How Acupuncture Helps You Love Your Locks

Many folks may be familiar with the fantabulous benefits of acupuncture to relieve musculoskeletal pain, digestive issues, promote fertility, and for stress management. But, did you know that acupuncture and Chinese Medicine can assist you in keeping your hair on your head, as well as promoting hair growth?

In Chinese Medicine, the Kidneys manifest in the head hair, and the relative moistness and vitality of head hair are also related to the Kidney Essence (or Jing). (To read more about Jing, and why bone broths are so nourishing to the Kidney Essence, check out one of my previous posts, “Traditional Chicken Bone Broth: A Recipe To Build Qi And Blood For Immune Building, Fertility, And Postpartum”.)

When a person has a vibrant head of hair, we assume that a person is healthy, eating nutritious foods, has good genes, and/or has a great hairstylist!

When hair is lifeless, dull, and falling out, it could be due to various factors:

• Stress – this is often a culprit for temporary hair loss, it’s the proverbial “pulling our hair out”, and is often a factor in cosmopolitan cities, where fast-paced lifestyles are valued.
• Aging – as we age, it is natural to don the salt and pepper ‘do, since Kidney Jing wanes as we get older.
• Chemotherapy – chemotherapy drugs attack all rapidly growing cells in the body, including those in your hair roots.
• Poor diet – this is another biggie. Luckily, hair loss due to poor diet is easier to address.
• Heredity – hair thinning or early balding may run in your family line.
• Recreational drug use (especially heroin, crack, and LSD) – it’s not directly from the drugs, but due to the fact that the drugs cause the user to cease to take care of their bodies in healthy ways, and may even cause them to stop eating altogether.
• Some pharmaceutical medications – as a side effect.
• Post-surgery fallout – sometimes after a big surgery when you’re “put under” with anesthesia, temporary hair loss may result.
• Health conditions – such as PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome), which can affect the loss of head hair.

But, did you know that acupuncture and Chinese Medicine can help you hold onto your tresses, and promote hair growth? This is done by:

• Reducing stress levels dramatically (particularly helpful if the temporary hair loss is due to increased stress).
• Performing acupuncture on points specifically to stimulate hair growth.
• Stimulating the scalp with an acupuncture tool called a plum blossom needle.
• Helping to support the organs and mechanisms involved in the hair loss on a Chinese Medicine level. Since everybody’s different, and so is each person’s constitution, custom treatments are necessary, and based on a proper acupuncture assessment (which includes checking the tongue and pulses, among other modes of diagnosis.) Oftentimes, the Kidneys, Lungs, and Blood (once again, this is on a Chinese Medicine level, not a Western one) are involved and need support.
• Chinese herbs to assist in hair growth, internally and/or topically.
• Re-evaluating the dietary intake.

Depending on the cause for hair loss, expect new hair growth to occur with repeated treatments. It will take a few months for results to happen, but it is exciting when it does!

What are some natural ways to address hair loss and regrowth?:

• Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine (acupuncture & herbal formulas, internally and/or externally)
• Essential fatty acids (walnuts, flaxseed, fish, avocado)
• Foods high in Vitamin C (citrus fruits, strawberries, red peppers)
• Foods high in biotin (nuts, brown rice, oats)
• Foods high in MSM (Methylsulfonylmethane), which aids in producing keratin (a protein in hair) (leafy vegetables, such as Swiss chard, cabbage,e and watercress)
• Foods high in iron (blackstrap molasses, green leafy vegetables, leeks, cashews, dried fruits, figs, and berries)
• B-complex supplements to rejuvenate hair follicles
• Rosemary essential oil scalp massages, to boost scalp circulation

What is your favorite way of achieving a healthy head of hair?
Please share in your comments, below!

Here’s to loving your locks!

 

 

 

 

 

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