I will do anything to get my pre-accutane hair back! Please help!

Hi fellow curlies,

I need your help. I was on accutane (or clavaris, rather -- the generic version of the drug) for my skin, after ten years of oily, greasy, pimply sadness. Now my skin is awesome, but my hair has suffered tremendously. I am scared to take showers because it falls out in clumps without even manipulating it. It is straw-like and will not hold moisture. My curl pattern is destroyed, and I am getting see-through patches on the sides of my head. I estimate that I've probably lost around 40% of my hair in total.

I have tried putting in heavy proteins to make my hair stronger, deep-conditioning every day, not shampooing, cg method, cones, baggying, oiling meticulously. Nothing has helped, and my hair continues to fall out in clumps and be dry (combing it is even worse. I get clumps the size of my palms.) What can I do? I'm thinking of taking a b-vitamin or biotin, because I heard that one of the side-effects of clavaris is biotin loss. I will try any pill or product. Tell me everything you've got, because I'm desperate and can't afford to lose any more hair.

I have taking to wearing my hair in twists, mostly, to prevent tangling (and the depressing detangling process). I was on the medicine for five months, and I got off of it at the end of June.

*Note: I know people like to bash on accutane/claravis, but trust me, it was an informed decision and I'm happy with it. It was a huge self-esteem boost for me. Please refrain from lectures about the dangers/side-effects of Claravis. Thank you!

(x-posted to naturallycurly)

What has your derm had to say?

Sounds like you may need to get down to basics.

For your hair, may I suggest using something other than
traditional shampoo & conditioner.
Try baking soda and warm water to cleanse your hair.
Sounds crazy, but it will get all of the dirt & grease from your hair w/o stripping it dry.

Next to stop shedding use a brew of green tea as a rinse for your hair,
the caffeine in the green tea helps to stop the shedding.
Also find some garlic extract to add to your daily oil/cream/dressing to aid in stopping the shedding as well.

Incorporate silk amino acid (saa) as a leave in for your hair.
Use this instead of wheat/oat proteins.
Your hair could be protein-sensitive
and saa could be the answer for that.
Leaves the hair soft and frizz-free.

Also try vegetable oil for your hair as a sealant.
Out of all the oils I have used so far, veggie oil is the best,
next to avocado oil.

Internally,
consume protein (raw egg) in shakes,
green smoothies
and any other vitamin to promote overall health.

HTH

I think you should go to dermatologist if you can just to make sure your scalp is healthy and that there is no underlying causes that you are not aware of. Make sure you are eatin foods high in vitamins and minerals. It sounds like you need to help your body to heal itself. We can pile many things on our hair that may help but you have to start from the inside. Eat some vitamin E rich foods and protein rich foods.

Sweet Tee has said it all! I do no eat eggs at all but you can blend silken tofu into smoothies to make them creamy. With that egg recall, I would not try the raw egg.

Some ladies like to take prenatal pills or the hair, skin and nails pills from GNC. Protein powders are good too. I am drinking something called "Fruit-tein" right now. It has like 50 greens in there plus plant proteins.

I agree with the responses above. I think your body needs some time to recover from such a powerful drug. Sounds like a healthy diet, lots of water, maybe some prenatal vitamins, maybe MSM, and biotin (make sure you drink lots of water with MSM and biotin b/c they have the potential to break your face out if you don't) would help. I took biotin and MSM for a while and my hair grew like crazy, but I slacked off on my water intake and started to break out pretty bad. I stopped taking it because I just couldn't take the self-esteem blow of having huge bumps all over my chin (I already have acne prone skin).

I agree with the above suggestions except I recommend that you use coconut oil instead of "vegetable oil". Coconut oil is rich in medium-chain triglycerides unlike "vegetable oil", and is therefore able to penetrate inside the hair shaft, protecting it from protein loss and preventing hair damage. You can use it as a oil treatment pre poo and/or a daily moisturizer. Coconut milk is an excellent deep hair conditioner and it promotes hair growth.

@Sweet Tee what do you pu into your green smoothies?

Natural-In_Me wrote:@Sweet Tee what do you pu into your green smoothies?

Any green leafy veggie-
collards, kale, mustard greens, or some other greens
apples or strawberries
chia seeds
beet root powder
maca
raw egg (occasionally)
organic honey

if I'm lazy or have no leafy veggies
I use my wheat grass powder

[quote="Sweet Tee"]

Natural-In_Me wrote:@Sweet Tee what do you pu into your green smoothies?

Any green leafy veggie-
collards, kale, mustard greens, or some other greens
apples or strawberries
chia seeds
beet root powder
maca
raw egg (occasionally)
organic honey

if I'm lazy or have no leafy veggies
I use my wheat grass powde
Thanks for the ideas!

Thank you all so much! This has been extremely helpful. I'm seeing a derm on Wednesday, I just bought some biotin (1000 mg), and I'm going to get more protein in my diet (it's hilarious that I never thought of that - hair/skin is protein, go figure Since I'm getting a gym membership this week, it'll be the perfect time to buy some protein powder! And also, should I take another supplement with the biotin? Maybe MSM? Or is that too much? I plan on taking it along with a multivitamin, too...thanks!!!

...And by 1000 mg, I mean 1 mg. (Oops. Haha.)

I took MSM and Biotin together and had great results. Just remember to drink lots of water!!!