Dr. Axe here, doctor of natural medicine and founder of draxe.com. In this video I’m going to be going through the steps you have to take to stop hair loss now, including the best essential oils, the best vitamin supplements and diet, and things you absolutely must avoid. Some of these are going to surprise you. I'll also be going through how to get thicker, longer, and healthier hair, all part of this video. Let's dive right in, right now, and also talk about what the root cause of hair loss is. One of the number one natural remedies and treatments you can use for hair loss are essential oils. Essential oils are plant-based compounds that have been distilled to where you have the oil-based compounds that work as a natural form of medicine. These are called volatile oils and they're very high in certain compounds that have an aromatic effect and can also in certain cases be used internally.

Rosemary oil is one of the best oils out there for naturally thickening the hair. What I'd recommend you do is take some rosemary oil, you can massage it in your scalp with some olive oil, great natural hair thickener. Rosemary has the properties of being strongly naturally anti-inflammatory, as well as nourishing your body's reproductive organs, and hormones are key when it comes to hair loss. Number two here is cedarwood and clary sage. Cedarwood acts by reducing stress. Clary sage acts by reducing stress and helping balancing out estrogen and progesterone levels in the body. So again, those can be great essential oils to use, as can spikenard. Again, these are great blends to use here as well. Spikenard is a cousin of lavender oil. Spikenard also reduces stress. You'll see stress is a major cause of hair thinning, as is a hormone called DHT, that's dihydrotestosterone.

In fact, of all the things I'm going to talk about, DHT, as I'll talk about in a minute, is probably the root cause of hair thinning and hair loss. Here's a natural remedy for you to make an at-home homemade hair thickener. You do ounces of jojoba oil or ho-ho-ba oil, as many say, correct pronunciation, grape seed oil, cedarwood oil, rosemary oil, and sage oil, 30 drops of each of those. Place it in a glass container and then simply take it, rub it on your scalp three times a week for 20 minutes, and then you can actually take a shower. You can leave it in for two hours as well and then take a shower. But that's how we recommend using this homemade hair thickener using jojoba oil, grape seed oil, cedarwood oil, rosemary oil, and sage oil. Now let's talk about the best supplements to stop hair loss. Supplements, number one is saw palmetto. Saw palmetto is a traditional remedy that's also used in the treatment of prostatitis or male prostate issues. In prostate inflammation, the prostate gland, as are many reproductive glands, are very interconnected to the release of a hormone called DHT, that's dihydrotestosterone.

That's been shown to be the hormone that's correlated with male pattern baldness. So if a man starts to lose his hair or a woman, their body can be producing too much DHT. Here's the good news. Saw palmetto is the number one DHT blocker of all supplements out there today, so it can be a great remedy for hair loss. Number two here, protein powder made from bone broth. Bone broth is very high in collagen. We know that collagen helps naturally thicken your hair. In fact, in order for you to get rid of cellulite or have defined muscles or just in general for you to have thicker hair, thicker nails, healthier-looking skin, bone broth is the number one superfood in the world. I recommend using a protein powder that is actually made from bone broth, another great supplement. Next one here, pygeum. Pygeum is very similar to saw palmetto. It's been shown in clinical studies to help improve prostate health, but in addition, both for women and men, help block DHT, that’s dihydrotestosterone.

Pumpkin seed oil is very rich in zinc. Doing one tablespoon of pumpkin seed oil, because of the zinc and because of some of the antioxidants, has actually been shown to help naturally thicken hair and stop DHT production in the body, all while supporting the immune system. And then one of my favorite herbs, this is famed in Ayurvedic medicine out of India, it's ashwagandha. Ashwagandha is known as being an adaptogenic herb, meaning it helps your body better adapt and deal with stressors you might face. Now, we've talked about there are many causes of hair thinning. Too much of the hormone DHT, that's one big one, okay? Lack of certain nutrients in your diet such as certain B vitamins and zinc and collagen. And one of the third things that can actually cause issues is emotional stress or when cortisol gets too high.

If cortisol gets too high in your body or then even drops too low, that can cause you to lose your hair or hair thinning. And we've all heard this, hey, when you get emotionally stressed it turns your hair grey. Well, we know emotional stress can also cause hair thinning is a big one and hair loss. And the number one herb that acts as an adaptogen that can help with hair thinning and loss is ashwagandha, using that herb on a daily basis. A few other natural remedies here, another adaptogenic herb is Rhodiola rosea, also known as just Rhodiola. This has been shown to improve endurance, stamina, sexual function as well, libido. So Rhodiola is used as well in Ayurvedic Arabic and Chinese medicine as a natural adaptogen that can be used in conjunction with ashwagandha. The next one here is B-complex vitamins. We know vitamin B12 really supports your nerve system.

We know that folate supports hormones in your nerve system. But in general, B-complex vitamins help strengthen your skin, hair, and nails. So doing a good quality, food-based, certified organic . . . remember, if you're buying vitamins and supplements, you want to make sure they are all certified organic, made with whole-food ingredients . . . but taking a good quality, whole-food B-complex. Fish oil, omega-3 fats. Most of us have way too much inflammation in our body. Inflammation can also lead to hair thinning. And so if you want to naturally thicken your hair, doing 1000 to 2000 milligrams of fish oil a day or cod liver oil or some sort of omega-3 blend can help naturally thicken the hair.

Aloe vera juice. Aloe vera juice, because of its really unique types of something called polysaccharides, has been shown to increase cell communication in the body but also act as a natural hair thickener. And then last but not least is zinc. Doing 15 to 30 milligrams a day of a zinc supplement can naturally help thicken hair. I'm telling you, I’ve worked with thousands of patients on helping them naturally thicken their hair, and let me go through just a breakdown of some of these. If you know that you're having issues with baldness and actually losing hair, the most effective supplements for blocking DHT, that's dihydrotestosterone, are going to be saw palmetto, pygeum, and pumpkin seed oil, if you know that's your problem. If you want to naturally thicken your hair, the most beneficial supplements will be protein powder that comes from bone broth, which is high in collagen, aloe vera juice, fish oil, and zinc.

Or if it's emotional stress you're dealing with, ashwagandha, Rhodiola, and B vitamins can all help balance out cortisol levels there as well. Now let's talk about the food you need to eat and what food you need to stay away from when it comes to stopping hair loss right now. Number one, go organic. So many of the foods we're eating, if we're talking about meat and dairy products, are loaded with hormones and steroids and other medications. And I'm not telling you not to eat meat or dairy, I'm telling you that if you're going to eat meat and dairy, make sure those foods are certified organic or wild, that they've never been exposed to herbicides, pesticides, or steroids and other types of chemicals. But go organic in your diet. Number two here, eat pumpkin seeds. We talked about pumpkin seeds are rich in zinc, fiber, and other nutrients that can help with thickening hair. Wild-caught fish like salmon, very, very high in omega-3 fats. Tuna, mackerel, halibut, sardines are also good options. Green tea. Green tea extract contains a compound called EGCG that stands for epigallocatechin, and EGCG is an incredible antioxidant-rich compound that can actually stop hair loss and really protect your body from the damaging side effects of high cortisol and other hormone imbalances in the body.

Chia seeds. We know chia seeds are high in omega-3s as well, which are great for the skin, hair, and nails. Flax and hemp follow in the same suit. And then bone broth, drinking bone broth on a daily basis is great because of all of the collagen, not to mention the hyaluronic acid, the glucosamine and chondroitin, which can naturally help thicken your hair. Here are the foods you want to avoid. Trans fatty acids. Reason being, these cause inflammation, which is going to throw off hormones and create more DHT production in the body. Sugar causes inflammation and Candida to build up in the body. When your body has too much yeast overgrowth, it actually decreases nutrient absorption, so you’re not getting as many vitamins absorbed, such as zinc and vitamin D and other nutrients that support having thick healthy hair and balancing out hormones that are important for your stress response.

Eating processed food with all of the chemicals and food additives and fried foods we know cause inflammation and can throw off your hormones. And then too much alcohol and caffeine. Now listen, one cup of coffee a day or a couple of drinks of a tea a day, that's fine. But drinking caffeine in excess, I'm talking about three cups or more of coffee a day . . . so one cup is fine for most people, two, that's borderline, sometimes that's too much . . . three or more is way too much and can absolutely cause those cortisol levels to skyrocket, really wear out your adrenals, exhaust those. And then also, too much alcohol we know can affect the body as well, causing hair thinning and hair loss because of what it does to B vitamins and depletion in the body. Here's another key factor. We've talked about cortisol, we've talked about dihydrotestosterone. Reducing emotional stress is a key part of keeping your hormones balanced. We know there are clinical studies showing if you have high stress levels you age faster, your hair turns gray or white faster, it thins your hair, causes a number of other imbalances in the body, from cortisol to leptin and ghrelin, which cause you to eat more and have more food cravings, which you might be having.



All of those are signs of emotional stress. So my tip for that is take some time. Here's how you reduce emotional stress. Write down all the things that are stressing you out. Figure out individually how to deal with those things better, get them off your plate. Do something to reduce the stress. Or some things, you're going to have stressors, you just can't do anything about it. And then you need to take time and right down the five things you love doing the most on a regular basis that you can do locally. Maybe it's lunch with a best friend, maybe it's going and walking trails or the mall or indoor rock climbing or making stuff up. But whatever it is you love to do, write those things down and schedule those into your week. Sometimes it's not about trying to sniper and get rid of all the stress or sometimes it's adding in things that you love to do that build peace in your life and that gets you to where you need to be. And then also some things that conquer dandruff, I absolutely recommend if you follow all the diet things we recommended, that's going to help you get rid of dandruff, especially doing that rosemary, that hair thickening serum, as a recipe there as well.

I want to go over a few other things here for dandruff. One is apple cider vinegar, so washing your hair with a little bit of apple cider vinegar can actually help conquer dandruff. Properly hydrating, getting plenty of water in your diet on a daily basis, eight glasses or more. And then consuming probiotics. I'd recommend getting an SBO probiotic supplement, so soil-based organism probiotics are great for fighting dandruff. So here's what you need to do in order to stop hair loss now and naturally thicken your hair. Use essential oils, especially rosemary oil, on a daily basis. Take specific supplements. Remember, a protein that comes from bone broth. Fish oil, aloe vera juice, ashwagandha, those are some of the best. Eat more organic food, especially pumpkin seeds, wild-caught salmon, flax, chia and bone broth. Also remember, reduce emotional stress. And get these things out of your diet, ditch the trans fats and hydrogenated oils, get rid of the sugar, the processed foods, excess alcohol, and caffeine.

You do those things, you're going to have thicker and fuller hair. By the way, if you've enjoyed this live training video, make sure to subscribe here to my YouTube channel. Also, if you want to learn a lot more about some advanced ways to naturally thicken your hair and stop hair loss, just Google my name online. Open a new tab right now and search "Dr. Axe thicken hair" or "Dr. Axe hair loss." I've got a really in-depth article on my website, draxe.com, that teaches you on how to do just that. And also, hey, make sure to check out some more of my YouTube videos. I've got a lot more videos on essential oils, natural remedies, and teaching you how to use food as medicine.

There are many symptoms of anxiety that seem to become self-fulfilling. A common example is hair loss. It often seems that those that live in constant fear about losing their hair may actually contribute to their own hair loss, by giving themselves so much stress and anxiety that their hair may actually fall out. Anxiety and hair loss have a complex relationship, and it's probably not what you think. But anxiety can, in some cases, cause hair loss to occur, and in other cases it can make hair loss itself more difficult to control. Hair loss is never the only symptom of anxiety, and it is very rare for hair loss to occur if your anxiety isn't severe. The key issue between anxiety and hair loss is stress. Anxiety is, in many ways, long term and persistent stress.

While technically these are two separate conditions and long term stress on its own can lead to many of the same symptoms, the reality is that anyone dealing with anxiety is putting themselves under severe mental and physical stress all the time. Stress can cause many conditions that lead to hair loss. These include: Alopecia Areata - that means ,Sudden loss of large clumps of hair in areas around your scalp. Telogen Effluvium - This is a condition where more hairs than normal prepare to fall out. Trichotillomania - This is a habitual condition caused by stress and anxiety where the person pulls out hairs without realizing it.

It's highly likely that those with mild hair loss caused by anxiety are suffering from either telogen effluvium, or simply stress weakened hair. But the other two are also a concern and affect a smaller percentage of the anxiety population. Telogen effluvium occurs when your body tells more hairs to stop growing than usual. Hairs have a grown cycle of two years before stopping and falling out two months later. If your body "tells" more hairs than normal to stop growing, two months later more hairs will fall out. All of these may be caused by anxiety. It's also important to note that not all hair loss is anxiety related, but the two may occur at a similar period of time. Many people that start to suffer from hair loss are at an age with many other stresses, like kids, work, and finances. Because they happen at the same age they may seem related but are technically different conditions.

Furthermore, some people start to feel anxiety**_ because_** they're experiencing hair loss. In a way, hair loss is their anxiety trigger, and they experience greater levels of anxiety because they are so worried about losing their hair. Finally, sometimes those with anxiety simply see more hair loss where it doesn't exist, because of their fears. It's not uncommon for hair to look exactly the same (or have slightly more fall out due to natural aging) but anxiety plays tricks with the mind to make it seem or feel like more fell out than usual. While anxiety can absolutely cause hair to fall out - in some cases in very large clumps - anxiety is not always the problem. Sometimes the problem is simply that your anxiety causes you to think more and care more about your hair than necessary, giving the impression that the two are related. The good news for anxiety sufferers is that not all anxiety related hair loss is permanent. If stress and anxiety are what caused your hair loss, then reducing that anxiety can help your hair come back.

No matter what, you need to make sure that you are addressing your anxiety directly in order to both reduce the likelihood of anxiety related hair loss and reduce the anxiety you experience because of your lost hair.