Hair Care

Morning — 30–60 min before breakfast (or light non-dairy snack)

  • Iron Bisglycinate — take here, then wait 30–60 min before coffee or dairy

  • Vitamin C 250–500mg alongside it to enhance absorption

With breakfast (your fatty meal — eggs, avocado, etc.)

  • Pumpkin Seed Oil

  • Fish Oil 1–2g EPA/DHA

  • Vitamin D3 + K2 (2,000–4,000 IU)

  • Garden of Life Women's Multi — 2 capsules

  • Saw Palmetto (if adding — take with fat)

  • Collagen Peptides — stir into coffee or a drink

  • L-theanine 100mg (optional, if taking with coffee for smoothing out caffeine)

Midday / with lunch

  • Spearmint tea (first cup — DHT support)

  • This is a good protein-check meal — aim for 30–40g here

Afternoon

  • Spearmint tea (second cup if desired)

Evening — with dinner

  • Nothing required here unless you add magnesium malate for energy support, which can be taken with food

Bedtime — 30–60 min before sleep, empty stomach

  • Magnesium Glycinate 200–300mg

  • Zinc Picolinate 15–30mg

  • L-theanine 100–200mg (if not taken in the morning)

Topical routine — pre-shower

  • Castor oil + jojoba oil blend on scalp 30–60 min before washing, with 3–4 drops rosemary essential oil mixed in

  • Apply a few drops of jojoba to dry ends before getting hair wet

  • Shampoo scalp only, let suds rinse through ends

  • Optional: cooled marshmallow root tea poured over lengths as a leave-in final rinse

The things worth keeping in mind daily

Protein is the unglamorous one — try to hit roughly 100g across the day. Hair is keratin and your body won't prioritize follicle rebuilding if protein is marginal. Eggs at breakfast, a solid protein at lunch and dinner gets you there without much effort.

Collagen peptides are easy to be consistent with because they're flavorless and dissolve in anything.

If you haven't done labs yet — ferritin, serum iron, TIBC, TSH, and serum zinc — that's still the most important single step before committing to the iron supplement long-term. Ferritin target for hair is above 70 ng/mL, which is higher than what most standard lab ranges flag as "normal."

What labs you still want

Given all of this, the tests that would complete the picture most usefully are:

  • Ferritin — the most important single hair number

  • Serum iron and TIBC — to understand if low ferritin is absorption or intake related

  • TSH and free T3 — thyroid issues cause exactly your hair and lipid pattern

  • Fasting insulin — your lipid panel suggests insulin sensitivity is worth checking, and standard glucose alone doesn't catch early insulin resistance

  • HbA1c — same reason, gives a 3-month glucose average

  • Serum zinc — before committing to zinc supplementation

The thyroid one especially — hypothyroidism causes hair shedding, low HDL, high triglycerides, and fatigue all at once. It would be worth ruling out if you haven't already.

The 5 polyps

This is important context for your supplement choices. Polyps removed during colonoscopy, depending on type, can indicate elevated colorectal cancer risk over time. A few notes:

  • Calcium and Vitamin D together have evidence for reducing polyp recurrence — your D3/K2 supplementation is already relevant here

  • Fish oil's anti-inflammatory effects are also relevant

  • Folate from your multivitamin is protective for colorectal tissue

  • This is a reason to be cautious about very high-dose iron supplementation. Excess iron in the colon has some association with colorectal cell proliferation. This doesn't mean avoid iron — if your ferritin is low you need it — but it's a reason to supplement at the lowest effective dose and retest rather than staying on high doses long-term

Alexandra HjertComment