A hairy situation

Losing your hair sucks.

Mine is starting to fall out - this is a normal side effect from gastric bypass surgery and not totally unexpected. It's also supposed to be a temporary thing. I have been taking biotin since day one in an effort to postpone it as much as possible, but I can't deny the handfuls of hair in my brush every day. I'm used to losing some hair when I brush it out but in the past week or so, the amount has increased very noticeably.

I have a thing about my hair. I've always said it's pretty much the only thing I have going for me physically (in my opinion, anyway). At least, I said that when I was younger! I used to have to go to the hairdresser and get it thinned out because it was so thick and wavy. I didn't quite know what to do with it for a long time, I'd try to make it straight and wore it quite short. But in my 20s, I learned to just kinda let it do what it wants to. The less I tinker with it, the better it seems to look. I do like a ponytail (a lot), but when I want to, I was always able to have a mass of wavy blonde curls floating down my back with minimal effort. It began to thin out in my 30s, though. And now I'm using volumizing shampoo and taking biotin in an effort to keep it looking normal. Kinda sucks.

Of course, malabsorption of nutrients is what causes this. All my bloodwork is normal, but my body has to go through a period of readjustment to the new amount of food I'm giving it. The most prominent advice for hair loss is to get more protein - somehow. We can't eat enough to get as much as we need so we have to rely on supplements. I admit I don't always get my protein shake in every day, but you bet your ass I will now!

I've blogged before about the quest for balance between good sense and vanity. But man...my hair? I'm pretty upset about this latest turn of events, lemme tell you. I do hope it's temporary. Maybe I'll get it cut in some new, shorter style. I dunno. The weird part about all this is that while I'm losing weight and everyone keeps telling me how great I look, I look at myself and think I already look worse in some ways than I did before. The sagging skin just looks horrible. And I'm kinda scared to think about what I'll look like when I'm done. But I'm really trying to remember why I'm doing this and that my health is the most important thing, not the way I look.

Oh, and I only lost two lbs. again last week so I'm now at 306, 138 total lost. I was thinking I'd be close to my goal by my birthday in Feb., but at this rate there's no way that's going to happen.