Please, please help me I am in tears over my hair.

[RubyPreciousJewel]

I desperately need help. My hair has always been on the thin side, I've never had thick, full locks. With that being said I noticed a few years ago that I was starting to see my scalp through my hair and it has got so, so bad 😢. My hair looks absolutely dreadful, I hate wearing it down because it's so fucking obvious that I have hardly any hair. Last night i washed and blow dried it and just looked at it in the mirror and cried 😢. I went to the doctor a few years ago and he ran tests said the only thing that came back in a negative was my vitamin levels and gave me tablets to get them up. It doesn't seem to have helped as my hair has got worse so I have been taking a multivitamin. I have tried every promising product going with no real results and I just feel like my life has no quality ( sorry I know that sounds dramatic but my confidence and happiness has plummeted). I am only 30 and feel like I might as well resign myself to just buying wigs and stop wasting money on something I can't change, what little hair I do have left is very long because I'm too embarrassed to go to the hairdressers to even get it cut 😔. Has anyone been in a similar position and found something that worked? For reference I am very overweight ( slowly coming down), have depression which I'm taking ADs for, constantly anxious (had a bad break down 4 years ago), sleep very badly (ok..starting to see why I may have hair issues!) If there's anything else you need to know that may help me please just ask and thank you for making it through to the end of this novel!

Oh lovely, you sound so sad i can't not answer. I think you're right about your health problems causing your hair to thin... and probably eating well, drinking lots of water and getting plenty of sleep will help a little bit - but not solve every problem.

I know you're embarrassed but honestly please go to the hairdresser. If your hair is long, the weight of it will pull it down and make it look even worse.

My mum had a huge problem with thinning hair, and she used that Alpecin caffeine shampoo (or the womens equivalent). It really made a difference to her hair, so it might be worth a try for you.

Sorry lovely, sounds like you're having a hard time of it. I know it sounds counter intuitive but make an appointment to see your hairdresser. They'll be able to advise you and give you a style that suits you.

Not clinically proven, but have you tried massaging a small amount of coconut oil into your hair every night? Wash out with sodium bicarbonate in the morning and avoid using silicon based shampoos.

Oh dear :(

So sorry to hear that it is affecting your confidence so much, there is absolutely nothing wrong with wearing a high quality wig if that will make you feel better.

I’m absolutely no expert but have you been tested for PCOS? I don’t know too much about it but I know a couple of ladies who have it and a symptom they both have despite being young is thinning hair; they are also both very overweight and I think this is both caused by and exascerbates PCOS?

Could be an iron deficiency?
Agree with coconut oil massage. I mix it 50/50 with olive oil - melt the coconut oil before mixing. This gives a gloopy mixture but much easier to massage in.

How much money do you have - or can you get - to throw at this problem?

You can get hair fibres that will disguise your scalp area, if you have quite a lot of money there are hair replacement systems if you google Lucinda Ellery the before and after pictures are amazing. A much cheaper option is tape in extensions which are designed for fine hair that can’t take the weight of normal extensions. If any of these options are too costly look at half wigs and halo hair extensions I think they could solve your problem instantly and are budget friendly. Above all though a good cut will make your hair look so much better, don’t be embarrassed to go to the hairdresser, it’s their job and they will be able to help and advise you on making the best of what you have. I hope you feel better about your hair soon.

First of all, please don't be embarrassed to go the hairdressers. At my training salon we have one woman who lost all her hair during cancer treatment and it never grew back properly and several older women with varying degrees of alopecia. At the salon I do work experience in we have a young woman with alopecia aereata and a lovely older Jamiacan woman with traction alopecia.

We've seen it all before. We will not judge. A good cut will make a massive difference. Bobs are great on thin hair but whoever you go to will make a suggestion based on your hair, face shape and lifestyle.

Stress is the biggest factor in premature hair loss, so I would maybe ask the Dr if s/he thinks it might be worth trying an anti-anxiety medication and also ask if you can referred to a trichologist or dermatologist. They are the ones who specialise in hair and skin and will be best placed to advise you.

Biotin as a supplement is great but it won't solve anything if you're issues are not related to vitamins/nutrition. Nothing other than prescribed meds have ever been proven to work but an inexpensive caffeine shampoo can't hurt.

So sorry you feel this way op
Massage as suggested above can be helpful, as it will stimulate blood flow to the follicles.
Do you have a large amount of stress in your life? I went through a stressful patch (about 11 months) and my hair was thinning and I was loosing clumps when I washed it.
Do you dye it? I would avoid that, if so.
Definitely see your doctor again.

I’ve been reading up about a health condition I have tonight and one of the symptoms is hair loss. The forum I was on said Minoxidil is often prescribed for this.
info.sjogrens.org/conquering-sjogrens/topic/treatment
My friends husband uses Kirkland minoxidil to treat his hair loss and it’s honestly made a huge difference to him.
www.ebay.co.uk/bhp/kirkland-minoxidil

Here is how halo extensions or flip in hair works

Go to the doctor. It sounds like a vitamin or even hormone problems. Hairdressers might just try and sell you 'products'

Hairdressers are trained to advise a visit to GP for a referral to a trichcologist/dermatologist for hair loss and provide styling advice/a decent cut whilst the hair is recovering.

There are no hair loss products they could try to sell.

Of course it could be genetic BUT it could be a medication side effect. Please speak to your pharmacist or dr.

I've had androgenic alopecia since my teens, OP. If your blood work is normal, I would ask for a referral to a tribologist.

There are some treatment options if it is AA, or another form of alopecia. But you need a diagnosis.

*triCHologist

Have a hairdresser visit you at home??

Reluctant2ndtimer

I just looked up Minoxidil and it states this treatment is for men only and should not be used by women ( maybe it has certain hormones in it🤔).

The long term help for anxiety and stress would be meditation and yoga. you might struggle to find time for this but, tedious and boring though it is at first, it would be worth you doing 10 mins a day at home and if it works at all go on to join classes.

Hello, hope you can find some help at the doctors, and i know how things like this can make your whole life seem so much worse, but just thought i'd give a positive account of a friend in a slightly different situation- she's in her twenties and was involved in a fire and lost all her hair and was told it wouldn't grow back, so she now wears a wig- at first she was paranoid of it slipping but now she's got used to wearing it she is really happy, and genuinely it looks amazing, and i would never ever think it was a wig. It's fantastic that you are managing to lose weight! Try and focus on this fact, and hopefully you can get answers from your doctor about hair, but as pp said there's absolutely nothing wrong with wearing a wig!! :)

The long term help for anxiety and stress would be meditation and yoga.

Agree with this. Also don’t put oil on your hair. Where I come from it’s traditional to coat your hair in oil to make it shiny. However, a lot of women end up with bald heads as your hair can’t grow if it’s covered in oil.

I would ask doc to run a mineral deficiency test.

You need to see a trichologist.

I honestly would go to a reputable hair extension salon and ask for their advice. If you can afford it then go for it. Maybe a bob made thicker with real hair extensions, might be cheapan long extensions. Also ask the doctor to check your thyroid levels. When I had issues with mine, my hair became thinner. I wish you all the best.