To think my hair will never look normal?!

[balloonpops7]

I’m really struggling with my hair at the moment and it’s really lowering my self esteem.

First it’s very thin and sparse, it’s always been thin but it literally goes gappy especially when it’s wet.
It is especially sparse now, I’ve put a picture on too.
It never dries properly because it just feels oily instead, and yet I get a very flaky scalp at the front of my head.

I’m having to keep wearing hair extensions because it makes me want to cry wearing it down, because it’s so gappy!

Im really trying, I’ve been using clarifying shampoo/conditioner, double washing, scalp massages, hair masks…

What do I do?!

I’d agree to look at the physical stuff, personally I’ve been looking at champu products. Horrifically expensive, but people are saying it’s helped them after Covid and chemo (since having Covid my hair has totally thinned)

Sorry you're going through this, I've gone through various phases of hair thinning throughout adulthood and it sucks. As others have mentioned, have you recently given birth, come off the contraceptive pill, had COVID or other viral disease? These all can cause hair loss.

I take biotin, fish oil, add flax seed to food. I also recently started taking glucosamine again for my cartilage, and my hair generally looks much better since then so it might be worth trying. And I'd get a shorter haircut so you don't need to pull it back and leave off the extensions, they will also be adding weight to your roots.

I have Hashimoto’s and PCOS, so my once-thick mane is much thinner. However, I now have full scalp coverage after a solid year of:

Drinking bone broth daily (full of collagen and amino acids)
Taking a B complex
Omega 3 oil
Vitamin D
Making sure I eat red meat once a week

The best supplement I ever took for hair growth was evening primrose oil. It doubled my hair density. However, it gave me stomach cramps, but I have IBS. Most people who take it are absolutely fine.

Your hair will thin out at the edges if you constantly scrape it tightly back into a ponytail. If this is you, stop. It can eventually lead to it actually receeding.

Hair extensions will ruin your hair,so you need to stop with them.

Body Shops ginger shampoo will sort out your flakiness .

Vitamins and good diet as others have suggested.

Join the vitamin b12 wake up group on Facebook. Lots of people still suffer with symptoms on 12 weekly injections, they have copies of letters you can send to your GP to request more frequent injections 👍🏻

Get your iron checked specifically ferritin levels. Needs to be at least 80 for healthy levels of hair growth

Crikey. That high?!! Wow, would definitely make sense in my case

Olaplex has caused thinning and breakage.

Castor oil and coconut mixed together on scalp and lengths xx

Underactive thyroid mines like that, I wouldn’t be using clarifying shampoo much too harsh strips hair

And your thyroid.

I’d go to GP and see if they know what it is. You may get referred on to dermatology. Your symptoms may be frontal fibrosing alopecia or traction alopecia due to the hair extensions.

Have you ever used Olaplex?

L’Oréal root spray is great for disguising thin patches and it makes hair look and feel thicker. I use a combination of that and clip in extensions when I go out.

Some great advice here OP, good luck!

I’ve had hair shedding for months now (started around May last year). I think it peaked around late summer but I’m still shedding more than normal. It’s so tiresome. When I first had my iron levels checked by ferritin was 48, so lower than optimal. It’s now just under 100 so I don’t think that was the cause, which is frustrating.

I’ve had thyroid checked, hormones, vitamins. All apparently normal.

Now taking biotin, collagen, Evening Primrose, fish oil, vitamin D, a multivitamin to cover B vitamins etc. I’ve upped red meat, eggs, avocados, nuts, linseed, protein… I should be a walking advert for bloody hair health!

Personally I hated Champo- to the PP. It made my hair feel very greasy and oily.

I’ve heard rosemary oil added to shampoo is supposed to be good but I haven’t tried it yet.

@tellmewhentheLangshiplandscoz Yes it does smell lovely. Clean & herby is probably the best I can come up with.

The Aveno gentle hair shampoo and conditioners are budget friendly. No hairdryer. Vitamin levels.

Thanks, Langs

Caffeine shampoo, stop putting hair in bobble, get your bloods done to check for vitamin deficiency, use a paddle brush - not a comb.

Nioxin Shampoo helped me when I'd bleached my hair into a dreadful state and it was really thin I believe I used System 3 for progressed thinning I've since grown my hair back to my natural colour but recently had a baby and lost loads of it so I've been taking Biotin from Holland and Barratt and it has started to grow back (it looks awful atm but it is growing)

Thank you all so much for your advice! It’s been so helpful.

I’ve just taken a trip to the doctors, all my bloods came back fine (B12 and iron on the low average range).
He had a look at my hair and thinks I have alopecia ☹️ at 25! He doesn’t know what might cause it but he’s referred me to a dermatologist.

In the meantime I’ve ordered some supplements, a few oils and some treatments to help my scalp health.

Thanks again all xxx

Did he tell you exactly what your ferritin levels are?

If you have the NHS app you can look at everything they checked for on your records

Stop with so much clarifying! You’re making your scalp super dry and it’s producing more oil in response.

Is it naturally straight?