Your Iron Savings Account
How is your iron savings account looking?
Natalie here. Ferritin is your body's iron savings account, and your hair is one of the first places to notice when it runs low. Seven quick taps and I will show you what might be making withdrawals.
First things first. What is on your plate most weeks?
The cuppa question. When do you have your tea or coffee?
A slightly personal one. How would you describe your periods?
Has anything been draining you a little more than usual lately?
Tap everything that applies, now or in the past couple of years.
How do you move most weeks?
Have you been noticing any of these?
Tap all that sound familiar. Each has plenty of other possible causes, which is exactly why the number matters.
Last one. Do you know your ferritin number?
Why these questions? Because they cover what matters most for your iron: what goes in, what gets in the way, what goes out, and how you are feeling. A quiz can only ever hint, so once you have your picture, have a read of the full story below.
The important bit. A bit of fun with real science behind it. It is not medical advice and it can't diagnose anything. Only a blood test can tell you your ferritin. Nothing you tap is saved or sent anywhere.
What might be making withdrawals
Easy deposits you can start this week
One firm rule from me. Please don't start iron tablets on a hunch. Too much iron is harmful, so that one is always a conversation with your GP first.
Iron is the delivery driver. Keratin is the parcel.
Iron helps get oxygen and energy to the follicle. Keratin is what the follicle is actually building with: your hair is around 85 to 95% keratin. So whatever your number turns out to be, the hair growing in over the next few months still has to be made out of something. That is the part we look after at Kiri10â„¢.
Your picture is based only on the seven answers you tapped. It is general wellbeing information, not a diagnosis and not medical advice. If you feel breathless, dizzy, have chest pain or a racing heart, or your periods are very heavy, please see your GP rather than relying on a quiz.
Ferritin and your hair, in plain words
I am not a doctor, and I would never pretend to be one. I am someone who spent years trying to work out why my hair was changing, and who now spends most of her working life reading the research so you don't have to. Ferritin is the topic I get asked about more than almost anything else, so here is everything I would tell a friend over a coffee (an hour after lunch, obviously).
Your wallet and your savings account
When you have a standard blood test, the iron reading shows what is moving around in your blood right now. That is the cash in your wallet. Ferritin is different. It is the protein that stores iron for later, so it shows what you have in your savings account.
The two don't always move together. Your body is very good at keeping the wallet topped up by dipping into savings, so the everyday reading can look fine for a long time while the reserve underneath is running down. That is why so many of us hear "your bloods are normal" and still feel like something is off.
Why your hair notices first
Hair follicles are some of the busiest little factories in the body. They divide quickly and they need a steady supply of energy to do it. But from your body's point of view, hair is a nice-to-have. When savings get tight it pays the essential bills first (heart, brain, muscles, blood) and hair goes to the back of the queue.
What that can look like is more hairs than usual slipping into their resting phase together, then letting go two or three months later. That delay is the confusing part. By the time you see it in the shower, the cause is already a season behind you.
Why "normal" isn't always the whole story
Lab reference ranges for ferritin are wide, and in many labs the bottom of "normal" sits somewhere in the teens. Those ranges are mostly there to flag anaemia, not to tell you what your hair would like.
Many hair specialists like to see ferritin sitting comfortably higher than that, often around 40 or above, and some aim higher again. So a result of 18 can be reported as normal and still be worth a conversation if your hair is shedding. This is why I always say: ask for the actual number, and write it down.
Deposits and withdrawals
- Periods, especially heavy ones
- Pregnancy and breastfeeding
- Giving blood
- Running and endurance training
- Losing weight quickly
- A gut that doesn't absorb well
- Not much iron on the plate
- Plant iron without a vitamin C helper
- Tea or coffee with meals
- Calcium at the same time as your iron-rich meal
- Skipped meals and small appetites
Small swaps that add up
Move the cuppa. You don't have to give it up. Just keep tea and coffee an hour either side of your main meals. In the classic study on this, tea with a meal cut iron absorption by about 64% and coffee by about 39%.
Add a squeeze. Vitamin C helps your body take up plant iron. Lemon over your spinach, capsicum in the lentils, a kiwifruit or an orange after dinner.
Put iron on the plate on purpose. Red meat a couple of times a week if you eat it. Eggs, lentils, chickpeas, pumpkin seeds, tofu and leafy greens if you don't.
Take a photo, not a hair count. Same spot, same light, once a month. Hair changes slowly and photos are kinder and more accurate than counting what is in the plughole.
Leave the iron tablets to your GP. Iron is one of the few nutrients where more is not better. Get the number first.
Not sure where your own account sits? It takes seven taps.
Hair health is whole-body health
This is the reason I wanted to write about ferritin in the first place. Healthy hair is never one thing. It is your iron, your protein, your stress, your sleep, your hormones, all quietly working together.
If your iron savings account does turn out to be low, that is one for you and your GP, and I want to be really clear that KiriGlowâ„¢ won't change that number. It contains no iron at all, on purpose.
What it does is look after the other half of the picture. Iron helps deliver what the follicle needs. Keratin is what the follicle builds with. KiriGlowâ„¢ is a daily capsule with Functional Keratinâ„¢, a 91% bio-match to human keratin that comes from New Zealand sheep's wool, alongside zinc, copper and biotin. It is there to feed the follicle from within and support stronger, thicker, healthier-looking hair over time.
So if you are getting your bloods done and making a few swaps, taking keratin each day is a simple way to make sure the building blocks are there for the hair that is on its way. Like everything with hair, give it 90 to 180 days rather than two weeks, and mention it to your GP along with anything else you take.
Natalie x
Want every study? The full article is on the blog: Low ferritin and hair loss, the hidden connection.
Where the facts on this page come from
- Almohanna HM and others. The role of vitamins and minerals in hair loss: a review. Dermatology and Therapy, 2019.
- Guo EL, Katta R. Diet and hair loss: effects of nutrient deficiency and supplement use. Dermatology Practical and Conceptual, 2017.
- Morck TA, Lynch SR, Cook JD. Inhibition of food iron absorption by coffee. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1983 (the tea and coffee figures).
- BC Guidelines. Iron deficiency: diagnosis and management (who is most at risk).
- DermNet NZ. Telogen effluvium, and Iron deficiency.
This page is general wellbeing information written by Kiri10, not medical advice, and it is not a substitute for seeing your GP or another health professional. The iron savings account check can't diagnose low ferritin, iron deficiency or any other condition. Kiri10 products are not a treatment for iron deficiency or for hair loss caused by a medical condition. Always read the label and use as directed. If you are pregnant, breastfeeding, on medication or managing a health condition, check with your health professional before starting any supplement.