Thin, fine hair. Nothing's helping!

[BibiThree]

I've always had thin, fine hair, but for the last 5 years I've noticed it's getting thinner and more lifeless all the time. And it barely grows.

I'm 40 now and for the last 4 years I've done the following:
*made sure I've used heat appliances less than once a week

• haven't dyed my hair for 20 months
• have it cut regularly despite it growing at a ridiculously slow pace
• take biotin, sea kelp and B complex vitamins
• use biotin shampoo, silicone, paraben and sulphate free
• use no contraception, so no extra hormones at play
• have had full bloods done to make sure nothing is awry.

Nothing I do is making any difference. If you got this far, do you have any tips? Or should I accept that I will always be able to see my more and more of my scalp no matter which way I part my hair?
Tia.

Mine's just the same, although I'm ten years older than you, so am assuming it's to do with the menopause.

I think dying your hair can help as it actually makes each hair a bit thicker/coarser. I dye mine a mid-brown and then use this to cover the worst parts.

Dry shampoo can help to bulk your hair out a bit, as can a layered cut. When I have time, I put those Velcro rollers in to my wet hair and let it dry, to make it a bit fuller.

But to be honest I don't think there's much you can do than you're doing already unfortunately.

When you say you had full bloods done, were they just looked at by your GP or by a trichologist? "Normal" to a GP uses ranges which are not sufficient to grow hair.

TBH you should probably try a visit to a trichologist at this point anyway. You may need Minoxidil. FWIW treatment from a trichologist with specific supplements and Minoxodil have transformed my hair.

I feel your pain OP. I've almost had fine, thin hair, almost like baby hair and as I get older it gets thinner. It also grows incredibly slowly. None of this has been helped by me having two periods of massive stress at work that caused my hair to fall out. Argh!

I am now trying to recover from the second stress hair loss but I'm perimenopausal plus I take Tamoxifen (which I only just discovered can cause hair thinning and breakage). My hair is VERY slowly growing back but it keeps breaking off so I am condemned to fluffy bits forever and no volume. Double argh!

Minoxodil has done nothing for me. But I think I am pretty much doomed for the next 2 years while I finish the Tamoxifen course.

I make sure I eat a healthy diet (lots of fruit and leafy green veg), exercise regularly and try to get a reasonable amount of sleep. I try to keep the hair I do have in tip-top condition. On my hairdresser's advice, I recently switched to using Redken Extreme Shampoo and Conditioner and the difference was visible almost immediately. It's amazing! My hair looks and feels better already. I know it's not a miracle cure but when your hair is such a nightmare, I'm happy to take the wins when I can get them.

Thanks all, it's good to know there are a few more things I can try.

I’m the same age, and for the last 2 years I have had an “enhancer” system fitted, by Hairsolved. I don’t know how to link, but if you google it it will show you what it is, it has changed my life

Am taking meds that affect my hair this way - have been on oily fish, protein, fruit and veg diet and use this m.lookfantastic.com/brands/kerastase/kerastase-densifique.list and over last five months my hairdresser said she can see it's helping and I really feel/see it is. I take vitamins/fish oil supplements daily. I have half head or T section highlights every 6/8 weeks and I think it actually helps.

JonestheRemail makes a good point about who looked at your blood test results - GP or dermatologist/trichologist? My always thin/fine hair went through a phase of breaking and falling out and looking even thinner and finer. GP said my blood tests were fine but referred me to a dermatologist as she could see my hair was very thin and falling out more. The dermatologist said that although my ferritin level of 35 meant I wasn’t anaemic, it needed to be 70+ and ideally around 100 to support hair growth. She put me on ferrous fumerate tablets and vit D supplements and very very gradually my hair stopped falling out and my scalp was less visible (took about 18 months to start to see a difference). She also prescribed nioxin drops but they stung my very sensitive scalp and I couldn’t use them. It’s worth asking for a print out of your blood test results and if ferritin is under 70 seeing if they’ll give you supplements and if they won’t asking for a referral .

Definitely get your iron/ferritin levels checked. GPs definition of normal and the level needed for good hair can be very far apart.
I took iron tablets from the Dr to get mine back up and now take iron supplements to maintain levels, along with the perfectil vitamins that are especially for hair (bit more expensive than the normal ones but cheaper than some hair vitamins in the market).
I also buy a caffeine shampoo and use it every day.

I used to have hair like yours but then I had 3 children with no post partum hairloss. A bit drastic approach though.

I've always had shoulder length or longer, fine fragile hair and it's just gotten worse with age. The sides of my hair especially just would not grow due to breakage, then after a period of extreme stress the front got very very thin so my scalp was visible. Over the last few years I've tried all sorts. I was considering minoxil as a last resort, but wanted to try something/everything else first.

I think you basically have to hit it from all angles, take supplements with iron in, I take Florisene, like pp have said get your iron levels checked and ask for the figures, not just if you're in the normal range or not. I also take a vitamin D supplement.

Use a scalp spray, I've had good results with L'Oréal triple resist argenine spray, but it's been discontinued now! You can still get it online from a few places, it's quite cheap and I didn't think it would do anything. Initially I just used it after washing my hair, like 3x week, and didn't notice much change, I then started using it every day, morning and evening, and I'm quite shocked at the results, a definite improvement to my fringe area! Obviously you need to stick with it for at least 3 months before you're likely to see any improvement. I'm sure there are other scalp stimulating type products out there though too.

Keep the hair you have in tip top condition, once a week I sleep in Danial Galvin Jr organichead argan oil detox mask, once a fortnight also sleep in olaplex (separate night). I've also had good results with redken extreme length range, particularly the primer and mask. Also had good results with joico K Pak range.

I don't use a hairdryer at home at all now. I have T section highlights every 3 months, and that's the only time a hairdryer is pointed at my head.

My latest discovery is 'low' or 'no' foam shampoo. I've only been using this around a month but it's been a game changer for me! I can already see, and feel, a big improvement to the condition, especially the ends, feels much less 'bitty' and my sides have definitely had much less breakage. Since using this type of 'nopoo' I've been doing my conditioning routine prior to washing, just putting on damp hair and washing with 'nopoo' next morning.

If you don't get any joy I'd deffo go see a trichologist, I know how distressing it is and how hopeless it can feel when nothing seems to work. But keep trying OP, hopefully you will find something that makes a difference.

Watching as I coming on this board to post this exact question!

Could you be low on certain hormones?

Try HRT

HRT has made no difference to my thinning. At its worst when I was referred to a dermatologist I’d been on HRT for 3 years. I was expecting it to do wonderful things for my hair and it absolutely didn’t ☹️

Nioxin is an amazing shampoo and treatment system. They do different strengths depending on what you need. Many recovering chemo patients use it.

I used perfectil tablets from boots. They did seem to make a difference so worth a shot?

Very interesting thread,as i am also having problems with thinning hair, i was shocked to see my scalp in 3 places when i looked through a hand mirror at the back of my head
I have had quite a lot of stress in the lat 1-2 years, so could be connected, but also used heated rollers ,only a few times but they did burn my scalp, so could be that,
Also fairly low ferritin in the last year, i have a blood condition which is not supposed to let my ferritin go over 100, but it has been much lower, [38] and the only treatment for high ferritin is a venesection,[a pint of blood taken] i have refused recently to have more blood taken as ferritin drops drastically,
I have been taking biotin, and zinc, and fish oils, the rest of my hair is in very good condition and grows very fast
I have read in the last few days on gransnet about a few people who have this problem having steroid treatment ,either topical or injection which has made hair regrow
Had thyroid tests,all completely normal
I have tried the ROOTS system from superdrug,special shampoo, conditioner,and spray, but no good, although i might need to carry it on longer
I have just sent for a sample Minoxidil from Amazon,
Next will go back to my Dr and see what else if anything i can try
I hope we can all find something that works

Apologies it isnt gransnet i saw about thin hair it was on here! under a thread about Alopecia

Quick fix wise - I find dry shampoo helps (batiste is my fave). I've always had fine hair and dry shampoo gives it a bit more volume. There's also a volumizing hairspray from ...I think vo5...that works wonders. Also, change the shampoo you use every couple of weeks (alternate between a few). Don't bother with volumizing mouse as it will weigh your hair down and that powdery stuff is crap too.

I found when I came off a healthy diet I had been on, I started to shed like crazy. So I wonder if maybe the healthy diet had helped my hair...but the bad died certainly hindered it that's for sure.

Ilovemysleepthief I'd be interested in this. Have checked out their website, but there's no mention of cost. Would you mind saying how much yours cost please? (roughly)

My hair is also quite thin on top (not balding but def lots thinner in the last few years) and I am considering getting this done, would be interested if anyone has experience ? I eat really healthy, don't have too much stress just shit genes ! www.lucindaellery-hairloss.co.uk/intralace-gallery.php

@sherlockholmes it cost £1500, but stays in for 2 years. I have 6 weekly appointments to have it tightened, so it stays in place. They cost £50 each time. Its obviously very expensive, but worth it in my opinion for the confidence it gives alone.

Multivitamin and fish oil. Your hair will grow thicker after a few months

@jencottage I had a look at the website and wow! What a difference that must have made to those women.

@jencottage this is what I have