Understanding Hair Thinning During Perimenopause

Women can experience changes in their hair, such as thinning hair or shedding, during perimenopause. Minor changes to hair can have a significant impact, so increased hair loss during a difficult time like perimenopause can be detrimental to self-esteem and mental health.

Hair loss is quite common and can happen for many reasons, from stress to medical conditions. And during perimenopause, around your late 30s to 50s, many women experience thinning of the hair as their periods become less regular.

Hormone-related baldness can be difficult to cure if you don’t know what the problem is, but it can be treated. In this article, we’ll explore the reasons for perimenopause hair thinning, how you can manage the problem, and what Hairy Hair can do to help with your shedding.

What is Perimenopause?

Perimenopause is the period before your menopause and can last 4 to 8 years. It can come with everything from hot flashes to mood swings, but it can also lead to hair loss.

As the periods begin to become irregular, it signifies the beginning of menopause. Once you have not had a period for 12 consecutive months, then you are postmenopausal. Hair loss can even be an issue after menopause since more than 50% of postmenopausal women were found to have female pattern hair loss by The North American Menopause Society.

Hormone-induced hair loss is less apparent than other forms, including alopecia areata, which is sudden, as clumps of hair fall out. Hair loss in women will probably thin in a receding pattern along the hairline and on the crown of your head, not the sides.

What Causes Perimenopausal Hair Loss?

The decline in estrogen and progesterone will typically cause perimenopausal hair loss with increasing levels of testosterone. To make it clearer why, we need to review the cycle of hair growth.

Hair goes through cycles that repeat constantly throughout your life. The individual hairs are in various cycles, but most are in the growing (anagen) phase at any particular moment. They enter the catagen or resting stage when the hair breaks away from the blood supply, and then fall out during the telogen stage in an effort to create a new cycle of hair growth.

We generally lose 50 to 100 strands of hair per day as it’s a normal part of the hair growth cycle. But if the cycle is broken and there’s more hair resting than growing, then it can be visible as hair loss. The shift in hormones that occurs during perimenopause can directly impact your hair growth cycle. Estrogen, for example, is essential for your hair growth, and a lack of this hormone can cause hair to look and feel thinner. 

As estrogen levels lower, it can increase androgens (male sex hormones), including testosterone and dihydrotestosterone (DHT). Women who suffer from female pattern baldness often have higher levels of DHT, as it binds to hair follicles, causing them to shrink and eventually stop producing strands. According to the International Journal of Molecular Sciences, progesterone is important for decreasing the conversion of testosterone into DHT, ensuring healthy hair follicles.

Androgens can also cause unwanted growth in areas like the face during perimenopause. A study from the British Journal of Dermatology found that 26% of post-menopausal women experienced diffuse thinning, while 39% experienced facial hair growth. 

How Long Does Perimenopausal Hair Thinning Last?

Everyone is different when it comes to perimenopause and hair loss. However, significant hair loss and shedding increase with age, so it’s more likely to occur the older you get. For some women, menopause related hair loss can slow over time as your body eventually regulates hormonal levels.

It can also depend on whether there is an underlying cause of your hair loss. Hormones can cause hair loss, but several factors may be responsible for your increased shedding. If you’re not tackling these issues head-on, perimenopause will only worsen your condition. 

Factors like family history, harsh hair styling, medical conditions, medications, and stress can all influence your hair growth, so it’s crucial to understand the reasons behind your thinning.

How Can You Manage Perimenopausal Hair Thinning?

Small lifestyle changes like reducing stress and having a balanced diet can be beneficial in curbing excess hair loss. If you’re worried about the extent of your hair thinning, you can try medical treatments to treat hair loss by asking your doctor for recommendations.

Let us take a closer look at these options:

Stress Reduction

Stress can cause perimenopausal hair loss to increase. It can be difficult to manage while you’re already experiencing uncomfortable side effects like sweating or brain fog, but small exercises like meditation or scalp massages can make a difference.

Scalp massages are a great way to not only relax and improve your mood, but they also help to promote blood flow to your hair follicles. If your follicles are healthy because they have been provided with uninterrupted access to your bloodstream, then they can promote healthy hair growth.

Balanced Diet

Eating the right foods will give your hair follicles the right vitamins and minerals they need to grow. Some of the top vitamins for hair growth come from foods like fish, eggs, leafy green vegetables, and nuts, so ensuring you have a well-rounded diet furnishing your follicles with the nutrients they need is vital.

Practice Gentle Hair Care

If you’re already suffering from thinning strands and brittle hair that breaks easily, the very last thing you should do is become slack about your hair care. Harsh chemicals like shampoos loaded with chemicals will stress your hair follicles even more and result in even more thinning. Chemical processes like heat straightening and bleaching can also damage your strands, so avoid them.

Medical Treatments

If you bring it up with your doctor, they can prescribe appropriate treatments depending on your needs. Some of the over-the-counter treatment options include minoxidil, which operates by triggering hair growth by widening blood vessels in your scalp. It assists in delivering more oxygen and nutrients to your hair follicles, which is especially required during perimenopause when hormonal changes interfere with the normal pattern of hair growth.

There are also prescription medications, such as hormone replacement therapy (HRT). It evens out your body’s hormone levels to prevent undesirable side effects such as mood swings and can help cure excessive shedding. You may also be recommended to take spironolactone, which decreases the amount of DHT, giving your follicles an opportunity to produce thicker strands.

Cosmetic Treatments

If you don’t want to take the medical route, there are also smaller changes that can help boost your confidence and give the appearance of thicker hair. You can choose a wig, hairpiece, or even hair extensions to give your hair an artificial boost of volume. Adjusting how you style your hair can also cover up conspicuous balding sections, or use products like hair powders to cover thinning areas.

What Can Hairy Hair Do to Help With My Hair Loss?

The years before menopause can be challenging with a range of adverse symptoms like hot flashes, mood swings and even hair loss. Perimenopausal hair loss can come as a surprise for some people, but it’s more common than you may think. Hormonal changes in your body can cause your hair thinning perimenopause, but there are ways to treat the issue.

If you’re experiencing perimenopausal hair loss, you should contact a hair loss expert. With an examination and various tests, such as a blood test or scalp biopsy, they can determine your best course of action. However, if you’re not dealing with an underlying issue like female pattern baldness, then perimenopause will only cause the condition to become exacerbated.

Enter Hairy Hair. We offer a comprehensive hair loss treatment that uses potent ingredients to tackle the leading causes of hair loss. It is a vasodilator to help stimulate hair growth and serves to decrease DHT levels. Using a comprehensive hair growth product that addresses many concerns simultaneously may give you a better chance of regaining hair growth than a single-ingredient product.

To get started, just fill out our online questionnaire. Once we have some details about you and your hair loss, a qualified Australian GP who is an expert in hair loss will review your information and design a personalised treatment plan. They’ll give you a call to outline the specifics and answer any questions you have before your prescription is ready to ship right to your door.