Hair loss, hair style?

I expected to lose some hair. Last week, it looked like it had stopped falling out there for a few days. This week it is falling out with renewed vigor. I have a few questions: 1.) Any of you have long hair when the loss started--did you refrain from cutting your hair off? I dread doing this. My hair has been long for 40 years. 2.) When it came back, did it come back the same color and texture? 3.) How thin did it get? I recall reading Susan Marie remarking about seeing shining scalps when she is on stage. I get over 80 g protein everyday and am taking my vits, meds, AND started Hair, Skin and Nails 2 weeks ago. I know this will stop in a few months and am thankful the end of school is near. What I am hoping is that it will have started to return by the time school starts in the fall. Thanks for your responses, Lois

Lois , My hair was down my back when I begain this process . It got to the point where you could see through it , it was so thin . I had no other recourse but to cut it . I know that upping my protein and taking the hair skin and nails helped . Now my hair grows like crazy, but it comes in curly ... I am not sure why it did that . I have tried to let it grow back several times and I just get frustrated with it . So I keep it in the style it is in today . As you stated it will come back .. it is just frustrating waiting on it to stop . Natalie

where do you get the Hair, Skin and Nails product? I have a friend who needs it. Cathy

Hello Lois - Thankfully, as with everything in life - hairloss, the amount of, or lack of - is as individual as ...well, YOU! My hair started off mid-length (in the back it just tipped below the shoulder blades/bra strap) and I hung in there for about 12 months, hoping not to cut it. Lost the fight - cut it, and have kept it short ever since. Not because it can't grow - thankfully, it's back to sprigging again (although it slows down or starts to fall out again, with EACH surgery Ive had - not just RNY). When it came back, it came back the same - straight and thin. Well, I guess there was a slight change? A lot more GRAY, in round two! But that's courtesy of AGE and turning 46 this month, ugh! One thing that seems to really be helping mine is the extra Biotin and Niacin, I'm taking! ...even my NAILS are growiing again, woohooo! As far as Susan Maria goes? ** My PERSONAL opinion ** Not only did she AMPLIFY (aka grossly exaggerate) the visual and experience in a very condescending way/tone - but she's damn sure to toss in enough SCARE tactics to send people running to her web-store in a panic. I've been hanging out in the "gastric bypass world" for about 4 1/2 years now and would dare say Ive had the pleasure of meeting a couple of thousand people, in person. Whether it's from the boards, conventions, my doctors group, support groups and other WLS functions, etc.. In this time, I can HONESTLY say - I've never seen a sea of shining scalps! That does NOT mean I haven't seen thinning hair on a FEW people, MYSELF included!! I think in reality, many more would agree that FEW people lose so much hair that you can actually see the SHINE of their scalp, verses the MANY as she implied. I've never been a "Bella" fan, so I won't pretend otherwise, but I at least respected her determination and savvy to make her business a success. However, I lost ALL of that when she not only bashed the members of the OH FORUM a few months ago in a rant, but then tried to deny it as being directed to "any specific forum". Her denial screamed of deceit since she'd actually used a few specific examples from the main board. Gee, imagine that? .....looking down on the same people who for the last 2+ years have been dumping money into her business! Gotta love it when the head and ego gets so large they forget where the revenue stems from. I still laugh (hard) when I think of the stupidity behind THAT 'business decision'. Anyway - I tossed all of this in, so that others wouldn't read the "shining scalps" and panic, well, that and 'cause I just felt like RANTING about it, I guess. Whenever someone is IN THE BUSINESS to make money, I always take what they have to say with a grain of, uh - "marketing ploy". Okay - now back to YOUR hair. Who knows, if you do end up cutting it shorter, you may find that you like that "look AND feel" so much better, especially this summer when you're out on the MC tearing up the countryside!!! - Lei [who's NOT proofin', can you tell?]

Lei - thanks for posting this information. I of course missed the rant but I liked the reader's digest version of it. I'm going to see if I can find it. love donna

Leilani, Thank you for your post, I just have a question for you, where do you get Niacin? What amount of Biotin were you taking. I am loosing my hair. I had my surgery in November 2005.

G'morning Jasmine ~ MOST healthfood stores should stock them - sometimes, you can find the biotin at some of the "super centers" KMart, WalMart, etc, but it's such a hit and miss, that Ive given up and just head to a BIG health food store when Im running low. I don't think you and I are in the same part of the state, here in VaBeach, I go to the Heritage Health Food Store, big place near the boardwalk. I like to go there because they have so many other really cool funky things to look at, test, try, taste, etc... but my girlfriend (Wendy G.) mentioned that she can find both of these at her local Vitamin Shoppe, in Chesapeake. With the Biotin? ....obviously this is just my PERSONAL OPINION. Ive seen it in sublingual form (letting it melt under your tongue) and Ive also seen it in the soft gel capsule, I prefer the capsule. The problem (for me) with the sublingual is that it's a relatively large pill (about the size of two aspirins stacked on top of each other) which might not seem like much, BUT, when you're supposed to just let it "melt under your tongue" with no chewing or pre swalloing, it takes forever to melt. IF You chew it up, then you're not absorbing it through your MOUTH, which is where a sublingual WORKS. Swallowing it and expecting the same absorbtion from your stomach, is just NOT gonna happen. ALSO, the sublinguals only come in a "high" dose of 1000 mcg's and I prefer a higher dose of 5000. By taking only ONE capsule (of the highly concentrated biotin) I can accomplish a higher dose and take less pills. On the NIACIN, it's also known as Vitamin B-3, which is what makes this world of vitamins so flippin' complicated, sometimes! Im surprised at how many vitamins out there are also known as "another name" .... so if you walk into a vitamin store and they don't have NIACIN, also look for B-3. Although the person working at the store SHOULD know this, Im finding, less and less do. ...betcha didn't expect a novel for a reply, sorry, I tend to over explain things. Have a great weekend - good luck with the hair, Lei

. Yikes, MAJOR CORRECTION TO FOLLOW! I said ...."swallowing it and expecting the same absorbtion via your stomach, is just NOT gonna happen" When in reality, that shoulda said, "expecting the same absorbtion via your INTESTINES, is just NOT gonna happen" Since we do NOT absorb anything through our stomachs, in the first place. Ooopsie! .

Hi Lois, well for me I have always had short hair so I was a little worried about losing hair. I diligently took Biotin six months before surgery and have every day since. I am lucky and so far (almost 8 months) have not lost any hairl. But like I said, I keep it short so I don't know if that makes it any different than the long haired ladies. Oh, and I also color my hair about every 6 weeks! Oh, and I don't wash my hair every day (but I spray it with Fabreze so I don't smell!!!). love donna

thank you all for your responses. I got my Hair, Skin and Nails at Walmart. I have seen it at CVS. The Biotin in the H,S & N is 833% of the body's daily requirement. Wish I had started it early like Donna did. I don't like me with short hair at all, but I also don't want to look like a balding hippy determined to hang on to the last 6 or 8 long hairs I have. Speaking of motorcycling--I am concerned about the amount of hair the helmut pulls out. I asked a student whose mom is 1 year out how her hair grew back and she said the same as what had fallen out. I am somewhat relived., And, Lei--I have noticed the hyperbolic nature of Susan Marie's website discussions. I learned my lesson when someone on this website started a business and used deceptive advertising techniques. I fell for the "email mail me, I am concerned about you line". Next thing I knew I was getting spam. thank goodness everything from here goes to yahoo. Once again, thanks to all responders! Lois