Hi! I’m Act+Acre founder, Helen Reavey. In April 2020 I got COVID and two months later I started losing alarming amounts of my hair.  In a poll we conducted 72% of you said you experienced the same stressful symptom so I wanted to share some of the advice that helped stop the hair loss within 10 days and get my hair growing back in stronger than before. Before jumping in to my (natural) routine, while I hope the below will help a lot of people, if you do experience a large amount of hair loss we would always advise you to seek medical advice. Ok, let’s dig into the questions you asked:

Will it grow back?

If your hair loss is due to illness or stress, it will likely grow back. That being said, while we can change our lifestyle habits to aid hair growth and to counteract hair loss, sometimes it is not fully in our control.

How did you get the hair to stop falling out? 

The first thing I did was look to my diet in order to balance essential vitamins and minerals. When you have COVID, your nutrients go to other places in the body and your essential minerals slowly start to deplete. The hair is the last place to get vitamins, so it’s the first to tell the story of vitamin depletion.

Talk to your doctor about a blood test to see what you’re low on and then supplement accordingly. For me I started on Zinc, Vitamin C, Iron, and Hair Capsules (we may or may not be launching the exact ones I used within the next couple of weeks 👀) The vitamin C is essential and helps the iron, zinc and other vitamins absorb into the body, after 10 days of starting this regime my hair stopped falling out.

How long before the hair comes back?

My hair stopped falling out after 10 days of this routine and took 2-3 months until it fully started to fill in. 

What can I do to promote regrowth?

My routine involved staying away from any heat tools, incorporating daily scalp massages,  weekly scalp detox, and hair vitamins.

 I also recommend introducing products that help to stimulate growth, balance the scalp microbiome, and enhance nutrient supply to the hair follicle—Our Scalp Detox helped me through this.

Do you recommend a big chop if your hair grows fast?

This isn’t necessary for hair growth, but as the new hair comes in, regularly trimming the hair will help balance the hair especially if the ends are looking and feeling thinner.