Is there too much hair in your brush and all over the floor? Is your part growing wider, and your pony-tail smaller and smaller?
If so, you’re not alone. Hair loss affects one in three women, and it’s starting to affect more and more young women.
As I’m sure you understand, there is no one treatment that works for everybody when it comes to female hair loss. Finding your hair loss solution will require a bit of detective work and perseverance.
Is hormonal birth control the cause of your hair loss?
Older types of birth control contain a progestin (synthetic progesterone) that is very similar to testosterone, and so gives testosterone side effects such as acne and hair loss. The most “testosterone-like” progestins are medroxyprogesterone, norgestrel, etonogestrel and levonorgestrel. (Not sure which progestin you’ve been taking? Read the label on your birth control pack.)
You may be on the Pill for many months (even years) before you start to notice hair loss. Your doctor’s solution is to switch you to a pill with a different progestin such as drospirenone, but drospirenone-pills have their own problems (depression and blood clots), and they also prevent ovulation, which is the very thing you need for healthy hair.
Ovulation is how you make estrogen and progesterone.
As I explain in my book Period Repair Manual, your hair loves estrogen and progesterone. The only way to make those hormones is to ovulate. The only way to ovulate is to stop the pill.
But take care: Stopping birth control might temporarily worsen hair loss. Why? Because a sudden hormonal change can trigger hair loss (that’s why hair loss is so common after childbirth). Pill-withdrawal hair loss should improve after a few months, as long as you start to ovulate and have regular cycles.
Did your doctor test for PCOS?
Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is a hormonal condition with a high level of androgens (male hormones) that cause hair loss, acne and hirsutism (facial hair).
If you think you might have PCOS, please speak to your doctor about having a blood test. (PCOS must be diagnosed by blood test—not ultrasound.) Fortunately, PCOS responds well to natural treatment and diet changes such as quitting sugar.
You may need to treat your thyroid.
Your hair follicles are exquisitely sensitive to thyroid hormone – either too much or too little. Do not go any further with your treatment plan until you have ruled out thyroid disease.
Your doctor will order a basic test called TSH, but it’s not always the most reliable test. If you have symptoms of thyroid disease, or if you have a family history of thyroid disease, then talk to your doctor about another blood test called “thyroid antibodies”. It’s the best marker of autoimmune thyroid disease.
Is inflammation a factor?
Inflammation hyper-sensitizes hair follicles to androgens (male hormones), which is why chronic inflammation can cause androgen hypersensitivity or androgenetic alopecia. A simple way to reduce inflammation is to avoid inflammatory foods such as sugar, wheat and dairy.
Are you eating enough carbs?
A low carb diet can make your hypothalamus think you’re starving, which convinces it to shut down ovulation and hormones. Low calorie and low carb dieting can both result in hair loss in women.
You should probably take zinc.
Your hair seriously loves zinc. Zinc works at every part of your hair loss story. It reduces inflammation, promotes ovulation, and lowers androgens. Zinc also directly stimulates hair growth.
The birth control pill depletes you of zinc, so that’s another reason to get off it. The best food sources of zinc are red meat, pumpkin seeds and oysters. You might also want to supplement. I recommend 25 mg per day after food.
Did your doctor test for iron?
Whatever your cause of hair loss (Pill, PCOS, thyroid), being iron deficient makes it worse. That’s because your hair follicles require a lot of iron (because they grow fast).
Ask your doctor to order a test called “iron studies.” Your ferritin (iron stores) should be at least 50 ng/ML. If it’s lower than that, then take 25 mg of a gentle iron such as iron bisglycinate.
You have to wait at least three months.
Your hair roots (or follicles) are time capsules. Your hair today is the result of something that happened months ago. It’s all to do with your hair’s telogen (resting) phase, which lasts about two to six months. The telogen phase is like a waiting room. Once a hormonal problem has caused your hair to enter the telogen phase, it will fall out two to six months later. There is nothing you can do to stop it.
Likewise, once you correct your hormone balance, you will still have to endure the loss of all the hairs queued up in their telogen phase. Even with the best treatment, you will have to wait two to six months to see improvement. Stay calm, stick with a treatment for at least six months before trying something different.
We originally published this post in October 2016. We updated it in May 2017.
Are you suffering from hair loss? Comment below with your experience and we will do our best to get back to you.
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