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Hair problem
After a very restrictive diet, it is common to notice that your hair falls out more than usual. In most cases, the hair loss is linked to a lack of calories and nutrients and is not permanent. Here we explain why it happens, what helps and what the clinic can offer.
Reviewed by Dr Michelle Campagnoli, clinical director
How to recognise it
Hair loss from a lack of nutrients follows a pattern: it starts months after the diet and spreads across the whole scalp. These signs help you work out whether it applies to you.
Tick what you recognise
Tick the signs you recognise in your case. This is not a diagnosis, it is only meant to give you an idea.
You recognise some of the signs. It may be linked to your diet or have another cause. Only a medical assessment can say for certain.
Several signs match hair loss from a nutritional deficiency. It is common and, in many cases, reversible, but an assessment is worthwhile to see what is missing. Only a medical assessment can confirm it.
Book an assessment consultationIf you find it hard to eat enough or to control your eating, talk to your doctor. Sudden hair loss in patches, a painful scalp, dizziness or extreme tiredness should be seen without delay.
Parting. It is usually the first sign: it widens because the hair becomes thinner across the whole scalp.
Top of the head. Diffuse thinning shows here, with the scalp becoming more visible under light.
Temples. Hair may also thin near the ears, but without the marked gaps seen in other types of alopecia.
Why it happens
It is almost never just one thing. Choose a cause to see what makes it worse and what helps.
When you eat very little, the body keeps energy for what is essential and the hair is left behind. Many hairs enter the shedding phase together, which shows two to four months later.
Very low-calorie diets and prolonged fasting.
Eating enough and, if needed, losing weight at a pace your doctor considers suitable.
Hair is made of protein and is one of the first things to suffer when it is lacking, especially on diets that cut out meat, fish, eggs or dairy.
Meals of only salads, soups or juices.
Protein at every meal, from animal sources or well-combined plant sources.
Cutting out food groups can lower iron, zinc, vitamin D and vitamin B12, which matter for the hair cycle. Only a blood test can confirm it.
Diets with no variety and no supervision.
Having blood tests and correcting, with the doctor, whatever is lacking.
Very low fat intake can leave the scalp dry and the hair dull and brittle. Healthy fats are part of a balanced diet.
Cutting out almost all fat.
Including olive oil, oily fish, nuts and avocado in moderate amounts.
Hair loss can have other causes at the same time, such as the thyroid, hormones or stress. That is why it is worth having an assessment instead of assuming it is only the diet.
Blaming everything on the diet and putting off an assessment.
A consultation to look at the whole picture and not just your eating.
Temporary or needs assessment
In most cases, the hair loss goes along with the food restriction. These signs help tell it apart from hair loss that deserves a consultation.
What it looks like. More hair falls out diffusely, two to four months after the diet. The parting widens and the ponytail gets thinner.
When it eases. In many cases it eases once eating returns to balance, and the hair recovers over several months.
What the clinic does. The doctor confirms the pattern, requests blood tests if useful and proposes the plan.
At home. Complete meals, protein in all of them, gentle hair care and patience.
What it looks like. The hair loss does not ease after six months of balanced eating, leaves bare patches or comes with an inflamed scalp.
Warning. Patchy hair loss, pain, sores, dizziness or extreme tiredness call for assessment.
What the clinic does. The doctor looks for other causes, such as deficiencies, the thyroid or hormones.
Tell us at the consultation. Which diet you followed, for how long and how much weight you lost: it helps in choosing.
Did you follow a very restrictive diet? Tell us at the consultation, so the doctor has the full picture. Hair usually recovers once eating returns to balance.
Book an assessment consultationWhat the clinic can do
When the hair loss is linked to eating, the first step is to replace what is missing and eat enough. These are the treatments the doctor may suggest to strengthen the follicle, always after seeing your case.
Regeneration
Vitamins, amino acids, minerals and hyaluronic acid, to nourish the scalp when diet has fallen short.
Suitable when
the hair is weak after a restrictive diet and the doctor considers scalp nutrition suitable.
Find out more→
Regeneration
Platelet-rich plasma, obtained from your own blood, to stimulate the follicle. The doctor first assesses whether it is appropriate.
Suitable when
the hair loss continues after the deficiencies have been corrected and with balanced eating.
Find out more→
Advanced regeneration
Regenerative solution to support follicle repair and improve hair thickness.
Suitable when
the doctor considers it useful to reinforce the plan with a regenerating active ingredient.
Find out more→What about oral therapy? It is often the starting point, to replace what is lacking, and it is always chosen by the doctor after assessment and, if useful, blood tests. Results are gradual.
What the journey looks like
No treatment starts without an assessment consultation with the doctor. This is how it works.
The doctor asks which diet you followed, for how long, how much weight you lost, what you eat now and which medicines you take, and examines the scalp.
If useful, requests blood tests for iron, vitamins, zinc and the thyroid, and explains what to expect and how long it may take.
It combines what to replenish, care at home and, if justified, a treatment, adapted to where you are right now.
We look at the hair again after a few months and adjust, because recovery is slow and follows your eating.
Day to day
Eating enough and with variety counts for more than any product. These are the habits that matter most.
The golden rule
Hair is one of the first things to suffer from a restrictive diet and one of the last to recover. Eating enough, with protein and variety, helps your hair and the rest of your body.
Hair is made of protein.
In practice: include eggs, fish, lean meat, pulses or yoghurt at every meal.
Each food group provides different nutrients.
In practice: vary vegetables, fruit, wholegrain cereals and healthy fats through the week.
Skipping meals makes the body save energy.
In practice: keep regular mealtimes and avoid long periods of fasting.
Weakened strands break easily.
In practice: brush slowly, use moderate heat and wear loose hairstyles.
They promise quick results but leave the body without nutrients.
In practice: prefer gradual changes, with the support of a health professional.
Removing meat, fish, eggs or dairy without replacing them can cause deficiencies.
In practice: if you choose a vegetarian diet, plan it so that you do not lack iron and vitamin B12.
Taking several supplements on your own may not solve anything and can do harm.
In practice: speak to the doctor before taking supplements, especially iron.
Already weakened strands break with a very hot hairdryer and hair dyes.
In practice: use moderate heat and space out colouring.
Who will look after you
At Luxmed, the first step is always an assessment consultation with Dra. Michelle Campagnoli. She works out what is contributing to the hair loss, requests tests if useful and designs the plan with you.
Hair medicine
Why hair can fall out after eating little and how long it takes to recover.
Read the article →
Hair medicine
The nutrients that matter most for hair and where to find them.
Read the article →
Hair medicine
How to return to balanced eating without rushing or guilt.
Read the article →Other hair problems
Book a consultation
Choose how you prefer to get in touch. We will arrange the assessment consultation with Dr Michelle Campagnoli.
New Life Miraflores, Algés · Office Center, R. Santa Teresa do Menino Jesus n.º 6, 9.º C, 1495-048
Your details are used only for this contact. Any treatment depends on a prior medical assessment.
Very restrictive diets, with few calories or without some food groups, can push many hairs into the shedding phase. Every person is different, and only an assessment can say what is behind your case.
It usually starts two to four months after the food restriction, which is why many people do not link the two.
In many cases it eases after a few months, once eating returns to balance, and the hair recovers over several months. If the hair loss continues after six months, an assessment is worthwhile.
In many cases yes, because the follicle is not damaged. Recovery is slow and depends on replacing what is missing and eating enough. If it does not recover, it is worth looking at other causes.
Very low-calorie ones, those that cut out whole food groups and those that cause very rapid weight loss. The difference lies in the lack of energy and nutrients, not in the name of the diet.
Depending on the case: oral therapy to replenish what is lacking, hair NCTF, hair PRP and hair exosomes. The doctor sets the plan after the assessment.
Often yes. The doctor may request tests for iron, vitamin D, zinc, vitamin B12 and the thyroid, because deficiencies are a frequent cause of hair loss when you eat little.
When the shedding lasts more than a few weeks, leaves hair visibly thinner or comes with extreme tiredness or dizziness. Patchy hair loss or a painful scalp should be seen without delay.
They can help when a deficiency is confirmed, but taken without criteria they do not solve anything and can do harm. The best approach is to have blood tests and speak to the doctor.
If you want to lose weight, it is best to do so at a moderate pace and with supervision, without cutting out essential nutrients. Talk to the doctor or to a nutrition professional.
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The assistant does not give diagnoses or replace a consultation. The plan and cost of any treatment are set at the medical assessment.