Episode 219: Jenny’s Full Hair Growth Story + How I Could Have Prevented Alopecia Altogether

–

Transcript

Hello everybody and welcome back to the Alopecia Angel podcast. I’m your host, Johanna Dahlman and today I am really excited to be talking about a couple things, but first I wanted to do a little catch up with you. It’s been a while and I’ve been meaning to share. A podcast episode that I recorded with one of my clients, Jenny.

She has pictures on our website and on social media of her before and after pictures. She had alopecia areata. She’s a mom of two or three. She’s a working mother in her forties, and this is the first time that she ever got alopecia. And she had it for about two years until she came to me, to the Hair N’ Heal program. And the first couple things that she noticed immediately. Was that her migraines that she’s had ever since she was 9 years old, finally went away. This is decades of having migraines and they finally left. That’s it, she doesn’t gain any more headaches. The other thing that she noticed was, the extra weight that she had put on in her 40s, they left, she lost a good 10-15 pounds, and and now she’s back into her skinny jeans and she’s happier than ever. But more importantly, she got her full hair back, all of it.

And as you can see in the pictures. She has lots of spots that started at the very top of her head and it just expanded. And the thing is, when she came to me, she had already tried medications that failed her. She had already seen numerous doctors, she had already seen numerous dermatologists and nothing that she was trying, including the JAK inhibitors were working. Nothing was working. This was progressing. This was getting bigger and bigger. And I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again. Hair loss is like a forest fire. If you don’t put out the fire, it’s gonna keep going.

And for those of you who you know, think that this is just gonna go away on its own, it won’t. It doesn’t. You need to focus on it. Take action and learn the steps to heal. And this is exactly what Jenny did, unfortunately, that recording. For some reason didn’t record, and so I don’t have that recording with me. But I did wanna share her wins. I did wanna share her pictures here on YouTube, but then also you can see the pictures on social media on my Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Pinterest. You can also see it on our website, so you have those pictures. But speaking to her was such a beautiful story because again, this is somebody who’s never had alopecia, doesn’t have it in her family, never had any chronic disease, and never had anything, no health issues whatsoever.

She’s always been an athlete, always been very fit and active. And lo and behold, things came to a juncture at a certain point. In her 40s and bam, it, it took over her life because it affects work, it affects how you show up. She stopped working out, she stopped doing a lot of the things that she always did because of course, the alopecia situation just took over. So she healed and now she knows exactly what she needs to do in order for this never to come back.

And leading into this same topic that we have today is the fact that I recently got my DNA test through the DNA test that we provide here at alopeciaangel.com and through of course us where we provide this worldwide. And I’ve always been interested personally into DNA test, especially 4 or 5 years ago when they really came about, and even more you’ve had those DNA tests, where they tell you, if you’re half German, if you’re Chinese ancestry, or if you are, I don’t know from Jamaica, or maybe you’re from Argentina, or maybe you’re from Spain, or this or that. That’s not this type of test. This type of test exactly looks at all the factors contributing to your current health and future potential health.

It tells you exactly what you need to be doing, how you need to live, what you need to eat, what you need to do in order to avoid all these pitfalls according to your DNA. If there’s any test out there, and I’ve done a lot of testing, if there’s any test out there, I would say first and foremost, this DNA test is not just the gold standard, but it is the blueprint that we all need in order to not guess what is possible for us in order to take control right now and make the changes, so that the Alzheimer’s, the alopecia, the dementia, the this, the, that, the weight gain the fertility issues, all the things don’t have to be a burden.

So in my test the one that I also provide to my clients, it’s a swab. So it’s like a big Q-tip. You put it in your mouth, throw it into the kit, and you ship it out in a couple weeks, you get the results. My results were absolutely astounding. This is somebody that has not only overcome alopecia, this is somebody who’s gone through decades of trying to understand her body in terms of weight loss and muscle definition, and trying to get those said abs and trying to do all the things to be the healthiest possible way.

As I look at my report I realized that had I had this report when I was 10 years old I could have avoided the weight loss struggles or weight gain struggles. I could have also avoided alopecia 100%. I 100% believe I could have avoided the alopecia, the autoimmune alopecia. And I even believe that for those of you out there listening, for those of you with scarring, alopecia, thyroid issues, cancer diagnoses, you name it, you could probably have avoided all of that as well with just this DNA test and report. Why? Because it’s specific to you. First and foremost. This isn’t a diet plan like Atkins or this isn’t the South Beach diet. This is a DNA report just for you telling you exactly how you need to rest and recover, how exactly and when you need to eat, how exactly your body

metabolizes carbs, how exactly it metabolizes and detoxes, whether it does so good, bad, or in a, better way or in a worse way, how we need to support your individual DNA.

That is so much success in just one report, because literally with that same report, you can be able to start seeing exactly what is more likely for you and what is not likely for you just on your DNA. Now, granted in episode 215 I go over this DNA test and the reporting a little bit more in depth with Dr. Sam Shay and we talk about this. However, I wanted to give you my own account as somebody who helps people with hair loss, but at the same time, looking at my own DNA, and now that I’m in my forties, I could have seen how I could have just bypassed all the hurdles and struggles with just this one test. Imagine that. Imagine bypassing all the health hurdles and struggles, not just for today, but for your whole life. And so for those of you parents out there, the greatest gift you can give your child is this DNA test. Right now this is their next birthday present. Literally, it is so phenomenal for them to have the information and understand this is what they need to do.

It’s just like having a syllabus or a certain checklist of this is what you need to do to graduate. This is what you need to do to, go to X, Y, Z or to do X, Y, Z, and this is what you need to do in order to live your best, healthiest life. And how to avoid cancer, how to avoid dementia, how to avoid Alzheimer’s, how to avoid autoimmune diseases, how to avoid heart disease, diabetes, you name it. How to avoid all the things. You know what I mean? And so I’m hyperfocused on personalization. That’s what we do inside the Hair N’ Heal program. However, this takes it to the next level. I will say it is a game changer. It really is a game changer. So there is no more: What if this doesn’t work for me? What if it just doesn’t sit well with me? Guess what? It’s your DNA. Your DNA doesn’t change. Now we can support it. Yes.

However, once you have that blueprint, there is no more denial. There is no more what ifs. It is what it is. And now you have the blueprint in order to support it. So lemme just give you an example. Let me pull up my report real quick. Okay, here we go. In the beginning, you start off with a full page summary of exactly what your health looks like, and it’s all of course in a graded scale of red, yellow, and green. Just like stoplights. Green is good, red is bad, and yellow is borderline, which could also mean a red, depending on it is, but it’s very self-explanatory. This reporting is magnificent because you don’t need. Another doctor, another practitioner to go over it with you. You can actually understand because it explains every little bit even more, and even when it comes to fertility.

The thing is, I say this when it comes to fertility because as a female in my 40s. I am a mother. I’ve had my baby. However there’s many women out there who have yet to have babies or maybe choose not to, which is fine, of course. And there’s other women who want the baby and they don’t understand why. And they’re doctors just like with the hair loss, right? They’re on this runaround of what to do, how to do this, and why is this not working? Why, if I am young? Why, if I’m this? Why, if I’m that? In this DNA reporting, you also get a fertility report on how your fertility is according to your genes. The likelihood of multiple miscarriages or not the likelihood of, X, Y, Z. And so this is so crucial for you to understand from the get go because again, had I had this report when I was 10 years old, I would’ve said to myself: If having children is so important to me, maybe I should start earlier just saying, maybe I should start earlier instead of, at 40.

And so it’s one of those things where, again, had you had a blueprint, had you had, almost like a list. As children you get a list of the golden rule and of all these values and morals that we should be sticking to and schools, depending which schools, but some schools, most schools, I would hope teach you right and wrong. 2 + 2 equals 4, and we should not do this. We should do this, and, mathematics and English and correct grammar and whatnot. But at the same time, no one’s given us the blueprint on how to be our best starting now, without having to worry about X, Y, Z disease. So for example, in Alzheimer’s, this is, cognitive decline and mental health in general, but cognitive decline especially. It is very alarming. And if you don’t know the statistics, two thirds of women are more prone to Alzheimer’s than men, and they’re saying that there is a hormonal connection with this.

So knowing these things and being on top of the data and the research, I really like to dive deep into cognitive decline and into dementia, Alzheimer’s and all these things. But then on top of it, I also wanna know, of course, gene wise, if my genotype is leaning towards it or not. Thankfully it’s not, but it’s like a sigh of relief in many ways too. And it’s also a confirmation that what you’re doing is actually correct and here are some extra tips that along the way will benefit you in the long run. Imagine that. Let’s go back to the recording ever so slightly. So we have a quick page summary of wins and to see like overall what this looks like.

It goes into depth about the different types of diets and what diet would be best for you according to your DNA. So you’ve heard about different diets, right? Atkins, you’ve heard about let’s say the Cabbage Soup Diet, you’ve heard about your blood type diet. You’ve heard about all these different diets. I will say this one, for the DNA, there’s no mistake here. . It’s for you because it’s according to your DNA, which is huge, really huge. So then it also tells you about, lifestyle, what you should be doing, what you shouldn’t be doing, and all the components that go along into all the options. It even gives you the top 5 supplements that you should be taking for you according to your DNA, so you can avoid all the chronic disease and any really health issues in the future.

That is priceless because right now I can guarantee that the majority of you are shelling out lots of money on hair, skin, nails, on Nutrafol on Viviscal, you name it, all different types of supplements and it’s probably not doing any good for you first and foremost. Second of all, even in the Hair N’ Heal program, when I’m looking at the supplements that my clients are already taking and I’m evaluating them. I also see where more than half of what they’re taking, they don’t need. Let me say that again. More than half of the supplements they’re currently taking, they do not need. Because it’s not supporting exactly the areas that we need to support.

And you’re thinking in your head right now, right? What do you mean? I’m taking a hair, skin, nail supplement and I want more hair, so I’m gonna take a hair skin nail supplement. Wouldn’t you know that many times the supplement is not what we need and we need to support the body in other ways. I will say supplements are fantastic, but there needs to be a strategy. It’s not just about taking all of them and seeing what sticks. It’s not about taking the latest and greatest because people have reviews on this supplement, and that’s what’s important. I gotta tell you, I’ve been offered countless times to get into the supplement genre of marketing, and I have never chosen to do and there’s a reason why.

So for example. When you’re pregnant, you’re taking certain supplements. When you’re trying to conceive, you’re taking certain supplements. When you are an active marathoner, you’re taking other types of supplements. When you are in menopause, you’re taking others, and supplements are not the one all be all forever. And many times supplements can clash with medications they can clash with other supplements, and so you have to be very well versed in supplements to understand what is beneficial and what’s not.

For example, I have a new client that just started with me she has scarring, alopecia, and female pattern baldness. Lo and behold, she was taking a good handful of supplements that weren’t helping her, that are actually causing more hair loss and she doesn’t know it. Imagine that, she was taking supplements that were causing more hair loss. And so this is the situation too, is like. When you’re trying to be your own doctor, this is very hard. I will say that. And when you’re trying to be your own nutritionist and your own guide and your own guru, it’s very hard because a lot of the information out there is misleading. And on top of it, it could be backfiring, not just according to you, your body, but also your hair loss type, and also your DNA.

And so this is why it’s so key and enlightening to see this slide to a part of the reporting that I’m seeing right now for me, in terms of the top five supplements that I should be taking from now to the rest of my life. I wanna be supporting it as much as possible, so this way we can turn those red and yellows into greens. Does that make sense? Because that’s what this is all about. We can see where our weaknesses are and we can support it to strengthen them. And then the greens, we just continue to monitor and continue to support as needed. And so this is the beauty of the reporting.

The other thing I wanted to talk about that this reporting goes and talks about is athleticism. Early on in my childhood, I knew I wasn’t gonna be a major marathon runner. I knew I wasn’t gonna be interested. And even though I tried a lot of sports, everything from tennis, to swimming, to basketball, to volleyball, to all the things. There’s some sports that you gravitate towards and maybe you like more because your body likes it more and your body is more affluent in this and it’s easy to assimilate and also acclimate to it. For example, I’ve been doing Pilates in yoga for the last 25+ years. My body loves Pilates and yoga and even though maybe for many people this is painful, for me it’s not, and it’s actually created better health overall.

So there’s a reason why we have inclinations towards certain exercises or tur or towards certain types of exercises in general. But the beauty of this, it tells you exactly whether you’re made for speed, whether you’re made for endurance, what your injury risk is, and it’s mind blowing to see all these things just from a reporting standpoint. Imagine your child, and I’m saying this from a mom’s perspective. Imagine you know my child, which he is brimming with life and he wants to try all the sports, and he wants to do baseball and football and basketball, and he does swimming and tennis and karate, and he wants to do it all. Beautiful, but the next step would be to understand his DNA and to see how the rest and recovery needs to be for him, how his speed versus endurance would be, and where he would excel best.

So even from a parent standpoint, this is huge because now you can really propel them into success when you choose the right sport, the right recovery, the right diet, lifestyle for them, regardless of what they want. But classified and designated by their DNA because this is where they will thrive, mind, body, and spirit, versus trying to fit a peg in a round hole, square peg, round hole. And he’s failing, or she’s failing and they’re failing at the sport and they’re not doing well, and they’re pushing and pushing and pushing, and then what? And then they’re sad and they’re disappointed. And Sure, all those scenarios are wonderful to work through, but let’s set them up for success because why not? We have their DNA.

And so this actually opens up huge amounts of doors in order for our children, but even ourselves to excel. How our genes function? And so we have reporting for diet, behavior, absorption of certain and key nutrients and vitamins, exercise recovery, immunity, support genes, which are fantastic. Also about weight understanding trigger foods. So these are all sub reports inside the massive 60+ page report that this DNA test gives you, and it’s phenomenal. Again, had I had this when I was 10 years old, I could have bypassed so much. I could have bypassed the ups and downs, the trying to lean in and understand my body on a, just a self-awareness level, which again, self- awareness is a skill that. It needs to be cultivated. You just, you’re just not born with self- awareness.

And then on top of it, sometimes we have denial when it comes to self-awareness too. We know something’s painful, but we’re not sure if this pain is good or if this pain is bad, or how long we should be feeling this pain. Does this make sense? When you have a blueprint it’s a guide for the rest of your life in order to see the results that you’re looking for. No more understanding or misunderstanding your weight, your health, your immune system, your hair loss, your fertility, your absorption of key nutrients of what you should be doing, eating, drinking, etcetera. The salt debate is in, is inside, telling you exactly. And then on top of it, it gives you all the practical information so you can start implementing right now.

But the beauty of it too is that if you wanna look up specific genes like the MTHFR gene, which is your detox gene and there’s two of them by the way, or your APOE gene, which is the gene for Alzheimer’s, then you can also see those risks. Do you have more of a risk of not being able to detox? Do you have a bigger risk towards Alzheimer’s? Do you have a bigger risk towards X, Y, Z, or anything else? And again, this is key. Instead of relying and saying, oh, autoimmunity just runs in my family, or thyroid issues just run in my family, or this just runs in my family and chalking it up to that because I will say that is a cop out. It’s really about the genes you have and how we support them.

I’ve said this a again and again. I think it was like episode number 3 or 4 of the podcast was talking about genes and how the genes you’re born with do not determine your destiny, your future, or anything else. It’s just a blueprint for us to see where we can improve, where we can support, and where we can encourage more health to shine through in our weak spots, right? No one’s perfect. So we’re always looking to, and we should be looking to support those weak spots versus just focusing on the strengths, right? So we need to support those weak spots so we can avoid the things, and this is why I truly believe, especially after looking at this report, that I could have avoided the alopecia. I could have avoided so much.

And in terms of diet and lifestyle and everything else that this report goes into, I believe that a good 85 to 90% could have been avoided, at least 85 to 90%. That’s how much control we have with diet and lifestyle. That’s how much control we have in terms of our future, in terms of our current health. In terms of our future health. And for those of you who are parents out there. I know you’re gonna want this for your child, for your children, because it’s their future. And the fact that it’s so in sync with my decades of trial and error, not just for hair loss, but then also for weight loss and muscle and exercise and all the things I could have done this.

It makes me laugh. I could have known this early on, but the technology wasn’t there. And so it’s hindsight 2020. So now that the technology is here, this is where we need to capitalize on that. There’s no more guessing whether we’re going to go down this hole or that hole, whether we’re gonna have chronic disease or not, whether we’re gonna be susceptible to cancer or not, whether we’re susceptible to hair loss, again, whether susceptible to a second or a third or a fourth autoimmune disease. This is where we have our own unique blueprint. And it’s priceless. Absolutely priceless what I would’ve done for this. But I will say the struggle makes you stronger and it allows you to move forward, understand those learning lessons, and then also hopefully help others just like I have.

And so in many ways, it’s not out of nothing that we are here at this point in time at this juncture, and so if you are interested in getting this DNA test and getting testing in g e n e r a l , k n o w t h a t w e o f f e r t h i s w o r l d w i d e . E m a i l u s a n y t i m e a t hello@alopeciaangel.com. Contact us on our website alopeciaangel.com and we’re happy to help you because the power of this information is so needed and I wanna share the wealth, I wanna share the information. This is why I’ve always added in the worldwide gold standard testing because personally, I was blocked. I was blocked from getting testing while living abroad and I know many times it’s very hard to get accurate gold standard testing. It’s also very hard to find wonderful practitioners abroad. But even inside the same US, it’s also very hard to find somebody who understands, knows, and who’s been there, done that and who can truly help.

And so this is why I do what I do. So don’t delay. I really encourage you to get the DNA test, if not for you, but as well for your children because they are the future. And their future is actually in your hands. It truly is. So instead of having them struggle for decades and even them see in them go into health issues, it would probably be more beneficial in order to get their information so that they understand and you understand how to support them. It’s never too late to change your life.

It’s never too late to change diet and lifestyle. It’s never too late to get the hair you want to get the health you want to live the life you want. It really isn’t. It’s a choice. Healing is a choice. Getting healthy is a choice, and it’s all in your hands. So I hope this podcast episode has helped you.

It’s been literally mind blowing for me to see this report. And I’m very excited to see my clients who have already grabbed it to get their reports because it is, it’s truly that blueprint that we all need, that unique blueprint that allows us to thrive. No more excuses, no more denials, no more what ifs, no more questioning. This is it. Get your blueprint. Take care. Bye-bye.