Seeking and Finding Wholeness

Video from Dr. Mercola. A great introduction to hypothyroidism.

Notes from the video clip below:

If your TSH blood test is over 1.5  (not 5.0) you likely are hypothyroid, confirm this with a free T3 and free T4 tests

Iodine deficiency is a common cause of hypothyroidism. Get enough Iodine , use SSKI to get Iodine

Avoid soy (it induces hypothyroidism) especially un-fermented  soy

Use coconut oil

If you are hypothyroid, hormones can be used, Synthroid (T4) and other synthetic hormones are not recommended. If you have not been on synthetic hormones for a long time using armour thyroid is better (gives you T1, T2, T3 and T4). Eventually you may be able to not need hormones at all. Your allopathic physician will prescribe synthetic drugs, a holistic doctor will prescribe armour thyroid instead.

Enjoy:

I take Iodoral or Lugols and eat sea weed to get iodine into my diet. I do “not” use table salt. Table salt should be avoided. Also cruciferous vegetables inhibit the thyroid and they should be steamed before being eaten to remedy this.

I‘ve found hundreds of solutions for thinning hair, for hair regrowth, for halting loss and increasing thickness. The challenge is not finding an answer that worked for someone but choosing the one that seems to work for many and then trying it to see if it works for me!

Every person is different, and experimentation is a must until you find what works for you. Thanks to the Internet I’ve tapped into the knowledge and experience of hundreds of people. I’ve visited many discussion forums, had discussions with many, read others’ years worth of discussions, found many blogs and emailed a good number of individuals.

So, if you’re wondering what I am up to these days on the hair front, here’s my update:

I’m using a new shampoo and a new shower procedure (rinsing off the hair with ACV and cool water before stepping out of the shower, and using a comb). I have done many diet changes, such as avoiding gluten, wheat, pasteurized milk and it’s products, corn, alcohol, tap water (Fluoride), and avoiding most nuts except for brazil nuts and almonds. Naturally, I avoid knowingly injesting all GMO foods, pesticides, preservatives, MSG, colors, flavors, plastics, metals, sugars, refined flours (and “enriched” flours), cereals, meat and eggs from factory farmed animals, meat and dairy from non-grass fed cows, some sea food, and other poisons and fake foods sold today in U.S. stores.

I am eating more protein, drinking some raw milk kefir, eating grass-fed butter, cooking eggs less so they are not totally hard boiled or fully cooked when fried. I eat sauerkraut, raw-milk cheeses and take fermented cod liver oil at times and raw honey.

I’m experimenting with baking bread that is gluten-free, wheat-free and baker’s-yeast free including making sourdough bread using kefir as the culture. I am working on eating more greens, less grains, less foods with a high glycemic index. I also supplement with iodine and many supplements. I’ve learned a lot about iodine and about orthomolecular medicine concepts.

To label the diet is tough, it’s a hybrid/modified version of the Paleolithic (pre-historic woman), Weston Price (uncivilized man), traditional, grain-free, warrior, organic, raw, Mediterranean, and low-carb diets.

I recently bought a couple books and I became a member of the Weston Price Foundation, the Freedom Farms private coop, and the Minnesota traditional foods group. Here are the books I got, two classics:

I work on stress reduction using many helpful techniques that are working. I also use self talk (positive hair affirmations that I came up with), I visualize my hair the way I want it to be.. (surprisingly, this has been tougher than expected).

Read more…

I’m researching using topical oils to stop hair loss, thicken hair, and re-grow hair. I’ve found many recipes and mixes of oils, and many positive testimonials. It seems some combinations of oils work for some people but no one recipe works for everybody.

Below I am posting a list of all the oils I have come across that are being used for hair health, regrowth, thickening and to reduce scalp inflammation and itching and disinfect as well.

I am posting this list here so you can take a look at it; if you see a missing ingredient that you know can help please leave a comment. If you have used any of these oils alone or in combination (in a recipe) also please leave a comment below.  If you know of anything related to these oils (side effects, Ayurveda connection, Chinese medicine, or any historical use) also leave a comment.

As I continue to research this area slowly (due to a busy schedule) I will share what I find. Certainly your input here will help me cover more ground and find important information thanks to your help, I am certain that I will find that magic mixture or that best single oil that will work for me and my hair and for others, female and male.

Why do I think topical oils work? a few reasons include: your skin will “eat” these oils as it absorbs them, many oils have anti-inflammatory properties, anti-septic properties .. killing of scalp bugs, removing sebum, and eliminating inflammation can all allow the hair to grow healthy again.

Naturally, a diet and supplementation regimen is needed to have the nutrients needed and eliminate other sources for hair issues. Also, you need a mind-body approach, a positive attitude, hypnosis, relaxation, deep breathing, exercise, yoga, massages and others can all complement and strengthen the effects of a beneficial a diet, regimen and topicals, thus a healthy mind-body will inevitably lead to healthy (healthier) hair.

Here’s the list of essential oils, plant oils and animal oils that are used for hair health, growth and thickness:

• rosemary oil
• lavender oil
• thyme oil
• peppermint oil
• cedarwood / atlast cedarwood oil
• tea tree oil
• eucalyptus oil
• aloe vera oil/gel
• grapeseed oil
• arnica oil
• sandalwood oil
• lemon / lime oil
• Amla hair oil
• almond oil
• sage oil
• rosewood oil
• lemon balm (melissa officnalis)
• broccoli oil
• tata oil
• cactus oil
• clove oil
• cinnamon oil
• chamomile oil
• ginger oil/tea
• borage oil
• castor oil
• flax oil
• chia oil
• hemp oil
• sage oil
• burdock
• olive oil
• coconut oil
• emu oil
• jojoba oil

Thanks for sharing!!

I wrote recently about my recent interest in researching hair and scalp health, how to retain hair, thicken it and even grow new hairs.

The many websites, articles, discussion forums I visited offered a lot of interesting information. I was very optimistic with my findings, based on the many testimonials I found online.

Now, only a few (busy) days since my last article, with over 20 hours of reading and typing, I have now gone through all the research material I had gathered and summarized it all.  Not only that, I now have about another 300 pages of newly-gathered information to go through.

Good news, bad news

I remain optimistic that there are many natural remedies, in conjunction with nutrition and other healthy habits I know that one can make their hair and scalp healthier, this I know for a fact.

The good news is, I believe the material I gathered offered proof and solutions that worked for women that do improve their hair, even grow more of it. For men, with the so called male pattern baldness (mpb), I can’t be that certain.

Since I have mpb and the hormone DHT (self diagnosed, given the other males that share similar genes) I am a prime candidate to try some of the remedies and good habits on myself.

To start with, I took photos of my head yesterday. I’ll be taking a few photos every month to see if I can track any progress, or lack thereof.

So where’s the bad news?

Many people take the words of Doctors to be final and correct. From personal experience I know this is not true. I am not a statistic neither are you.

A lot of the science around hair loss, male pattern baldness, female pattern baldness, hormones effects of hair, in my opinion, offers only theories (not facts). Thus, take everything you hear with a grain of salt, science as of today has theories on hair loss and hair growth, some of these theories are repeated by people as facts, these “facts” are thus not conclusive nor are they final. There is room for interpretation, and there is evidence than does contradict said facts.

Hair health can be affected by many factors. For most men (with mpb) the role of genetics is usually claimed as the culprit. Many consider genetics the ultimate factor in hair loss; others disagree.

Who controls you?

Recently I have come across more and more material that discusses how a person can change their DNA, how the DNA changes due to environmental factors and even mental influences. I have seen cases where “predetermining” factors such as a person’s genetics, upbringing or culture did not have the “expected” outcome.

I’m trying to say that you are not a 100% controlled by a predetermined set of genetic code.

Read more…

The answer to eliminating hair loss must lie within the 300+ pages of online-research information that I collected. During the coming days I will be sifting through hundreds of testimonials, research studies, scientific data and traditional wisdom. I have information on the use of Chinese, Ayuvedic, Middle Eastern and other Native remedies. I will be studying the old wisdom of natural and home made solutions along with the latest in science, drugs, and nutritional knowledge on vitamins, minerals. I will also look at the use of oils, essential oils and vibrational therapies in search for the answer to hair regrowth.

I’ve researched hair re-growth and hair health on and off (more “off” than “on”) for about a couple years. I’m a male, my body has the so called “male pattern baldness” syndrome. It started when I was in my 20’s, maybe even earlier, it was very subtle, so I didn’t care much for it. In the last 2-3 years, the thinning hair in the front and center part of my scalp started to thin more rapidly, it is very obvious now; that area is getting close to being bald, and the thinning doesn’t seem to be slowing.

My position on hair has been that I’d simply shave my head if this thinning spreads to more of my head. I accepted that I will likely end up shaving my head since this kind of hair loss is considered to be “genetic” (it “runs in the family”). Since I don’t like the idea of having a half head of hair, with a runway of baldness in between 2 clumps of hair on the sides; shaving seems more appropriate (even though it’s more work).

As a hypnotist, I’ve heard of hypnosis being used for hair health, I know a lot about the power of the mind over the physical body and about the power of positive self-talk. In fact, I believe that, if done properly, hypnosis and guided imagery could aid in hair restoration. Relaxation alone (which is easy to achieve with hypnosis) will help health in general and thus positively help the health of one’s hair. My position, however, is that doing this would require time that I rather use on other matters; it took years of thinning to be where I am now, recovery may also take years and require a lot of my time.

If you know anything about me you probably know how busy my schedule is. I volunteer, I do research on multiple issues, I’m studying multiple topics, I work, etc.. I’ve had the opinion that I don’t have the time to invest into restoring my hair (doing such things as recording my hair health hypnosis tapes, taking time out for hypnosis, relaxation, sitting down for guided imagery, or even to give myself scalp massages, making home made shampoos or even taking the time to research all my options out there for hair re-growth).

Even though I freed a lot of time by almost never watching TV programming (when I do it’s online and not often) my time remains a precious resource. I do have other things I find more important that I rather be spending my time on, such as practicing natural vision improvement, studying Chinese Medicine, vibrational healing therapies, photography, am taking college classes, practicing QiGong and meditation, volunteering my hypnosis skills to help crisis patients, managing a meetup.com group while trying to keep a social life. This is where I’m at right now, things will likely change in the future.

Appearances in our society are given more importance than they deserve. It’s one of these inconvenient [societal] “truths” that many take fore-granted. The issue of hair health is especially important when it comes to women. We all know that a man can shave his head and no one would care, but for women there is much more pressure to “look pretty”. Who decides what being “pretty” is, that’s a topic that I’m going to leave for another day.

I know of a person, who’s a female who has thinning hair and it is bothering her greatly. Like many of us, she had luscious thick hair as a kid, and as she matured, slowly but surely her hair seemed to loose its thickness, and over the last few years it started to thin in certain areas. Medical doctors so far didn’t seem to help much.

This has given me enough reason, now I was motivated to research hair health more seriously. I started a few days ago by browsing many websites and discussion forums. I use specific google search keywords to find what I’m looking for. I am finding a lot of good information and am compiling a lot of the research findings into a rapidly growing document.

Based on what I’ve found so far, I am very optimistic about being able to find things to help her have more hair than she ever wanted! I am finding a lot more useful information online than the doctor had offered her.

In a nutshell the areas I am researching include:

Read more…