Hair thinning at age 35

[thewinehasgonetomyhead]

Hello,

I have noticed my hair thinning on the very top of my head and around the temples (see pics).

I'm going to try to wear it down more often and I am going to book a GP appt.. I'm not sure why I'm posting really. Just for some support and advice if anyone has any.

I have shown pics, it looks much worse when I had the flash on my phone so I took that off and tried again.

Have you had bloods done for ferritin? Do you exercise loads? How is your diet - do you eat lots of protein? Are you veggie? Have you been under lots of stress? Does your mum/aunt/granny have thinning hair? Have you recently had a child? When you run your hand through your hair, do you always find strands? If you are booking GP appt, make sure they do bloods and then take the results to a trichologist who can give you some good advice. There's so much that affects hair so it's important to give a full picture before anyone can help. Good luck!!

Thank you for replying.

I have had two children, youngest one is almost three. I do have a good diet, lots of fruit, leafy veg. I could probably eat more protein.

I don't feel as if I've been under much stress, no more than any other parent homeschooling at the moment.

I have spoken with my DM, she said she did experience any hair loss until she reached her 70s.

I have a telephone appt with doctor next week so hopefully they will get my bloods tested.

You aren’t post covid are you? I think I’ve seen hair loss mentioned.

Hi there - Lucinda ellory might be helpful specialise in female baldness solutions but get medical advice first as ppl said good luck 🤞

@ThePricklySheep hiya- no COVID as far as I'm aware.

@user1471464702 thank you I will take a look.

Your hair looks pretty much exactly like mine and mine was caused by very low ferritin levels. Levels below 70 will cause hair loss and mine were down at 10. I take very high strength iron tablets prescribed by the doctor now (the over the counter iron supplements aren’t anywhere near strong enough). It’s a slow process but my levels are up to 65 a year later and the thinning is a lot less noticeable. A tip to make the thin hair on your parting look less noticeable is to get an eyeshadow a similar colour to your hair. Use an eyeshadow brush to apply it both sides along the parting. Sounds weird but it really works to hide it

I lost a huge amount of hair after my kids years ago and it never really came back. No loss on top weirdly so I was able to get away with hair extensions for years. Recently though I have had huge hair breakage and loss and for the first time on top
I have been taking MSM (crystal pure form) collagen and using watermans shampoo and conditioner.
The MSM is a game changer, as the other two say they take three months to work. Your hair grows so so fast. Watermans seems to have stopped the loss. You can use it topically too- I haven't tried this yet but will do soon. I'll try to attach some photos later

Thanks @Caramel81. Were you low ferritin levels detected by the standard blood test your GP arranged please? Thank you for the eyeshadow tip.

@Caramel81 were your that should have said.

Thanks @workshy44. What is MSM please? Sorry!

I had the same OP except mine was worse around the hair line. It turned out my ferritin levels were very low, I had an urgent iron infusion and it grew back to normal.

Yes the gp arranged a few different blood tests and it showed up on the iron test. Anything below 12 is classed as anemic and for good health it needs to be up at around 120. 70 is the level it needs to be for hair to grow properly. I think mine started when I was crash dieting and eating a vegan diet. I now eat a lot of protein and red meat which has helped, along with the high strength iron tablets (called ferrous fumarate. They do constipate you though)

@Caramel81 that's interesting you should say about crash dieting, I have recently been on a calorie reduced diet to shift the last few baby pounds. I wonder if this is contributing?

@breatheslowandtrust I'm glad yours is now improving for you, thank you.

methylsulphonylmethane

They are for aches and pains with (anecdotal) evidence that they cause hair (faster) growth
To give you an idea, my hair had broken probably an inch above the ears and within about 3/4 weeks it was below the ears
Issue for me as I can't get my hair cut it keeps breaking!
it is definitely worth a try as it has a lot of other health benefits too beyond hair growth.

OP ... get your Thyroid checked ... Iron/Ferritin levels.. and your Hormone levels checked ...

www.healthline.com/health/ferritin-and-hair-loss

good luck 🌺

Thank you everyone for being so kind.

@Caramel81 I'm now thinking my diet is probably very lacking in protein. Can you please give me some examples of the high protein foods you eat?

Eggs are meant to be amazing for hair as they contain biotin and are high in protein. I also have a one of the high protein shakes/yogurts/bars every day that are around 25g protein. For my dinner I’ll have something like steak/salmon/chicken. For breakfast I’ll have greek yogurt as that’s high in protein but quite low calorie x

Another interesting question is whether you have ringing in your ears? I do, and put it down to tinnitus, but apparently it's caused by low ferritin (my levels are 28 and I'm about to start on high strength iron tablets, following a meeting with a trichologist last week).

I didn’t have tinnitus but I’ve read it can be a symptom for some. My main symptoms were the thinning hair, feeling shattered and also a bit off balance/dizzy

Yes that's how I feel. Tired most of the time, even after a good nights sleep. Headachey as well.

I had masses of hair loss when I dropped weight quite quickly and ended up with very low ferritin. Improved my diet (by increasing calories), got back up to a normal weight, prescribed iron from the gp and my hair stopped falling out, it is lovely and thick again

@Haventhadaneggsinceeaster yes I'm thinking there may be a correlation between the diet hair loss/how I'm feeling. How long did it take for you to begin noticing a difference?

Someone else mentioned it upthread but definitely ask GP for a thyroid blood test. I have an underactive thyroid - hair loss and fatigue are among the (many) symptoms.