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All About Hair...and So Much More.
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All About Hair...and So Much More.
EP 310: Hair Loss
Hair thinning and loss isn't just a men's issue – it affects over 30 million women, with more than half of women experiencing noticeable changes after age 50. As someone who's personally battled alopecia areata with visible bald patches, I understand the emotional devastation when your hair starts coming out in clumps and your confidence plummets. That desperate search for solutions led me to try everything from steroid injections to red light therapy, ultimately discovering both medical treatments and cosmetic solutions that truly work.
Whether you're noticing a widening part, a shrinking ponytail, or even bald spots, understanding the "why" behind your hair changes is the first step toward reclaiming control. Hormonal fluctuations during menopause, genetic predisposition, stress, medications, nutritional deficiencies, and autoimmune conditions can all trigger hair loss in women. The good news? Effective treatments exist, from FDA-approved minoxidil (tip: choose the foam version to prevent unwanted dripping) to specialized serums, PRP therapy, low-level laser treatments, and targeted supplements.
For those seeking immediate cosmetic solutions while addressing the underlying causes, modern hair enhancements offer remarkable options that blend seamlessly with your natural hair. Unlike extensions, which can stress already compromised hair, these specialized pieces can transform both your appearance and confidence. Remember that hair loss treatments require patience – results take time, but they do come. Most importantly, losing your hair doesn't mean losing your beauty or identity. This journey is about finding solutions that work for your unique situation and remembering that your worth extends far beyond your hair. Whatever path you choose, you're not alone, and there is hope beyond the thinning.
Links mentioned in the show:
Sherri Renee Hair Enhancements
Eufora's Thinning Hair Solution
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Today we're diving into a topic that hits close to home for so many women hair loss and hair thinning. If you've been noticing a little more scalp showing than you'd like, or if your ponytail feels a little thinner than it used to, first, please know you're not alone. This is something countless women experience, especially as we step into midlife. But the good news is you're not powerless. There are answers and there are options. So let's talk about what's going on, what your next steps can look like and how to get back to feeling confident and in control. Welcome to All About Hair, where we talk shop, share stories and spill the secrets behind great hair and a great career. I'm your host, denise Kylitz, a former salon owner, educator and a lifelong hair crusader. Whether you're a new stylist building your book or just someone who loves learning about all things hair, you're in the right place. Each week, we dive into real techniques, honest career advice and inspiration to help you grow behind the chair or just fall even more in love with the world of hair, because around here, it's not just about looking good. It's about learning, evolving and having a little fun along the way. So grab your coffee, your shears or your dry shampoo and let's get into it. So, yeah, this is a very vulnerable and personal and stressful subject to talk about.
Speaker 1:Hair loss and thinning. What is it? Why does it happen? There are so many stories I can tell you, not only about myself, but about my clients. I've had clients who come to me and uh, well, let me step back. Who come to me and uh, well, let me step back.
Speaker 1:It started with me losing my hair and I actually was losing my hair in clumps. I do believe it's. It was an autoimmune response, because I have psoriasis, which is an autoimmune disease, but I was also going through a lot of stress at the time. So my hair was actually coming out in, well, clumps, but it was coming out with bald spots, which is alopecia areata, and I was desperate to fix it. I mean, if you're someone who's losing their hair or thinning hair, or if you know someone or if you know someone, let me just say it does a toll on your self-confidence, a toll. I could only wear my hair one way one way, because if it blew in the wind or if I parted it any other way, you would see bald spots on my scalp. It was that bad. I remember I went to the dermatologist and she actually gave me shots of steroids in my scalp, yeah, with a needle and all. I don't know if that worked or not. And then I took vitamins. We even in our salon.
Speaker 1:I invested in red light therapy and it was probably $10,000. This big machine with red light, and I do truly believe the red light therapy does work. However, it's almost like going to a chiropractor. You kind of have to continuously go until you are cured, I guess, or you have to be committed to at least going a certain times per week. With the red light therapy, you had to do it every other day for 20 minutes. That's a huge commitment most people did not want to do. I did it because I was desperate and I had it right there at my fingertips. The red light therapy was right there in the salon. I didn't have to pay for the treatments. However, we had some clients who were just as desperate as I was and they did end up using it. But we also ended up going and all of us got trained and certified in hair enhancements. This is before extensions were really, really coming into the mainstream, and let me just tell you, extensions are not for everyone, because they put a lot of stress on your hair and if your hair is already thinning, you probably don't want extensions for your hair. I hate to break that to you. So what we did is we all got certified in hair enhancements.
Speaker 1:There was this wonderful, wonderful woman, sherry Renee. I'll make sure I link her information. She has come up with a product. It's a hair enhancement and it's like it's not really well. They do have wigs, but not all of her products are wigs. They are actually like, uh like, say, you're thinning at on your root or on your part line. It would just be a piece, and it was. It's probably the size of oh I don't know an orange that you would wear on top of your hair, and it blends in with your hair. In fact, you would pull some hairs through it. It has a little bit of Velcro-y stuff on there, so it stays in place. That's just one example she had. They probably had 10 different examples, anywhere from bangs pretend bangs to half wigs, to I don't know you name it.
Speaker 1:Whatever it is that you need to camouflage, they have an enhancement that does it, and what it is is that you match it to your hair color and it looks so believable. I had this one client oh my gosh colored her hair. I prepped her all we had ordered her enhancement and the enhancements are kind of pricey, but she believed in me, she believed in this process. She was one of my first clients that I ever got fitted into an enhancement and I remember I put it on, I fit it on her and I turned her around and Not only was she started crying, I started crying. It looks so real, so believable, so wonderful, and her self-confidence just shot up. It was just the most amazing, amazing thing I ever experienced. I absolutely loved it.
Speaker 1:That's my story and why I think talking about hair loss, hair thinning is so important, the stigma of it, which is kind of bad. You have to realize that there's over 30 million women that experience some form of hair loss and when we get to the age of 50 on up, over half of the women experience hair loss, experience hair loss. And there was a huge surge of people saying and complaining and concerned about hair loss after the pandemic. Of course there was, because stress causes a lot of hair loss and it's emotionally challenging. So hopefully today we're going to talk about what it is, what you can do about it, why it happens. Maybe do something about the stigma of hair loss so we're not all embarrassed about it because we shouldn't be. It is just. It is really, really normal.
Speaker 1:The most common complaint about hair loss that I get is typically after women have babies. A couple months after they have a baby or after they're done breastfeeding, they will experience hair loss. Yeah, if you've had a child, you've probably experienced that. But there are some simple things that you can do and we'll talk a little bit about that too. Before I even get started with any of that, just remember that the hair loss treatments and recovering from hair loss takes time. It takes patience, no matter what you decide that you're going to do.
Speaker 1:So let's talk about what is hair loss and thinning. Let's start by defining it. So, hair thinning means a reduction in the volume or density of your hair. Hair loss, or alopecia, is when hair falls out faster than it grows back. That makes sense and that could show up in many ways. Your part can be widening. You have thinner ponytails, you have excessive shedding, you have bald patches, like I did, or an overall loss of volume in your hair.
Speaker 1:Most of the time, hair loss is often seen as a men's issue, but the truth is that over 50% of women will experience noticeable hair thinning in their lifetime. That's a lot of us out there. So why does this even happen? Well, there's several reasons for hair thinning. Here's some of the most common for women over, say, 40 or 50, but it can happen at any age. First and foremost is hormonal changes. Hello, menopause, yeah. As estrogen and progesterone decline, hair growth slows and the follicles shrink. However, then you end up with hair that's growing on parts of your body that never had hair before, like chin hairs. What's up with that, I don't know. Then there's genetics Female pattern hair loss often runs in families.
Speaker 1:So look back at your grandparents. If there's female pattern hair loss, my grandmother had the thinnest, thinnest hair. Yep, you're probably going to have thin hair. And then there's stress. Physical or emotional stress can trigger temporary hair shedding. That's called telogen effluvium. Am I saying that right? I think so. Telogen effluvium. Again, words are hard. Sometimes Medications for blood pressure medications, antidepressants and even hormone replacement therapy can also cause your hair to thin or shed. Then there's nutritional deficiencies low iron, low protein or low vitamin D can absolutely affect hair growth. And then, like I had mentioned in my case, autoimmune conditions such as thyroid issues or psoriasis.
Speaker 1:If you're noticing changes, it's not just aging, it's your body's way of saying to you that something needs attention. So when should you even worry about your hair loss? Yes, we did say that you might notice your thinner ponytails, a widening part, but let me tell you what's normal. Normally, we shed 50 to a hundred hairs a day. That's just normal hair shedding in the shower, on your pillowcase, and if you have longer hair, you're going to notice more hair because your hair is longer. When should you start worrying If you are losing more than 150 hairs a day? And yes, there are some doctors out there that actually will have you collect your hairs and count them, maybe even have you bring them into your appointment in a little Ziploc baggie. A lot of people notice when their ponytails are getting smaller or their parts are just enlarging and you can see your scalp.
Speaker 1:So what happens at a doctor's appointment? So, say you, you have hair loss, you notice it and you want to do something about it. Well, you make an appointment at the dermatologist. Here's what you can expect. They're going to take a detailed health history. They'll ask about your recent stress, your family history, hormones, your diet, any medications that you're on.
Speaker 1:I could tell you right now if they're asking you this and you just said, yeah, I had a baby two or three months ago. Hello, that gives them the signal that something shocking happened to you and then that's your body's way of dealing with it. I used to think that after having a baby, it's your hormones. I used to actually used to tell people that when, when you're pregnant, your body was hanging on to all its energy to make a baby and it whatever I don't know I don't know if I don't think I was making it up, I think I had heard this and then, after you have a baby, then it could release, and it releases your hair and maybe because of all the vitamins you're taking when you're pregnant, no, it's really the shock of something happening to you. That's why you're losing your hair. So, like I always say, when you know better, you do better, right, so now I know better. So any kind of stress, a death in the family, divorce, anything stressful there's a lot of things in life right now that's stressful.
Speaker 1:I'm surprised we're not all at the doctors talking about our hair loss. Okay, what else are they going to ask you at the doctor's visit? They're going to look at your scalp. They'll look at the pattern and the condition of your scalp and your hair follicles so they might even look at it under. It looks like a little microscope for your scalp and then you could see the enlarged follicles on like a computer screen. I have one of those Very, very interesting. But they could see if your follicles are clogged, if they're healthy or even if they're not there anymore. So if you have lost hair and it is scarred over, you cannot grow hair back there. So that's what they're looking for as well. Then they might take some blood work and this helps to check for your thyroid function, your hormone levels, iron, vitamin D and so much more.
Speaker 1:I'm not a doctor, can't tell you what else they're looking for, and sometimes, in rare cases, they might do a biopsy where they take a little small piece of the scalp and it's tested to diagnose conditions like scarring, alopecia Again, if there's scarring involved. And how do you get scarring? I could tell you one way to get scarring. There's this thing called traction alopecia and that is usually when people wear braids in their hair, like cornrow braids, and they pull it back under high tension. What that does is those tight braids and the pullback, it causes traction and it can cause scarring. Because the hair falls out and because it's pulling on, it causes scarring and the hair will never grow back again.
Speaker 1:All right, so what are some of the treatments? First and foremost, there's real solutions. Thank goodness for science right Anything from topical to high tech. So let's break them down. The topical treatments there's minoxidil, which you might've heard of. It's called Rogaine and it is FDA approved. It's the only FDA approved topical treatment for women and it used to be that women had to use a lower dose. But now the 5% minoxidil the same type sold to men you can use that. Actually, the men's minoxidil or Rogaine is actually cheaper than the women's.
Speaker 1:Yeah, try to get the foam, because the foam stays put, stays wherever you put it. If you get the liquid or the spray, it could drip, and anywhere that drips will grow hair. So you don't really want hair growing out of the front of your forehead. Just saying could be embarrassing. So get the foam, and what this does is it helps to stimulate hair growth, and this costs between like $25 to $40 a month depending on where you get it. You can get the generic. You don't have to get the Rogaine, you can just get Minoxidil and you can order it off Amazon. You can get it at the drugstore, it's everywhere. That's probably the first thing I would recommend, but you do have to apply it two times a day, every single day.
Speaker 1:Some people ask will your hair fall out when you stop using it? No, no, no, no, it doesn't fall out when you stop using it. However, it will go back to what it typically the growth pattern was. So if your hair was thinning, it'll go back to its thin self. It just won't be growing as fast quickly thick, okay.
Speaker 1:So another topical treatment is serums with peptides or growth factors, all types. Again, they're out there and those usually are a little bit more expensive. They're between 50 and a hundred dollars, probably per month, because you're probably going to go through them. Do they work? I think so. I think so. I've used a few serums in my time and, yeah, I think it helps stimulate the hair follicles, gives it environment to grow in. Some of the serums have like menthol or pepperminty. But do some research, find out what works for you. I can link my favorite ones in the show notes.
Speaker 1:Now let's talk about oral medications. Now for hormonal hair loss. Yeah, ladies, if you've hit menopause, there is a prescription only medication. I don't really know how to pronounce it, it's finasteride. Again, words are hard when you're not a doctor. It's about 10 to $40 a month with insurance, but this is only for hormonal hair loss.
Speaker 1:Then we have PRP therapy, that is, platelet rich plasma. This is when they take your own blood and they spin it around in some kind of machine and then they inject it into your scalp to stimulate the hair follicles. Dermatologists can do this, so you can just go to a dermatologist to have this done, but it gets kind of expensive. It costs between $500 and $1,500 per session and you usually need about three to six sessions for it to even work. And there's not really a lot of research that tells you how effective it is, even though it is effective, but they don't have the research on saying you know, one out of five people this works on. They don't have that research, but it does work from what I hear. It just costs some money. But I tell you what, when we are losing our hair, we are very vulnerable consumers and we will do whatever it takes. So it depends on your budget. I'm just giving you the options.
Speaker 1:Then there's low level laser therapy. This is those in office treatments like we had at the salon, and it is the red light therapy and it encourages follicle stimulation. In my opinion, it does work. They do have at home laser caps. They're not as strong as red light waves, however, they still have red light in them. These can cost at home, for the home device, anywhere from 300 to a thousand dollars Heck, I've seen even more expensive than that. And then if you were going into a clinic like what we had, it's 50 to $150 a session. Again, that is 20 minutes three times a week. So it starts adding up, and the reason why it's so expensive is because the machine is so expensive. I can tell you that right now, that's what we used to charge. We used to have little packages, not little packages, monthly packages that you could buy, and then it was up to you to schedule your time to come in. But that was the hard part is scheduling the time to come in. That's what people used to hate about it.
Speaker 1:Then there's supplements and your lifestyle choices. The supplements that you really need to be looking at are biotin, iron, vitamin D and protein. You really need to make sure that you're getting a balanced diet and that, if you're not, or even if you are, if you add these four supplements to your diet, it's going to help your hair get stronger. And then, of course, of course, talk to your doctor before starting anything new. And don't forget your scalp care routine. This can go a long way in supporting whatever treatment you choose, because if you're not cleansing your scalp, exfoliating your scalp, it doesn't matter what you're doing, because you're suffocating your hair follicle and your hair is going to be thin anyway.
Speaker 1:Some final thoughts. I have a couple of things. Oh, I wanted to share a funny story. You know, over 30 years of doing hair behind the chair, I've seen a lot of things, a lot of things, especially when I used to work in California. Oh, wow, the things that I saw there. I don't know why there especially, but Virginia is different than California.
Speaker 1:When I had my salon in Carlsbad, california, it was on a resort. We were right by the beach and our salon was positioned right next to a resort, so we got all kinds of people visiting, all kinds of tourists. Sometimes the guests from the resort would make appointments at my hair salon because it was so convenient you just walk across the parking lot. I remember this gentleman who came in and he wanted a haircut, no problem, and he sat down in my chair and then he took off his hair, which, okay, he had a toupee. However, he had snaps embedded into his scalp. His toupee snapped on to his head. I could not. It gross, I couldn't believe it and I've never, ever, seen anything like it since. I would think that I don't know very many doctors who would do that. But yes, they were like industrial size snaps, like for jeans or pants that's what it looked like to me but they were embedded under his skin and then his toupee snapped on.
Speaker 1:That has been the most crazy thing that I've ever seen dealing with hair loss. I have seen some really bad hair plugs in 30 years, that kind of look like Barbie doll hair. Now hair transplants aren't as bad as they once were. In fact, it used to be that they would take hair and they would, you know, like every I don't know centimeter, whatever, and they did it in rows and I don't know how they did it. But now they take hair from the back of your head, where it's thicker. I don't know why your hair is thicker in the back of your head, but everybody's hair is thicker in the nape area of their hair. Crazy. But they take hair from there and they actually had to pull it with the bulb, one by one, and then somebody, one by one, plant it into your you know, make a little tiny incision and then plant it into your scalp and that takes a couple of sessions to do, because you couldn't can't do the whole scalp that way. No, to make it look natural, to make it look believable, it takes two or three sessions of that, and those sessions can be anywhere from five to $15,000. Yeah, crazy.
Speaker 1:Let's talk about hair extensions for just a minute. If you are experiencing hair thinning or hair loss, I would stay away from hair extensions for the time being, because your hair can't take the stress of wearing a hair extension, unless it's those one hair extensions that have the little invisible band I think they're called halo. That's not going to stress your hair out. Or if you were doing a ponytail and you were just putting a ponytail extension on top of your own ponytail, that's not going to stress your hair out. Or if you were doing a ponytail and you were just putting a ponytail extension on top of your own ponytail, that's not going to stress it out. I'm talking about sewing in hair extensions or taping in hair extensions. I don't care if they're the tiny, tiny ones. I don't care.
Speaker 1:If you're experiencing hair thinning, hair loss, please do yourself a favor and don't let any body tell you to get hair extensions to cover up the thinning. Be patient and, for right now, do all these things to get your hair strong again. So let me just say this Losing your hair does not mean losing your beauty or your identity or your self-worth. Hair is powerful, it's personal, and when it starts changing, it could really shake our confidence. But you have options and you have support and you don't have to figure it out all alone. This is your reminder to be gentle with yourself, get answers, explore treatments and remember beauty is never about perfection. It's about embracing your strength through every season of your life. Look, if today's episode gave you some clarity or comfort, please consider sharing it with a friend who might need it too. And don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an empowering conversation.
Speaker 1:Want product recommendations or resources from today's episode? You can find those in my show notes or on my Amazon shop. I'll leave that link as well. And until next time, I'm Denise Kylitz and remember it's never just about hair. It's about feeling good in your own skin, and when you know better, you do better. Thanks for tuning in to All About Hair. If you loved this episode, hit, subscribe, leave us a review and share it with a fellow stylist or hair-loving friend. You want more tips, tools and behind-the-scenes goodness? Follow me on YouTube or head to my website at denisekeilitzcom. Yes, I know it's hard to spell, so don't worry, the link is in the show notes. Until next time, keep learning, keep creating and keep loving what you do.
