Hormonal changes: why does our hair get finer textured and more flyaway as we age?

[DarleneH]

I think mine seems to be finer and more flyaway now, and I know I'm at that age that I'm seeing some hormonal shifts going on (I'm seeing a doctor and getting HRT) so I'm pretty sure it's related to hormones. So what changes in our hormone profiles cause that? It's probably some combination of something decreasing, and the resulting imbalance with other hormones, but I'm not sure what that mix would be. Any ideas?

[Joules]

Androgenetic alopecia causes thinning of hair strands. It's not hormonal changes per se, it's just that hair gets more sensitive to dihydrotestosterone. A lot of women experience it after 45-55 years. You can choose to fight it (it can be fought), or you can choose to accept it :shrug:

[Sarahlabyrinth]

Androgenetic alopecia causes thinning of hair strands. It's not hormonal changes per se, it's just that hair gets more sensitive to dihydrotestosterone. A lot of women experience it after 45-55 years. You can choose to fight it (it can be fought), or you can choose to accept it :shrug:

How would you fight it?

[Joules]

How would you fight it?

By going to a doctor and doing whatever they prescribe. Minoxidil (or other anti-androgenic ingredients), laser combs, microneedling, etc.

[Sarahlabyrinth]

Wouldn't there be side effects?

[Joules]

Wouldn't there be side effects?

As far as I know about treatments of androgenetic alopecia there aren't any serious side-effects beside allergies. And even there are, so what? Antidepressants have side-effects too, way more serious ones than anti-androgenic therapy might have, does it mean people with depression need to avoid them?

In the end it all boils down to what you personally want and need. For me personally pros outweigh the cons. I'm (hopefully) still far away from menopause and my hair seems to enjoy being on my head, but I think when I'm there I'd try to save my hair for as long as possible.

[Sarahlabyrinth]

"Even if there are, so what?" I just looked up side effects of Minodoxil which can include:

Facial acne
A burning scalp
Facial hair growth
Increased hair loss
Inflammation or soreness in hair follicles
Reddened skin
Facial swelling.

Plus you are supposed to keep taking it once you start.

Er - not for me....

[lapushka]

Same thing that gets us through puberty and causes shifts & changes; hormones are hormones. And therefor so unpredictable.

I had 1b/c hair and suddenly my hair poofed up when I went through puberty. I had a slick pixie and it seems as if the next day it stood an inch from my head in a halo of frizz. I mean... I had no clue at the time. And not to mention, I got bald spots as my hair came out in chunks (thankfully that settled a year into it). But... wooohooow! Not looking forward to seeing what it can do this time.

I have yet to go through the change, but I'm not that far off, I don't think.

[Sarahlabyrinth]

It's a bit of a lottery for all of us, Lapushka. My parents and elder siblings have only had some slight thinning so far, so hopefully I'll be similar, (preferably with no thinning, but, well, we get what we get. My parents still had good quantities of hair into their 90s, too.)

ETA: Here; my Mum's hair (she's in her nineties here, and still has no shortage of it) - so pretty, too, I think!

https://i.imgur.com/0GtdjUq.jpg

[Joules]

"Even if there are, so what?" I just looked up side effects of Minodoxil which can include:

Facial acne
A burning scalp
Facial hair growth
Increased hair loss
Inflammation or soreness in hair follicles
Reddened skin
Facial swelling.

Plus you are supposed to keep taking it once you start.

Er - not for me....

When my therapist prescribed me my meds he added "but please, don't read the instructions". Side-effects are rare, plus the manufacturers must list even the rarest ones to protect themselves which often scares people away from the product. Also there's that whole psychosomatic thing when you purposefully look for - and find - side-effects just because you know they might happen. My Mom once called an ambulance after she had taken an antifungal pill because she thought she was going into an anaphylactic shock and her throat was closing. Her throat was fine. It was just her overactive and anxious imagination.

Do you know what has more (and worse) side-effects? Commercial hair dye. It can cause severe chemical burns and permanent baldness. Heck, even a regular shampoo can cause a reaction, redness, itching and follicle pain.

Plus you don't have to use it once you started. You can stop if you want. You'd just lose the progress, but it won't make your hairloss worse.

Plus minoxidil isn't the only option for AGA.

Like I said, it's a personal choice. You can skip it if you wish. You don't have to try to change anyone's mind about it. I mentioned it just so that the OP knows about different options.

[spidermom]

What I've noticed as I age that I now have some coarse white strands.

[Groovy Granny]

My white and silver hairs are very fine and wispy like my Father's hair was, while my Mother had coarse, wiry salt and pepper...and my sister does too.

So there is a genetic component to it as well it seems? :hmm:

[MusicalSpoons]

Androgenetic alopecia causes thinning of hair strands. It's not hormonal changes per se, it's just that hair gets more sensitive to dihydrotestosterone. A lot of women experience it after 45-55 years. You can choose to fight it (it can be fought), or you can choose to accept it :shrug:

That kinda makes sense to me, but I'd be really interested to know exactly why that is.


As for fighting it, I'm not adverse to trying medicated things (I do read the leaflets just in case, but I also understand how the side effect list works!) but my scalp so far has found literally one product line that it likes, and that's it. I'm not sure I want to go back to being a walking itchy greaseball snowstorm* to prevent thinning ... but I also really don't want to thin if I can help it :hmm:

*If there's one thing my skin specialises in, it's being a living contradiction :lol: At the moment my face is still a snowstorm from a irritant reaction but that's far easier to deal with than my scalp!

[silkystrandz]

Well as a woman who is recently been thrown into menopause, I would like to say that I a huge drop in oil production on my scalp ( I only use conditioner to wash.) I oil my scalp and ends before I go into the shower. As a teen , too much oil..... as a woman of a certain age , not enough LOL. Anyhow, I know my hair would be thin and brittle if I didn't keep on top of it. oil, moisture, and henna are your best friends at this age. Also I would get my thyroid checked out as hyperthyroidism often causes dramatic hair changes. Hope this helps.

[Dark40]

What I've notice as I'm aging is that my hair texture has changed. I'm naturally a 2c/3a hair type. Now, it looks like it's more 2c.

[Untressed]

My hair use to be very fine and straight as in it looked flat ironed at all times.

Now it's pretty wavy and the strands are medium: not fine or coarse.

Haven't hit menopause yet so who knows what will happen to my hair then.

My mother's was stick straight into her 70s.

[WonderGirl]

Estrogen and progesterone levels drop, hair grows more slowly and becomes much thinner. A decrease in these hormones also triggers an increase in the production of androgens, or a group of male hormones. that's why menopausal w omen get more facial hair. Quick answer is the hormone levels change. You can read up on it by searching for biology of hair growth etc.

[Kalamazoo]

I'm almost 64. The Change happened 10-15 years ago for me. Frankly, I haven't noticed my hair doing anything "age-related" other than getting thinner; but it has gotten longer, stronger, thicker, and overall healthier as a result of my finding a hair routine that works for me. See "Does eating peppermint grow hair faster?" https://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=150332&page=4

I suspect that digestive issues keep nutrients from reaching hair follicles for a lot people. I try to eat basically Weston A. Price Foundation dietwise, though I don't do everything they say & allow myself occasional junk food. When I find myself getting sick again, I know it's time to buckle down & eliminate food additives again. There's a thread about food intolerances affecting hair that's very worthwhile reading: https://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=97660

Oh. And I don't take any medicine for anything.

Everybody's genetics & body chemistry & environment are unique, so there is no one-answer-fits-all solution. Praying for wisdom is extremely beneficial.

[The-Young-Maid]

I always thought your hair got courser?? At least that's what my mom always complains about(hasn't lost any thickness). I've noticed the white/clear hairs I get are very course. I haven't seen any gray hairs, will I even get them? I really don't mind my white/clear hairs because they just make me look blonder.

[*Wednesday*]

I’ve never heard of hair becoming “finer” as you get older. My mom is 76 and in youth had thick hair and her hair is still “thick” though not as dense. It thinned a bit though not finer.

[shutterpillar]

I'm not anywhere near menopause age (I'm 33) but I do have a collection of gray hair already, and they are much courser than the rest of my hair which are baby fine.

The year before last I stopped my birth control which I take for endometriosis, and had a pretty devastating shed. I begun taking it again at the beginning of last year and my hair is mostly back to normal, but I really hope that thinning is not my fate as I go into menopause when I am older. My mom is just hitting menopause and claims her hair is thinner, but it still looks nice from my point of view.
For me, I think if the thinning is anything like it was when I stopped birth control, a type of hormone replacement therapy would definitely be taken into consideration at that point.

[Zanthia]

Shutterpillar, I think you're bang on average for going grey, I read recently 33 is average. I started going properly grey a few years ago and I'm 30. Some women are luckier than others, but it's not premature, it's just that everyone dyes.

My grey hairs are a bit coarser than my brown hairs, but my hair is so fine overall that they're just normal thickness.

One of my grandmas had very thin hair, though I don't know if it was thicker when she was younger, my other grandma still has a very thick head of hair. I don't know how related the changes in colour, texture and density are (I think colour is linked to texture, but neither is linked to density?), but my other grandma also didn't go fully grey until she was at least 70.

I wonder if apart from testosterone thinning hair, progesterone thickens it? Both would affect us when we go into menopause, and I know pregnancy normally gives you a temporary thicker head of hair.

[MusicalSpoons]

My Mum's hair has thinned fairly recently (sparser) and become finer, though she's been grey for years and going more white with the thinning. However she's now having regrowth that's darker :confused: I'm not sure if it's any less fine than the lighter hairs though.

Dad's hair is M, maybe verging on coarse, and from photos it looks like his hair was finer before.

My handful of whites seem to be about the same as the rest of my medium hairs so far. (I do hope I'm too young for thinning right now!)

[lapushka]

My parents both have F hair (dad's used to be F/N, I think), and it got even finer going gray, my white hairs are also baby-fine, so finer than my regular F hairs. I don't think it's the "norm" that it *should* go coarser with age and with going gray; I think it's very individual.

[Crystawni]

Gawd halp meeeee if my hair gets finer, moar webby and flyaway now that I'm menopausal (also 52 y/o)! I'm already uber fine with a mass of the stuff floating around the place (4.5" pony circ.), and lose count at 32 strands/mm. I have been growing in my whites and silvers (they're different--whites are soft and feathery, where silvers are like tinsel) for half my life now, and find they're mostly the same thinness as the rest of all the colours I sprout:

https://i.imgur.com/tDre0Re.jpg

Although I do get the occasional wonky silver hard-nutter that travels the entire length of my hair:

https://i.imgur.com/mp6UFe4.jpg

But yeah, I'm currently going through menopause, and have all the finies I need...

https://i.imgur.com/q4WbfJZ.jpg

Crop of my little finger for a close-up of the same pic:

https://i.imgur.com/KQUcW8B.jpg

[Rowdy]

Gawd halp meeeee if my hair gets finer, moar webby and flyaway now that I'm menopausal (also 52 y/o)! I'm already uber fine with a mass of the stuff floating around the place (4.5" pony circ.), and lose count at 32 strands/mm. I have been growing in my whites and silvers (they're different--whites are soft and feathery, where silvers are like tinsel) for half my life now, and find they're mostly the same thinness as the rest of all the colours I sprout:

Crop of my little finger for a close-up of the same pic:

https://i.imgur.com/KQUcW8B.jpg

!!!? :thud:

...sometimes I can squeeze 6 hairs in 1 mm...but usually only 4. Your hair baffles me Crystawni! :eye:

Here is a fine specimen of my beasts. I sure wouldn't mind some 'fining out' as I get older!

https://forums.longhaircommunity.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=40030&d=1580529410

[Neoma]

"Even if there are, so what?" I just looked up side effects of Minodoxil which can include:

Facial acne
A burning scalp
Facial hair growth
Increased hair loss
Inflammation or soreness in hair follicles
Reddened skin
Facial swelling.

Plus you are supposed to keep taking it once you start.

Er - not for me....Sarahlabyrinth, my dermatologist suggested Minoxidil a few years ago. I experienced terribly frightening panic attacks during the short period that I was on it. I was surprised to learn that other people did, too. For me, thicker hair wasn't worth the racing heartbeat.


It's a bit of a lottery for all of us, Lapushka. My parents and elder siblings have only had some slight thinning so far, so hopefully I'll be similar, (preferably with no thinning, but, well, we get what we get. My parents still had good quantities of hair into their 90s, too.)

ETA: Here; my Mum's hair (she's in her nineties here, and still has no shortage of it) - so pretty, too, I think!

https://i.imgur.com/0GtdjUq.jpgSarahlabyrinth, your mom is beautiful! :thud: And I'd be delighted to have that much hair at her age. :flower:

[Crystawni]

!!!? :thud:

...sometimes I can squeeze 6 hairs in 1 mm...but usually only 4. Your hair baffles me Crystawni! :eye:

Here is a fine specimen of my beasts. I sure wouldn't mind some 'fining out' as I get older!

https://forums.longhaircommunity.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=40030&d=1580529410

Oh, to actually see the hair so beautifully for trims or S & D!!!

I'd go the opposite and say I wouldn't mind some coarseness happening to mine, but I already have more hair than is normal from what I gather. Just doing the math--23" head circ., (largish) 4.5" pony circ., (lotsish) and at least double the amount of fine hair than what's considered the finest... That's a lot of hair sprouting up there. Mind you, I mentioned it just now to the hubster, who quipped, "Well, just imagine how much of that is on the floor...". Yeah, we have invisi-shed-hair issues all. the. time. :p

[Shepherdess]

It's a bit of a lottery for all of us, Lapushka. My parents and elder siblings have only had some slight thinning so far, so hopefully I'll be similar, (preferably with no thinning, but, well, we get what we get. My parents still had good quantities of hair into their 90s, too.)

ETA: Here; my Mum's hair (she's in her nineties here, and still has no shortage of it) - so pretty, too, I think!

https://i.imgur.com/0GtdjUq.jpg

She is beautiful!! Love it! :flower:

[Shepherdess]

I realize I'm not yet at that age, although I have thyroid struggles sometimes and the off balance definitely affects my hair. I had another shed last month which I think was related to it, so my hair looks a bit thinner at the ends. Also my hair seems to be fragile and frays and splits easily which I think is partly related to my thyroid since no matter what changes I have made in hair care I always have had the same struggle. Looking over shed hairs can be interesting because you sometimes can see the different fluctuations of colors and slightly varying textures throughout the strands.

[Sarahlabyrinth]

Sarahlabyrinth, my dermatologist suggested Minoxidil a few years ago. I experienced terribly frightening panic attacks during the short period that I was on it. I was surprised to learn that other people did, too. For me, thicker hair wasn't worth the racing heartbeat.

Sarahlabyrinth, your mom is beautiful! :thud: And I'd be delighted to have that much hair at her age. :flower:

Oh, that would be terrifying if it happened to me. I have heard that you only get so many heartbeats in an average lifetime - I sure wouldn't want to be using them up extra fast! Thank you for the kind comment about my Mom. She passed away a year and a day ago at the age of 94 and a half. She probably could have lived longer but she fell and broke her arm and the shock was too much for her.



She is beautiful!! Love it! :flower:

Thank you Shepherdess! :)

[lapushka]

I think your mom is gorgeous, Sarah! :D 90? I thought she was 70 or 80 tops. :o

[Sarahlabyrinth]

Thank you Lapushka. I guess she must have looked younger than her age. :)

[Suortuva]

Oh, my grandma (from father's side) had similar hair as Sarahlabyrinth's mother (thanks for sharing the picture!), thick and white. She was over 90 too when she died, 92 I think. Unfortunately she had dementia, that's was really hard. I just realised I don't know what hair colour she had when she was younger, I have only seen her with white hair, even in pictures (or then they are back and white). But everyone in my family has brown hair so... (Dad's was very dark, almost black. It's grey now.)

My mom has very silky hair, and I think it's quite thin nowadays, but I'm pretty sure it was much thicker when she was younger.

[Kalamazoo]

Although I do get the occasional wonky silver hard-nutter that travels the entire length of my hair:https://i.imgur.com/mp6UFe4.jpg

OK, I've occasionally espied a wonky hard-nutter among the tresses, but didn't have a name for it. But mine are brown, and so far, the wonkiness has only been towards the end of the strand. So I've been treating it as a split end & S&D-ing it away. Which would become a bad idea if a large per centage of hairs started looking that way!