hair club for women :(

March 29, 2016 10:25 AM

I have always had fine hair and not enough of it. Now I seem to be balding.

I've always had to use mousse, blow dry upside down, etc. to get some volume. But yesterday my hairdresser said my hair was noticeably thinned from the last time I'd seen her a few months ago. She said she could now see my scalp from the crown on the back/top of my head. I had not seen this, but I noticed my hair looking more scraggly and thinner lately.
She told me to see a dermatologist but the next appointment is in 4 months (only one practice in my small city) and I would like to hear opinions now.
I am in my mid-50s. My eyebrows are thinning as well. These point to hypothyroid. However, I am not gaining weight or feeling cold or sluggish; in fact I lost about 25 pounds over the last year and am now quite thin, and have energy. My thyroid tests (including the sensitive one that looks for antibodies) always come back normal, but when I was having difficult depression, the psychiatrist prescribed thyroid replacement anyway, saying my levels were at the low end of normal but might not be normal for me. I did not take the thyroid medication; I was worried about side effects.
I had a physical recently that was normal.
I really do not want to lose more hair. I am wondering if anyone has any ideas about this other than heredity, and if anyone has had success with any hair regrowth products for women.

posted by anonymous to Health & Fitness (12 answers total)

Call your OB/GYN and talk about PCOS.

I lost most of my head hair from that. :( Now I wear a series of fabulous wigs.

*hugs*
posted by heathrowga at 10:28 AM on March 29, 2016 [1 favorite]

Is it just thinning overall, or falling out in clumps?

Sometimes iron supplementation can help. People also like to recommend biotin, although evidence isn't clear whether this actually helps.

How is your health overall? Did you experience anything stressful in the past 2-4 months?

If other people in your family are bald, you might have less luck.

Hair loss is really upsetting-- I hope you get it sorted out!
posted by gemutlichkeit at 10:39 AM on March 29, 2016 [1 favorite]

Menopause can cause hair loss as your hormones change. A dermatologist is probably your best first stop, but not many are very sympathetic to female hair loss sadly. Still a good place to begin.

Rogaine saved my hair. I have PCOS and of all the things I did to stop the hair loss, Rogaine is the only thing that gave my hair back to me. Yes it's a bit of a pain to apply it daily or lose your progress, but it is so worth it, I'm sorry I didn't do it sooner.
posted by cecic at 10:45 AM on March 29, 2016 [1 favorite]

How is your iron? In my late 30s had some overall thinning due to anemia (and possibly stress) but some dietary changes were really helpful. I have fine hair, too, and cutting my hair short gave me a ton of volume and confidence.
posted by mochapickle at 10:45 AM on March 29, 2016 [1 favorite]

If your thyroid hasn't been checked in the past year, I would get it checked again. You can experience hair loss with either hypo or hyperthyroidism. Hyperthyroidism also can cause weight loss and higher energy levels (at least until the levels get too high).

I also second asking a doctor about your ferritin and iron levels, and PCOS.
posted by pie ninja at 11:03 AM on March 29, 2016 [2 favorites]

Whether it's PCOS or a nutritional problem, you should be having more symptoms than just hair loss. Try really examining your body, your eating habits, your sleeping habits and observe if there have been, or are, any changes. Then look up the symptoms for things that have been mentioned in this thread and see if the constellation of symptoms match up.

I think though, this could be a menopause issue. The good news is there are a lot of options out there to combat the symptoms or mitigate them.
posted by kinoeye at 11:22 AM on March 29, 2016

Nthing getting your thyroid checked. A very good friend was recently diagnosed with Hashimoto's thyroiditis. This was after she had lost much of her hair and had been misdiagnosed by her dermatologist. She finally went to a rheumatologist who diagnosed her correctly with the autoimmune disease. The bad news is that she will never regrow her hair and is continuing to lose it, but it has slowed since she was put on some medications.
posted by ATX Peanut at 11:39 AM on March 29, 2016 [1 favorite]

Hair loss is a common side effect of weight loss, weirdly enough. Even if the weight loss is in the context of overall health improvement, the metabolic disturbance can manifest as hair loss several months later as the follicle cycles go on (because your hair is always falling out and regrowing, but all of a sudden you're seeing the absence of the hair that didn't start growing, during the weight loss period.) I've had this happen myself and it feels very weird and scary but the reason was very temporary. See your dermatologist, make sure to let him/her know about the weight loss and don't panic.
posted by fingersandtoes at 12:43 PM on March 29, 2016

My mother had this problem at your age and started using Rogaine for Women. It has had very good results for her. For her, it was definitely hereditary, though she was also going through a lot of stress and menopause when it happened, so that likely played into it.
posted by armadillo1224 at 1:08 PM on March 29, 2016

My mom had really good luck with this laser comb that her dermatologist recommended.
posted by *s at 1:19 PM on March 29, 2016

Female Pattern Baldness is a thing that usually affects men, but is the same gene with a lesser effect in women.
posted by rhizome at 3:01 PM on March 29, 2016 [1 favorite]

My rommate struggles with hair loss so I asked her about this and here's what she said:

I'm experiencing some hair loss and I take androgen-lowering birth control pills (the brand is Orthotricyclen but there are other brands as well). PCOS may be a possibility but often involves stubborn weight gain, which you don't have. But it is still worth ruling out because you might still have it. My dermatologist said that going under general anaesthesia in the last year or so can stop the hair growth cycle of the hairs in your head at the time. The thyroid medication you were prescribed might be worth thinking about because although you may test in the "normal" range numerically, it may not be the optimal level for you as an individual. There's also a medication called Finasteride that I am thinking about trying in the future if mine gets worse. I also started taking Phytophanere Vitamins for hair and nails (not sure if they have any effect yet) and Dr. Perricone fish oil supplements. The fish oil supplements have helped my nails but I haven't been taking long enough to know if they help my hair. I'm going to try Rogaine too. Good luck to you.

posted by roosterboy at 12:42 PM on March 30, 2016