What is the best thing you’ve ever done to fix thinning hair? Desperate.

[Jessforless]

My hair is really thinning. It started falling out when I was on a bit of an extreme long term diet, probably lost about half of it and it was quite traumatic, so much coming out during washing and brushing.

This was about 2 years ago at its peak and it hasn’t recovered. My parting is so wide, I can see my scalp all over. My DH says it isn’t that bad but it’s affecting my confidence so much.

I use a special shampoo and conditioner for growth, take biotin and try to wash and brush my hair as little as possible. I bought a few different hair oils and serums and nothing ever really makes a difference and I spend so much time stressing about it it’s probably adding to the problem now!

Has anyone had this issue and found anything that helped?

I've heard peppermint oil works.

Have you had bloods done?

Your ferritin needs to be over 100 for healthy hair growth, am thinking if you lost your hair on a crazy diet you may have lost all your iron stores and never recovered.

You probably have iron or vitamin deficiencies as well. Maybe get a blood test to check.

I lost a lot of my hair due to ferritin issues. I now take a vitamin B complex which includes B6, B12 and folic acid. It took a while but it's grown back.

Have you had your thyroid checked? That can affect your hair growth if it’s out of whack.

For a medicinal help, you could try Minoxidil, men’s strength (not women’s as I was advised by my dermatologist).

If you google Suneeta London they do a hair oil that’s really good. If I remember rightly it’s got rosemary oil in it which helps with thickness and growth. A little goes a long way so you don’t need much. I used it when I had some stress hair loss a few years ago and my hair is definitely better now. I still have a bit round the front that’s wispy but it’s not as bad as it was.

www.google.com/gasearch?q=luseta%20black%20castor%20oil%20shampoo&tbm=&source=sh/x/gs/m2/5

This did wonders for my hair (split ends and stopped growing) Not the cheapest but you can sometimes get it in Tkmaxx cheaper.

This sounds rubbish.
Not me, but I know someone who used Regaine and had got results. It's expensive and they had to use it for a while but might be worth a look.

Biotin supplements genuinely work for me. I grew a new lot of short hair under my regular hair quite quickly. I was in my 30’s with just not much hair in general. Life happened and I got out of the habit of taking them but I always mean to start again.

Vitamin D (decent dose) and collagen

Get your bloods done to check for ferritin, thyroid issues etc. Maybe hormones too if that might be an issue (eg pcos can cause thinning hair).

My problem is all three of the above! I take prescription iron, thyroxine and hrt. Im sure that stops it getting worse. But Regaine is the ONLY thing that has actually regrowth my hair.

Thank you everyone, I really appreciate the replies.

In terms of getting bloods done, is this something my GP would do or something to pay for privately?

I’ll look into all advice mentioned thanks.

GP should do it.