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Does Celiac Make You Look Old/cause Aging?


Darko21

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Darko21 Newbie

I'm only 19..and my facial skin looks terrible. My hairline is also starting to recede but thats another issue.

My peers have smooth, clear, glowing faces and it makes me sad.

Will my skin always be like this? I've been eating reall healthy,( for example broccoli, almonds, baked chicken breast, and sweet potato) since the diet (2 month ago), but I haven't noticed much of a change.


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maile Newbie
I'm only 19..and my facial skin looks terrible. My hairline is also starting to recede but thats another issue.

My peers have smooth, clear, glowing faces and it makes me sad.

Will my skin always be like this? I've been eating reall healthy,( for example broccoli, almonds, baked chicken breast, and sweet potato) since the diet (2 month ago), but I haven't noticed much of a change.

are you taking any supplements? often what ages us or makes us look older is lack of specific nutrients such as zinc, magnesium and copper...all of which play a role in good skin tone/elasticity and hair. celiacs don't always absorb enough of these nutrients. for skin texture another supplement associated with better skin is fish oils.

as for the receding hair line, look to your mother's side of the family and you'll get an idea pretty quickly what your prognosis will be :P

Mike M Rookie
I'm only 19..and my facial skin looks terrible. My hairline is also starting to recede but thats another issue.

My peers have smooth, clear, glowing faces and it makes me sad.

Will my skin always be like this? I've been eating reall healthy,( for example broccoli, almonds, baked chicken breast, and sweet potato) since the diet (2 month ago), but I haven't noticed much of a change.

Hang in there, it may take a year or so. Other than feeling so good on the gluten free diet, the first visual sign for me was how much better my skin started looking. It wasn't dry like it had always been. Heck, I was at the health food store a couple of days ago and bought a bottle of organic wine and the teller asked for ID. She said if there was any doubt, she had to card. I got that covered by a couple of decades! Mike

P.S.Also, can't hardly keep up with the fingernails, they grow like crazy and so does the hair. I don't hold out much hope for my hairline.....Oh well, so it goes!

missy'smom Collaborator

Yes, supplements can make a difference. I recently started taking a calcium/ mag./ D supplement faithfully and was suprized to see a difference in my face. You may want to consider taking a liquid or powdered multivitamin. Some of us find that some tablets are not digested well at first as we heal, but eventually can switch back to the tablets.

MammaG Newbie
I'm only 19..and my facial skin looks terrible. My hairline is also starting to recede but thats another issue.

My peers have smooth, clear, glowing faces and it makes me sad.

Will my skin always be like this? I've been eating reall healthy,( for example broccoli, almonds, baked chicken breast, and sweet potato) since the diet (2 month ago), but I haven't noticed much of a change.

Once I went gluten-free for several months, I started growing more hair! I hadn't realized that my hairline was recedeing; However, an extra layer came in right along my hairline (mostly above my ears). My husband and I used to joke about how much I used to shed but now I shed at normal rate. Hair is softer too. I have been gluten free now for 14 months. So there is hope! Iron, fat and protein are all essential for healthy hair; once your body is able to absorb these your hair will show it. Good luck.

Takala Enthusiast

No, it's the opposite if you stick with the diet, give it some more time. Try eating some more good fats in the form of olive oil, coconut oil, avocados, nuts (those almonds are good) flaxseed (if you can stand it, I can't do the oil, disagrees with my system), salmon, tuna.

Also apple cider vinegar is good for micronutrients. Are you taking a gluten free B vitamin multicomplex?

Best skin toner (and hair rinse) which restores the proper pH, because regular soap is base instead of mildly acidic, is one part apple cider vinegar to 7 parts plain water. Try mixing a spritz bottle of this up and then putting some on a cotton ball to wipe your skin with as a toner after washing, and you can also spray it on your hair after a shampoo or use it as a final rinse, it will leave your hair silky and untangled and shiny, best of all it's also gluten free. If you need more moisturizer you can take a tiny dab of coconut oil and rub it into your palms and then over your face and another one on your hair, starting at the crown.

Darko21 Newbie

I've been cooking foods in olive oil and taking fish and vitamin supplements, I suppose it just hasn't been able to fully absorb yet.


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Spruey Stuey Newbie
I've been cooking foods in olive oil and taking fish and vitamin supplements, I suppose it just hasn't been able to fully absorb yet.

Hang in there buddy.

I have had a bald spot on the top of my head since my 20s and it is filling in with new hair. I am in my 40's now. The guys who cuts my hair keeps asking what tonic I am using...!

I have been off gluten for just about a year.....

:)

  • 2 weeks later...
MarisaB Newbie

You might want to consider your shampoo/conditioner and face wash. I have switched my personal care products to gluten-free products and I have noticed a huge differerance in my skin texture. My hair is also starting to grow back and my scalp is less sensitive.

Just a suggestion...

Darko21 Newbie

Thanks for the suggestions. I've actually stopped using shampoo altogether, although I still use sunscreen during the day. I have a multivitamin and fish oil every other day and drinking lots of water.

Right now my skin looks OK, what's really bothering me is the hair...it seems like it started receding AFTER the diet. Like there are two semicircles near my temples..drives me crazy. I'm kind of detoxing at the moment I think, eating fruits vegetables and nuts, figuring that I might have bacteria overgrowth because my stomach is really hurting at night when I eat healthy. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that once my body is more nourished maybe the hair follicles will start producing hair again...

tarnalberry Community Regular

genetics is going to determine a lot of these things. some people do start loosing their hair that early.

the diet may help, and good fats/supplements will as well. but nothing can undo the genes you've got.

digmom1014 Enthusiast

I too had the "shedding" problem b-4 going gluten-free. After being gluten-free for at 8 months-give it some time, I really started to feel better and started to notice that my scalp felt tight and itchy. I determined I had a problem with Sodium Lauryl Sufate-it is in a lot of Shampoo's.

Does your scalp feel tight or itchy? It might be the SLS-the best cheapest shampoo I've food is at Trader Joe's. $3.00 a bottle.

Darko21 Newbie

I really haven't been using any shampoos at all...and I'm really worried that the cause is genetics since my dad lost all his hair by like 22.

I'm hoping...maybe, just possibly that if I eat extremely healthy and and exercise everyday that I can go against nature and reverse it.

  • 3 weeks later...
MammaG Newbie
I really haven't been using any shampoos at all...and I'm really worried that the cause is genetics since my dad lost all his hair by like 22.

I'm hoping...maybe, just possibly that if I eat extremely healthy and and exercise everyday that I can go against nature and reverse it.

Don't worry about your dad's hairloss. The hair loss gene is sex-linked with your mother, not your father. So look to your mom and her siblings rather than your dad.

Anyway, if you want to wash your hair without using shampoo (I have been doing this for about 10 months now) there is a method where you mix baking soda with water and you wash your hair with that. Rinse well. Then as a conditioner you use apple cider vinegar with water and then rinse your hair with that. (Personally, I then do a third rinse with some kind of a "tea"- usually a nettle/sage tea). I know the site is a little odd but it explains the whole thing real well and how to do it : Open Original Shared Link I highly recommend it. Very cheap, effective, and gluten-free!

I really think that as long as you stay gluten free your body will be able to start feeding your hair from the inside out. It just takes super long because the "life span" of a hair is about 6 years. Depending on how badly damaged your intestines were/are it could take a really long time but I'd bet that by 10 months of being gluten free you should see signs of regrowth. Take care.

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