Hair doesn't fall out from stress or shampoo - it falls out from what you put on your plate. That's the point of a new discussion launched by Dr Raquel Amaro, a trichologist at Hospital Capilar, and one that brings order to the chaos around "miracle" hair treatments.

Amaro is concise: "The hair shaft is a structure with high metabolic activity, which is why it requires a constant supply of nutrients." That means all the miracle shampoos and serums work on the surface, while the real problem is decided by six nutrients - iron, B vitamins, vitamin D, protein, zinc, and healthy fats.

When they go missing, the body doesn't panic right away. The shaft keeps growing for 2-3 months as if nothing is wrong. After that comes telogen effluvium - a mass shedding that feels mysterious. "Many restrictive diets generate metabolic stress that can trigger intensive hair loss," Amaro says. The results of a weight-loss diet often turn up in the hair on your comb - three months later, when nobody is connecting the dots.

The second myth Dr Amaro broke is "superfood thinking." One bowl of avocado, one bag of walnuts, one collagen capsule - it doesn't work. "Hair health depends on the overall balance of your diet, not on isolated foods." The message is simple: hair pays attention to what you eat over months, not what you eat on a single Thursday.

For the Balkan woman past 40 who worries about weight more than about nutrition, this is an important return to basics. Coffee and bread for breakfast, tomato for lunch, nothing for dinner - the classic diet that works on the kilo count and destroys the hair. The question isn't how much you weigh. The question is how much hair will be left by the time you retire. The two go together, or they go against each other.