Blog

How To Handle Thinning Hair.

Stress, dieting and genetic factors can all contribute to thinning hair. It can be treated, but should first be given the chop.

Sarah Vine�a dentist once told me I had the teeth of an 80-year-old. As I was 32 at the time, this came as a shock. So bad were my gnashers that he asked if he might use them to illustrate a lecture about the poor standards of foreign (in my case Italian) dentistry.

My teeth have since had some of their vigour restored, but the decrepitude has cropped up elsewhere. My hair started falling out shortly before Christmas, picked up pace over the festive season and is showing no signs of let-up. At this rate, I’ll be as bald as an egg by Easter.

I thought long and hard about writing about it, because, well, it’s not something you want to draw attention to. Also, I’m supposed to be a beauty editor, and beauty editors generally possess beautiful, thick locks destined to be caressed by famous hairdressers. Mine would be more suited to a wig-maker.

The truth is, however, that over 30 per cent of women suffer from hair loss, and as I have experienced the whole ghastly process first-hand, and also have some knowledge of the options available, I thought it best to share. Besides, it saves me having to explain why I’m currently working a slightly eccentric Twenties headscarf look.

I have suffered hair loss on and off since my early teens (it was no coincidence that I met my husband on a skiing trip, when my hair was mostly hidden under a woolly hat). I am an especially tough case: hereditary predisposition, triggered by eating problems in my youth (girls: don’t diet) and stress, later exacerbated by an underactive thyroid. For many women, however, the situation is more straightforward and relatively easy to tackle – provided you catch it early on.

A trichologist should be your first port of call. The Institute of Trichologists lists reputable practitioners, including veteran hair expert Philip Kingsley, whose realistic, sensitive advice and treatments have kept my problem under control for years. Hair loss comes in many forms, and success depends on correctly identifying the problem, so before you spend a single penny on supplements or lotions, get a proper diagnosis.

Then get a haircut. Psychologically, this can be a tough one, but trust me: long, thin hair looks much worse than short, thin hair. Not all hairdressers can work with thin hair, but one who can is Hari. He knows how to maximise volume and, crucially, balance a cut so the thin bits look thicker. As for the scarf option, I can recommend it. It has been strangely liberating just to bundle up the lot in a nice bit of fabric. One friend even suggested it might become my ‘signature’ look. Perhaps; it definitely beats a furrowed brow.

Do you have Hair Loss Problems, read our Hair Loss Help

Women’s Hair Loss Survey Debunks Myths.

Evidence Shows Early Signs of Hair Loss Coincides With Birth Control Pill Use.

In a survey conducted during the months of November and December 2007 by The Women’s Hair Loss Project  a website uniting and empowering women around the world who suffer from hair loss, one-fifth of 517 female respondents said that they began to see signs of hair loss between the ages of 15 and 20. These results debunk the myth that women primarily suffer from hair thinning as they age. It also reaffirms scientific studies linking hair loss to the use of birth control pills.
Website survey participants were asked: “How old were you when your hair loss first started?” Results signified that hair loss onset is strongly weighted during one’s teen years, tapering off to just three percent after age 60.
Complete survey results are as follows:

– Age 15-20: 20%
– Age 20-25: 19%
– Age 30-35: 18%
– Age 40-50: 17%
– Age 25-30: 14%
– Age 50-60: 9%
– Age 60+: 3%

“Information from both member emails and our recent survey are telling,” explained the Project’s founder. “A considerable number of women start to lose their hair at a young age, coinciding with the use of birth control pills.
This can be extraordinarily crippling to a woman’s self-esteem at any age, but even more so during these extremely delicate years of self-discovery.”

Though surprising to most women, even The Mayo Clinic warns that birth control pill use may result in hair loss.
“The Women’s Hair Loss Project aims to educate women about various risks, while fostering a supportive and empathetic environment,” she continues. According to The American Hair Loss Association (ALHA), all women,
especially those with a family history of hair loss, should be aware of the drugs potential for exacerbating the issue, recommending the use of low-androgen index pills or another non-hormonal form of birth control.

To learn more about this survey and other important information regarding women’s hair loss, visit

About The Women’s Hair Loss Project
The Women’s Hair Loss Project  is an interactive blog uniting and empowering women around the world. The website provides up-to-the-minute news, tips and information to help sufferers’ understand and cope.

Do you have Hair Loss Problems, read our Hair Loss Help

Women's Hair Loss Survey Debunks Myths.

Evidence Shows Early Signs of Hair Loss Coincides With Birth Control Pill Use.

In a survey conducted during the months of November and December 2007 by The Women’s Hair Loss Project  a website uniting and empowering women around the world who suffer from hair loss, one-fifth of 517 female respondents said that they began to see signs of hair loss between the ages of 15 and 20. These results debunk the myth that women primarily suffer from hair thinning as they age. It also reaffirms scientific studies linking hair loss to the use of birth control pills.
Website survey participants were asked: “How old were you when your hair loss first started?” Results signified that hair loss onset is strongly weighted during one’s teen years, tapering off to just three percent after age 60.
Complete survey results are as follows:

– Age 15-20: 20%
– Age 20-25: 19%
– Age 30-35: 18%
– Age 40-50: 17%
– Age 25-30: 14%
– Age 50-60: 9%
– Age 60+: 3%

“Information from both member emails and our recent survey are telling,” explained the Project’s founder. “A considerable number of women start to lose their hair at a young age, coinciding with the use of birth control pills.
This can be extraordinarily crippling to a woman’s self-esteem at any age, but even more so during these extremely delicate years of self-discovery.”

Though surprising to most women, even The Mayo Clinic warns that birth control pill use may result in hair loss.
“The Women’s Hair Loss Project aims to educate women about various risks, while fostering a supportive and empathetic environment,” she continues. According to The American Hair Loss Association (ALHA), all women,
especially those with a family history of hair loss, should be aware of the drugs potential for exacerbating the issue, recommending the use of low-androgen index pills or another non-hormonal form of birth control.

To learn more about this survey and other important information regarding women’s hair loss, visit

About The Women’s Hair Loss Project
The Women’s Hair Loss Project  is an interactive blog uniting and empowering women around the world. The website provides up-to-the-minute news, tips and information to help sufferers’ understand and cope.

Do you have Hair Loss Problems, read our Hair Loss Help

Health Story: More Kiwi women are experiencing hair loss in their 20s and 30s, and experts say the contraceptive pill and stress are partly to blame.

Women are showing up in increasing numbers at hair-loss clinics around the country.

At three major centres, female patients now outnumber men.

Trichologists, who deal with problems related to the scalp and hair, say their female patients are getting younger.

They cite several factors as the reasons, including increasingly stressful lifestyles and some types of contraceptive pill, as well as diet and a parallel increase in the auto-immune and ovarian diseases that can cause hair to begin falling out.

Like men, a percentage of women were genetically prone to hair loss as they aged, David Salinger, a certified member of the International Association of Trichologists and vice-president and registered member of the Institute of Trichologists (UK), told the Herald on Sunday.

Now based in Australia, he said the number of women experiencing hair loss had “definitely” increased over the 25 years he had been practising. “There are a lot more younger women getting genetic thinning at the top and front of the scalp, whereas years ago you would see that only in women after menopause.”

He said he now saw “10 younger women to every one post-menopausal woman” and believed some types of contraceptive pill could trigger genetic hair loss at an earlier age.

The worst culprits were the combination contraceptive pills containing progestins, derived from testosterone, such as popular brand Yasmin.

“Male hormones have a bad effect on the hair,” said Salinger.

Iron deficiency was another factor causing women’s hair to thin out at an earlier age, he said, with low iron stores in the body causing undue stress on the hair follicles.

“There are more people now not eating much red meat, and a lot more people who are strict vegetarians.”

He said medical conditions that could cause hair loss in women, such as autoimmune diseases and polycystic ovarian syndrome were also increasing. Rory Plumridge, managing trichologist at Clive Clinics, which operates out of Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, said that for the first time women patients were outnumbering men in seeking help for hair loss.

“Forty years ago, 10 to 15 per cent of clients would be women. Today that figure is 51 per cent.”

He acknowledged today’s clinics specifically targeted women more than in the past, but maintained that alone could not account for the massive increases in female clients, especially younger women.

Stress was the main reason genetic hair loss in women was now kicking in earlier, he believed.

“Women are leading much more busy and stressful lifestyles than 40 years ago. Stress on the hair follicle essentially makes the cell think it is older than it is.”

When the body was under large amounts of stress, it produced more androgens, he said, hormones that were similar to testosterone and which could cause hair to fall out.

Despite the experts’ claims, there is no research yet to prove genetic thinning is occurring in younger women. Jack Green, a dermatologist specialising in hair loss at Melbourne University’s St Vincent’s Hospital, said hair loss in women had “always been a problem”.

Up to 40 per cent of women could expect to experience some form of hair loss as they aged, he said.

“For a smaller proportion of women, it can occur earlier, ” he said.

He said medical researchers disagreed as to whether genetic hair loss was affecting women earlier.

“Personally I think it is a case of more women presenting for treatment.”

ONE WOMAN’S ORDEAL

Aged just 29, Auckland woman Corrina* would panic every morning when she found hair on her pillow. Not the full-length strands we all lose every day – but dozens of short, new hairs that should have still been attached to her head.

“I wondered if I was really ill,” said Corrina, now 34.

“I used to have nightmares about waking up and only having a few strands of hair left.”

Corrina told virtually no one about her fast-thinning hair. She felt ashamed. “Women aren’t supposed to lose their hair. There’s a huge stigma. I didn’t even tell my family,” she says.

Instead she hid behind hats and hair styles that concealed the condition, before fronting up to a hair-loss clinic for help. She’s now using a product called Eucapil, which costs $120 a month and is starting to thicken her locks again. Corrina is certain her hair loss was caused by stress.

“No doctor has been able to find another explanation or underlying condition. At that time my marriage was falling down, there had been a death in the family and I’d changed jobs.

Do you have Hair Loss Problems, read our Hair Loss Help

Weight loss can help women with hormone dysfunction.

Hamburg – Women who suffer a hormone dysfunction known as polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) possibly can help their condition by losing weight. Patients who have PCOS, the most common hormonal disorder among women of reproductive age, overproduce the androgen and insulin, said professor Harald Klein of the German society of endocrinologists. A high insulin level in turn promotes weight gain and disturbs the hormonal balance.

“A loss of 5 per cent of one’s body weight reduces the symptoms of PCOS considerably,” said professor Hendrik Lehnert of Schleswig- Holstein’s university clinic in Luebeck.

In addition to being overweight, women who suffer from the hormonal dysfunction commonly have acne and dense body hair, while the hair on their heads is thinning.

Infertility often is also associated with PCOS. Women with the syndrome have irregular ovulation or no ovulation at all. When women with PCOS lose weight, chances improve for normal ovulation and, thus, a pregnancy. The risks of diabetes developing during pregnancy and miscarriage also are lowered.

Do you have Hair Loss Problems, read our Hair Loss Help