Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Natural Hair and Deficiencies (Health 'n' Hair)



Hey Curlies,

You might be able to tell from the title and the picture above that I have some sort of a deficiency.

Sometime ago, last year or the year before that, I read something about how deficiencies could affect hair growth and thickness and I just shrugged it off. I was like, "I'm going to take care of my hair and my hair's going to grow!" I did take care of my hair and my hair did grow, I should say, but the thing that really bothered my happened about a week ago. I was looking at videos and picks of people who are at their 2nd year of being natural (I'm at that) and I was like, "what? You just started your second year and you're at BSL?" or "We've been natural for the same period of time, my hair's just nearing halfway to BSL and yours is like just a tad bit above BSL?" I had like an almost major hair envy.

So, some of you might be wondering, some of you might have already figured out what deficiency I have. It's iron-deficiency/anaemia. I've had it for some years now. People blame it on my diet (vegetarian) and sort of eating disorder (SED - which I've had since I was a new born (according to my mother)).

I was on iron pills for a couple of months then my dad asked me to stop taking them. He put it this way, "your life can't depend on a pill." Some time later, the dizziness, tiredness and exhaustion that comes with anaemia returned. I tried to take as much of green-leafy vegetables as I could, but sometimes, the whole anaemia thing still got to me.

I was away for a couple of weeks in the middle of nowhere and on one particular day (the day before I headed back home), I stopped breathing for a while. I told the (I'll call her) house parent that was there when I headed back to my room (after I started breathing again) and I told her what happened because I knew she was a nurse. When my mum came to get me the next day, she insisted that I head over to a hospital as soon as possible because I had exams coming up soon (those exams have started). I didn't go to the hospital for the first week or so, but i kept complaining of headaches and tiredness and dizziness (and someone saw me at school and told the nurse that I had suddenly gone very pale). My mum called my aunt, who's a doctor and told her what was going on and she insisted that I should be placed back on the iron pills. We went to the pharmacy and couldn't find the pills i had been given before so, we went to a hospital where my blood count was checked and the doctor prescribed iron pills for me.
(I feel a bit better now, just so you know)

Anyways, I've come to learn that the iron deficiency played a part in how fast my hair grew. My hair seems to be growing faster now. Like back when I first started taking iron pills. Sometimes, I'll feel like these tiny bumps like goosebumps all over my scalp and as they go, I got a lot of new growth. I have those goosebump-like things right now. At some point, if you've been following my blog for about a year, you will know that the hair on the sides of my head where below collarbone length. Right now, they are just touching my collarbone (and yes, I remember the bad extensions and stuff that made me lose a lot of hair, but that are should have grown past collarbone by now if not for the slower growth).

I am proud of myself for being able to grow my hair out this much even with my growth being slowed down. I feel like i have achieved something great.

The point of this post is to let you all know that if you have any deficiencies, you should see your doctor and get your meds or whatever you need if your goal is quick growth, length retention and healthy hair. If you're not on meds, take proper care of your hair. Treat your hair like a person. Don't torture your hair in any way.

Deficiencies of vitamins and minerals can affect your hair growth so don't be as ignorant as I was.

Thanks for reading! :)
~SammyWithTheBigHair


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