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Today’s episode tackles hair loss and alopecia and how to heal it naturally for life. And as someone who had thyroid issues, had six babies, and has been through postpartum six times, this was a topic I was excited to tackle. I’m here with Johanna Dahlman, who is a health and high-performance hair growth coach. She hosts the Alopecia Angel Podcast, Awaken to Hair Growth. Her journey started with her own struggle with autoimmune alopecia, which she was able to completely reverse. She now helps others with various types of hair loss worldwide reverse and heal naturally without medications.
Johanna shares how her personalized approach looks at what is needed for each individual. She also shares the biggest blindspots when it comes to things that could impact hair growth and autoimmune. She shares some stories of clients she has helped and how they were able to heal and see hair growth results in as little as a few weeks!
I learned so much from Johanna about this topic, and I hope you do too!
Child: Welcome to my Mommy’s podcast.
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Katie: Hello, and welcome to the Wellness Mama Podcast. I’m Katie from wellnessmama.com. And this episode tackles healing hair loss and alopecia naturally and for life. And as someone who has in the past had thyroid issues and has had six babies and been through postpartum six times, this was a topic I was excited to tackle.
And I’m here with Johanna Dahlman, who is a health and high-performance hair growth coach. This is very much her area of expertise. She runs the Alopecia Angel Podcast, Awaken to Hair Growth. And this started from her own struggle with autoimmune alopecia, and she completely reversed that. She now helps others worldwide reverse and heal naturally without the need for medications and with various types of hair loss. She’s helped thousands in over 67 countries, and she focuses on many various types of hair loss, including autoimmune, androgenic, diffuse telogen, scarring, and many others. And she works with both children and adults, and ninety percent see hair growth in less than eight weeks. And we go into a lot of her work today. So let’s join Johanna. Johanna, welcome. Thank you so much for being here.
Johanna: Thank you so much, Katie. It’s a privilege and honor. Thank you.
Katie: On a personal level, I’m really excited for our conversation. And also, I feel like for a lot of people listening who are either postpartum or also have dealt with thyroid issues like I used to, this is going to be a really, really valuable conversation. And we’re going to be talking about hair loss and alopecia and all of the subtopics within that.
But before we get into that, I have a note from researching your bio that you have been to over 65 countries and lived in five and that you birthed your first baby at home over 40 overseas. I would love to hear about just a little about your wide-ranging travels and how that all came into play.
Johanna: Well, I was really inspired early on in my youth. My mom had given me this book. And, you know, at the time, Lonely Planet wasn’t a thing. You know, this was back in 1980, 82, 83, 84. And so she gave me this world geography book. You know, at the time, it was all encyclopedias and Britannicas and this type of thing. And so this was this compilation of world countries, their flags and kind of like two big pages of information on these countries.
And so when I received this book, I was just enthralled with so many different cultures and foods and colors and flags. And it just really almost grabbed me and, you know, kept me on this journey of wanting to travel more, experience and explore. And in many ways, I’ve done that with, you know, traveling, with living abroad, studying abroad. I studied abroad five times. And it’s just, I love learning, but then I also love learning exactly where things are done.
So for example, I had mentioned to my husband that when my child is old enough, let’s say if he’s learning about the Boston Tea Party, we would go to Boston so that he can, you know, kind of do the trail and see everything and feel it, even though it’s changed, obviously, over the centuries and years. But at the same time, he can get a glimpse and an idea of like, how things were put together and how things are today, according to history.
And so the history part of it, I think is, you know, really ties into culture. And especially when you, let’s say go to the pyramids. It’s so different than just learning about it in a book versus going there, climbing or entering pyramids. And, you know, the Valley of the Kings or the Valley of the Queens and, you know, riding a boat along the Nile and be like, oh, my gosh, this is the Nile River, you know, and then having all these historical facts run through your head at the same time. So that’s always been a situation where I’ve loved to be able to complete that and kind of tick it off just because I love history so much as well.
Katie: I love that. And I have quite a few countries to go before I get anywhere close to catching you, but that’s so inspiring. And I have a feeling the rest of our conversation will be equally inspiring on the topic of hair health. And we’re going to get to learn a lot of the tactics, hopefully related to this.
But before we do that, I would love to touch on the broad picture, because it seems like from reading your work, there’s a lot of misconceptions when it comes to hair growth and hair loss, and a lot of assumptions, for instance, that we’re all going to lose hair postpartum, or that hair loss comes with thyroid disease, or kind of, you know, all these assumptions when it comes to hair.
And it seems like your approach works across the board for people, even and regardless of those conditions, and that you kind of challenge the idea that these things come with, you must lose hair as well. So I’d love to talk about the big picture and the work you do, and maybe how you came to find that this is not an absolute sentence when it comes to even with health conditions.
Johanna: Yeah, it all started back with my own health journey. I myself thought I was the epitome of health. At the time, I was diagnosed with alopecia areata, which is the autoimmune disease for hair loss. And you know, I was diagnosed in the hairstylist. So I’ve been getting my highlights done forever and a day. And it’s always been something there that I get every three months or so.
Being diagnosed in the chair and being at my fittest, my healthiest. At the time I was living in Miami, I had a personal trainer. I had abs to show for it. I was in my early 30s. And thought that I was living my best life. In many ways, I was. In many ways, I was the healthiest person in my family, and I was being that spokesmodel, so to speak, for them to get on the same train of healing, of being better, of exercising, of diet and lifestyle. And yet, I was the one diagnosed with something so devastating because it wasn’t just a bald spot. It turned into multiple bald spots, which later on connected.
I ended up losing over 50% of my hair, eyebrows, eyelashes. And the thing is with autoimmune, you have different tiers. You have alopecia areata, then you have alopecia totalis, which is completely bald, but still with hair on your body. And then you have alopecia universalis, which is graduating to that third level, which is zero hair anywhere on your body, face, or head.
And I’ve seen, you know, this podcast is mainly directed towards moms. But I would say as a mom myself, and as for you too, what I’m seeing in my practice is actually children as young as eight months old who are being breastfed who have alopecia. So this is very startling because in the beginning of me helping others around the world in over 67 countries, healing and reversing alopecia naturally, it’s actually grown into different types of alopecia, different types of hair loss, which for your listeners, alopecia is the medical term for hair loss.
And then it’s also gone into helping children and helping teenagers and young adults because really alopecia, the autoimmune, is something that we can experience at any age. It doesn’t matter whether we are breastfeeding, whether we are post-menopause, whether we’re in menopause, perimenopause, whether we’re just hitting puberty or a toddler. I’ve seen it across all ages, races, and ethnicities.
The other thing I’d like to say about hair loss is that it’s not the end all be all. And when it comes to hair loss, especially for, let’s say, women past 30 or 40 years of age, the most common is the female pattern baldness. It’s called androgenic. You know, when you start doing your Google research and your online research, it tends to sway you into the androgens, into the DHT, into, you know, all these other factors. And that minoxidil and Rogaine are your only options. And I’m here to tell you that that’s not true, especially if you want something natural, holistic, and organic.
The thing when it comes to hair loss and to each person, especially when we’re above a certain age, let’s say moms over 30 or 35. Is that even for people who are not moms or even children, it all has to be personalized. And this is where conventional medicine misses the mark because I can guarantee you right now that the supplements on the store shelf are not helping everyone across the board. I can guarantee you right now that the PRP, the laser caps, all these things that are a one size fits all type of mindset and mind frame are not helping everyone across the board. And I hear this on a consistent basis because I have clients who’ve shelled out thousands of dollars with different treatments, with different things that they’ve tried, not just in the US, but maybe abroad as well, and still have no results to look for or see for.
And so when it comes to your hair loss, if you’re doing all the things, if you’re thinking that you’ve done it all and been there and you still have hair loss, it’s because we have blind spots. There are so many things that we could be doing, eating, or living or being exposed to that we don’t know. And then all of a sudden it’s catching up to us, right?
And at the same time, we need an expert eye to evaluate us, to assess us, to see where we’re going wrong, to be able to move the needle and move the mark. And I can’t explain countless clients who’ve come to me after 5, 10, 15 years of working with naturopaths and doctors and who, you name it, of practitioners with zero results.
So this is my big question to your audience. If you’re still seeing zero results, it’s because that strategy is not working for you. And we need to switch the strategy in order for you to see the results. And this is definitely possible regardless of age. I’ve seen ladies in my program in their sixties, seventies, and eighties see results. And so age is one of those big myths that, you know, your, your doctor potentially is saying, hmm, you know, you have the hair loss because you know what, you’re already 40, you’re already 50, you’re already 60. And that’s not true. There are so many things we can do.
And I love to showcase this on my Instagram because many times I’ll put in things that I’ve seen, let’s say in newspapers or in media where the 90-year-old lady just finished her first marathon or the 88-year-old person, you know, with Parkinson’s just, you know, went to the Olympics or what have you. And the thing is, it’s never too late. It’s never too late to travel. It’s never too late to learn. It’s never too late to acquire a new language. It’s never too late to grow your hair, to be healthy. It’s never too late.
And I always say, as long as there is a willingness and a desire, you know, putting action behind that will make, will make a difference in your health. And, you know, you see me today and I’ve got tons of hair, and I’ve lost over 50% of it. I’m in my mid-forties. And again, you know, many people around this age of the 40s, they’re like, oh, I’m losing all my hair. My hormones are shot. I’m going into menopause. What can I do? Well, we need to evaluate you. We need to look at you because whether you, your brother, your sister, your mom, and all your cousins have the same type of hair loss, the tweaking, the modification, the plan, the strategy is all going to look different for each person.
Because even if you had a twin, and I’m going to direct those people who are like, well, what about genetics? Even if you had an identical twin who had the same type of hair loss as you, you both are still living completely different diet and lifestyles. And I can say this because research-wise, they’ve tracked multiple pairs of twins, identical twins, for over 70 years. And lo and behold, there’s always one twin that’s healthier than the other. And the thing is, even though we have all the same genes, we’re not living the same way. And this is why, you know, those two converge and diverge in terms of their health and care.
And so the same thing we can take control, just like you have with your thyroid, just like I have with my alopecia, we can take control of our hair loss. But, you know, one thing to note is that we need to let go of all those gimmicks and strategies that are not showing results.
Katie: Well, I love that. And I love that kind of beyond genetics approach as well of like, that’s a helpful thing to understand, but I always talk to people to avoid assuming that genetics are then your destiny. And it sounds like you’re kind of on the same page there, like very helpful data to have and always changeable.
And also the personalization aspect. I feel like that is huge because I’ve noticed this trend the last 15 years in the wellness industry. And I say this so often that we are each our own primary healthcare provider, and we can come across these experts and they seem to have like the perfect silver bullet system or supplement or whatever it may be. And they have figured out what works for them. They’ve done the N of one study. They have experimented and figured out for them.
And the lesson to learn from that is not to do exactly what they did, but to figure out for yourself, what are those same things that are going to work for you and your individual body? And it sounds like your whole approach actually centers on that personalization and on not assuming that any two people are the same, but helping each person delve into that self-experimentation to figure out what are their levers? Like what could they pull that changes?
So if it’s helpful, I’m happy to be the guinea pig for this episode. I know some of my like factors that came into play where I used to have Hashimoto’s. I had six babies. So I was in postpartum hormones six times and I did have postpartum hair loss quite a bit. I did lose my hair with my thyroid issues. In fact, I didn’t have eyebrows from here over for a long time. And thankfully it’s come back. And I know there are probably still blind spots and things I could do to improve. So I’m super excited to learn from you, but can you start to talk about maybe what are some of the things you look at when someone comes to you and works with you and starts to like delve into what are some of the factors you consider and work with them on?
Johanna: Well, first I look at what their current diet and lifestyle looks like. Normally, when I have a new client, I have an intake form of 11 pages, and I’m really looking for how they’ve been living. Because let’s be honest, you know, when I was diagnosed in my 30s with alopecia, it just didn’t come out of nowhere. It came out of somewhere, right? I think sometimes we want to believe or not believe, or we want to be almost a little bit naive to the fact that whatever we’ve done from, let’s say, in the womb till 30 something that I was diagnosed, everything was perfect and kosher. And it wasn’t. So let’s give ourselves some grace. However we were brought up, whatever we did in the past, that catches up to you. Hence why the average American is on four prescriptions by the time you’re 60. You’re on two prescriptions by the time you’re 40. This is why things catch up to us, whether it’s with a diagnosis or not, or whether it’s high cholesterol or not.
Going back to your question though, we assess everybody from the ground up and I look at them currently, right? Because today you are definitely a different person than you were when you were, you know, in your teens or in your twenties. But at the same time, even if, let’s say, you were a raw vegan and you did so many different things within these last five years, that still isn’t the same as the last 30 plus years that you’ve already lived.
And so I take everything into consideration. I take into consideration, you know, especially dealing with internationals, you know, religions, ethics, values, whether you are vegan, vegetarian, meat eater, this all looks different for each person. And having lived in Japan, having lived in the Netherlands, having lived in Argentina and Brazil, I can relate to so many people. I can relate to so many people to the extent where I’m actually telling them how to and where to buy certain things that they will need in order to be healthier and grow their hair, whether it is in Europe, whether it is in Japan or whether it is in Latin America.
And so that’s the beauty of working with me because I’ve been there, done that, not just with the actual hair loss, but probably with your neighborhood store too. And so the other side of that too is also seeing the boundaries that this client has for me, right? I used to be a vegan myself. I used to be a vegetarian myself. I used to eat meat as well. So I’ve also evolved in my own health even right before my diagnosis.
You know, the thing is, we’re all different and it definitely has to be customized to them, to what they’re willing to do, to the type of supplements that they want, to everything. So, again, this is customized. It’s not necessarily black and white. It’s more of a gray area that we’re walking together as a partnership so that I can boost your health, even if it’s in baby steps, because sometimes people need baby steps. Their life is already overwhelming, and they need baby steps versus, you know, a hard, radical change. I can do both and I can also meet you in the middle. So I like to meet the client where they are and what’s needed, even just a little bit with a baby step. Does that help at all?
Katie: It does. And you mentioned like if people start researching this on their own, they might come across kind of the androgen theory or about DHT or all these different things. Can you explain to us kind of like what are some of the biological things that can be happening when we experience something like hair loss? And if it’s not just as simple as androgens and DHT, like what else might be going on that people might not understand or know even to consider?
Johanna: So the thing is, when we look at inflammation, when we look at DHT, when we look at stress, right, because a lot of people like to say, oh, it’s just stress. It’s just this. It’s just that. Well, it’s not just that. Even with postpartum hair loss, I’m telling you that I never dealt with postpartum hair loss. It was just the opposite. I kept that amazing mane that I had in my 40s after having my first baby at 40.
And there are many things that come into this, but even something as working out too much can be detrimental to your health. So working out is good. We all know this. This is across the board. Or drinking water is good. But we’ve also seen in the media, children or parents or whoever are drinking gallons and jugs of water and then dying from it, right? So on the flip side, too much of it can be harmful, right? As we’ve seen in the media.
But in terms of working out, for example, this is healthy for you. But at the same time, depending on what’s going on, it could be too much for you, right now, if that makes sense. And the thing is, that’s it’s hard to really assess this or bring this to light without having that actual client in front of me, right? But I will say that I’ve seen this where people have the play hard, work hard mentality or lifestyle. And this too, you know, you end up burning out, you end up burning out on both ends of the candle.
And so this is where moderation is definitely key. And sometimes we need to stop, even if it is healthy, even if it is good for us, we need to just stop certain things in order to reset, in order to be able to heal. And depending what type of hair loss it is, certain things are great for you. Some things are not. And so the thing is, even when it comes to something as simple as working out.
For example, my grandma, she’s 88, she started Pilates at 75, but she didn’t start out in those group, you know, boot camp Pilates on the reformer. You know, she was 75. This was the first time that she was exercising. So what I told her to do was to get a one-on-one coach and then just start little by little at her pace. And so the thing is, it’s like, just like in workouts and in exercise regimes, we can think, oh, CrossFit is great. Yoga is great. Pilates is great. And it is, but maybe not for somebody at 75. Maybe not for somebody at 50. Maybe not for somebody at 30 who just had a knee replacement or who’s had injuries, right?
And so the thing is, it’s not ever going to be a one-size-fits-all. You really need to tailor it to see where they’re at. Because, for example, I actually have a team member who, you know, she’s in her 30s or 40s, and she just had knee surgery. I can’t expect her to jump at the level that I need her to or to do anything workout-wise, because guess what? She needs to be off her feet for the next, you know, month and a half. So again, it’s meeting you where you’re at. But, and the same thing, any personal trainer would ask their clients in the same manner, hey, do you have any injuries? Hey, do you have any history, right? Medical history of your body, aches and pains that are going on right now in order to help you achieve your goals in the gym, right? So the same thing I’m doing, too. Like, how can I achieve your goals with what’s going on right now, plus that history of where you’ve been and what’s happened to you? Because when you look at the person holistically, you’re able to help them better. You know?
Katie: Absolutely. And I love that you get that detailed. Can you share some examples of maybe blind spots that you’ve found in clients and work with people and they’ve seen?
Johanna: Oh, I love blind spots. This is one of my favorite topics. You know, I’m just going to go straight to it. There’s a lot of blind spots. First off, breast implants. So if you have breast implants, I have actually, this is a big one. And maybe you’ve seen it as well, where breast implant illness accounts for many autoimmune diseases, a lot of hair loss as well. And a lot of like ghost type of illnesses where you don’t know where this is coming from. It all looks very related to menopause or to this or to PMS or to something else. And then, you know, your doctor’s brushing it off like it’s just age and it’s not. And it’s actually your breast implants. So that’s one.
I would say Botox, fillers, all these things, another, I actually have free PDFs on my homepage for medications that potentially that you’re on. And there’s so many different medications that cause, have direct links to hair loss. So this is something that I would love your customers, your listeners, your followers to really have. Because this affects not just men, but also women, also children. So this is another reason why we want to not be on prescriptions and try to avoid them as much as possible. Because, again, we want to support our body. We want to be healthy from the inside out. And sometimes when we take a prescription, it’s leading us to another, you know, another issue, another health concern.
And going back to thyroid, Hashimoto’s happens to about 20% of postpartum women. So that’s like an automatic. So postpartum, anyone should be getting a full thyroid panel to make sure that their thyroid levels have leveled out, especially, you know, three months out of having a baby. And this would also help reduce or avoid any Hashimoto situation or diagnosis. Hashimoto’s is one of those autoimmune diseases that likes to buddy up.
Once you have one autoimmune disease, 25% go on to acquire a second and a third. And it’s actually quite common. I’ve seen five-year-olds with three autoimmune diseases. I’ve seen 50-year-olds, I’ve seen 30-year-olds, 20-year-olds with multiple autoimmune diseases. Hashimoto’s, rheumatoid arthritis, alopecia, vitiligo, eczema, these are the ones that like to buddy up because they’re because that’s what the research shows. And that’s actually what I’ve seen also in my practice. So, you know, you want to be very vigilant and cautious if you already have one. And so that sense of urgency is definitely key because we want to heal in reverses, just like you have with your Hashimoto’s, just like I have with alopecia, just like others have with MS or with other types of autoimmune diseases. This is all possible to do.
And so that’s the other thing that I wanted to help assist in responding to your question. You know, when I look at my clients, many times it’s not just hair loss. Many times they have IBS. And maybe it’s not even alopecia, the autoimmune. Maybe it’s female pattern baldness because that’s a big thing too. And so female pattern baldness affects like 50% of women after the age of 40. And so this is a big number.
And female pattern baldness, for those of you who don’t know what this technically looks like, this is actually kind of like where your part begins to part a little wider. This is where, let’s say, the forehead grows a little bit bigger. This is where there’s thinning potentially all over. But really, it’s like a crown on the crown of your head is getting thinner and thinner and thinner. And maybe so much so where you can see the scalp through it. I’m sure you’ve seen somebody who rings a bell. Maybe you don’t know them, but maybe you’ve seen them at the mall or you’ve seen them at the supermarket. And that’s a clear classic case of female pattern baldness where it’s on the crown, right specific for females.
And yes, you can reverse this. I’ve had numerous clients who’ve done so. And again, it’s diet and lifestyle. It’s a personalized strategy for you, for your situation, for where you live. Because, for example, I have clients in India. The way you eat and live in India looks different than Canada or the US. Or in Sweden or in Germany or anywhere else. And we need to be able to adapt to that. We need to be able to ensure that we’re able to still move the needle and still hold true to what’s true for us, right? Which is living in a different country, which is so different.
Katie: Well, and like you, I find it alarming that we’re seeing these autoimmune conditions even in children now and at very, very young ages. That was actually part of my original inspiration for starting Wellness Mama and for getting into the health and wellness research side to begin with. So I love that you’re able to help people essentially of all ages. And I’m curious, does this work on men as well? So you mentioned female pattern baldness. I know there’s also male pattern baldness. Do you work with men also? And do they also see results?
Johanna: So, you know, after so much success with autoimmune alopecia and reversing them, and just to give, you know, your listeners, because they may know somebody, they may have a niece or a nephew or a grandchild with alopecia. So just to give people some statistics around how I help and how soon people can recover from this. My journey personally took me over four years, four grueling years, which was, you know, filled with crying in the bathroom, desperation, grief, anxiety, insomnia, because the thing is, it’s not just hair loss. There’s a lot of other symptoms, feelings, and situations that go along with having an autoimmune disease.
And I’m sure for you with Hashimoto’s, it was the same. It’s not just your thyroid and it’s not just taking a thyroid med. There’s so much more to it. For me, it was the dry eyes, the dry skin. You know, it was just a tsunami of emotions, feelings, and changes in my body that I didn’t realize were all connected and related to the autoimmune disease. It took me four years.
So now, in my program, people are seeing hair growth as quick as two weeks, three weeks, four weeks, six weeks. And this is all with just an organic, natural approach to you, to what your situation is in order to boost your health in all areas. It’s really optimizing cellular health and it’s your personal, you know, prescription for ultimate health, high performance hair growth in less time.
And that was actually my mission. And it is my mission for others because going through hair loss is absolutely devastating. And then the worst part about it, Katie, is that when I was diagnosed, I was Googling and researching right on my phone as they’re doing my highlights at the salon. And the first thing you see is there’s no cure. You’re going to go bald. And then all the forums online were absolutely negative and petrifying in terms of what was next for me, what my outlook in life.
Let me just give your listeners a little clue. At the time I was diagnosed, I was still single. I hadn’t had my babies. I wanted to, you know, get married and have kids and do all the things. And you know, dating with hair loss is completely different than being, you know, confident and having all your faculties in place. When you’re going through a health concern, it just so different. The dynamics change, your confidence, your self-esteem take a hit, all of it takes a hit.
So now my clients see hair growth in less than eight weeks. For those of you who are alopecia totalis or universalis, which is completely bald and maybe have full hair loss on the body, with six months, you have full coverage on average. Within six to eight months, you have full coverage, like buzz, a buzz cut or a pixie cut. And this is amazing.
But this is actually one of those myths that you can’t cure hair loss, that there is no cure for alopecia. When I’m here to tell you there is, it’s just not a one size fits all. You’re not going to find it in a jack inhibitor. You’re not going to find it in a cortisone shot. You’re not going to find it in minoxidil. You’re not going to find it in Rogaine or anything where else. It’s got to be a personalized plan tailored to you. That’s what that is.
Katie: That makes so much sense to me. And I am curious. I know, obviously, the answer is always personalization. And each person is very unique. Are there any categories that you found from working with so many people of things that were either sort of universally beneficial and helpful and or universally not beneficial? I know you mentioned things like Botox and breast implants, seemingly universally not helpful for hair growth. And I would guess for many other things. But are there any other factors that kind of fit in either of those categories?
Johanna: You know, those are two big ones that a lot of people don’t see the connection or correlation to hair loss. I would also say smoking, vaping, any of that is also a trigger. Extensions. So there’s another PDF I have on my website, which talks about extensions, hair products that cause hair loss. Companies that, you know, are in current lawsuits or in past lawsuits because their hair products cause cancer or cause hair loss directly. And there’s a slew of hair products and brands out there that the normal consumer is not aware of. And so I make this readily available. It’s right there on the homepage. You can download it.
Because again, many times we’re unaware that guess what? The dry shampoo we’re using causes cancer, causes hair loss, right? How do you know when you’re, you know, almost blinded by the marketing lights and all the marketing hype in regards to this new tool to help women optimize and be more time efficient, right> And then lo and behold, all of them contain chemicals that are bad for us. And so it, the thing is, it can come from anywhere and in any direction.
So this is why with that assessment, with that, with that evaluation, I’m looking at everything and, really asking more questions and digging deeper, because I think that is definitely the key to everyone’s success in being able to be their healthiest and thrive is to ask and to dig deeper. There’s always a bigger reason as to why. And so looking at the expert eye, looking and going to someone who’s been there, done that, because for example, when it even comes, when it comes to fertility or when it comes to something as hair loss, we can go to our regular GP and they’re going to say, oh, okay, well it’s hair loss. And so I’m going to give you a Rogaine Minoxidil and then go home. Well, what if that doesn’t work? What if it backfires? It has lots of side effects. Many parents come to me and they’re like, I don’t want to put my children on these medications. I don’t want them to be on JAK inhibitors. I don’t want them to be on XYZ prescription because guess what? There are side effects and it will cause harm to their fertility. It will cause erectile dysfunction. It will cause all these different things. They have alopecia meds for boys and for girls.
One of the reasons why I took this natural approach, Katie, is because as I mentioned, I was single when I was diagnosed. I wasn’t married. I wanted kids. I was in my thirties, and you know, when you’re in your thirties, you’re kind of like, all right, let’s go. Time’s coming up, right? And so I finally met my husband to be, and the next thing, right, is kids. And I wanted healthy kids. And so when all these different doctors that I had seen, I had seen doctors in the Netherlands. I had seen doctors in California and in Colorado. They were giving me either creams, cortisone shots, or nothing like they did in the Netherlands. Then I was just like, no, there’s a better way. There has to be a better way. And there is a better way. It’s just not out there yet.
I came from Apple corporate so that was my life before. And at Apple, we think differently. We have a different way of solutions and resolving problems. We look at all angles, not just the black and white. And so if the possibility is there, let’s investigate it. Let’s look further. And that’s exactly what I did. I took that mindset. I took that way of thinking at that creative solutions. And that’s what I went through for four years in order to get my hair and health back.
And I’d say that it even upgraded my fertility because at the age of 40, I was able to have a kid, get pregnant on the first try. And so to me, that’s astonishing because I hear today from friends or even from my clients that they’re in their 20s and 30s and they’re having fertility problems. And so the thing is, I know that I’m not a unicorn that this can be possible and available to anyone who wants it. Cause I’ve seen it in my thousands of clients. Like they can heal, they can reverse, they can get pregnant.
And again, it’s going to be modified to you. I’ve helped moms who are breastfeeding and doing the program and healing their hair growth and, you know, getting everything back in order. It’s been, you know, I’ve worked with women in their fifties, sixties and seventies. I’ve worked with children. So again, it all depends on what your goals are. Because again, for example, I just had somebody yesterday I was talking to where she’s in her forties. She has alopecia. She has actually a female pattern baldness, but she also wants to get pregnant. So that strategy is also going to look different for someone who’s, you know, been there, done that, and maybe not want any more kids, right? And so this all looks different for everybody, right? So I marry what they want, what their future goals are with what their current goals are as well.
Katie: Well, and on that note, I know I’ll have links in the show notes, but I know you have resources online and that you work with people directly. Where can people find you if they want to work with you and or just keep learning from you online?
Johanna: alopeciaangel.com, Instagram and Facebook, Alopecia Angel as well, alopecia_angel for YouTube and for Instagram. In particular, I also have a podcast. It’s Alopecia Angel, Awakened to Hair Growth, where you can hear interviews and stories from some of my clients with different types of hair loss, including scarring, including female pattern baldness, including moms who are doing the program for their kids, all different types, including men who’ve also had alopecia areata, the autoimmune disease.
In regards to male pattern baldness, though, I don’t know if I gave you a response. We actually have a cohort right now. We’re working with men who have male pattern baldness who want a natural way of healing this. And it’s something that in all honesty, I haven’t ever really tapped into because I’ve always been focused with women and with autoimmune but having worked with so many people with autoimmune and having seen amazing success, it just, it expanded, you know, people are just so hungry for a natural approach. It’s expanded into scarring. It’s expanded into female pattern baldness. It’s expanded into, you know, women in their seventies and eighties to children who are infants and toddlers and anything up in between up until 20, I say, because sometimes moms still think of their babies as babies at 20. So just, it’s always expanded and I continue to expand.
And I believe that if we can heal ourselves from the inside out, and if we can tweak every area of health that we need, then this is going to be all possible. And then the hair will come eventually, just like everything else, the better skin, the clear skin, the energy levels, the balance of hormones, everything will balance out. Once we start looking at our blind spots, once we start getting that evaluation of how we can be better, because sometimes that’s the biggest hurdle. How can we be better right now today?
But the thing is, that’s just it. It’s not a one size fits all. If I were to say, oh, drink eight glasses of water, do your 10,000 steps a day, that doesn’t fit everybody. And so we really need to personalize this. And this is where, A, there’s a gap of information, and B, there’s a lack of time from our healthcare providers. But this is very clear.
And especially if you live abroad, there’s just a very long time wait to see doctors or you get the response that I got when I was living in the Netherlands. Like, oops, sorry, we’ve got nothing for you. You know, quit wearing your hair in a ponytail. That’s what they told me. And you don’t have options. And this is like, my heart goes out for people who do live abroad, because here in the US, we have options. You know, if you don’t like your healthcare provider, you can pay out of pocket. Many times in other countries, you cannot pay out of pocket. You have no option.
And so even going back to my whole having birth abroad story, I never saw a doctor, not one time at 40 in the Netherlands. And the thing is, I never had that option. I fought for it, but I never was given that option. And even when I had a miscarriage, I never was able to, you know, see more or do more or test more. And so this is a situation is that our possibilities within our circle where we live could be very limited. And this is why I made this worldwide, because I don’t want another person have to go through what I went through, which is very troubling.
And as an American, you know, just very startling that I’m not given options, you know, and even as something as pregnancy, I was never tested. I never had a urine test. I never had a blood test. I didn’t have the glucose test. I didn’t do any of the tests that normal American moms go through because I was living in Europe and in the Netherlands. And this is not so long ago. My kid’s a toddler, you know, where again, no options, no testing, no nothing. They just saw me as another pregnant lady.
Katie: Yeah, well, and that’s for me, I always go back to at the end of the day, that’s why we are each our own primary healthcare provider. And hopefully we can find partners in that journey, in practitioners or in specialists who can help us with specific knowledge we don’t have. But at the end of the day, like you seem to speak to as well, that responsibility lies within us. And to me, the really empowering part about that is when we step into the driver’s seat of our own health, we also step into tremendous power to create change in our health when we’re driving the car now.
So I love that that seems to be your approach as well, that you have done so much of a deep dive specific to hair loss and alopecia. And I know there are many people struggling with that who are looking for answers. And I will, of course, link to all the resources you mentioned in the show notes at wellnessmama.com. So if you guys are listening on the go, you can find that all there.
But Johanna, thank you so much. This has been so enlightening, so fascinating. Definitely an area I’m still interested in researching myself and feel like I’m still very much a freshman in high school about, because I, for instance, just learned last year that my hair is actually in fact wavy/curly after having kids. And I’ve been still trying to treat it as if it’s straight as it was when I was a kid. So still a lot for me to learn as well. And I’m very grateful for everything you shared today and for your time. Thank you so much.
Johanna: Thank you, Katie. Thank you.
Katie: And thank you as always for listening and sharing your most valuable resources, your time, your energy, and your attention with us today. We’re both so grateful that you did. And I hope that you will join me again on the next episode of the Wellness Mama podcast.
If you’re enjoying these interviews, would you please take two minutes to leave a rating or review on iTunes for me? Doing this helps more people to find the podcast, which means even more moms and families could benefit from the information. I really appreciate your time, and thanks as always for listening.
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Katie Wells, CTNC, MCHC, Founder of Wellness Mama and Co-founder of Wellnesse, has a background in research, journalism, and nutrition. As a mom of six, she turned to research and took health into her own hands to find answers to her health problems. WellnessMama.com is the culmination of her thousands of hours of research and all posts are medically reviewed and verified by the Wellness Mama research team. Katie is also the author of the bestselling books The Wellness Mama Cookbook and The Wellness Mama 5-Step Lifestyle Detox.
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