Hair Loss And Dandruff

[crsgal98]

Hello fellow Celiacs I am new at this and its been very difficult at times to deal with, my biggest worry and I hope there is someone who might help is my hair. I have lost 40% of my hair and I have pain in my scalp and lots of flakes. Has anyone else had this problem, or something close? By the way wishing everyone a Happy Easter.

[WheatChef]

The itching and dandruff will probably continue for a while after going gluten free. Have you noticed any change in shed hairs since dropping gluten? I know I noticed a severe drop in daily shed hairs after a week of gluten free.

[boysmom]

I had lost a lot of hair before I went gluten-free, but I began to notice less daily shedding and, for the first time in YEARS, tiny new growth hair. I'm 10 mos gluten-free now and my hair is not only growing back in, and growing, but my receding hairline (and I'm female) is back to where it was when I was in high school.

The itchiness and flakiness has taken longer and some juggling of shampoo to figure out, but I think I finally have that under control too. I've known since high school that shampoos with sodium lauryl/laureth sulfate made me break out around my hairline, so I have to find a shampoo that has none of that (REALLY hard to find) AND has no wheat, barley, or oat as well. I do have a wheat allergy in addition to celiac, so you may want to look into whether you have additional allergies that may be playing into your scalp problems.

[bluebonnet]

I had lost a lot of hair before I went gluten-free, but I began to notice less daily shedding and, for the first time in YEARS, tiny new growth hair. I'm 10 mos gluten-free now and my hair is not only growing back in, and growing, but my receding hairline (and I'm female) is back to where it was when I was in high school.

The itchiness and flakiness has taken longer and some juggling of shampoo to figure out, but I think I finally have that under control too. I've known since high school that shampoos with sodium lauryl/laureth sulfate made me break out around my hairline, so I have to find a shampoo that has none of that (REALLY hard to find) AND has no wheat, barley, or oat as well. I do have a wheat allergy in addition to celiac, so you may want to look into whether you have additional allergies that may be playing into your scalp problems.

you have given me some encouragement about my own hair growing back in! i have heard a few success stories but i have been gluten free for 3 1/2 months and my hair is still shedding. my friend is a hair dresser and she found a gluten free sodium lauryl/laureth sufate free line called SURFACE that i have recently started using. i believe its only sold in salons. google it to read about it ... you may like it too!

[WheatChef]

You may have a good point with the sulfate warning. A few days ago I switched from an expensive shampoo/conditioner thing to just using plain Coast bar soap and my scalp might potentially itch a bit less. I'd imagine it would be harder to get away with just using bar soap with anything more than a short men's hair cut (such as mine) but the simpler ingredients seem to be doing some good.

[lizzers]

I would recommend to use the gentlest soap possible on your hair - it might not be shampoo, maybe it is handsoap made w/ goat's milk and that's it -but thte goal is to clean the scalp off.. if you use a grater, add the soap to a cheese cloth & then rub that on your scalp it should help a bit. i ahve horrid large flakes on my scalp - the dermatitis they say - and supposedly it gets better the more gluten free you are. i've found that a medicated shampoo with salicylic acid works best for me - but my scalp isnt sensitive at all. also you could try olive oil to help loosen the flakes as well - then use soap to remove the oil.

I had lost a lot of hair before I went gluten-free, but I began to notice less daily shedding and, for the first time in YEARS, tiny new growth hair. I'm 10 mos gluten-free now and my hair is not only growing back in, and growing, but my receding hairline (and I'm female) is back to where it was when I was in high school.

The itchiness and flakiness has taken longer and some juggling of shampoo to figure out, but I think I finally have that under control too. I've known since high school that shampoos with sodium lauryl/laureth sulfate made me break out around my hairline, so I have to find a shampoo that has none of that (REALLY hard to find) AND has no wheat, barley, or oat as well. I do have a wheat allergy in addition to celiac, so you may want to look into whether you have additional allergies that may be playing into your scalp problems.

[boysmom]

my friend is a hair dresser and she found a gluten free sodium lauryl/laureth sufate free line called SURFACE that i have recently started using. i believe its only sold in salons. google it to read about it ... you may like it too!

Thanks bluebonnet, that does look interesting. Unfortunately no salons came up in my area so I'll have to look farther afield and see if I can pick some up when we're out of state visiting family or something.

[crsgal98]

This celiac thing is getting to be a real pain in the a**, I have to now watch what kind of lotion,face lotion,shampoo, makeup I mean come on now. I am trying to watch what foods I eat because of the pain on my scalp and hair loss, now I have to worry about all that other stuff. I just feel like throwing my hands in the air and forgetting all about this. But of course we cant to that this is something that I (we) will have to live with the rest of our lives. Im scared to take a shower, how are all of you dealing with this?

[Bobbijo6681]

This celiac thing is getting to be a real pain in the a**, I have to now watch what kind of lotion,face lotion,shampoo, makeup I mean come on now. I am trying to watch what foods I eat because of the pain on my scalp and hair loss, now I have to worry about all that other stuff. I just feel like throwing my hands in the air and forgetting all about this. But of course we cant to that this is something that I (we) will have to live with the rest of our lives. Im scared to take a shower, how are all of you dealing with this?

crsgal,

Take it one day at a time. Try not to change everything overnight. Yes you need to get rid of all of the gluten, but try not to replace everything with all of the gluten free replacements. Some, if not all, of them will be hard to handle at first, and they are somewhat of an acquired taste. I was very overwhelmed at first, but then once I got the hang of this new lifestyle, it has made a huge differrence in my life. Not only do I feel better, but I have more energy, and I have gotten rid of those ugly dark circles under my eyes. Things will get better for you, just give it time!