalp, we naturally lose 50-100 hairs daily – which seems like a lot! But it is only when this delicate balance gets disrupted that we start to notice more significant hair loss, which can be quite alarming.

Types of Hair Loss

Androgenic Alopecia: The most common form of hereditary hair loss, affecting more than 50 million men and 30 million women in the United States. Men typically experience receding hairlines and crown thinning, while women notice diffuse thinning across the top of their scalp while maintaining their hairline.

Thyroid Disorders: the thyroid is responsible for many aspects of our metabolic function, including hair growth cycles. Both underactive and overactive thyroid conditions can speed up hair loss and change hair structure. In many cases this type of hair loss may also affect eyebrows, pubic hair and body hair.

Alopecia Areata: An autoimmune condition where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks hair follicles, leading to patchy hair loss or diffuse thinning. It’s unpredictable—hair can regrow spontaneously, only to fall out again later.

Traction Alopecia: This is not very common, but can be caused by repeated tension on the hair from certain hairstyles like tight ponytails, braids, or extensions.

Telogen Effluvium: A temporary state of increased hair shedding. This is the one I most often encounter in clinic. This form of hair loss typically shows up 2–3 months after a stressful event—be it physical, emotional, or hormonal. It can be subtle loss or more dramatic. But the key thing to know is that it is usually temporary and will eventually reverse on its own.

Telogen Effluvium: When the Body Hits Pause

Imagine your hair is like a garden. Most of the time, your strands are in the growing phase. But stressors—like childbirth, illness, surgery, trauma, emotional upheaval, or even crash dieting—can trigger a large number of hairs to shift into the resting phase prematurely. After a delay of 2-3 months, those hairs shed all at once.

I think of it as the body quietly whispering, “Let’s conserve energy. Something big just happened.” It’s a protective mechanism, not a punishment. If there is some “shock to the system,” the body’s innate intelligence decides to put resources elsewhere and hair growth is considered not important to survival.

In most cases, the 10% of hair normally in resting phase can increase to 20-50% as a tactic to allow nutrients and resources to be redirected to more important tasks. Increased numbers of hair follicles go into the telogen resting phase for around 2-3 months, then after that they will all start to enter the shedding phase. This is when we notice a large volume of hair being shed – usually around 2 months after the intial shock, stress or illness.

What strikes me most about telogen effluvium is its timing. It’s like your hair holds onto the memory of stress and releases it weeks later, often when you’re finally starting to feel better.

Common Triggers of Telogen Effluvium

Emotional Stress: Grief, depression, psychological trauma, job loss, or major life transitions can all trigger hair loss. The delayed response often catches people off guard, appearing just when they think they’re through the worst of their emotional journey.
Physical Trauma: High fevers, influenza, COVID-19, surgery, accidents, or other significant illnesses push hair follicles into the resting phase as your body redirects energy toward healing.
Nutritional Deficiencies: Severe calorie restriction, crash diets, ketogenic diets, detox programs, or fasting can trigger hair loss as the body reads this change as a threat to survival. Deficiencies in iron, protein, zinc, vitamin D, and B vitamins are particularly problematic.
Hormonal Changes: Pregnancy, childbirth, menopause, and thyroid disorders can all disrupt the hair growth cycle. Post-pregnancy hair loss affects up to 50% of new mothers.
Medications: Certain antidepressants, blood thinners, and beta-blockers can also contribute to telogen effluvium.

Unlike other forms of hair loss, telogen effluvium typically presents as diffuse thinning rather than distinct patterns or patches. You might notice your ponytail feeling thinner, more hair on your pillow, or increased shedding during washing or brushing.

Supporting Regrowth: A Holistic Path Back to Balance

The good news about telogen effluvium is that in the vast majority of cases it is self-limiting. Hair typically grows back in three to six months without treatment, though managing underlying triggers may help resolve it more quickly.

Nutrition Matters

Hair is made from keratin, a protein. Without adequate dietary protein (at least 1 gram per kilogram of body weight each day), iron, calcium, zinc and other key minerals and trace elements, the body will prioritise more essential functions over hair growth. Focus on nutrient-dense, whole foods with plenty of leafy greens, legumes, nuts, seeds, eggs, and quality protein to give your body a bountiful supply to help it redirect nutrients back to hair growth. A comprehensive blood panel can help identify any deficiencies and appropriate supplement plan can be prescribed.

Herbal Allies

Nature offers gentle supports for hair regrowth and stress recovery:

Nettle leaf: Rich in iron and silica, traditionally used for strengthening hair
Horsetail: An excellent source of silica, supporting hair structure and strength
Rosemary: Often used as an oil for scalp massage to boost circulation and encourage follicle activation

For stress management, adaptogenic herbs support the adrenals and nervous system and act like emotional shock absorbers:

Withania (Ashwagandha): Supports the nervous system and adrenal health
Rhodiola: Helps the body adapt to stress and supports energy levels
Rhodiola rosea
Holy Basil: A gentle nervous system tonic that promotes resilience
Siberian Ginseng: Supports stamina and stress recovery

In my clinic, I like to create personalised herbal tonics that combine several different herbs tailored to each individual’s unique needs and constitution.

Scalp Health Like soil to a plant, the scalp environment matters. Consider gentle scalp massage with nourishing oils like rosemary or peppermint (diluted in a carrier oil), avoid harsh shampoos with sulfates and parabens, and treat your hair gently during the recovery period.

Mind-Body Connection Stress lives in the tissues. Practices that allow emotional processing include mindfulness, gentle movement, journaling, massage, or acupuncture. Learning to carry your emotional backpack more lightly can prevent hair loss. I have found many cases of hair loss respond well to better managing stress and the body bounces back quicker when overwork, anxiety and overwhelm are managed effectively.

The Emotional Weight of Hair Loss

For most of us, hair is symbolic and can carry a sense of identity, personal expression, youth and vitality. Many women express their femininity through their hair styles and many men facing baldness report feel insecure and less attractive. It is no wonder that hair loss makes us feel so vulnerable and can stir up feelings of embarrassment, shame, fear, or sadness. Yet, it is important to always remember – our true self worth is never tied to our hair!

Sometimes, hair loss becomes the mirror that shows us just how overextended we’ve become. Other times, it might just be a gentle invitation to come back home to ourselves—to listen more closely, to slow down and rest. I always encourage my patients to to listen to their body and read its messages and consider what needs to change in order to heal, hair loss is no different.

When to Seek Support

If your hair loss is severe, prolonged beyond six months, or accompanied by other symptoms like fatigue, mood changes, or scalp irritation, please reach out. A qualified naturopath, doctor, or dermatologist can help explore the root cause, order appropriate testing, and create a personalised treatment plan.

The goal isn’t just to get your hair back. It’s to restore the balance within, so your whole system can flourish again.

Moving Forward

Hair loss, in all its forms, is rarely just about hair. It’s about how we adapt to change, how we define ourselves, and how we find strength in vulnerability. Recovery is normal. Regrowth happens. But more importantly, healing begins when we stop blaming our bodies and start listening to them instead. Healing isn’t always about returning to exactly how things were before. Sometimes it’s about discovering a new version of yourself—one that might be stronger, more resilient, and more self compassionate than you imagined.

For more information about hair loss and its various causes, visit the Australasian College of Dermatologists or consult with a qualified healthcare provider. If you’re looking for a holistic approach to hair loss that addresses underlying causes and supports your body’s natural healing processes, I’d be happy to work with you to create a personalised treatment plan tailored to your unique situation. Contact me!