Women’s Hair Loss Project

So I am starting to go through a bit of a shed once again. Still not terrible and much better than the last 2 years, but a shed none-the-less. Here is my lemon into lemonade update. As most everyone probably knows who has followed my story, I lowered my synthroid dosage awhile back since I felt it was contributing to my excessive shedding. The shedding slowed down dramatically and I’ve been trying to enjoy each day that I don’t see a gazillion hairs laying in the sink after a comb through.

It has been probably a couple weeks now where I’ve noticed my hair starting to shed more and more. But I’m still doing okay, why? Because the hairs that are shedding are full length, long and strong terminal hairs. This is such an improvement for me. In the midst of my most horrible shedding time, my hair would shed all different lengths of hairs, one inch long, two inch, four inch, six inch, 1/2 inch and some that even looked the size of arm hairs. That would depress me to no end because I felt my poor hairs were not getting even the slightest chance at a decent hair life cycle. They were exiting my scalp way too prematurely, so any new growth would just fall out. Shedding long hairs, while not pleasant either, means that my overall hair cycle is improving and stabilizing. I least that is how I have decided to interpret it! It keeps my mind healthy and strong, and allows me to continue on with my days. So whether it is true or not matters very little, all that matters is what my mind believes.

Be positive, be positive, be positive.

Also, just a reminder, tomorrow (Thursday April 10th) is our first women’s hair loss support chat meeting at 6:30pm - 7:30pm PST. If you are interested in joining us, sign up in advance for an account in the network. http://community.womenshairlossproject.com/

You’ll need to login to your account tomorrow at that time and click on the “Chat” link in the top navigation bar. Hope to see you there!

Hi there. I can’t begin to tell you how grateful I am to find this site. After 2 years of suffering in silence, I found reference to you on web-med. My lucky day! I cried at the compassion and sympathy that I found on the very first page. Thank-you!

My hair loss started after I had some children sleep over that had lice. I didn’t suspect lice until my head had itched for 2-3 months. I thought that I was having a re-action to shampoo or conditioner. Then, I put a fine tooth comb through my hair and big ole honkers fell out. Disgusting! I did not use toxic chemicals to get rid of them or I would have suspected that. I used tea tree oil, lavender oil, etc and left them on my head under a shower cap for a week and I combed out the eggs with a nit comb. At about this time (coincidence?) I started to lose my hair. I went and got a perm to feel better and even more fell out and broke off. I thought that my loss was lice and perm related, but it just kept falling out. I went to a MD and she took ferriten and thyroid test. Ferriten was low and she was convinced that was the cause. I begged her to take aggressive action to get to the bottom of this, but she said no, that any other Doc would think ferriten.

Well, 6 months later ferritin is normal and I am still losing hair. I have lost at least 1/2 of my previously very thick and beautiful hair. My scalp is very visable and I even bought a hair peice. I wear it in a pony at the top of my head, but suspect that won’t go on for long as it is becoming very obvious.

I finally got the MD to give me a blood test(which I have to pay for because my insurence will not pay for alopecia!). The results of the 4 hormones were pretty normal. Prolactin. testestarone, FSH and DHEA. These were the ones that she wrote for me. I wanted others, but she said no. I needed to find another avenue, so I am now going to do an indepth siliva test which will show a comprehensive view of my post menopausal hormone profile, and not through this Doc. I now know that I need to go elsewhere. Next I will probably go to a dermatoligist to get a scalp biopsy and whatever. (more…)

About a month ago I went to the Dr. because I noticed a severe increase in the amount of hair I was losing in the shower and when I brushed my hair. I am an active duty military member and I don’t know about ‘civilian’ Dr.’s but the one’s on base just seem to shrug off any medical condition as stress related these days. She actually said to me “I used to have really thick hair too; sometimes our hair phases get interrupted and it’s nothing to worry about.” I took a blood test to check my thyroid and she said it was ‘normal’, which to me means nothing because I’ve never had a thyroid test before so how does anyone know what my ‘normal is?! I don’t know if the Internet helps my plight as there seems to be almost an over-abundance of information out there and it’s sort of overwhelming me at the moment.

I just want to know what’s going on. I feel so helpless and I am usually such an in-control person that this is killing me. It started about 3 months ago; I lose about 200 hairs everytime I wash my hair and another 100 or so when I brush it. I am not on any medication and am completely healthy otherwise, no birth control, no nothing! I am honestly to the point of being afraid to touch my hair. I have short hair dark hair and it’s really beginning to be noticeable where my part is. I hate wearing a wool coat because I shed all over the back and collar!

I hate being so obsessed with something that has never been an important part of who I am. I never took more then a minute with brushing it and putting some gel in it. Whereas I used to complain about how thick it was, I am wishing I could go back in time. My partner tells me it’s going to be fine and there’s nothing noticeable but I can tell and it’s driving me nuts. I even started seeing a counselor to try and relax a bit and began taking pre-natal vitamins. (A pregnant friend thinks I’m overreacting and that it’s normal. Only problem is I’m not pregnant!) My mother, grandmother and even great-grandmother still have beautiful thick heads of hair so I don’t know what’s going on. If anyone has any advice or anything, I just feel so out-of-control right now. I just finished reading Elle York’s story and compared to her I feel like a real wuss. =(

-Michelle
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Dear Michelle,

Thanks for taking the time to share your story. I feel like there must be something that is causing your hair to shed at an accelerated rate. No birth control and no medications certainly eliminates a big section of the reasons why women’s hair begins to fall out. You didn’t indicate whether or not you’ve recently (over the last 6 months) experienced something traumatic or an extreme stressful event. Stress still is, and can be a possible cause of telogen effluvium (shedding) although I think often times it gets the bulk of the blame when the real cause is something else.

You also hit the nail right on the head when you indicated that your “thyroid” test is normal. What is normal? It’s not like we have been getting our thyroid tested annually since we were born. I’ve had my fair share of issues with thyroid and it’s primary treating medication, synthroid. Doctors frequently dismiss concerns about hair loss since it isn’t something that can “kill” you. I’ve actually been told that. My opinion on that is that it can certainly kill our spirit, and who we are. Sometimes we lose ourselves as we begin to withdraw more and more because of our hair loss. I frequently hope I’m bigger than that, not to let something like hair loss take such control over me and my life. But it already has, now I’m trying to get it back. (more…)

I’ve read some of the other women’s stories here and felt compelled to share mine. I am almost 28 years old and am experiencing some hairloss. Today was the first day I actually talked about it, and cried about it with somebody (my mother). I have been too embarrassed and depressed about it to talk with anybody else. When you look at my hair I don’t think that I look like I am balding, but I lose so much hair every day and I know that my hair used to be so much fuller. I feel like it is going to keep getting worse and I am very worried.

I am in a relationship with the love of my life and I am afraid that if I continue to lose my hair he will not be attracted to me anymore. The worst part is that I am obsessed with my hair. Some of the other women have mentioned being obsessed with it and constantly touching it and looking at it in the mirror. It is so frustrating. When I wear it down I find hairs everywhere, on my shirt, on my boyfriend’s shirt, on my pillow…it is never ending!! I also find myself looking at other women’s hair and comparing mine or being envious of theirs (especially if they are older than me and have a thick head of hair). I’ve even gone as far as trying to keep count of how many hairs I am actually losing per-day because I am still doubtful that this could be happening to me, but I have to face the facts, the thin hair I have now is a far cry from the beautiful full head of hair I had when I was a teenager. I think it has been a gradual loss, but the past two years it seems to be falling out more and more. I started taking the generic BC pill for Ortho-tri-cyclen a few years ago and I am wondering if it could be from that. I want to stop taking the pill, but I am afraid I will get pregnant and then my hair will really start falling out from stress!!

I now have some doctor’s names that I am going to call and try to have some blood work and tests done, but I am afraid that there is nothing that can be done for me or that I will start taking things that will make my problem worse. When I spoke with my mother tonight, she said that she started to shed a lot of hair around my age too. In a way it makes me feel better because although she has thinner hair, she does not look like she is balding. Maybe my hair is just naturally thinning out. I don’t really know what to think, but I am going to be contacting some doctors and trying to get answers. I really feel the pain of the women (and girls) on this site and it does help to be able to talk to someone who understands what I am going through. I feel like everything is going so good in my life, but it can all come crashing down if I start to lose hair and suffer from low self-esteem.

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Dear Maria -

I am really glad that you were able to open up to your mom and tell her how you are feeling and how your hair loss is affecting you. The fact that your mom relayed to you that her hair began to thin around your age, but yet she still has maintained enough hair to not look like she has hair loss, is a really really good sign. It is not uncommon for women’s hair to gradually thin as they get older, it becomes an issue when it isn’t gradual at all, but very rapid and sudden. (more…)

I think I started noticing my hair loss when I was mid-teens. It was not that big of an ordeal at the time, seeing as I knew I was a stressed and busy teenager (I was busy at school ALL of the time). However, as the years rolled by, I began to lose more and more hair. I am now losing hair at an exponential rate and I have no idea what to do about it.

My hair is very thin at the crown and sides of my head.. so thin that I can EASILY see my scalp. I try to hide it, but I really have nothing to hide it with, save a hat. I have gone to a doctor and a dermatologist, and all bloodwork is normal and I have no skin problems which would cause this. I was on birth control once when I was 18 or 19, but that really didn’t cause me to lose any more hair than usual. I am at a loss.

I am usually not one to care about these kinds of issues, but it has consumed my thoughts to the point where there isn’t a day that goes by where I don’t want to break down and cry. I know that my lifestyle is not helping, but I can’t really change it without changing my career goal. I am a full time student and I work part time as a lab assistant. Outside of school, I spend a lot of time studying for the MCAT and doing other school work.. all signs point to stress, but I don’t know what to do about it. It would really help if there was someone to talk to or if anyone has any advice. I feel like I am falling apart…

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Dear Jessica,

I am curious to know if the doctors you’ve seen were able to offer you any type of possible cause for your hair loss? Women with hair loss frequently get back blood test results that “falls within normal range.” I know how unhelpful and frustrating that is because we want to point to something on paper as the identifying cause then work towards fixing it. Blood test results being categorized as “normal” gets to me, because what is “normal” for me may not be normal for another 29 year old and vice versa. So perhaps there is something there for all of us that seems to be consistently getting overlooked by physicians. (more…)

An article came out today on MSNBC.com discussing women’s hair loss. I think the article provides a good overview of hair loss so I’m posting it here. The question asked to Today Show medical contributor, Dr. Judith Reichman was, “I’m in my early 40s and I’ve noticed sudden hair loss. I’m devastated. Why is this happening and what can I do?” (The original article can be found here) Here is her reply:

Women don’t expect to lose their hair (unlike men), so when it happens it’s extraordinarily traumatic. We normally have, on average, 100,000 hairs on our scalp. And as evinced by our changing hair lengths, roots and visits to our hairdressers, those hairs grow; in fact, 90 percent of our hair is actively growing at any given time. Hair is the second fastest growing tissue in our body after (I’d love for you to guess) … bone marrow. To keep its place on your head, your hair needs the right conditions. (Note I didn’t say conditioner.) You may find that you’re unexpectedly losing hair if you impose restrictions on hair growth or if your genes are such that continued hair growth is not in your destiny.

There’s a simple test you can do to help determine whether you are losing hair, it’s just thinning or you are damaging it by abusive hair products or pulling it too tight (which can occur with braiding). Pull on several strands of your hair — do they come out easily at the root? If so, it suggests that the hairs are indeed “shedding” and have gone into what we call an excess telogen phase.

To explain this telogen phenomenon, I must first go into hair physiology 101. As hair actively grows, it’s in the anagen phase. Each hair is connected to a hair shaft (or follicle), which remains in its secure position in the scalp for three to seven years before falling out and being replaced by a new follicle. Once the anagen phase naturally runs its course, there’s a two-week catagen phase, in which the hair follicle dies. The hair then goes into the telogen phase for the next three months, during which time it falls out. Normally we lose 100 telogen hairs a day, but in certain cases (and this sounds like your situation), many, if not most, of the hairs go into the telogen phase. This causes alopecia (balding). The condition of overwhelming telogen loss is termed telogen effluvium; the anagen to telogen ratio has gone from its normal 90:10 to 70:30 or less. If I do the math correctly, this means you lose at least 300 hairs a day, compared to 100 hairs. (more…)

Hi Everybody -

I just want to share my story with all of the women who experienced stress related hair loss. I started noticing that I was loosing my hair when I moved to a different state to pursue a completely new career. I was so stressed with my job, my new home, my family life that I ignored that problem. Until I went home (I’m originally from Poland) and my friend asked me what’s up with my hair and how come I don’t have as much hair as I used to have. I realized that I did have much less hair to play with and every time I combed/ washed or styled my do I was loosing tons of it.

I noticed hair everywhere. My car seat, my coat, everywhere. I panicked when I noticed bald spots on the side of my head. I started taking vitamins for hair, using the best available shampoos and conditioners but that didn’t help a bit. I was loosing more and more hair. I couldn’t wear my hair down, I had to wear ponytail styled carefully so the bald spots wouldn’t show. I went to a doctor (dermatologist) four times and she couldn’t help me. I mean she completely ignored my problem and told me to use Rogaine!! I was furious with her, because I already did my research I knew that my hair problem was stress related. It wasn’t genetic so Rogaine was a completely wrong solution. I tried couple other doctors, but they were as ignorant as the first one. All they could think of was Rogaine and maybe a hair transplant.

My hair problem lasted 3 years. Sometimes I would be loosing less sometimes more, but the fact was that I had less and less hair on my head. I went back home (Poland) and I went to a dermatologist there. She ran lots of tests on me (yes, we have universal health care, It didn’t cost me anything) and suggested that I should try aminexil treatment. I did. I’m on my fourth week of the treament and it works!!! My hair stopped falling out. I loose maybe 5 (!!) hair when I wash it. Before I would loose tons, sometimes a chunk the size of the golf ball (200-300 hair probably). (more…)

Hi, my name is Rosalinda and I have been losing my hair since I was 17 years old. I am now 22 years of age. I started out with a huge thick mane and now I can pin everything up with two bobby pins. Sad! I dread taking showers or brushing my hair. I close my eyes when I take my hair out of my brush. I’ve heard from doctors that stress can cause hair loss and I stress about my hair loss all day long. I went to see a movie this weekend and I spent half the time looking at Eva Mendes’s full head of hair. I feel vain for thinking about it so much, it’s driving me nuts. I am on Yasmin and have been on it since I was 19. My hair loss started before I began the pill and I have been assured by many doctors that Yasmin wouldn’t make my hair fall out. I don’t want to leave the pill because my cramps are so severe I can’t function when I have them. I have had blood work and I am “fine” thyroid and anemia wise.

I don’t even remember all the tests the doctors ran. The three doctors I have seen have attributed my hair loss to stress and genetics. The dermatologist recommended dandruff shampoo and rogaine. Rogaine helps keep my hair from falling out, I do notice a difference when I try to get off of it. I am currently using extra strength for men (dermatologist said to do so) but it makes my scalp very itchy and full of dandruff. Does anyone else experience this? So I have a choice…head full of dandruff or a head with some hair, *sigh*. I am going to see a doctor again on Wed. to do blood work again, since the tests I took before were two years ago. I am also thinking of buying the laser comb. It is pricey $395-$500. Yikes! I laugh to myself because I just paid $700 to do laser hair removal surgery on my legs. Ack!

I’m trying to rearrange all of my hair situations my body has. Too funny. I noticed that no one on the blog site really had anything to say about the laser comb. Perhaps I can be the guinea pig for all of you. Take pictures and what not. What do you all think? Should I do it?

-Rosalinda

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Dear Rosalina -

Thank you so much for writing and sharing your story. I know the exact movie you made reference to, “We Own The Night” because I did the same thing as you. I couldn’t watch anything else other than Eva Mendes hair during the entire film. I’ve had that problem for quite sometime now, I actually wrote about that in this post titled “Hair Loss Can Quickly Become An Obession”

Are you Vain? I don’t think so. I think you react in a very normal way to a disturbingly uncontrollable situation. Reading your email was like reading my own thoughts on paper. Trust me when I say I know exactly what you are going through, you used the words “thick mane” to describe your hair. I would as well to describe my former tresses that have since been replaced by thin fluffs of wispy hair. I actually use to get my hair thinned out at the hair dresser! Can you believe that??? My heart weeps when I think about that.

Since your hair loss started 2 years prior to you getting on the pill surely it cannot be responsible for the onset of your hair loss. In my opinion a doctor cannot state definitively whether the pill will make your hair fall out or not. Do they have a crystal ball? Likely not, and since most educated physicians know the possibility of hair loss occurring from the treatment of any synthetic hormones, they shouldn’t state things as facts that they have no way of knowing in advance. It really bothers me when I hear things like that. (more…)

I found this study really interesting as it cites low iron stores as a possible contributing cause of women’s hair loss. I know one of the first things that usually gets tested when a woman complains of hair loss is the iron levels. Of course there is such a huge range of what is considered normal its hard to tell the optimal level for our body.

Here it is:

European Journal of Dermatology. Volume 17, Number 6, 507-12, November-December 2007, Investigative report

*Abstract

Author(s) : Claire Deloche, Philippe Bastien, Stéphanie Chadoutaud, Pilar Galan, Sandrine Bertrais, Serge Hercberg, Olivier de Lacharrière

Summary : Iron deficiency has been suspected to represent one of the possible causes of excessive hair loss in women. The aim of our study was to assess this relationship in a very large population of 5110 women aged between 35 and 60 years. Hair loss was evaluated using a standardized questionnaire sent to all volunteers. The iron status was assessed by a serum ferritin assay carried out in each volunteer. Multivariate analysis allowed us to identify three categories: “absence of hair loss” (43%), “moderate hair loss” (48%) and “excessive hair loss” (9%). Among the women affected by excessive hair loss, a larger proportion of women (59%) had low iron stores (<\; 40 µg/L) compared to the remainder of the population (48%). Analysis of variance and logistic regression show that a low iron store represents a risk factor for hair loss in non-menopausal women.

The article is broken down into the following areas

Introduction

Materials and Methods

• Volunteers
• Hair Loss Assessment
• Biochemical Measurements
• Statistical Analysis

Results

• Hair Loss Quantification
• Link Between Hair Loss And Serum Ferritin Levels

Discussion

This study, carried out for the first time on a very large cohort of women, provides strong arguments in favor of an association between depleted iron stores and hair loss, particularly excessive hair loss in women before menopause. (more…)

I have noticed thinning of my hair around the crown over the past couple of months. I think I understand some or all of the contributing factors, but now I don’t know what to do to try and stop it. I had been on OrthoEvra (the patch birth control) for a few months, stopped it because it was giving me horrible anxiety, went on the Nuva Ring for the past three months, and finally decided today that the anxiety has returned as well as headaches, sleeplessness, and now hair loss. I didn’t know until I read things on this site that stopping the birth control might result in the hair loss getting worse, but I really don’t think I can continue on it because of the emotional/mood swing effects it has on me. I’m 30, and have had one child
(5+ years ago). I wonder if I can wait out the next 6 mos. while the birth control leaves my system and my hormones return to normal. I wonder if I should try Rogaine NOW, before it gets any worse (it’s really minor, but it’s starting to be noticeable enough that I try to style my hair over the thinning area or pull it back). I wonder if I should go back on birth control but I really shouldn’t do that. I wonder if this is permanent. HELP!

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Hi, thanks for writing. I always say this at the beginning of my responses to emails so that there is no misunderstanding. I am not a doctor and cannot give medical advice, this is just my thoughts and opinions.

I did some searches in Google for “Nuva Ring and hair loss” and there are several cases of women who are experiencing the same thing as you. Since it is birth control, it does alter your own hormones, and anything that does that can cause hair loss. But you should realize everyone responds differently to the effects of the pill. For some women going on the pill can cause hair loss, which seems to be your case, and for others the hair loss begins when they discontinue the use. It sounds like you already made the choice to get off the pill and are currently not taking it due to the many unpleasant side effects you were experiencing. In my opinion that was definitely a good decision.

I think it is too early to tell whether or not your hair loss will simply be a temporary shedding or the onset of androgenetic alopecia. It would probably be a good idea to consult a knowledgeable physician in this matter. Experienced doctors can tell whether or not the hair follicle is miniturizing which is usually an indication of female pattern baldness. But it is very possible this will just be a temporary shedding (telogen effluvium) similar to the hair loss many women experience after having a baby. As mentioned in my response to Sarah’s story, I actually met a woman who had hair loss from going on the pill, she stopped taking it an told me eventually all her hair grew back. It all depends on the individual. (more…)