Hair loss support thread

[Marasme]

I did find an old 2012 thread and thought I'd post something new here.

After a shitty year or so at home and at work, I noticed that my scalp was showing more than usual along my parting. Further investigation using the selfie camera on my phone revealed an awful little bald patch at the top of my head, as if the parting was widening at this place.

Absolutely terrifying :( and not helping the fact that I suffer from some pretty bad health anxiety.

I now feel sucked by the entire "remedy" industry despite the strong belief that they are just snake oil peddlers.

Looking for anyone, from the old thread or not, to join in sharing positive stories...

I think I’m at the start of hair loss. Since having my daughter a couple of years ago I shed lots of hair and it is growing back very thin and weakened. I don’t have bald patches yet but you can see my scalp easily through my hair and my parting is very obvious from afar.

I’m not sure if this is hormonal and linked to Cerelle which I was put onto during breastfeeding (just before the shedding started) never taken it before. The old pill I was on helped with PCOS symptoms too but GP won’t let me go back on it (stroke risk). There is hair loss on paternal side but definitely not on maternal side. So not sure what’s causing it. I have terribly itchy dry sore scalp at times. If I use dry shampoo it gets worse. I also get greasy hair very quickly so find it necessary to shampoo more often than I should be (daily usually).

I was using the TGel treatment shampoo, I tried the Avalon organic scalp shampoo. Both seemed to help. I’ve now started on Nioxin (system 3 for coloured hair) shampoo & conditioner, thanks to hairdresser. It’s helped. I also have the treatment spray but haven’t touched it yet and not sure about using it. Look Fantastic sell it quite cheap so might be worth looking online rather than hairdressers if money is tight.

Hi @BluebellGal - check posts above from @tampinfuminragin and @the giantofillinois - both about Cerelle.

[and I still cannot understand Nioxin - what's in it and how it works!]

Article in Daily Mail today about some supplements including Viviscal - here

Thanks marasme for directing me to those threads on Cerelle. The hair thinning started when I was put on Cerelle, so it would seem I need to come off it. It has coincided with excess hair growth on neck too. The GP will not let me go on the combined pill as I had a migraine about 4 years ago and she said that’s enough to increase my risk of stroke. Anyone know what my other options are? Tablets or otherwise.

contraception seems a bit of a minefield when it comes to hairloss - some people report bad hair loss with the mirena, the depo, and some people benefit from pills like Yasmin (which I think is not recommended once you get nearer to 40 ??).

I am going without just now...

Hairloss is my specialist subject sadly. I started noticing a wide part at 42 but looking at pictures it had been thinning for ages without noticing.

I'm nearly 46 now. Mine is fphl. I used toppik for ages but got fed up and went to a hair replacement salon. I didn't get the mesh but basically a topper sewn on in much the same way many women of colour get weaves sewn in. I wanted something I couldn't take off. Anyway, after getting new hair a couple of months ago and hating the hair quality, I took it off. It was so damaging and I was shocked at how much hair I lost. My wide part was practically full on balding. Really don't go for this, unless you are totally sure.

Anyway, I now buy closures and sew clips on. It's much cheaper than a topper.

In the meantime my hair has grown back loads. It's still crap and worse than pre the system but it's only been 2 months- I don't know if it will come back.

I have been using regaine for 4 years. It hasn't created new growth but it helped me not loose more hair - I don't see excessive shedding since using it. I wouldn't have lost hair if not for the hair system. I don't get the itchy scalp I used to get before the regaine which I think goes hand in hand with shedding.

Since the shock of taking off my system and seeing what it did, I have also added in viviscal and Nioxin System 4. I just wanted to throw everything at it!! In any case no one can see what is going on under my clip on hair. I just don't want to loose so much hair that I have nothing to clip on to!!

The very bald one was me after taking off the weave, hair system thing first week of November. The fuller one is today. It does actually look worse in real life.

The red face one is with my clip on hair. I keep my bio hair out to hopefully make it look natural.

My advice is get fake hair sooner rather than later if you think your hair isn't going to come back and you don't plan to let everyone know you have thinning hair issues. Otherwise the contrast will be too obvious if you leave it too long.

It shouldn't be a stigma but much like my mental health issues, I have sadly kept my thinning hair problems to myself.

I probably look fine in that second picture but it's just favourable light and it's not parted at the worst bit - but still, it is definitely better than 2 months ago.

Thanks nightmare, great advice there.glad about the regrowth.

@hairnightmare17 - what clip on hair do you have?
it looks like great regrowth in just 2 months - thanks for the heads up re sown-in systems.

hairnightmare - that clip-in hair looks fantastic. Please could you give a bit more info about it?

I buy a silk closure from here m.facebook.com/Hair-Integration-SystemsClosures-Wefts-293981124434628/

It has to be silk or the parting won't look like scalp. The lace ones show up on your scalp - they are a lot cheaper.

Their hair is Russian and v high quality but she has gone on holiday until end of jan.

I find they last at least a year if I wash once a week using good products. I sew wig clips in and clip it on to my own hair. I then blend my own hair at the front. There is a slight join at the front but I sort of stick up my hair and spray it to hide that.

A lot of people buy Jon reneau easipart toppers. They are a lot more expensive and I think they would have too much hair on for me and the volume would look give away.

The closure I wear is traditionally worn with extensions and the closure and extension combo is known as a weave. I don't bother with the extensions.

You can buy them. Sew in the clips. Put it on and get a hairdresser to cut it in, the way you want. The easiest and most realistic way to wear would be with a fringe but sadly I don't suit them.

it looks lovely hair - I am still scared to jump in and join - I am not very skilled at clipping in anything on my head.

Re the fringe - would this be a fringe on the closure, or on your bio hair? sorry if it's a stupid question.

Having just regrown my fringe, not sure I'd go back there...

What about the hair colour? How do you pick it to best match your colour?

Hi everyone I have rtft and I’m trying to get my head round everything.

I’m going to go to my GP regarding my thyroid and I know I need to get my iron levels up.

What are the best supplements? There has been mention of so many thank you

Hey lonelymum86 - good on you for RTFT ;)

iron levels: I am on ferrous fumarate, twice to thrice a day, taken with vitamin C 200mg chewables and 1000mg lysine. I am due for a retest once I have finished the box, in about 7 weeks...

Otherwise, I used to take perfectil max for hair, skin, nails - which I stopped when I started viviscal... it's not been long enough for me to notice much, TBH. I have tried to improve my diet in parallel, by upping my protein intake, and vitamin/minerals through more fruit and veg. I also take some fish oil every other day or so.

Thank you @Marasme so I’ve got some iron supplements. I need to take these more and biotin seems good reading through the products mentioned.

There seems to be various systems - as in supplements and I don’t want to do too many at once as how do you know what’s best?

I miss my hair I was looking back at my hair and I do really think my thyroid has ruined my hair. Alongside an overall vitamin deficiency. I do think my diet could be richer in fruit veg and proteins. I’m overweight and I sometimes extreme diet which isn’t good either.

Hard to know what is best - ideally, we should be getting nutrients through the diet. My "weak" areas are iron (hence the supplements to correct super low ferritin), zinc (it's present in viviscal) and selenium (I eat brazil nuts every day as a snack to cover this). My vitamin A / carotene intake is not always great, but there is enough vitamin A in fish oil supplements, and it is best to not overdo it.

I also take a vitamin D supplement (ERGY D - ~20ug per day) - it's worth getting this tested by your GP alongside thyroid, as vit D deficiency can translate into hairloss.

If you think dietary insufficiencies are likely, consulting a dietician would be good if you could afford it - it would rely on you keeping a very accurate food diary for the RD to analyse. Or use one of the diet tracking apps that give info down to the micronutrient composition.

Reading with interest.

@Marasme my Vit D I support that with supplements too.

Trying to up my lean meats and veg intake. Yesterday Home made chicken curry and wholewheat chappatis.

Today a lentil curry and a carrot and pepper curry (I make great homemade curries) with yogurt and salad.

Chicken stir fry this evening - loads of veg and chicken. Soy sauce, fresh ginger, garlic and red chilli flakes.

I think I need to eat more egg too

If your hair loss is all over your head, it is likely to be something you can treat. For example low iron or thyroid issues can cause hairloss. Low vitamin d is another. Loads of illlnesses eg. Lupus, thyroid, rheumatoid arthritis, etc. In those cases if you can treat the illness you might be able to treat the hairloss. Might!

However, if you have hairloss in classic male areas - the crown, or receding hairline, widening part, plus you have male or females in the family with hairloss then chances are you have female pattern hairloss. There's not much you can do about this apart from use regaine to help you keep what you have. I am also taking viviscal just to optimise all the necessary vitamins and iron and just out of hope, really. At some stage our hair follicles May just die and there will be no regrowth there ever. I have a hair trapper in the shower and I don't see excessive amounts in it, so I reckon the regaine is working. Before I used regaine I shed all over the place, for ages. Wish I hadn't ignored it for so long. I sometimes wonder if the coil was a catalyst but also the women and men in my family all have terribly thin hair, so my genes aren't brilliant, hair wise.

I think the best thing you can do is find a really good dermatologist (trichologists aren't as medically qualified as a derm). If you have the money, then pay as nhs will have you waiting too long and you might have lost too much hair by then. Some types of alopecia can be successfully treated with steroid injections but not my kind. I think seeing a dermatologist should help establish what kind of hairloss you have. Although a gp should run blood tests first to rule out thyroid, low iron, etc.

This thread is really interesting (if upsetting )
Hairnightmare - my hair is about the same as yours is now.

I take iron and vit D supplements but am still shedding. I think I shed even more if I don't take them though.

Marasme, re. Hair topper. Before I went down that route I used hair fibres for a few years. They really are amazing for concealment. I jumped into the hair system thing because I just wanted more fabulous looking hair, rather than just not being able to see my scalp. They worked fine.

I buy the closures in my hair colour. You can buy toppers in any colour. You can probably go to a wig shop and try them on. My closures aren't toppers but similar. You don't need to have a fringe with a topper. I don't have one. I use a few tricks to blend the hair in. I'm pretty confident my friends have no idea. I told my mum I have fake hair and she said she couldn't tell where it started and ended.

I am pretty vain though (or very self conscious, one or the other) and have watched many YouTube videos on everything from weave installations to toppers, to how to make a wig. I think I have watched everything relating to hair whether it effects me or not and I have put a lot of effort into making my hair look super natural. Not even my kids know I wear it and my eldest is 15. He recently saw me watching a video on extensions and told me not to get them, as I don't need them!! Lol!

Ginger if your hair is coming out in handfuls then my gut says there is an underlying issue that isn't the same as mine, especially if you tend towards anaemia. I don't want to sound like I'm more of an expert than I am but pre- regaine I saw an increase in shedding but not handfuls. I bet you have something more treatable.

that's good to know @hairnightmare17 - if a 15 yo cannot spot it (or your mum) then it's very convincing!

I am hoping that the remedial steps I am taking will work - I am giving myself til the end of my viviscal course (end of feb) to assess progress. If it's not good, then I'll need to move to the acceptance phase and invest in a good hair system / closure. It really really annoys me that something so trivial (in the grand scheme of health things) can cause so much angst - I am vain too!!

I went to see a private dermato in December (hair specialist as well) and she could not definitely tell what type of hairloss I have, and reported my hairloss as "not exiting" (or sthg similar). I'll consider going back maybe in March for a second look...

something I also always wondered: what is a "handful"? how many hair are we talking here?