Episode 115 - Why Starting Your Journey With Testing is a Failed Approach

Hi everybody and welcome back to the Alopecia Angel podcast. I am your host Johanna Dahlman and today we are talking about testing and many times I see that people like to start with testing almost like they like to start going to the doctors right when they're first diagnosed with alopecia, when they start to see that they have too much hair loss.

Going to the doctors is everyone's first almost innate inclination, just because we go to the doctors for anything. You know, go to the doctor for cold, for the flu, for a headache, for anything, aches and pains, right? We go to the doctor. And many times that's not the solution. Many times there are things that we can do at home or we can do ourselves to actually make things better for us. Not just for now, but even for the long run.

And I think that many times when we start with testing, we're actually doing it backwards. What I mean by that is that when you start to go see, let's say, a doctor, potentially they'll start to say: Okay, let's go ahead and run some tests. But then they may or may not come up short. Most of the time they do. And they come up short and they're like: Oh, sorry, Sally, you're good to go, you have everything in order, everything is great. Everything looks normal, so there's nothing wrong.

If you have a hair loss, well, I'm sorry, you know, here's some creams, here's some other band aids and then, you know, go home and maybe you're one of my clients who have seen and been told from doctors, like: Sorry, we can't do anything for you. And that's actually quite, I'd say, almost disrespectful in many ways. And then they come to me and they see hair growth. So I think that the approach to do testing is flawed.

Also understand that many times people give you and sell you packages. Like, okay, if you're going to come work with me, you're going to have like 5 different tests right now that we need to do automatically. But lo and behold, each test is like $500, $600, $800 each, so think about that. Are we going to spend a lot of money on a bunch of testing and not have a strategic approach? Or what's the plan? Because these are some of the questions that I'd be asking.

This is why doing what I do for over 6 years now, I've seen that the majority of my clients 90% heal and start to see hair growth in less than 8 weeks. But the bigger portion of that is that over 80% heal without the need of testing and I'm one of them. I'm also one of the people who've gotten a bunch of tests done when I was going through alopecia and yet, again, the doctors came up short. They're like: Johanna, everything's normal, you look great. You're fit, you're this and that, everything's fine. And I was just like: There's got to be more, there's got to be more, like, I'm not going to have alopecia out of nowhere. There's more.

And the thing is, again, a lot of the testing is not strategic. And so when you come into the Hair N' Heal program, I'm actually quite conservative because I know how much these tests run. And so I only recommend them if and when it's actually a need, if and when actually you need them. Because not everybody needs testing. Like I said, the majority of my clients see hair growth and heal without the need for testing. I healed without testing, I healed even with getting testing from before and everything looking fine and not getting any results or getting anywhere with the testing.

And so, I healed practically 100% without it. Because nothing came about, nothing came up, and everything was fine and normal. So, to that point, this is a flawed approach when we want to throw a bunch of stuff to the wall and think like we're going to find something with testing when it's not always that way. And what I'd say is that inside the Hair N' Heal program, when you have a strategic approach, you're able to pinpoint exactly which test you need versus, Hmm, let's guess" "Hmm, let's guess to see which one it is and, you know, every guess is costing you $800, $600, $500 each and that's just a test, that's not even for someone to read them for you.

So what I do for my clients is if you've already done a lot of testing, I'm happy to read them, I'm happy to read the test. And yes, I've caught many, many mistakes that my clients doctors haven't seen, haven't care to acknowledge or even they missed certain things that I've brought up to them and said: Hey, this is a red flag. Also, when you do testing, we offer testing now. So Alopecia Angel offers testing. And so we offer over 75 different tasks, but you don't need them all. And more than likely it'll be a strategic approach and it'll be one, if that that you may need and maybe you need 2 or maybe you just want to get them for a baseline and that's okay, too

But we offer discounted rates on our testing And so that's something that I wanted to share that we now offer for clients as of now March 6 2024. So I'm very very excited about that because this allows people all over the world to get a one stop shop in terms of alopecia and healing and the testing if and when they need it.

I tend to be on the conservative side because I see it, I see it when my clients are healing, and they don't need testing anything from scarring alopecia to alopecia universalis to totalis, many of them don't need it. Many of them just need to follow the plan, need to follow the recommendations, need to do the program step by step as we show it to you, And bam, you're seeing results. So the testing comes if and when you actually need it.

Again, this is a conservative approach again, to save you money and save you time and even for my internationals, we can accommodate for testing when and if you need it or when, and if you want it, because again, not always do you need it, but maybe you do want it later on in life. And for me, for example you know, I'm over the age of 40. So I do like to test, I do like to monitor because I'm all about metrics.

Ever since I had alopecia more than 8 years ago, I've never had it again. Not one spot, nothing. I've never had it again. And that's even after a pregnancy, after COVID, after stressful times, after moves from one country to another country and to another continent. Like, once you have the control, you got this. Once you have the control, you've dominated. And you can dominate your hair loss. That's the beauty of this. A lot of times we're sold the idea that we need testing, that we need doctors, that we need this, that we need that, when really, many times they're coming to me to do my program.

I just spoke with a dietician today and she's about to join this week for the program. And again, like you need to understand where you come up short, and a lot of times, all the time actually, diet and lifestyle is not taught. diet and lifestyle, nutritionists get it wrong. Nurses, personal trainers, doctors, dermatologists, they all get it wrong because all they're subscribing to is the pharmaceuticals. And we know that that's a black hole that doesn't work and it won't work as a long term strategy.

So the big news of today is that Alopecia Angel now offers testing, wherever you're located and we're happy to help facilitate that. And on top of it, we're not going to push it, we're not pushing it, this is not a necessarily a moneymaker, this is more of a convenience factor for you, because I know many of you are in remote areas or in countries where you can't even access tests. And many times you can't even, let's say the furthest or the closest functional medicine doctors, like a province away, or maybe a flight away. And so that's also out of the possibility factor.

So I want to make this as convenient as possible, as seamless as possible and as conservative as possible, because I know that health is an investment and I continue to invest in my health. I continue to try new and improved areas where I can be better, whether that's in my workout, whether that's in my weight training, whether that's in any aspect of my health, mind, body, spirit. It's not that I just healed alopecia and I'm done because I'm not done because now I'm obsessed. Now I'm obsessed, not just with great hair, but also with being the greatest version of myself.

That's actually what my clients come out to do too. Once they finish the program, they're also obsessed with being the greatest version of themselves because they see that a lot of the taglines that we and hear that we hear, or that we've been told like: Oh, we're just old, oh, we're aging, oh, this is part of my age cause I'm in my 40s, cause I'm in my 50s, cause I'm in my 60s or my 70s and this is just all part of it. No, it doesn't have to be, we can reverse all these things. You can reverse so much stuff just with diet and lifestyle and you can also prevent.

Many times diabetes, cancer, heart disease, cardiovascular diseases, chronic illness can all be resolved many times with diet and lifestyle changes and many times that's the biggest hurdle is the lifestyle and diet portion of it. You know, the thing is, it's like we can eliminate a lot of what healthcare actually does because it does certain things to a certain extent, but it doesn't train us or teach us to do better. And so this is where you get a tailored approach so that you can understand what diet and lifestyle is best for you, for your age, for now. And then that will also evolve, just like my, my health has evolved. My, everything has evolved.

That's like the exhilarating part of it is that now at 40 something, I feel so much better, I feel so much more vibrant and I'm thriving so much more than I was at 21, so much more than I was at 18. So age has nothing to do with it. But the tools, tactics, techniques, the knowledge, the implementation shows so much of what is possible for us and how we can be bulletproof against so many diseases that are out there beyond just the hair loss. Because I know if you're listening to me. You're here for the hair loss, I get that.

But the thing is, it's like, once you start looking underneath and start looking at those layers and start looking at where your weaknesses are, we all have weaknesses. Just like athletes, athletes, get trainers, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, they all had extra coaches and trainers because they all have weaknesses. And so to be your best, you need to tweak those weaknesses and you need to improve upon them. You can't just let them go on the wayside because then the other team and other athletes are going to attack you at those weaknesses.

That's the same with health, we all had weaknesses, this is why we have or had hair loss. There was always a weakness, right? The thing is, it's like the boat doesn't sink if it doesn't have a hole, right? There is no leak in the roof if there's no hole to it as well. It's the same situation, there was a weakness. There was a weak point and this is where the fracture happened. This is where the hair loss happened. This is where the tipping point happened. This is where disease happened.

And so this can all be prevented. This can all be resolved more times out of none through diet and lifestyle, but it's got to be tailored. It really does. If anyone is trying to sell you a package on: Oh, here, we're going to sell you on these, or these are mandatory tests, or these are, you know, necessary for your healing. I'd say look somewhere else because that's that's not the way. Not all testing is going to lead you to the right path, it may give you some sort of affirmation or some sort of vindication that everything's okay, but if you have hair loss and it's too much for you, then you already know something's off.

So just because one professional or one practitioner or one person can't identify it or can't identify the root cause, then go to someone else who does and who has those results, and results in more than just one or 2 people. Results in hundreds and thousands of people where you can see the before and after pictures, you can hear the testimonials, the interviews and so much more as we have here with Alopecia Angel.

I look forward to hearing any and all of your questions. If you have any, please email us. We also have a free training going on. So feel free to take part into that. We have the link in the show notes and I look forward to talking to you next time. Take care.