womens hair loss

1-800-HELP-MEN — to help your man help you!

by Y on March 28, 2008

1-800-Help-Men -- To help your man help you!

A Blog Post By Kathyloulu

One New Year’s Eve a few years ago we had some friends over for a little get together. After one of our friends described how she had been upset over a comment that was made to her and how her husband responded in the “wrong” way, we joked that we should establish and website and 1-800 number to help men with what they should say to their wives in difficult situations. We decided we should call it: 1-800-HELP-MEN or 1800helpmen.com

So… if the man in your life were to call this hypothetical hotline, I’d give him this 12-step program to help him help you deal with your hair loss — and to help them know the correct “wig etiquette.” Even if your partner is not a man, much of the program still applies. Read on…

1) Acknowledge that she is losing her hair. Don’t pretend that she looks the same because she knows she doesn’t and she needs your support and encouragement. However, just as with every other “appearance issue,” use discretion in how you give an honest answer. For example, she might say, “Do I look weird?” And you might think that a simple “Yes” or “no” will do. Might I recommend that you use a few more, but carefully-selected, words? Try this, “Honey, I fell in love with you, not your hair, and I think you are so strong for the way you are dealing with this.” See? You didn’t even have to actually answer her question, but instead validated her real underlying need to know that she is OK and that you are OK with her.

2) Tell her that you love her no matter how she looks. Tell her often and in a variety of ways. Here are some ideas: notes, cards, phone calls, favors, whispers, kisses, sex, gifts, etc. – but not necessarily listed in order of importance. Note on the sex thing… If she is having self-esteem issues with her hair loss (which most of us do), let her turn the lights off if that makes her more comfortable. Whatever your normal routine is in that regard – lights on or lights off, or, heck, hair on or off – let her make the call as to what she is most comfortable with. Personally, I have a hard time with this because I generally take off my wig, but then I’m distracted when Eric looks at me because I think that “how can he make love to me when I look like this?” Of course, I am also aware that once a man is in bed with a naked woman, her hair is way down on the list of things he’s interested in. [click to continue…]

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Hair Loss & Birth Control Pills – Part Two – Deconstructing Hormones

by Y on March 26, 2008

The other day I posted the listing of certain birth control pills androgen index which I found on The American Hair Loss Association website. Later that day I received an email from Gracie pointing me to a great resource that provides more in depth knowledge about the hormonal components of various birth control pills. She also mentioned that in her own research she found out that most women seem to have more problems on lower estrogen pills, i.e. 20mg. I didn’t ask, but I think she meant mcgm (micrograms). Glancing over at the list I am about to provide you with, I found that the pill I took, Loestrin FE is among the lowest estrogen pills, listing at 20mcgm along with Aleese, Levlite, Micrette, and Ortho Evra patch. The pill I take now, Ortho-Tri Cyclen is 35/35/35 mcgm with a different type of Progestin (norgestimate) than the one used for Loestrin (norethindrone acetate).

The pills listed as likely to cause worse acne and hair growth side effects (obviously not hair on the head, but perhaps your chin) are those pills high in androgenicity and low in estrogen content.

Such pills might include:
Loestrin® 1.5/30
Loestrin® 1/20 Fe
Estrostep® Fe
Levlen®
Alesse®
Ovral®
Norlestrin® 1/50
[click to continue…]

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American Hair Loss Association Androgen Index List of Birth Control Pills

by Y on March 24, 2008

American Hair Loss Association Androgen Index List of Birth Control PillsI get a lot of emails regarding the specific androgen index of birth control pills. I haven’t found the full and complete definitive list available online, however, the American Hair Loss Association lists a small number of pills from lowest androgen index to highest. The list is as follows:

Desogen, Ortho-Cept, Ortho-Cyclen, Ortho Tri-Cyclen, Micronor, Nor-Q D, Ovcon-35, Brevicon/Modicon, Ortho Norvum 7/7/7, Ortho Novum 10-11, Tri-Norinyl, Norinyl and Ortho 1/35, Demulen 1/35, Triphasil/Tri-Levien, Nordette, Lo/Ovral, Ovrette, Ovral, Loestrin1/20, Loestrin 1.5/30.

Of course very last you’ll see Loestrin listed has one of the highest androgen pills. It wasn’t until recently it all clicked, loestrin sounds like LOW ESTROGEN. That is the pill of doom that I took that started this whole hair loss process for me. I suppose it is all luck of the draw. Many women have probably taken that pill and never had the hair loss troubles I have been dealing with for the past 8 years. But there is no denying the hair loss birth control pill connection, messing with hormones can results in some unpleasant occurrences. Depending on the doctor, some will openly admit that hair loss can occur from taking the pill, others will dismiss it as merely coincidence. The packet insert of all the pills that I have seen clearly state it as a possible side effect. Women of all ages need to be aware of this before considering taking any pill, don’t expect to hear that little tid bit of information from the doctor prescribing it to you.

Low androgen birth control pills are also commonly prescribed with the anti androgen spironolactone as a treatment for women losing their hair.

I would love to find a complete listing of all birth control pills and their androgen index. If anyone knows of any please send me an email so I can post it on the site.

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The Power of Now – Improving Our Outlook Will Most Certainly Have An Impact On Our Hair Loss

by Y on March 19, 2008

Power of Now - Improving Our Outlook Will Most Certainly have an impact on our hair lossOne of our members in the network wrote a blog post about being proactive and wrote that she was recommended the book “The Power of Now” by Ekhart Tolle. Another member emailed me and told me the book made a huge difference in her life as well. That is enough convincing for me, I will definitely be ordering myself a copy from Amazon.com. I just looked it up and this is what is says about the book:

Ekhart Tolle’s message is simple: living in the now is the truest path to happiness and enlightenment. And while this message may not seem stunningly original or fresh, Tolle’s clear writing, supportive voice, and enthusiasm make this an excellent manual for anyone who’s ever wondered what exactly “living in the now” means. Foremost, Tolle is a world-class teacher, able to explain complicated concepts in concrete language. More importantly, within a chapter of reading this book, readers are already holding the world in a different container–more conscious of how thoughts and emotions get in the way of their ability to live in genuine peace and happiness.

I noticed this author has a written a bunch of other books that look quite interesting as well, so I guess I’ll be doing a little shopping today 🙂  Thanks for the tip Tracy and Chari!

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Kewpie’s Hair Loss Story

by Y on March 18, 2008

Kewpie's Hair Loss StoryJust to reiterate what many other women have said, this website is a wonderful and empowering resource. Here’s my story:

I noticed a lot of hair in my tent while camping for 5 days last summer. At the time, I was not on birth control although I’ve been on and off it for 11 years (I’m 27). I got on Apri shortly after for its intended purpose and didn’t notice any change with the hair loss. I didn’t really think much of it until it didn’t stop. I freaked out while on the phone with my mom around Thanksgiving (my family all lives in Connecticut; I moved to Seattle about 2 years ago for my job). I went to my general practitioner and she basically told me, “See a dermatologist, and if its happening there’s not much you can do”. When I saw my family at Christmas they said I looked the same and I shouldn’t be so freaked out; everybody loses hair.

Let me tell you about my hair on a good day: I’ve always had baby-fine hair! I was bald until I was 2 and have never had long or thick hair. My mom and her sister have fine hair too. I’ve always gotten good cuts and color. My dad is balding; he’s 52…but I feel like many, many guys are balding. My uncles are mostly bald but no women in my family are. I can accept thin hair, that’s what I’m used to. It’s just excruciating to lose what already few hairs I have. I don’t have hair to spare!

The dermatologist I visited got an abnormal hair pull and diagnosed me with Telogen Effluvium. He essentially said, use Rogaine, eat an iron supplement and grin and bare it. All my blood work came back fine (whatever that means). I felt relieved for a few days but then decided that I was underwhelmed with his diagnosis and I couldn’t just sit here shedding hair all over the place, so I made an appointment with a female derm to get a second opinion. It’d been going on for 5 months. Believe me I wracked my brain trying to figure out what it could be. I had no major trauma or dietary change. I eat pretty well, exercise, etc. The female dermatologist was a bit more sensitive and her hair pull test was “normal”. She inspected my scalp and said it looks healthy and there is no scarring. She told me the shedding was probably just my body readjusting to the change in bcp (although I’ve gone off and on before and have never had a noticeable problem).

The weird thing is, two girlfriends I met when I moved here had hair loss issues. They both moved abroad last summer and when I emailed them asking about it, they also said, You’re fine, it’s hereditary or stress related. They’d laugh you out of the hair loss clinic. Try Rogaine. Two hair stylists I went to said they couldn’t believe how many women were approaching them with hair loss issues. It makes me wonder if it isn’t something environmental. [click to continue…]

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Test Your Hormones When YOU Want – The Canary Club

by Y on March 14, 2008

Test Your Hormones When YOU wantI cannot believe I have not written about this before. So many women want to be able to test their hormones for imbalances, but either cannot get their doctor to do it, or cannot get it does as frequently as they would like. There is an online service called The Canary Club which provides at home saliva test kits to test for specific hormones. I was recommended this site by a thyroid doctor I had a phone consultation with, Dr. Richard Shames. Who by the way, was a wonderful, caring and understanding doctor. Sort of a rarity these days. I had consulted with him over my suspicions that my dosage of synthroid could be causing my extremely exacerbated state of hair loss far beyond my androgenetic alopecia. After looking over my previous test results he told me it would be fine to go back down to the dosage I was doing best on, which was 88mcg and that is the dosage I am on today. I am doing MUCH better at this level as opposed to the 112mcg.

I ordered the test from the company and it arrived shortly after. However, I still have not done the test, it has been sitting on my desk for quite some time now. I seem to never remember to take it during the times they specify, which they state in the instructions “Menstruating women should do this saliva sample testing on day nineteen, twenty or twenty-one of their cycle. Day one is the first day you notice bleeding” and I also drink coffee every morning which kills that day as a test day.

The test comes with a whole list of instructions on what to avoid on the day of the test.

Do Not Eat: chocolate, onion, garlic, cabbage, cauliflower/broccoli.

Do Not Drink: coffee, tea, or caffeinated drinks (ex.coke, guarana)

Do Not Use: sublingual hormones or troches as of the night before collection. Avoid antacids, bismuth medications or mouth washes.

According to my order panel form, it tests for: Progesterone, Testosterone, Estradiol, Cortisol 6am-8am, cortisol 11am-noon, cortisol 4pm-5pm, cortisol 10pm- midnight, DHEA+DHEA(s) pool, Free T4, Free T3, TSH, and Thyroid Antiboides [click to continue…]

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Tips For Choosing The Right Wig

by Y on February 27, 2008

Tips For Choosing The Right WigA Blog Post By Kathyloulu

Beth had a question about this and I thought that there might be others who would benefit from this information; thus, I’m blogging again.My hair loss began gradually just above the ears. Over the course of the next two months, the hair at my temples started receding and I noticed bald patches on other parts of my head. I did the whole comb and cover routine the best I could, but it kept getting worse.Finally, I decided that I needed to get a wig. I loaded up all four children (at the time) and took them with me to the wig shop so that they could be involved in the process. Now, fortunately, we have at least three wig salons here in San Antonio. But, in smaller cities, you may not have the selection you need. Do not — I repeat — do not order your first wig online. Because what you think will look good and what actually works for you are completely different things. If possible, take a trip to a larger city and plan to spend a few hours trying on as many wigs as you need to.

Here are some tips:

1) if you are looking for long hair (which is what I currently have) — definitely spend the money on real human hair (with the cuticle intact). I tried several long synthetic wigs (even the “new generation” and “heat resistant” synthetics) and they looked great — for about a month. After that the ends get “knappy” (for lack of a better word) and it gets very, very tangled all the time. The human hair is just like, well, hair.

2) look for wigs with a “monofilament” top — or in the less expensive wigs, a flesh colored mesh piece — where the hair parts. These look most natural and really does look like your scalp showing. If you are caucasion — look for the lighter wig cap. If you are african-american — look for the darker wig cap.

3) you don’t have to spend a lot to look great! The wig that I had on in my picture cost $39.99 and I swear I had so many compliments on it — even women wanting to take my picture so that they could show their sylist what they wanted (it was then that I was very tempted to just take my wig off and ask the lady if she wanted to try it on! But, I didn’t want to embarrass my husband.)

4) Benefits of synthetic hair — wash with any mild shampoo, shake out and let air dry. No styling required. Very easy maintenance.

5) Benefits of human hair — looks and feels great! Shampoo and style just as you did your own hair. [click to continue…]

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Through Pain, Through Tears Over My Hair Loss – I’m Still Standing

by Y on February 25, 2008

Through Pain, Through Tears Over My Hair Loss - I'm Still StandingI’ve managed to catch a cold/flu buggy thing again. Lucky me. But I was doing a bit of pondering over this last week as I would take my dog for his early morning walk (which he is still waiting for today by the way) about life. I’d walk along the streets in the brisk morning and just think about how lucky I am to be here, to be healthy (for the most part) to have my hearing, my sight and my wits about me. I am alive. What a gift huh? It isn’t going to last forever, we only have this moment because the future is uncertain and not promised to any of us. How could I have let the last 8 (almost 9) years slip away. Not lived, but only existed. What a waste that has been. My hair loss has caused me more agony and devastation than anything. I’ve felt I’ve lost myself a little bit each time I watched tons of my hair fall out and my scalp showed a little more. I’ve felt depression so deep and never thought I’d have strength to get out of bed again.

But here I am, realizing more and more each day that while my hair is really so unimaginably thin, I have so much to be grateful for. I am so very lucky. I think that is so important to never lose sight of. Trust me when I say I know your pain and know it intimately, but while I can’t 100% say “I am not my hair” and move on completely, I am able to put things into a much better perspective and my coping skills have improved dramatically to where I can at least know that life is more than hair, I have a lot to offer this world as do you. This is our time, here and now. Don’t let you hair loss make you change yourself, who you are. The people who love you will love you no matter what, it’s not your hair they love, it’s YOU.

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Conditioned To Feel Pain and Sadness – Hair Loss Has Done This To ME

by Y on January 24, 2008

Yesterday I woke up with pain on my scalp, a soreness I hadn’t felt for quite sometime. I know what it’s called, Trichodyia. I dread it because in my experience it always seems to correlate with a impending hair shed. I’ve been doing okay so far, since I’ve reduced my synthyroid dosage and my hair loss has improved and seems more stable. But now this, why now? I certainly don’t tie my hair tight in a ponytail, it always fairly loose because if it’s tight I can feel every single follicle tugging. Why now? Even though nothing has changed today and yesterday, I just feel a great sadness. The thought of the possibility of enduring yet another shed brings me to tears. I’ve been in hazy lack luster state since this began, paralyzed by fear thinking I won’t be strong enough to take anymore… my hair can’t take anymore. I feel like I’m one shed away from being entirely bald. Eight years of dealing with this, I know that isn’t true, I know even with all the shedding I somehow manage to make it through and get by, but I still feel the sadness and the pain. I type this though tear obscured eyes. The possible impending shed isn’t even here and may never come yet the pain on the scalp was enough to made me incredibly sad. Like any other conditioned response, my hair loss as conditioned me to feel pain and sadness.~Y

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So Sorry That I Took My Hair For Granted – Amber’s Hair Loss Story

by Y on January 21, 2008

So Sorry That I Took My Hair For Granted - Amber's Hair Loss StoryHello Everyone. I am so happy to know that I am not alone in my hair loss devastation. I am a 28 year old mother of four. I’ve been experiencing heavy hair loss and extreme changes in the texture of my hair since the pregnancy with my daughter 5 years ago. Much to my dismay, my doctors were telling me that I was pulling my hair back too often or that my hormones just needed to get back to normal or that the straightening process I had done had caused the loss. So for five years I have watched my very thick, very curly hair become thin and straight thinking that one day it would magically reappear. It was two weeks ago that I had a scalp biopsy and was diagnosed with andogenetic alopecia. To boot, I am losing it from all over my head, not just the top. My dermatologist is pretty cruel and just chuckled and said “There’s nothing you can really do. Use Rogaine.” I am devastated. My daughter has hair just like mine used to be and I’m actually jealous of her. I’m debating whether to have the fifth child that my husband and I wanted but I don’t want to spark any excess shedding episodes. I have started Rogaine as it is the only FDA approved medication for women but I am feeling very lightheaded and somewhat dizzy so I’ll probably have to stop. I realize like many of you that this has quickly become an obsession. I know that I am not my hair. But let me tell you, after four children, my body is beat. My hair is the only attribute I have left and I’m losing that now too. I’m at an incredible loss. I can’t imagine what it will look like when I’m 40. Please give me any feedback you can and I hope this post helps someone feel not so alone as this site has helped me tremendously.
Thank you,
Amber

***********************
Dear Amber,

You are not alone in your feelings and struggles. I wish I knew why most doctors are so insensitive and callus toward the women who seek out help for their hair loss. I can’t explain why they do it, but it is an unfortunate very common occurrence. Was your dermatologist by any chance a man? They seem to be the least understanding.Just like the birth control pills can somethings kick in the onset of androgenetic alopecia early so can the hormone shift of having children, sometimes there is just no rhyme or reason, but undoubtedly we are never prepared. There are other “treatments” used to treat women’s hair loss such as low androgen index birth control pills and aldactone (spironolactone). All hair loss treatments carry the risk of possibly igniting some extra shedding at first. It’s the whole, “has to get worse better it gets better type thing.” It’s all a very personal decision what a woman chooses to use to treat herself, and she has to fully understand the postives vs. the negatives. Hopefully in time there will be more studies done to figure out what exactly causes women’s hair loss and then with any luck a real solution for women’s hair loss will follow. [click to continue…]

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