​[00:00:00] Kylie: Welcome back to episode of the Hormone Hub Podcast, where we talk all things perimenopause, menopause, and have the conversations no one else is having. Sit back, relax, and enjoy this episode. 

Hello, hello, and welcome back to this episode of the Hormone Hub podcast. I’m your host, Kylie Pinwill, and today on the podcast, we are talking hair loss. So not particularly sexy, but it is something that I do get asked a lot. And, usually in the context of What supplement should I take? Should I take collagen? Should I take vitamin B? And my answer as with everything is let’s find out the cause of the hair loss. So rather than just trying to whack a bandaid over the top, let’s have a look at some of the things that can trigger that. hair loss. 

So first of all, we want to [00:01:00] check in to see like, is it a hormonal problem?

Is it stress? Is it nutrient deficiency? What’s going on? Because, hair loss can be due to low thyroid because we’re not producing cells to stimulate those hair follicles. It could be a hormonal imbalance, so low oestrogen and low progesterone in relation to high androgens, which are our male sort of hormones, like testosterone.

It could be due to stress, a hundred percent, and I see this all the time, and I’m sure a lot of people will know someone who’ve had, like a patch of hair go gray or a patch of hair fall out as a result of stress. Hair loss can also be linked to an autoimmune condition. A fungal infection is another one.

And also medications that we’re on. So many medications that we take have a knock on impact somewhere else in our [00:02:00] body. Hair loss is definitely one and has been linked with antidepressants and anti anxiety medications. It’s been linked with blood pressure medication, cholesterol medication, and what we call PPIs or protein pump inhibitors that people take for stomach acid.

Hair loss is also indicative or, can be caused by low iron as well and low iron storage specifically. So definitely we want to have a look at what we have or suspect the causes are. 

One of them, and I’ll sort of talk about this one first, is quite often, I hear all the time, women are losing hair, but they have some form of magnificent wiry, weird facial hair thing going on.

So whether that’s on their upper lip, and they’re growing a mustache, or it’s just like random thick black hairs growing out, or on their chin, or somewhere on their face, generally it’s weird. You know, it’s always [00:03:00] where we don’t want it, right? So if you are finding yourself growing new coarse hairs on your chin or your upper lip and at the same time losing hair on your head, these two things are actually connected and they can be the result of what we call menopausal relative androgen excess.

So this is where we kind of get drops in estrogen and progesterone, which happened naturally. And then the ratio of that to our, say, testosterone is totally out. So we’ve got high levels of circulating testosterone and low estrogen and progesterone. Now this can be from taking testosterone as hormone replacement, which is recommended for a lot of women.

But yeah, it’s a fine line here. So quite often if we go back a few steps. Conditions like polycystic ovary syndrome is generally related [00:04:00] to high levels of androgen. So the same sort of thing. So this is where we might not say specific like male pattern balding. So, you know, that losing hair on the crown of your head but it can definitely those high androgens can trigger hair loss.

So it’s just something to be mindful of. Have you previously been diagnosed with PCOS? Are your ratios of testosterone higher than or out of balance with estrogen and progesterone? So with this, we would also have a look at and have sort of like a little warning trigger could be high insulin levels, because there’s definitely a link with insulin sensitivity and polycystic ovaries.

We want to sort of make sure and check the link there and reverse that insulin resistance and managing it because this is a really important strategy for improving facial hair and also that female pattern hair loss. Because like I said, androgen excess causes insulin [00:05:00] resistance and insulin resistance worsens androgen excess so that you’ve got that kind of chicken and an egg thing going on.

Hormone Hub episode is sponsored by our free hormone help call book in your call today with one of our experienced advisors, and we’ll give you some clarity around what’s causing your symptoms and some simple steps you can use straight away to improve your menopause experience. If you’re ready to take the next step book in a call and find out more about how we can help you have a smoother transition through perimenopause and menopause, let us help you balance out your hormones, reset your metabolism, and get your confidence back so you can live the life you’re meant to.

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So, yeah, so getting your androgen and your testosterone levels checked is one [00:06:00] thing. Now, the next thing is, it’s called androgenic alopecia or female pattern hair loss. That’s the one that’s linked with those androgens and those high testosterone.

The next thing that I would be considering with a client who was losing hair is her thyroid function, so certainly our thyroid is linked to our metabolism, which is linked to our circulation, and if we’ve got poor thyroid function, we think of low thyroid function. Everything slows down in our body.

Our circulation is going to slow down, which is going to impact our hair. Definitely having a look at how we can support your thyroid. Is there a thyroid issue that we need to address? And then how do we support your thyroid? Low iron is another one. And again, our thyroid needs iron to function.

So we need to have a look at your ferritin levels. It’s not enough to be in the normal range. You need your iron [00:07:00] levels or your ferritin or your iron storage to be in that optimal range. And then it’s got enough in reserve to send it off to support your thyroid as well. So we, yeah, want to pay special attention to that.

And stress. So I’m sure we have all felt times where we’re under stress and it just can feel like our hair is falling out by the handful. So definitely working on identifying the cause of your stress, and then it’s having strategies and things in your toolbox to overcome stress can definitely help as well.

So your things here would be understanding, you know, do you have a hormone imbalance insofar as your androgens are high? Have you had insulin resistance? Have you had polycystic ovaries? And what can help if you are looking for a supplement, I would consider zinc.

As that would probably be my first go to. Because [00:08:00] zinc is really beneficial in sheltering the body from the excess androgens. And it’s also going to nourish those hair follicles as well. Zinc is also a good pickup for vaginal dryness. So again, that’s a sign that you’ve got low estrogen. It’s sort of like a good pickup there as well. So definitely zinc is a good go to if you are losing hair. Get your iron levels checked. You don’t want to just jump into iron supplements because if you have hemochromatosis, which is a condition where your body can’t get rid of excess iron. You don’t want to be taking iron supplements on top. So you want to make sure that you have actual low ferritin before we jump in and supplement with iron. So have a look at zinc supplementing. We don’t need to test before that. Definitely check your iron storage levels, your ferritin levels before you jump into iron.

Have tools in your [00:09:00] toolkit for managing stress. And I think the other thing with hair loss is patience. Okay. So hair loss and getting rid of facial hair, these can be really stubborn symptoms and improvements can take six months. So you do need to persevere with it and don’t give up after two weeks and nothing’s changed.

So you definitely want to manage your insulin response and get any sort of insulin resistance on the control, because that’s going to have a huge impact on lowering those androgens naturally. And if you’re concerned, if you’ve got like patch and it might be that your hairdresser or your partner notices a big bald patch, it can be worth talking to your doctor about it and certainly seeing a dermatologist.

There is a lot that they can do as well. Not specifically for all over general hair loss, but if [00:10:00] you’ve lost hair in a patch, get a diagnosis, consider whether any of your medications could be causing hair loss. So like I said, antidepressants, anti anxieties, blood pressure medication, cholesterol medication. And I’m not saying come off these by any stretch, but certainly consider that they could be contributing to it.

Identify if insulin resistance is an issue and definitely jump on top of that. Take a zinc supplement because that is going to help skin. It is going to help so many things as well as your hair. 

So I hope that was helpful, short, sweet, and yeah, like I wish there was a magic answer for that because I know it’s a big frustrating one for so many women.

All right my loves, I hope that was helpful and I will see you in the next episode.

Thank you for taking the time to listen today. You can head on over to the show notes at [00:11:00] kyliepinwill.com/podcast where you’ll find all the links. Now, before we go, it would mean the world to me if you’d head on over to your favorite podcast channel, subscribe and leave a review. Don’t forget to share it with your friends.

Then stay tuned for next week’s episode and I can’t wait to see you then.