Menopause hair

[JJkate]

I've always had wavy/curly hair that was a bit frizzy but ok. Since my mid forties it's got much drier and lots fell out and it's v frizzy. I've been on iron tablets for 6 months and it has finally (two months ago) stopped falling out but not sure it will grow back. I used to let it air dry. I've tried diffusing or blow drying and it still looks awful, just more flat/big awful. Even after going to the hair dressers it's still awful. Has anyone found a way to make it look good after these changes or do I have to accept I now have shit hair?

Following. I have always had straightish fine hair and definitely can’t afford to lose any, but it’s getting thinner and drier with age. There’s no weight to it at all and it looks shite.

I honestly reckon this is why in generations before us many women had their hair cut short and permed.

Do you colour/perm your hair OP?

Hi, I have that sort of hair and I stopped drying it completely as it ruined it, and I moved to Faith In Nature products as natural / no sulphates stripping the already dry hair - but the best thing I did was buy a heated hair cap from Amazon for £19.99, so you put your conditioner on, stick hair inside the shower cap and then put the heated cap on top and sit down for 20 minutes while the heat makes the conditioner go in.

It's not an easy time is it....!

No never

So that's one thing to discount as a possible cause :)

It sounds like you have an issue with low iron. Do you know what your Hb and ferritin are now? My Dr told me that for optimal hair growth ferritin should be about 75 and iron shouldn't be less than 120 (12 in old money).

As far as the dryness is concerned I can recommend using a coconut oil mask every other week. I buy pure coconut oil from Holland and Barret, it's the edible pure oil, not the stuff you get in the beauty sections with added perfume which is useless. I scrape out about 3-4 tablespoons and melt it in my hands and rub it all over my hair and scalp. I have thick shoulder length hair and this is a good amount for me. I tie it up and leave it on for a minimum of an hour and then wash it off with a mild shampoo like Moo and then use Moo conditioner on just the ends. It makes my hair very shiny and moisturised.

When I'm not using coconut oil I wash my hair with AsIAm cowash and use the matching AsIAm deep conditioning mask.

Every month or two I use something like Head and Shoulders to clear any build up.

I only wash/blow dry my hair once a week which I think is key to very healthy hair (as well as not colouring/perming it).

Also, do you take HRT? It can help with hair loss in some cases. When I started on HRT about a year ago for the first few months I lost lots of hair, evenly all over. It was like the hair loss you get after giving birth so no bald patches, but still alarming. I was getting seriously worried. After about 7 months it stopped and I got lots of new growth which has continued.

Ultimately, your hair issues like most things will be down to a combination of genes and diet/lifestyle. Do you see similar issues with other women in your family OP? How is your health in general? Are you on any long term medication? How is your diet?

My hair has always been the same same as yours OP wavy/curly and a bit frizzy.

Mid forties and menopause and it got dry and fell out, so much so I can remember asking my hairdresser to be honest if she thought I was going bald. I thought my thinning, frizzy, flat hair was what I was going to have forever.

Then at about 50 everything changed again. Still wavy and tending to frizz but it's become thicker than ever, thick enough to weigh down some of the curl in fact. I'd say now my hair is better than it's ever been.

I wash it as infrequently as I can get away with and use Schwarzkopf Got2b hair oil on it to tame the frizz.

For me it was definitely just a rotten stage and I hope it is for you too.

Also they didn't have time/money/access to showers etc. But some people use hair extensions, not for length but fullness, and there's ads about regrowth. They're sometimes aimed at men, but maybe you could look into whether this would suit you, OP?

@Additup hi, thank you for the tips. My serum ferritin was 19 in October, 45 at start of Dec and 51 in January so it's going up, but slowly. What is HB? I'm not on any meds. I tried HRT for 2.5 years and had similar to you, quite a lot of hair loss. I'm progesterone intolerant so decided to stop in December as it was affecting my mood badly and I feel much better off it. My mum doesn't have any issues at all, very healthy and full head of shiny hair. My diet is a bit lacking, I have intolerances to lots of things, I can't eat meat or fish, I try to eat beans, veg, fruit etc but could probably be better in terms of variety.

Omg @WildGarden that sounds mad. I hope that will happen to me too. It's such a weird phase isn't it. I'm getting periods every three weeks at mo' which is a bit much. Looking forward to steadier seas. Thank you 😊

@Additup hi, I've worked it out! My HB was 135 in October, 137 in December, 132 in January.

That's a good Hb level, but I'd work on getting your ferritin up.

Do you have much Omega 3, 6 etc in your diet ? It's supposed to be good for skin, hair and lots of other things.

@Additup hmm, not much really apart from extra virgin olive oil. I will start adding in chia seeds and see if that helps. Thank you so much 😊

I’m taking natures plus biotin. They say it’s for hair growth but my hair isn’t thicker or growing more, but is in fantastic condition now, it feels strong and resilient. I know it’s the biotin because I had to come off it for a week to get thyroid checked and my hair started falling apart again, which I don’t love as I don’t want to be dependent on anything but apparently it’s fine. I use argan oil and heat defence spray too and always find they help

I'm glad to be of help :)

I take a teaspoon of cod liver oil everyday - you could try that too. You do get used to the taste :)

I think one reason is you are a vegetarian and it's much harder to get your iron up if you rely on plants.

There are a lot of other nutrients in meat and fish. I've read that women who are non-meat eaters being more at risk of osteoporosis, for example.

You said you 'try to eat beans' so what protein are you getting? Are you eating enough protein? Hair is made from protein. Maybe you need to increase that too? Have you worked out how much you eat in a day? The guidance is around 0.8gm per kg of body weight, but some guidance say 1gm per kg.

Rather than looking at treatments for your hair, maybe focus on your diet?

Thanks @JinglingSpringbellsI'm not vegetarian but have lots of intolerances and bowel issues especially to fish and meat amongst a thousand other things. I've had lots of investigations and basically been told it's IBS and to get on with it. I eat Butter beans, black beans, lentils etc. you are right I need to take it more seriously and calculate how much I need to get from food.

Have you seen a dietitian?

It's very unusual not to be able to eat meat or fish which are quite 'innocuous' in terms of intolerance. (If you can't eat fish or meat does that not mean you're vegetarian?) Sorry if I've misunderstood.

Have you tried the Fodmap diet, with medical support?

I've tried asking to be referred to a dietician and been refused. I do eat meat occasionally and if out or visiting friends if they cook it but I don't have it very often. I have tried fodmap a few years ago and this is how I worked out that garlic, onion, eggs, meat, fish, dairy etc are my triggers. Tbh though these days I just eat something with this in and know it has set me off. I think there is an issue with processing fats or something. All investigations; coeliac blood test, Sechat test, endoscopy, colonoscopy, stool test have not found anything. Gastroenterologist discharged me and said it's just intolerances and avoid things that set me off.

It's terrible you have not been referred to a dietitian.
You can self refer to a private one.

Someone who my friends have used is Marianne- she's one of the best in the UK on IBS etc. She does consultations by video for patients out of her area. I have no personal connection (ie not promoting her business!) but came across her a while back as a professional contact.

www.wisediet.co.uk