Women’s Hair Loss Project

I got the HepB vaccines in the 1980s but didn’t lose any hair until 2006.

Kathy

hi i am in the nursing prof…ive had to take my shots every 10 years… and a flue shot every year..ive been working there for 15 years now… i noticed my hair start to shed about 3years after i started there…
gypsy

Hi Kathy and Gypsy,
I am trying to gather data and feedback to see if there is some kind of connection between vaccines and hairloss. I would like to gather as many responses as I can over the next six months (maybe even a year) and then go back and get more details from each of woman that feels that there may be a connection. I would like to follow up with as many as possible at that time. If a large number of women come forward and they have noticed that their hairloss started around the time of any kind of vaccine, then I will take it to the next step and begin talking to researchers about the data that we are collecting.
If it can be proven that vaccines can and do cause hairloss in some women, then I would like to push for education and for the side effects to be clearly stated, as well as understanding our rights concerning vaccines.

I had 2 shots out of 3 of Hep B & C in summer 2006…left for Central Asia on a grant and noticed in summer 2007 that my hair was left on the hairbrush and not on the head….have cut it all off men’s style from shoulder length….have had bloods done with normal levels, and it keeps getting thinner and the MDs are totally indifferent….one wants to do a scalp biopsy (which I have to pay out of pocket)…should I invest? Anyone know of a trustworthy hair loss specialist in the metro NYC area?

Hi Angela,

I just stumbled onto your site. I got the combination of the Hep A/B shots in July and Aug, 07 because I was going on a missionary trip to Kenya in Sept, 07. I didn’t get the 3rd dose because I had a bad allergic reaction to the 2nd dose. I broke out in terrible hives. I began noticing a change in my hair in November,07 and by June, 08, about 2 inches or more of my hair had broken off! I don’t have complete bald spots but was confused as to why I was losing hair. I also just found out that I’m suffering from sebacaceous cysts and was on-line today trying to find a treatment for that and wondering if it affected my hair loss when I found your site. I understand your pain because I’m feeling it too. I had just gotten my hair to grow to a beautiful thick length and was the happiest I’d ever been with my hair, when this happened.

I would like to thank everyone that has responded to my blog. It is very helpful to see that there are women out there that may be effected by hairloss due to vaccinations.
Please keep you comments coming, I really appreciate your imput!

Thanks,
Angela

Angela,

Thanks for your concern and the link. No, I don’t have any cysts on my scalp. They’re on my face and they’re very mild. For example, I don’t have a break-out now and others don’t really notice them because they’re very small. I’m just not used to bumps on my face. I’ve done some research and learned that I may not need extreme treatment like the prescription my dr. prescribed. I decided I’m going to use a gentle cleanse and see what that does.
Has your hair begun to grow back? When did you get the hep B vaccination?

I found the same article that you did about hair loss. I wasn’t sure if it meant perminant hair loss or losing hair that eventually grows back. I have experienced the later of the two previously and right now.
I am a college student, and during my Freshmen year I started losing a lot of hair. I related it to stress, but thinking back I did have Hep B, Menigicocal, and a Tetnus vaccine the previous summer. However, there were 3 months in between the vaccines (well the start of the Heb B) and the hair loss.
By the time of my second semester the hair loss has ceased and for the next 2.5 years I did not experience any.
Now, I’m in my first semester of Nursing School, and we have to have a lot of vaccines and whatnot before we are allowed to participate in clinicals. I started my round of vaccines and testing early last May, and I did not end up having to have any vaccines at that time, only blood work drawn to see which ones I would need.
Once the semester started, I noticed that I was losing a lot of hair, just like when I was a Feshmen (3 years prior) I believe that it is only related to stress seeing as how I had not had any recent vaccines. Mid October I went back to the doctor to get an MMR vaccine, and last week I went to start my Hep B rounds. Since then, I have not experienced anymore hair loss than I was before.
I have noticed that around exam time, it comes out in greater quantities than others. That’s why I believe mine is purely stress even though I have been having my fair share of vaccines.

angela:

i was vaccinated on 8/08/08 because i was returning to college (i’m 34). hep b was one of them. i noticed my hair loss in early october of this year.

my bf says he remembers me shedding a lot in april, however, which actually coincides with my short term use of Nuspar for anxiety. the thing is, i remember always shedding alot. it was a source of man an arguement with the parents as a teen (ie, “maria, clean out the drain after your shower!!!”)

In Australia there is a combined Hep A & B vaccination that is taken in three separate shots over a couple of weeks. I took it last year. My hairloss started before those shots were taken and so I don’t believe there is a connection….These are just my thoughts on the matter.

Just wanted to say that your comment “How many college students were required to get vaccinated and THEN started to notice that their hair was falling out and thought it was just STRESS!” caught my eye. I don’t remember all the facts but I will give you a short version of my story. I am 23 years old, I grew up in a very stressful home. I have been to many different doctors with many different health problems over the last 5-6 years. EVERY SINGLE doctor has related my problems to stress, and told me to get it under control or I would need to take a mild “happy pill”… if you will. Anyway I started college in 2004 and of course had all the shots…. and within the next year is exactly when my hair started falling out. Honestly up until then I don’t think I ever cleaned out a hair brush, I would get tired of it or throw it away before it ever came close to needed to be cleaned out. Now I have to sweep the bathroom floor every week because of the hair, and clean out my brush atleast every 3-4 weeks. I have started using salon shampoo and conditioner, and find myself in a slightly less stressful mood all the time and the hair loss seems to be slowing down. Sorry this got so long, but I think you just might have something there because I will defiantly agree that my hair loss started around the time of all my shots!

I started losing my hair when I was about 12 years old. I was going through some stressful situations but after reading what you have all written on this site, I thought I might just check my vaccination history. Come to find out I had a Hep B vaccine right around the same time of the initial hair loss. After I started to thin, it eventually slowed down abit. I did not lose too much more hair but it also didn’t begin to grow back either. This past summer I had to get a whole bunch of vaccines because I was going back to college. One of which was the last two injections of Hep B along with Tetanus, Meningococcal and HPV. I had noticed that by about August or so I had started losing even more hair again. Like I had said up to that point it had pretty much been maintaining itself. I too in the past have had the blood workups and have come back normal for testosterone levels as well as thyroid. It is really getting irritating to be 21 and have a very thin head of hair. I try to keep it longer so I can do something with it, but it just keeps accumulating in the drain.

Hi Angela,

I have stumbled across a couple of websites that I think are interesting. The first one actually lists a possible cause of female hair loss due to a recent Hep B vaccine. Granted it’s the last possibility listed but at least it’s out there in some capacity. I truly believe now, with all the research I have done, that my hair loss is due to the Hep B vaccine. The website is regarding PCOS which I don’t think I have, but it’s a good read.

The other website is associated with the FDA. It’s about VAERS which stands for Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System. On this webpage, if you type in ALOPECIA in the Symptoms field and then click on FIND at the bottom left, you will be amazed at how many people have reported hair loss as a result of receiving vaccines. It really is alarming.

Thanks for listening!
Kelley

My daughter just turned 18 and had immunizations for tetanus, meningococcal, and HPV at the beginning of April. About 5 weeks later, she started losing hair in wads. She has never had such loss of hair!..It has continued for 3 weeks now and she’s afraid she will be bald before college starts! She is a beautiful girl and has always had natural curly hair which everyone has always admired……and now she is terrified that she won’t have ANY hair, let alone the curls! We had no idea that this could ever happen from “safe” immunizations. Why doesn’t anyone tell you that this is a risk before getting them?!

I got a tetanus shot two weeks ago. I started to notice that I was loosing hair really badly right around the same time. I choked it up to swimming, and bad chem levels. But I started to think I took some meds around the same time. So started looking into that. Then the tetanus shot popped into my head. So that is around about how I got to you. My hair has never been thick, which makes this matter all the worse. I have a lack of hair to be loosing to start with. Three weeks ago when I put my hair in a pony it was three wraps now I can almost get five. If this hair loss carries on this way I am going to the doctor monday. I do not think this is a case to go to the ER, those are the options in tthis town. So I will wait. Really not sure if there is anything they can do.
It was my choice to get it. I cut my finger and got it glued after a red pepper and I had a fight. I think I won that one I ate it… but maybe not if I am loosing my hair due to the trip the ER that night.
Hope this helps someone out there. Or at least opens someone elses eyes.
Have a great night.

I sympathize with every woman out there dealing with hair loss issues and wouldn’t wish it upon anyone. I’ve had issues with hairloss about the time I started grade 4 ( 10 yrs old ). I’m now 35 years old. I lost all of my hair over the course of that summer leading up to that grade. They diagnosed me with alopecia totalis but when it grew back a year later it was downgraded to alopecia aereta. I continue to have small bouts, patches here and there, but in the last few years the loss has been significant that I have to wear a wig. I do know that now that the autoimmune disorder exists, stress acts as a trigger. What I have ALWAYS wondered is what set it off to begin with? There is no genetic history in my family of any autoimmune disorders, nor hair loss…even as family members on both sides have aged…men and women.

With my growing concern about vaccines, my mind went to my own situation but I have a terrible memory of when I was administered vaccines through the canadian school system. Does anyone know if shots were given around that age ( 9-11 yrs old )bracket? I do know that some were administered in junior high ( which I spent the entire 3 yrs bald…but the loss started just the summer before so a shot didn’t trigger it but later they could have kept my condition going on for as long as it did ). I’m also very curious if there is a connection but I don’t have my old immunization records to prove what I received and when.

For those of us with alopecia there could be a hormonal factor. I went from losing all my hair in early childhood ( when it decided to fall out ) to patches after I hit puberty. Since then it has always been patches up until recently when I lost more than 70 % ( not thinning…literally 70% of my scalp was bare ). The difference this time was it was after having my child ( hair grew great during pregnancy, but a year after it fell out ). Menopause should be fun as most women usually get thinner hair. Curious what will happen with women with alopecia. The hormones seem to play a factor in helping the hair grow or fall, but the cause of the pre-existing condition is what I’m hoping to discover. Anyone out there lose hair specifically around the age of 10, or in junior high?

I know this one. I was travelling in India alone and I noticed that my hair was shedding lots. The first time it happened I was about 16 and dyed it permanently and it seemed to go into shock and really dropped. Over the years (I’m 26 now) it’s come back although there have been occasional bouts of modest shedding. I’ve been back from India now for two months (and I was away for two), so I’ve been losing hair for 4 months now, with no let-up. I think it’s probably TE as it came on quite quickly.

I’m so sure though, that the combination of Yellow Fever, Rabies, Typhoid and Meningitis vaccines that I had in a single week, THREE MONTHS before I went away, and probably the Malarials I was taking when I was away, have triggered this one.

I’m getting my blood looked at - tested today - but if it’s related to the vaccines and the body-shock they probably caused then I have no idea when it’s going to stop. It’s awful! I’m so lucky (at the moment) that my hair is pretty curly so there’s enough body for it not to show too much yet.

The awful thing is that now I’m noticing that I’m loosing small fine hairs (about 2 inches long). Perhaps I always was but I’m noticing it more now. I hope it’s not regrowth falling out.

My 2 1/2 year old daughter received a Hep A booster shot last April when she turned 2. Within a month her hair started thinning and within 4 months she was totally hairless including eyebrows and eyelashes. It was such a gradual overall thinning that I did not realize it was happening for a couple of months. My family members that do not see her often kept saying her hair was thinning so finally I looked back at her pictures and they were right. Looking back she also got sick a month after her first Hep A shot. She was 18 months when she received the first shot and within a month she was hospitalized for constant severe diarrhea. I did not see the connection until today when she went to get her next shot and I looked at the shot chart. Hep A is the only shot she got at her 2 year appointment. It kills me to know this shot was optional and I choose it for her.

I believe with out a doubt that the Hep B vaccine caused my hair loss. For several years I have been wondering what the cause may have been and never knew that hair loss was a side effect of Hep B vaccine. They don’t tell you that when you consent to take the vaccine. My hair loss began when my husband and I split up and I moved in with my sister. At that time I was working as a CNA at a retirement home and had two children. I thought the hair loss was from stress. However, I now know it was from the Hep B vaccine. I took my first injection around the same time we separated. I had massive hair loss! I went to a dermatologist to try and diagnose and treat it several months later and he could not determine the cause. He put me on hormone supplements hoping that would solve the problem. It didn’t, so I stopped taking it. At the time I was 22 years old and never experience any hair loss. Except for after pregnancy…which is typical and it regrew. After I receive the Hep B vaccine my hair never regrew. I never finished my Hep B series due to a change in supervisors at my job. I still work in the health care field and was just required to take the series again because I never finish my last one and ever since I began it I’ve been noticing extreme hair loss. I didn’t know that was the cause until now. If I had known I would not have taken it. I just took the last in a series of three a few days a go and my hair is falling out in hand fulls. Not good considering that it never regrew from the previous injections. From what I understand this was the largest dose I’ve received yet. I guess it’s to late now to do anything about it. I am now 25 and will most liklely be completely bald soon thanks to the lack of information from the CDC whom I am planning on contacting promptly! I am happy I found your blog, so now I know the truth about my hair loss.

I received my Hep shots in May of 2009. I was told I needed them to start Nursing school. I am now in my 2nd semester and have lost 1/2 the volume of hair I had. I didnt notice it until around August , about 3 months after receiving the shots. One year ago I had think curly hair almost to my waist. I have hair all over my hands every time I shower. I have hair all over the bathroom floor every morning. I am under no more stress then I have been in the past. I have had to cut my hair and work with it. My scalp feels almost tight. I also have muscle aches in my upper back and light headaches. I do believe this is due to the Vaccines. I have never seen my hair come out like this before. I would like to know if there is anything that can be done ?

HI,

I am sufferiing from hair loss and I am freaking out. I got my H1N1 and flu shot in Nov. Starting Jan I started to notice hair loss. It’s getting worse. THey are going to do some blood test. My husband was the one who suggested that maybe teh shots casue my hair loss. I never gotten teh flu shot in my lefe. The reason I goe H1N1 and flu shot was because I have a toddler and thought it would be safer. It’s very frustrating as no one ( not even teh doctor or the dermatologest) know why. Bassically, they todl me just to wait and not stress about it. AS woman, going bald is quite horrifying. I plan to get a wig. Do you know any good wig place in Vancouver Canada or any tips on choosing a wig?? I am healthy..the casue of this hair loss iis a mystery.

Add me to the growing list.
In the summer of 1997 I had to recieve hep b shots for school, I was going into the 6th grade at that time, so I was about to be 11 years old.

After the first hep B, that evening my temp spiked to 104, We didnt think there was a connection. Later recieved the 2nd shot and I started noticing bald spots, after recieving the 3rd shot in the series, every single hair on my entire body had vanished within a week. I was devastated to say the least.
Still unsure if it was a reaction to the Hep b shots we went to several doctors which reffered us to others, nobody could figure it out.
I started some experimental PUVA treatments at the dermatologist, normally used for Psoriasis. i had to take pills that made me nauseous and sensitive to the sun… i went to the docter 3 times a week.

In a bout a year my had had grown back, about an inch or more, a thick head of hair!

Then I had to recieve the Tetnus shot, for school…I couldnt attend without it.
I recieved the shot and that night as i looked in the mirror and touched my hair it started to fall out, the bathroom sink was covered with my little hairs. It was happening all over again.
This time the treatments didnt work, after another year of trying, we gave up due to losing our medical insurance, and besides i was just tired of trying, i was also missing alot of school.

Fast forward 13 years later to the present, Summer of 2010, I am 24 years old..and healthy. Still no hair on my head. My eyelashes have come back in. Eyebrows,arm,arm pits, legs etc. all have clear/ very light blonde thin hairs. I don’t believe,in my case, that the hair will ever come back.
I’m starting to think this isnt as rare as vaccine companies would have us think. I know without a doubt that the preservative ,thimerosal,which is in Hep B and Tetnus shots, caused my hair loss.

Its nice to take my wigs off when i get hot, so thats a plus i suppose, But there isn’t anything i wouldn’t give to run my fingers through my own hair again.

I received a flu shot for the first time in my life in October of 2009. I received the shot because I became the care giver for my 91 year old father. Shortly after I noticed an area on my head in my hair that was itchy. Soon it was scalely, Then the scales went away and the spot was smooth to the touch. No hair. The area was about the size of a dime. This continued to happen in other areas of my head/hair. I assumed the hair would grow back. In May of 2010, I contacted by dematologist about the condition. She did a biopsy and informed me I have a form of lupus which is not systemics and affects the head and scalp. In my case, just my scalp. She has been treating it with steroid injections. The problem is diminishing, however, she told me the hair folicules have been destroyed and hair will not grow back. She said with an auto-immune disease, you never really know what causes them but she said stress is always a factor. I assumed that is what it was. Until my hair dresser asked me if I got a H1N1 shot last year. I have been racking my brains since this began to identify what had changed in my life or routine and eliminated any new products, medications, new foods etc that I have been using in the past year. I could not come up with anything significant, until I realized that the flu shot was the one thing that I had done that I had not examined as a potential cause. I searched on flu shots and hair loss and your site appeared. I am angry this is happening and will certainly not receive a flu shot this year.

I feel for every single one of you ladies. To this day Doctors cannot tell me why my hair is falling out. They make me feel vain and foolish for caring so much. So I stopped going to see them for hair loss. I started losing my hair when I was between the ages of 10-12. The doctors told my parents that a small percentage of women lose their hair after being vaccinated. I was too young and scared to a know which vaccination I was given. My sisters are all okay, but I may have been affected by it. I am not bald, but my hair is extremely thin, and I am 28 years old. It has affected me, but not to the point of becoming isolated and awkward. It’s just always on my mind. I read somewhere that the Hep B injection lasts for about 20 years. Has anyone had their hair regrow many years later? I’ll be one of few women looking forward to becoming 30 if that’s the case!

I have au and i do believe in my heart that it was caused by a flu shot that i received at a nursing home that i was working. I started loosing my hair a month after i took the shoot. I lost all the hair of my scalp in 3weeks and my eylashes and eybrows followed few months after. This happened 3years ago.

Hi all,
I’m actually a male who stumbled across this site and having experienced my second bout with alopecia. Both times, my hair loss was preceded by immunizations. The first time, symptoms began to appear a month later when I was only two years old. This past summer at age 25, I received several immunizations before traveling to Kenya for 2 1/2 weeks and symptoms appeared 2 months later. I’ve currently got near total hair loss, but luckily the cortizone injections seem to be stimulating some growth. I’m writing to thank you all for sharing your stories and ask 1) Are there any similar sites for men’s hair loss and 2) Are there any potential lawsuits in the works? This seems like this can hardly be a coincidence.

Thank you all,
Trevor

I’m sorry this happened to u. The same thing happened
To my son after his immunizations . My friends daughter too.
I’m disgusted with merk, FDA n doctors. They
Truly r trying to depopulate the world. Utube
The new world order plan about immunizations
N depopulating the world . U will be shocked, scared n never trust
Your dr, gov, FDA , or anyone for that matter.

My daughter, aged 14, got the three HPV vaccines between October 2010 and March 2011. She got her first bald patch in November/December 2010 and I never twigged the connection. In March 2011, the GP said it was Alopecia Areata (quite common) and generally grows back. However, the patches have become much more extensive in the last few months and she is seeing a specialist next week. My other daughter just asked me to sign a consent form to receive the vaccine, but I’m holding off for the moment.

I received my 3rd dose of the Hepatitis B vaccine on July 20th of this year, and my hair started massively falling out on August 2oth. I have seen numerous doctors and nobody was diagnosed with alopecia areata. Nobody has asked me if I received the Hepatitis B vaccine. I only put it together today. The case that is described in the JAMA articles studies 60 cases, but as evident from this site, this has happened to many many more people. My question is have you reported this to your doctor, to the CDC or the the National Vaccine registry? Within 3 weeks of the onset of my hairloss I needed a wig. This has been extremely distressing. What I’m wondering now is if this is a lifelong condition. Now that this has been “awakened,” is it here to stay?

Hello
On August-September 2010 I got 3 shots of rabies vaccines.
I have some serious side effects ever since, only one of which is excessive hairloss.
It was falling for months. It wasn’t recognizable for outsiders, because i started out with a lot of hair, but i and my family recognized it.
In december i tried a homeopatic treatment with Thuja and the falling stopped abruptly.
I am not bald and most people don’t recognize it, but my hair is weaker ever since.
Also i used to be like a monkey if i hadn’t epilated my legs for a month. Now i only need to remove the hair on my legs every 3 months or so. (I mean i don’t miss the hair on my legs, it just bothers me that is a sign that something is wrong.)
Conventional doctors have no clue and are giving explanations that just shows me they have no clue.
I have been visiting an accupuncture doctor and a homeopatic doctor. Their treatment gave a lot of relief.
Also now i read that taking zinc supplemets can help, so i will try.

7 years ago my hair loss started within a month of a flu vaccination. I lost all the hair on my head and body except for eyelashes and brows. It grew back within a year and a half. In 2009 hair loss started again within 1 month of receiving a flu vaccination. I got the shot in mid-October and was totally bald by 1/1/10. This time I lost all body hair. As of today, I have a few eyelashes and the hairs in my nostrils but, other than that, am still totally bald. I am convinced the flu shot was the trigger.