TRANSCRIPT

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Hello everybody and welcome to the Alopecia Angel podcast. I'm your host Johanna

Dahlman. Today we're going to be talking about hair care, everything about hair care

because many times this is confusing and this is also tricky and it also changes during

hair loss. And so I'm going to be talking about these points and different aspects of hair

care in order for you to reverse the damage and see better hair in general, whether or

not you are losing it, we can always improve our damaged hair and create healthier hair.

In order to begin, let's go ahead and start with the blow dryer because this is a hot topic

for me personally, I actually had to change out my hair dryer last week. It just stopped

working all of a sudden, and I went to go ahead and buy a new hair dryer, because I'm

one of those people who cannot live without a hair dryer, so much so where I actually

travel with my hair dryer, and when I lived in the Netherlands, and when I lived in Japan,

I bought specific hair dryers for those countries because it was just so necessary. And

then many times, maybe you've noticed, or maybe you already know, is that when you

take your products from one country to another, normally they don't work even with the,

interchanged plugs and the current that they have for the converters. Sometimes those

also don't work and they actually like, burn or blow up your blow dryer.

And so what I did is that since I knew I was living in the Netherlands for quite a few

years, and then also in Japan, then I just opted to buy, my specialty blow dryer. And so

blow dryer and products are in general are things that we use on a consistent and so

hair care varies from person to person. And what we do with our hair on a regular basis

determines the health of our hair. It can also determine a lot in terms of hair loss as well.

So let me add that coloring, the wear and tear, the weather and the products all play a

part. So living or traveling to different climates changes things too.

As I mentioned, when I lived in the Netherlands, for example, everything was wet,

everything was rainy, gray, cloudy, there was like a lot of humidity that you could feel in

the air. So this created a lot of frizz, this created a lot of, bad hair days in general, not to

mention that I was going through alopecia at the time, but it created a lot of bad hair

days. And so what did I do? I had my hair up in a clip and this is the way I maintained it

for the most part, just because it keeps everything a little more tightly, together. Versus,

having it out like I used to, or I love to have it out and about, because again, with the

wind, because it's very windy in the Netherlands, and then with the rain, it would just

tear up my hair and create lots of knots.And so this is something that I always wanted to avoid. But when I lived in Miami, the

weather pattern was different. It was also very humid, but very sunny. And then also

what I noticed when I first moved to Miami is that my skin on my face, became more oily

and then my hair and my curls absolutely love the extra humidity and funny enough, you

have the Netherlands that is very humid and you also have Miami that's very humid, but

these are 2 different types of humidity and the humid cold rain that you see and wind in

the Netherlands is one type, and then the breezy palm trees, sunny seaside of the

Miami is completely different. And yet my hair thrived, my skin loved it. And granted

there were modifications because your body adapts to where you're going, but your hair

and your skin may or may not, depending on the current products that you are using.

So being aware of how your current products are adapting to the new climate and

weather changes, affects everything, the styling, how your hair looks everything. So for

example, there's just certain things that maybe you're using now that wouldn't work in

other cities or states or countries when traveling. And so that's always something for you

to have in the back of your mind. On the contrary, though, when I lived in California or in

drier climates, this too can also take a toll on skin and hair. It becomes drier, right? your

curls, your hair in general, your skin can also, be drier. And so the outset of that is to

create and have more conditioning treatments or more lotion to your body or more

exfoliating and more ways to hydrate and moisturize your skin and your hair. Maybe

also including different approaches to your skin and to finding new products and

solutions as in a new environment, your body adopts, but your skin and your hair will let

you know if it's lacking moisture or if you have a constant oil slick.

In Miami, I would have to shower 2-3 times a day because you're just so sticky all the

time. And I'd have to wipe my face three times more often due to doing this and the oil

slick on my face. Whereas in California, it was conditioners and lotions that made the

difference. So this all depends on where you live and how your own body and your own

adaptability is happening with the current products, with the current, shampoos and

conditioners that you're using. Because again, this will all look different depending if

you're in the UK that has very similar weather patterns to the Netherlands. And then all

of a sudden you're going to Perth, Australia, which is very, dry and arid and, sunny and

hot. So all very different.

The other thing I wanted to, talk about is that how you cut your hair and how often you

cut your hair can also affect your hair care and even create excess shedding. So for

example, normally your hair tells You when it's time for a trim, they say on average, you

need to trim your hair every 3-4 months, and this is very healthy, right? Just like

cleaning your teeth every 6 months is something that we should be doing, we should be

trimming our hair every 4 months. I will say earlier in my teens and my 20s, I wanted

really long hair, so I avoid cutting it and what happened, it created actually more

shedding and more hair loss in the shower. I noticed this, and every time I cut it, the

shedding stopped.And so it was one of those things where I realized that I needed to cut my hair more

often in order for it to be healthy and to see less knots and for it to be just more

manageable in general. This is me for curly hair. Maybe you have straight hair, and so

straight hair is also going to be a very different approach on how you take care of it. My

recommendations here are mainly based on my curly hair, but also in general on how

you can navigate these things for yourself while living where you're living or traveling

abroad or moving to a new place as many people are doing. Mindset also plays a part

too. Those who want to hold on to their hair seem to never cut it as much and those

who know that more will come, cut it frequently and without hesitation. Sometimes you

just have to cut your hair. I've actually had to cut my hair earlier this year and late of last

year, 2024. I had to cut it like 5 inches because of just damage and also because

coloring takes a toll on the ends and so the ends tend to be drier.

So if your ends tend to be drier this is where trimming it either going to someone so they

can cut it or I like to trim it myself but then I also like to get my hair cut as well so I do

both. So intermittently if I see maybe some ends that are a little dry I have some

specialty scissors and, I just cut it myself because why wait? It's just right then and

there, let's implement. And so sometimes this is actually quite nice to do so that you can

always maintain, less damaged hair and then create space for new improved hair that

wants to come in.

So let's go ahead and talk about washing and shampooing because I know this is a big

topic too. I understand that during any type of hair loss, seeing clumps of hair, seeing

excess shedding in the shower is extremely traumatic. This is something that I've gone

through myself personally. This is something that I wanted it to stop and it didn't and it

took, you know, 4 years of this to finally take root and to finally stop and for me to see

the hair growth and the healing and to see the clumps come out in the shower and to

see the endless hair everywhere on the floor, on the clothes, in the kitchen, you name it,

the hair was everywhere.

And let me just tell you that this can stop. Students inside the Hair N' Heal program see

the shedding stop anywhere from 2-6 weeks on average, and this is huge because

many times they say, especially your doctors, they're telling you: Oh, this will take 3

months. Oh, this will take, so many months. And lo and behold, I've had clients for

years, 4 or 5 years with this excess shedding that just never stops, even though what

they thought triggered it, has gone in past. And so the thing is whether it's postpartum

COVID related, auto immune related or anything else, we can stop this hair loss in less

time. And that's the name of the game really to stop the hair loss and to get to the hair

growth. So this is all inside the Hair N' Heal program.

But when it comes to shampooing again shampooing and understanding how often to

shampoo, how often to wash your hair, let your hair guide you. So for example, if you

were to move to Miami tomorrow and all of a sudden your scalp is super greasy, then

maybe you should, wash it a little more frequently. However, if you live in a place where

it's a little more dry, a little more arid, or your hair is dry like mine in general, then you

could wait 3, 4, 5 days in between until it's actually necessary to wash your hair. Iactually wash my hair every 4-5 days, 3, 4, 5 days, it just all depends each week, right?

Because if it's raining outside and my hair is not looking great and anything. Then

sometimes washing it makes it feel better and makes it look better. So it just all depends

on where you're at with your hair, but shampooing is something where this is a very

personal choice when it comes to it, so lead by what your hair and your scalp needs

are.

But let me just say that what you have in your scalp is not necessarily your end all fate

or destiny, just like your hair loss. It's not your end all fate or destiny. The thing is, it's

like we can change the amount of grease that comes out on our face, skin, right?

Sebum or on our scalp. And we can also, let's say if your hair is too dry or your scalp is

too dry, or your face is too dry, we can also help that. And so there are ways to help

either situation, whether it's too dry or too oily or somewhere in between, we can always

help that, but then again, the personalized, tailored approach is necessary for me to

understand how I can recommend things for you, so that you can see those results. So

again, don't let your current status of your hair dictate your future, cause it doesn't have

to be.

Before in my, 20s or even in my teens, my hair didn't grow as fast as it does now. It

wasn't also as thick as it was now or as healthy. I had alopecia areata, but which was

moving into totalis and look, now it's been over 8 years and I have full hair, even after

postpartum, even after COVID, even after stressful times, even after moving to 2-3

different countries, even after so many things.

And so the thing is, it's like, there's always room for improvement. There's always ways

to do better and to get better hair and the age, race, ethnicity, however long you've had

your hair situation, whether it's hair loss or greasy hair or greasy scalp or anything else,

you can change and modify this and improve this.

naturally. And so I show you how inside the program. So going back to the shampooing,

see what your hair dictates. Maybe you're in Hawaii vacationing and maybe you need to

wash it a little bit less or maybe a little bit more depending on which side of the islands

you are on. And again, this isn't permanent, the greasiness, the oiliness, or the dryness,

none of it is permanent we can always help and support it and modify it so you can

improve these conditions if you so choose. Same with drier scalp and skin are just like

our face. We can improve the quality of our scalp, there is always a better way.

So conditioning. Some of you use conditioner and some others do not. I do and

recommend conditioning your hair, especially if you have dry hair, just understand that

the directions on the bottle are not necessarily going to help with the cause, meaning,

on average, the bottle directions say, leave the conditioner in for 2-5 minutes.

Sometimes this isn't enough, and if you feel that it's not enough, then leave it on for

longer or maybe choose a different conditioner. One of the two cases. And so potentially

you may need more of help, more of support, more conditioner, and that's okay. For

others you don't, you just need something lightweight and maybe even for your children,you don't even use conditioner at all, just depending if it's a boy or if it's a girl and how

their hair type is right.

If it's curly, coily, kinky, straight or what have you. And so it just all depends. If you have

dry hair, understand that the directions on the bottle are not necessarily going to help

the cause, right? As I just said. The answer to that is to leave it on longer, leave on the

conditioner a lot longer so that you can see those benefits of the conditioner. Things

don't just happen right away, and so we need to take a little more time if necessary. And

if you're pressed for time, then there's other ways to go about doing this.

Sleeping with wet hair is seen as damaging as this can cause friction to the hair strands

and create frizz. If anything you might want to lightly braid or dry it before going to bed.

Brushing hair while wet is sometimes seen as damaging, too. However, this all

depends, for for example, with curly hair, this is the only way to brush my hair is when

it's wet, and I normally do it when I have conditioner in it. This way, It easily detangles

my hair, and it easily sets it up for the curls that need to come out and need to, be

diffused when I'm outside of the shower. Because if I were to brush my hair when it's

dry, I create and have a big poof. I'm sure you've seen pictures of me while I'm getting

my highlights at the salon when they brush it out when it's dry. This is, the reaction that I

always get.

For those with straight hair, perhaps it's being more gentle would work. However,

personally brushing while wet and with conditioner in it has always been my go to. For

me, the only way was to reduce the frizz and the poof would be to brush my hair while

wet in the shower, rinse it, brush it again once it's wet outside the shower, outside of the

conditioner and then style as normal. If there's too much water in the hair, perhaps using

a microfiber towel to reduce the moisture once out. It also, if you tend to come out of the

shower and then put on product directly, you also want to be mindful of that because if

you have too much water in your hair, it can dilute the product that you are using, so it

won't have the super strength or the propensity to do what it says that it's going to do, if

that makes sense, because it's diluted. So be cognizant of that.

I have talked in the past about tight hairstyles and as mentioned many times, this can

and does cause hair loss. I would avoid as much as possible and opt for soft braids or

low buns instead. And really, if you want her to go a little more wild and free, you know,

this is probably the best way to is to have it just loose and out and about. For the sun

protection there's nothing better than a large hat with a high SPF. The highest SPF is in

the fabric of the hat. I have a hat with the highest SPF of 50. This makes it easier than

getting more products or chemicals to your hair. I know there's a lot of sun protecting

chemicals and sprays out there. I would actually avoid those and limit the chemical

exposure versus, just using a hat. Or what you could do is wear it up and put on a scarf

or put on anything else that you'd like to tie around your hair so that it doesn't have so

much exposure to sun, which leads me to the next point. Limit the amount of products

you use.So lo and behold, I did a podcast episode a while back and the average african

american lady uses around 7 products, and that's low balling that number. 7 products,

these are seven different products with chemicals, seven different, products and,

chemistry. When it comes to all these products, it could be a bad interaction. It could be,

you know, moving you into hair loss or to damage.

And the thing is just like cleaning products or anything else. These can interact in

between each other. And so I think first things first is that we want to limit the amount of

products we're using on our hair and then also be cognizant of what we're using. And if

you're seeing your hair deteriorate, potentially it's because of one of your products. So I

would always look on that. We actually have a free PDF on products that cause hair

loss on, my website, alopeciaangel.com

So you can go to the website and get this free download right there on the homepage.

This is huge because there's a lot of products out there and name brands that are in

lawsuits or have been in lawsuits because their products cause hair loss. So something

for you to know as a consumer. So just like skin products, hair products can also have a

reaction, creating a reaction of damage, damaging your hair or worse, the breakage and

the hair loss. a question I've gotten sometimes is: Do you really need to exfoliate your

scalp? Now, exfoliating your scalp has only been in trend maybe for the last, I don't

know 5 years or so and really imagine we've gone centuries without exfoliating our

scalp. This is a gimmick, we don't necessarily need to do this because our scalp is

already exfoliated itself, and also with shampoo, it also cleanses itself.

So there's a cleansing mechanism that's happening, and there's different shampoos

with different levels of cleansing treatments that can also cleanse and lightly clean up

any debris that's there. So do you really need to exfoliate your scalp? No, not really.

That's actually another gimmick.

So just like the laser caps, just like the PRP wigs and medications. These are all

gimmicks. They're not going to help you have better hair, they're not going to let you

have, hair growth that's long term permanent without side effects or reactions. So I

would Eliminate all the gimmicks, I really would. These will not bring you long lasting

amazing hair, it's just the opposite. You might see, a regression of sorts in terms of the

quality of your hair and the productivity and the hair growth. So you might want to limit

less is more.

So for kids, and for those of you moms listening to this, less is more as well. Avoid the

styling products till they are older, no hair coloring either. I would say if you want to hair

color your child, wait until they're over 20 or 25 or something like this, only because

most beauticians and cosmetologists agree that you shouldn't color the hair before the

age of 16 or 18 and I would wait till mid 20s in all honesty. Why? Because many things

can happen, including allergic reactions, chemicals, their hair, and the children. It's more

delicate and can have irritations and can also lead them to getting hair colored and

staying on the course long term of wanting and needing to get their hair colored, so you

want to avoid this as much as possible. The virgin hair is actually very beautiful inchildren and in young adults, and it's something that we should all kind of embrace

really, because less is more. It really is.

Which gets me to my next thing. The hair coloring in general can take a toll on your hair.

I've seen many clients come to me where, They said they've lost 50-60% of their hair

because of one event at the hair salon, because of one bad hair color treatment at the

hair salon. And so this is quite startling. I myself have experienced, shedding, excess

shedding or hair loss during a highlight treatment or during getting my hair color at the

salon. And this is mainly due to the cosmetologists, the hair colorist, the, your hair salon

expert person, your hair stylist, who's left the color on for too long.

This is where we need to be very focused and have them be very focused. Hopefully

they're putting your hair color on a timer so that they are made aware of when they need

to check up on you. If it's been too long, raise your hand and say something, because if

not, then the adverse can happen, and then you could have really dry damaged brittle

hair because of that. I've had to experience that in Japan and also in the Netherlands.

And the thing is, it takes a minute to get to know someone's hair, to get to know

someone's porosity, how quickly it lightens or how quickly it takes onto the hair dye.

And so this is not all automatic, even if you've done, thousands and thousands of hair

color treatments on people, every person is different. And so it's like getting to know

somebody new each time, because that's what exactly what it is. And so everyone's

hair, the quality, the thickness, the fineness, all of it, all these factors determine how

susceptible your hair is to, and how prone it is to damage. And so this is where I've had

certain clients, like I said, lose 50-60% while they're at the hair salon, getting it rinsed

out in the bowl. Can you imagine just really? And the thing is, it's like they can't do

anything for you, except sorry. That there's nothing they can do or say for you, because

the treatment is done. You're still gonna have to pay your services, and then on top of it,

you get to go home with 50-60% hair loss. which is quite disturbing.

And in my case, it was quite disturbing too, because I lost, hair and then also had to cut

the ends because they were so damaged, so fried, that again there's no way to salvage

that. Granted, in my case, I know my hair is growing back and no big deal, but at the

same time, It is still unsettling and it's still very disturbing. And so there's ways to

mitigate that having candid conversations with your hairstylist, you telling them how your

hair is. If it takes on to color, cause this really well, or if you've used, let's say drug store

bought color before that you're going to them, like explaining your situation and really

talking to them about your type of hair, how it reacts, how it is, how gentle it is, how

prone it is, and all of these things is very necessary to have those candid conversations

with your hairstylist too.

But then also ensure that your hairstylist is focused and not distracted, because that's

one thing that I've noticed is that when they're distracted, forget about it, there's more

room for error. So heat styling, less is more and less in between the week. I knew

somebody who used the blow dryer every day and also used curling irons and heated

curls every day. And so this was a lot, and I thought that this would, this was a lot, thiswas back in my 20s. And I looked back at this and yeah, it's very time consuming, but at

the same time, the damage also creeps up with a lot of hair styling, granted, she didn't

color her hair, so she was able to balance things out. She did a lot of heat styling, but no

color. And so this balanced out.

So for those of you who do both, you might want to see where you can make more

improvements on this and maybe less is more and see where you can mitigate that.

Worst of all, though, is again, the dying and the coloring and the highlights and the

bleaching. I'm a product of this. I love my highlights and I'll probably always have my

highlights. This does cause a lot of damage to the cuticle and it needs a lot of help and

protective barriers and bonds to make sure it doesn't get dried out and dyed. Hence me

having to cut off 5 inches, in between January of this year and the end of last year. And

this is again where cutting is the only option. It really is.

And so you want to find a stylist that can do the highlights and just focus on the roots,

not repeat the highlights on the bottom half of the hair, because that's where more

damage and more damage happens, and then of course you have to end up cutting or

have a short Bob and who wants a short Bob? I want long luscious hair, and so that's

what I'm going for. So again, I've had this experience and we want to be very mindful

with the coloring, with the toxins in dyes, in coloring. Because again, this creates the

breakage, the irreversible damage, and then also, you want to mitigate any type of hair

loss due to the dyes due to the reactions that this can create.

I hope that this podcast has helped you in terms of styling, in terms of shampooing, in

terms of conditioning, because there, there are a lot of factors when it comes to your

own hair, to where you live, to the environment outside, right? Whether it's a sunny day,

a raining day where it's snowing, where there's a lot of wind, which wind for me is the

worst. I absolutely hate the wind because it whiplashes my hair just everywhere, it's just

so unfriendly. But at the same time, understanding where we live, our own environment,

and how we can mitigate that better helps us to protect our hair, protect the cuticle,

create less damage and then create a thriving hair for better hair days now and forever.

So I hope this helps. If you have any questions, send them to us at

[email protected], sign up on our website so you can subscribe and learn about

all our free trainings. We have a free training going on for our hormone and thyroid

masterclass and we also have free downloads that I mentioned on our website on the

homepage, where you can find those free downloads of medications that cause hair

loss and also hair products that cause hair loss, and also what to do with your children

who have alopecia and many other free downloads. Please rate and review our podcast

and thank you so much.

I look forward to talking to you next week. Take care.