40+ with fine hair

[u/Some-Culture9623]

I'm freaking out. I've always had fine hair but it's always been thick. I wear it loose and it's waist length. In recent months I started noticing that my hair was looking stringy. So I went to the GP. Only thing she found wrong in my bloodwork was a vitamin D deficiency. So I went on an elephant dose for two months and it's in the normal range now.

But my hair is still thinning. I wear it in a pony tail for sports and this is what the sides of my forehead look now.

What can I do??? I'm early 40s, fit, no known health conditions, my period is still super regular and easy, I haven't gained or lost weight, my only symptom seems to be rapid hair loss. As I said previously, my bloodwork showed good ferritin, good iron, good b12, my colestorol and glucose levels are in the good range. Nothing besides a vitamin D deficiency which is also corrected now.

I have an oily scalp and fine wavy hair, so I wash and condition every other day and use a wavy hair mousse and that's it.

[u/ImaginaryVolume2102]

Hey there. Visit a dermatologist. They'll have a much better scope on this than your GP. Vitamin D deficiency is a real cause for telogen effluvium hair loss. What can happen (especially for us fine haired gals) is telogen effluvium can rev up the engine for androgenetic alopecia. I have no family members under the age of 60 with thinning hair, so when my derm told me that my hair loss was likely AGA, I told her she was wrong. But after I put the pieces together, it made sense, and I started taking action. A biopsy confirmed it was AGA. For me, several TE episodes triggered AGA early (plus, I'd been taking a birth control with high androgen activity for years, which helped the AGA too). Also don't forget that you could be perimenopause. Hormones changing can cause TE.

Classic signs of AGA are hairs that are thinner and thinner in diameter, and shorter. Ends can look stringy because some hair is miniaturized and not growing as long. Widening center part and receding temples.

I take finasteride, which is an androgen/DHT blocker to prevent it from happening further. I also use minoxidil to stimulate new growth. There are natural options for both, too, but seems like a mixed bag on their effectiveness.

Now... I don't wanna freak you out. If you just had a vitamin d deficiency, then maybe you still just have TE. This is where a derm might be able to help.

[u/Some-Culture9623 → u/ImaginaryVolume2102]

Thank you for a lengthy answer! Unfortunately, I'm not in thr US, but in a country with nationalised health currently in crisis. This means it can be more than 6 months for me to get an appointment with a dermatologist.

Also, if I Google AGA in my native tongue, it says to book an appointment with an aesthetician?? Which is only out of pocket.

My 70+ yo mum has a full head of hear, my 80+yo dad has been bald since his 30s. If I look at photos I had zero thinning at temples this time last year. 🙃

The medicines you mention, I'm not even sure are available here. Googling the prescription medication section of the pharmacy isn't giving me results. I do get something called Regain (a topical solution for male baldness) and that's insanely expensive. 😵‍💫 I could maybe buy it once to try it out, but I definitely cannot afford it monthly.

Do you suppose it could be TE due to vit D? I'm only two months into getting it back to where it should be.

Looking at this sub. Would adding rosemary essential oil to my shampoo and continuing my vitamin D intake be worth a shot?

Or how long does it take for this to get really noticeable? Right now, I can still hide the loss at temples by wearing my hair down.

I guess my nuclear option would be to put an out of pocket derm visit on my credit card...but then anything they prescribe (if they even do) would be out of pocket as well.

Now I'm not just freaking out about the hair loss but also tje expense of dealing with it.

[u/ImaginaryVolume2102 → u/Some-Culture9623]

I'm so sorry if I freaked you out. I didn't mean to. I know i was the same way when I first came here. I knew nothing about this in March 2024. Remember that hair loss is very subjective to the person. I'm just sharing what I know, but it's not necessarily true for you.

Going to try and answer you one thing at a time.

1. AGA = androgenetic alopecia. It sounds horrible, but it's actually SUPER common, even in women. I have NO visible "pattern baldness" in my family on either side. But. Their hair is fine, and it does eventually thin. Maybe not go bald, but it thins. In my family, that's not until old age. I totally denied I could have it, but then I learned that all the TE I'd had can kickstart it early. Since your dad has been bald since his 30s, it definitely means it's in your genetics. AGA doesn't always cause total hair loss. It can just be a progressive thinning.

I'm in the US and our Healthcare system is also in crisis. I had to wait 6 months to see a doctor and it cost me a ton of money even though I shovel out monthly payments in insurance premiums. But yeah, an aesthetician probably won't help you, but maybe? It depends on what's available where you're at.

1. Medicines - Rogaine is minoxidil. It can be applied topically or taken orally as a medication. In the US, the topical kind can be bought at the store for a reasonable price, so we do have that I guess. Are you able to buy from AllDayChemist? Google them and see if they ship to your country.

If your hair was grass, minoxidil is like fertilizer. Finasteride, spironolactone, and dutatesteride are like pesticides, killing the activity that slowly (or sometimes quickly) shrinks the diameter of hair follicles.

ALL OF THESE have potential side effects, even topical minoxidil. So read up on them so if you do get your hands on them you know what to look for.

1. Alternative options - Rosemary oil. It does have some promising studies out there as being a growth agent AND a DHT blocker (so, working on BOTH levels). As far as I know, you want like rosemary extract. You should post about it here because other people will know the best way to make it or buy it. That said, I think the true benefit of this is still up in the air.. That said, minoxidil and finasteride don't work for everyone either. One thing doesn't necessarily work for everyone.

Pumpkin seed oil - a natural DHT blocker with pretty positive studies. I take this daily.

Procapil - another topical product.

I'd recommend posting here asking about alternative recommendations. There are lots of women who know much more about it than I do.

1. TE from vitamin D deficiency- It definitely could just be that! For sure. It's always worth taking a breath and waiting. It's possible in another 3 months you'll be totally back to normal. But with your fine hair and genetic predispositions, it wouldn't hurt adding in at least one of the natural hair growth options to give you a boost. Just in case the TE woke up the AGA gene in you.

Are you still shedding a lot of hair in the shower? TE signs are aggressive loss and shedding. For example, switching birth control changed my hormones and I shed like crazy for 3.5 months. Illness, covid, stress, etc. can cause it. It's usually just shedding all over your scalp. While AGA (pattern hair loss) has a pattern to it.

1. Hair loss is a mystery and solving it is different for everyone. You still have beautiful hair. I really don't want to freak you out. You sound JUST like me. I want to know every single thing about this and that's a good thing! It may just take time and overcoming some hurdles.

[u/Some-Culture9623 → u/ImaginaryVolume2102]

I don't think I shed a lot actually. I have wavy hair, so i brush in the shower with my hair soaking wet. If i part my hair in places, the only obviously visible scalp patches are at my temples. But I do notice that my hair overall is a lot thinner than a year ago. Particularly when I wear it in a braid down my back. My braid used to be as thick as my forearm, now it's a 1/3 that. :/

I've had thinner hair once before while I was nursing, then it grew back (temples included) once I stopped, so I put it down to my body lacking nutrients while I was nursing and that affecting my hair.

Thank you! I'm gonna get topical rosemary extract and add that to my routine somehow. And yes, I can get 5% topical minoxidil solution from a pharmacy without a prescription. From what I'm reading here, once I start it, I'll be dependent on it all my life? That scares me.

I actually use pumpkin seed oil on my salads often. 😅 I have it my kitchen now. So I should just take it by the spoonful? 🙈

I think I'm gonna try diet, vitamins, supplements and rosemary for now. And start a savings account for a dermatologist. If I go for a paid appointment I can get one in a matter of days.

[u/ImaginaryVolume2102 → u/Some-Culture9623]

Definitely your plan sounds good. If I could go back in time, i would've started with all those things.

As for being dependent - technically, if your hair loss is AGA related, then you'd also be dependent on rosemary extract. AGA is a genetic tendency. It's kind of like brushing my teeth. I do it every day to keep them clean and free of bacteria. I use medication to keep my follicles free of dht and keep the hair on my head. If I stop using it, then yeah... that activity just resumes. If rosemary works for you, then it's doing the same thing.

Now, if it really is just TE, then the hair loss is temporary and therefore any remedies you use (rosemary or minoxidil) can be used in a temporary way.

I hope that makes sense.

I take 3000mg of pumpkin seed oil per day. If you take a spoonful of it per day, that's probably good. My perspective on that was it couldn't hurt, so may as well add it in!

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[u/Luke10191]

Likely Androgenetic alopecia - you need Dutasteride/finasteride (approach with caution depending on fertility circumstances), spirolactone and oral minoxidil.