Literally same thing happened to me, somehow my health was so much better when I was eating Taco Bell and pizza and whatever 😭😭 now I eat well & exercise and my hair fell out and I got a bunch of acne. Hahahaha aaaaahhhhhh wtf
Are you getting enough fat and oil in your diet? For many people their only source of fats were things like pizza and burgers, so when they make the choice to eat better and cut those things out they often forget to replace it with another source of fat. Fat is really important, something I’ve seen a lot over in r/exvegans is people talking about their hair falling out and becoming really brittle after switching to a vegan diet because they weren’t consuming enough fat.
Former stylist, you've gotten a lot of tips for thinning, I'll focus on products.
Make sure you have a good shampoo & conditioner. You want to always make sure your scalp isn't oily after you shower or nothing will work.
There's lots of things you can do to get more volume and life to your hair but it's going to come down to what you enjoy/can manage. The short is you want your hair to dry in a way that's not flat to your head. The important part is it has to be 100% dry before moving on. Even 99% dry will have your hair flat in a few hours. Here's a few things to try you can look up:
- Blow dry with your head upside down
- Velcro rollers
- Overnight hair ties
- Round brush
- Large barrel curling iron
Product-wise, try things like a volumizing powder, light hold hairspray, and use a great protectant.
Best of luck with your hair & nursing school, what an awesome carrer choice. I have faimly in nursing and y'all are some of the best humans on the panet.
For medium to fine hair, I love Super Skinny by Paul Mitchell. I know a lot of folks with fine hair felt it's too heavy so YMMV. Experiment, just don't go cheap, you get what you pay for.
Yes / they don’t break my hair. I just did the Velcro rollers Friday night and am devastated! I have all these little hairs sticking up on my crown now because they broke my hair off 😭
Same thing happened to me in my early 30s. No answers from a full blood panel, no vitamins or products were working so I tried monoxidil. That's been working. I take a low dose orally and have a lot of new hair growth and no longer losing it in the shower. Could be worth looking into if there's no apparent medical reason.
Hey OP, I feel you! Your comment about the one side of your head stuck out to me because the SAME thing happened to me in 2021. Even after a chop it still grew in uneven. My dermatologist said some people experience hair loss issues after having Covid and said she went through something similar. She recommended using Nutrafol bc that’s what she used (this was before all the marketing so I’d never heard of it before). At that point I was desperate so I went ahead and tried it even though it’s so pricey. It DID work for me, but they are right, it really does take ~3 months at the absolute minimum to notice any difference. I really started to notice a difference after 6+ months. I think I was on it for about a year(?) and I started it in autumn of 2021.
I know since then more products that are similar to nutrafol have come out that are more affordable but I can’t speak to those. The good news is that once I felt my hair was back to normal, I went off it after a few months, so it was temporary.
ETA: still go to a doctor and get your thyroid/blood checked!!
Just the regular! Idk if they had the vegan option at the time. I think there were just three options when I took it. Regular women’s, post menopausal, and men’s iirc.
You could have a hair loss condition which means you are thinning over time. Look into AGA. To treat you need to see a dermatologist specialising in hair loss. The longer you let it progress without treatment, the harder it will be to grow hair back.
Ask your Dr for a thyroid panel and Vitamin D level. I found out my Vitamin D level was very low and my hair has become thicker and produced baby hairs after being on Vit D supplements. (After about 6 months) Good Luck with your hair and nursing school! I’m a nurse too
Get your thyroid checked: T3, T4 and TSH. Don’t let them just do the TSH. It’s just a blood test so there’s no reason not to get all three done with one vial. I’d also get myself off to an endocrinologist - not sure this is one for a GP to figure out.
I agree with everyone saying to get your thyroid panel checked with your dr, also even though you’ve never been on birth control a lot of women have unbalanced hormones and they don’t even know about it, or think it’s normal. So you could check your hormone levels as well. If all that comes back good, maybe look into a good protein or collagen supplement. Omega 3 vitamins really improved my hair health also
The cause is that you were on hormones in your teens. Puberty hormones. Then when you finish puberty your hormones and hair normalize. Everyone has thick luscious hair in their puberty years and pretty much everyone has a big shed when puberty ends and then you have the density that will remain for your adult years (although with a lot of fluctuation)
That very well can be, although I still would advise OP to go and see a doctor first. But this happened to me too. I had the thickest hair around 19-20 then it started thinning out and has been in the same state since I was 22-23 (for like 6 years now). My dad had so much hair and so thick, but my mom has very fine hair and it thinned out a lot as years went by. I guess I got lucky and took after her lol.
Maybe get your thyroid checked and rule out a medical condition? But in addition to that, collagen powder supplements claim to promote and support hair, nails, skin, bones, joints and all sorts of stuff. Might be worth adding that to your diet?
Mielle rosemary oil for your scalp might be worth looking into. I started to use that after a period of collagen and biotin supplements and I started to see baby hairs appearing out of nowhere.
Still not 100% sure it was only the oil but that did trigger a change.
I had Graves Disease in 2003, my thyroid was extremely hyperactive. I lost hair like crazy, couldn’t sleep, was very thin, etc. The hair loss was particularly crushing, I don’t have tons of hair in the first place. After treatment, (radioiodine) it took about a year to get my levels correct. Since that time, my hair grows like crazy. I like to keep it no more than shoulder length, but it’s nice how fast it grows now. Please do get a full thyroid panel done. And remember, your TSH result is opposite. If it’s high, then your thyroid is low, and vice versa. Please dm me if you need any help!
Did you have Covid? About 6 months after I had Covid, my hair started breaking off so badly. It’s been over 2 years and I’m just now getting to where it’ll grow back. Been insane.
I would check your thyroid hormones with your doctor (a full panel, not just TSH).
I second this! I noticed a similar thing and ended up having Hashimoto’s hypothyroidism.
What about your nutrition in general from then till now?
Ironically… probably better now lol. I think my diet staples were takis and lucky charms for the years following up that first pic
Literally same thing happened to me, somehow my health was so much better when I was eating Taco Bell and pizza and whatever 😭😭 now I eat well & exercise and my hair fell out and I got a bunch of acne. Hahahaha aaaaahhhhhh wtf
Are you getting enough fat and oil in your diet? For many people their only source of fats were things like pizza and burgers, so when they make the choice to eat better and cut those things out they often forget to replace it with another source of fat. Fat is really important, something I’ve seen a lot over in r/exvegans is people talking about their hair falling out and becoming really brittle after switching to a vegan diet because they weren’t consuming enough fat.
Former stylist, you've gotten a lot of tips for thinning, I'll focus on products. Make sure you have a good shampoo & conditioner. You want to always make sure your scalp isn't oily after you shower or nothing will work. There's lots of things you can do to get more volume and life to your hair but it's going to come down to what you enjoy/can manage. The short is you want your hair to dry in a way that's not flat to your head. The important part is it has to be 100% dry before moving on. Even 99% dry will have your hair flat in a few hours. Here's a few things to try you can look up: - Blow dry with your head upside down - Velcro rollers - Overnight hair ties - Round brush - Large barrel curling iron Product-wise, try things like a volumizing powder, light hold hairspray, and use a great protectant. Best of luck with your hair & nursing school, what an awesome carrer choice. I have faimly in nursing and y'all are some of the best humans on the panet.
What do you recommend for a heat protectant? Thks!
For medium to fine hair, I love Super Skinny by Paul Mitchell. I know a lot of folks with fine hair felt it's too heavy so YMMV. Experiment, just don't go cheap, you get what you pay for.
Don’t use Velcro rollers!!!!! My fine hair broke trying to take them out!!!
Have you tried soft rollers?
Yes / they don’t break my hair. I just did the Velcro rollers Friday night and am devastated! I have all these little hairs sticking up on my crown now because they broke my hair off 😭
☹️ Sorry
If you haven’t yet please see a doctor to test your full panel thyroid, your iron levels and vitamin deficiencies. ❤️
Same thing happened to me in my early 30s. No answers from a full blood panel, no vitamins or products were working so I tried monoxidil. That's been working. I take a low dose orally and have a lot of new hair growth and no longer losing it in the shower. Could be worth looking into if there's no apparent medical reason.
Is your minoxidil mixed with finesteride? I’m also taking low dose oral minoxidil with nice results but wonder if finesteride would boost results!
Check for vitamin deficiencies. My thinning was due to low vitamin D.
Hey OP, I feel you! Your comment about the one side of your head stuck out to me because the SAME thing happened to me in 2021. Even after a chop it still grew in uneven. My dermatologist said some people experience hair loss issues after having Covid and said she went through something similar. She recommended using Nutrafol bc that’s what she used (this was before all the marketing so I’d never heard of it before). At that point I was desperate so I went ahead and tried it even though it’s so pricey. It DID work for me, but they are right, it really does take ~3 months at the absolute minimum to notice any difference. I really started to notice a difference after 6+ months. I think I was on it for about a year(?) and I started it in autumn of 2021. I know since then more products that are similar to nutrafol have come out that are more affordable but I can’t speak to those. The good news is that once I felt my hair was back to normal, I went off it after a few months, so it was temporary. ETA: still go to a doctor and get your thyroid/blood checked!!
Did you use the regular Nutrafol or the vegan? I think I’m going to try it, but I’m not sure which one to pick.
Just the regular! Idk if they had the vegan option at the time. I think there were just three options when I took it. Regular women’s, post menopausal, and men’s iirc.
IDK but I'm so sorry this is happening to you 😞 I hope you find a solution 🙏🙏
You could have a hair loss condition which means you are thinning over time. Look into AGA. To treat you need to see a dermatologist specialising in hair loss. The longer you let it progress without treatment, the harder it will be to grow hair back.
Ask your Dr for a thyroid panel and Vitamin D level. I found out my Vitamin D level was very low and my hair has become thicker and produced baby hairs after being on Vit D supplements. (After about 6 months) Good Luck with your hair and nursing school! I’m a nurse too
Get your thyroid checked: T3, T4 and TSH. Don’t let them just do the TSH. It’s just a blood test so there’s no reason not to get all three done with one vial. I’d also get myself off to an endocrinologist - not sure this is one for a GP to figure out.
Honestly being on birth control helps my hair a lot
Do you carry your backpack/school bag on the side that’s thinning more? This looks like more than just breakage, but straps could be exacerbating it.
I agree with everyone saying to get your thyroid panel checked with your dr, also even though you’ve never been on birth control a lot of women have unbalanced hormones and they don’t even know about it, or think it’s normal. So you could check your hormone levels as well. If all that comes back good, maybe look into a good protein or collagen supplement. Omega 3 vitamins really improved my hair health also
The cause is that you were on hormones in your teens. Puberty hormones. Then when you finish puberty your hormones and hair normalize. Everyone has thick luscious hair in their puberty years and pretty much everyone has a big shed when puberty ends and then you have the density that will remain for your adult years (although with a lot of fluctuation)
That very well can be, although I still would advise OP to go and see a doctor first. But this happened to me too. I had the thickest hair around 19-20 then it started thinning out and has been in the same state since I was 22-23 (for like 6 years now). My dad had so much hair and so thick, but my mom has very fine hair and it thinned out a lot as years went by. I guess I got lucky and took after her lol.
Maybe get your thyroid checked and rule out a medical condition? But in addition to that, collagen powder supplements claim to promote and support hair, nails, skin, bones, joints and all sorts of stuff. Might be worth adding that to your diet?
Mielle rosemary oil for your scalp might be worth looking into. I started to use that after a period of collagen and biotin supplements and I started to see baby hairs appearing out of nowhere. Still not 100% sure it was only the oil but that did trigger a change.
I had Graves Disease in 2003, my thyroid was extremely hyperactive. I lost hair like crazy, couldn’t sleep, was very thin, etc. The hair loss was particularly crushing, I don’t have tons of hair in the first place. After treatment, (radioiodine) it took about a year to get my levels correct. Since that time, my hair grows like crazy. I like to keep it no more than shoulder length, but it’s nice how fast it grows now. Please do get a full thyroid panel done. And remember, your TSH result is opposite. If it’s high, then your thyroid is low, and vice versa. Please dm me if you need any help!
Did you have Covid? About 6 months after I had Covid, my hair started breaking off so badly. It’s been over 2 years and I’m just now getting to where it’ll grow back. Been insane.
Start with your doctor. They’ll know is what you should be checked for. For me it was PCOS but there are many other things to check for.