r/FemaleHairLoss

I have been consistent on minox topical from sep 2025 to January 2025, then starting from February I have been going on and off with it, I decreased the dosage, and some days I couldn't bother to apply it, because I felt so sick of the greasing and of how it ruins my hair and the increases amount of facial hair

when I started it I experienced dread shed then lots of baby hair growth, but they didn't seem to grow long enough or add much thickness to my hair overall

Now I feel scared because I lost so many baby hairs, my hair falls again in the showers, should I go back to it? If I do so, would I expect another dread shed? because the first one already ruined my hair and made me lose half of it, so I can't take it anymore if I lose it again

I'm 20, I have iron deficiency and vit d deficiency which I'm supplementing for, But I can't tell whether I have AGA or not

I'm 51 years old with thin hair. It runs in my family that women get increasingly thin hair as they age. I had thick hair as a child, it thinned considerably in my 20s and not much change since then. I keep it short. However, I'm peri now and I think it's getting worse. I part it a certain way to avoid the thinnest area. But my mum's hair is a lot thinner with scalp visible so I want to prevent that. I started Regaine foam 2 months ago. There seem to be so many treatments. I haven't spoken to the doctor because basically my hair looks like many women's hair and I'm not sure I'd be taken seriously. Should I approach a dermatologist? Or buy one of the caps I see mentioned here? I tried a trichologist 10 years ago who charged me an exorbitant fee to take a load of vitamins that made no difference. Thank you.

Did anyone recover from anaemia or low ferritin and recover their hair? How long did it take? What improvements if any did you notice?

I recently had a transfusion and combined with symptoms and recovery I realise that I have probably dealt with iron deficiency since the onset of my periods. It got flagged aa I started fainting last year (and have historically as a teen), my doctor said all my tests were fine and asked me if i was stressed I said in the last couple weeks and they said it's probably stress.

Months later i read the test and saw anaemia in capitals in red from the tests I was told were fine. I went private and got an iron infusion, supplement plan and have sorted out heavy periods. I historically have had low vitamin d but fixed that too in the last year and that has reduced my shedding overall substantially and my temples and hairline improved but are still lacking.

I'm 28 and my temples are deeply receding and hair along my hairline is fine and short. I also have shorter hair kind of diffused through out my hair (mostly centre and front) that I don't do anything diffrently too. All the women in my family down to my great grandparents on both side had hair into their 90s.

I genuinely have felt horrible until getting my iron sorted but I didn't realise how terribly it effected my physical health hair aside. Like I was getting out of breath going up a flight of stairs and stopped going to the gym as I felt like I was dying. I felt like I was seriously ageing in my twenties and was getting bad joint pains. Thankfully immediately after and even more so alomst a month after infusions I am feeling much better, I'm just wondering if I will ever get my hair back.

I had an AA patch last year that resolved fairly quickly with just clobetasone ointment. had some hair shedding as well which I put down to my yearly shed.

the AA flared again last month and with that came a lot of scalp tenderness and itch. the pain was so bad that my family doctor decided to give me steroid jabs instead to calm the AA spot down and hopefully the surrounding inflammation. it worked on the patch, but my scalp still had itching and soreness intermittently for weeks. my hair shedding was ridiculous, but I couldn't find any more bald spots. I cannot recall any major stressful events since half a year ago, but I have been on iron supplementation since I discovered a low ferritin last year when I was first diagnosed with AA. my ferritin improved slightly (around 50s) and I am still supplementing. it was 17 when my first AA patch occured last year.

I'm currently still shedding massively and nothing seems to be working. my husband and family says my crown parting isn't widening/crown isn't thinning but I feel a generalised thinning (pony tail feels much smaller). when I shed, I see normal terminal hairs with a tiny white speck at the end (it doesn't look like a normal telogen bulb, just a small white dot), and I also see some very fine short hairs lost as well. on top of that, my family doctor also noted that my scalp was very scaly and I had some fine white dandruff- he thinks I most likely have seb derm which has been ongoing for many years since I recall having sebum under my nails when scratching my scalp as a child, and is now flaring up.

my family doctor recommended starting minoxidil, but if course I'm hesitant because of the dread shed, but also because I'm not sure what I have. from what ive been experiencing, I seem to have many things -

1. Seb derm

2. TE (caused by seb derm?)

3. AA flare

4. AGA? - can anything else cause the small fine hairs to be shedded?

my follicles are mainly showing 2-4 hairs but in the sore areas, a lot of them are showing only one hair emerging- does that mean AGA?

I'm now trying the ordinary serum - it does make my oily scalp more oily the next day. I'm also on ketoconazole 2% shampoo once a week which makes me shed even more on the day I use it and the next few days after. I shampoo daily, so I use a normal hydrating shampoo and once a week I use the L'Oréal elvive hyaluron pure shampoo (containing salicylic acid), and then once a week I use dercos anti dandruff shampoo (selenium sulfide) (this doesn't make me shed as much) - so basically a anti dandruff shampoo twice a week, a clarifying shampoo once a week, and a normal hydrating shampoo rest of the week. I've just made up a melatonin spray and am planning to try it tonight to see if it helps with the shedding...

any thoughts/advice please on what else I can do? thank you so much!

I've got a formula for thinning female and male hair. It's microneedling a couple of serums and adding emu oil (shown to help absorption and growth) after. The oil is very thick and I want to do this before bed. I've seen actual people do this and the results were great. Not sure how it will do for me, but I'll try.

Do any of you know of caps that will keep the oil from seeping through to the pillow?

Thanks in advance.

hi everyone! 👋 I'm curious if anyone here has experience with HRT Tibolone and how it affected their hair loss. I'd love to hear your stories and any advice you might have! 🙏