According to the Cleveland Clinic, about 50% of women will experience noticeable hair loss in their lifetime.
Looking in the mirror and seeing thinning hair it can be startling and frustrating for any woman!
Not to fear! There are many things you can do starting today to reverse hair loss and restore your beautiful, thick hair.
Let’s take a look at some of the big questions surrounding hair loss and end with 7 scientifically proven home remedies for thinning hair.
You’ll finish this article feeling empowered with proven tools to get thick hair once more!
What you'll learn ♥️
Common Questions about Hair Loss in Women
How Much Hair Loss Is Normal?
According to the American Academy of Dermatologists, it’s normal to lose between 50 and 100 pieces of hair per day.
Sound like a lot?
Considering there are over 100,000 hair follicles on your hair, 100 pieces is no big deal and isn't noticeable.
With that said, according to the Cleveland Clinic, loss of over 125 hairs a day is considered to be too much.
While it can be difficult to count the hairs that fall out, we can often tell when our hair looks and feels thinner.
What is the difference between thinning hair vs. fine hair?
Unsure if you have fine hair or thinning hair? Let’s talk about it.
Fine hair is when the strand of hair is actually smaller in diameter. You could have a lot of hair, but each individual piece is small. Thinning hair, on the other hand, is when there are fewer total strands of hair.
Whether you have fine hair or thinning hair, the natural hair loss remedies shared at the end of this post will help you!
Hair loss in women vs. men
Women tend to lose more hair strands per day than men because of styling, brushing, and dying. In fact, about 40 percent of women lose extra hair every day because of the way they style it.
Each hair on your head is in a different part of its 2 to 5 year life cycle because hair grows and dies in phases. Nutrition, stress, hygiene, and styling all play an important role in how much hair you lose daily.
When does hair loss start in women?
While hair loss can occur at any time of life due to changes in stress, nutrition, hygiene, or styling techniques, hair loss becomes more common during our 40’s and beyond.
What are the most common causes of hair thinning and hair loss in women?
Can menopause cause hair loss?
According to the American Academy of Dermatology Association (AADA), women are more likely to experience hair loss in their 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s. Hair loss is also the time when many women start going through menopause.
The AADA refers to this as Female Pattern Hair Loss (FPHL). Unlike some men, most women typically never lose all of their hair, but rather our hair part often gets wider, the hair near our temples may recede, and some women will experience thinning across the whole head, as shown in the image below.
Research suggests that the most common cause of hair loss during menopause is a hormonal imbalance.
During menopause, we experience a lowered production of estrogen and progesterone – two hormones that help hair grow faster and stay on your head longer.
In addition, when these two hormones drop, other androgen hormones begin to rise that cause hair follicles to shrink, causing finer hair.
Additionally, the big changes that we experience during menopause can lead to stress that can exacerbate the problem.
A family history of female hair loss can also be a factor for some women.
Thinning hair from stress
Recent research from Harvard showed that stress actually reduces hair growth.
When we are stressed, our body processes stress hormones that actually prevent the growth of hair.
Thinning hair from styling, dying, and brushing
Anything that damages or pulls on our hair can cause hair loss, especially when we do it every day.
According to the ADAA, hairstyles that pull on the hair, like tight buns or ponytails, can cause traction alopecia that can cause the hairline to recede.
Additionally, dying our hair too frequently can cause the hair to be over processed and brittle, resulting in a great thinning of the hair.
Lastly, brushing hair too harshly can break and damage hair.
Gut health and hair loss
Gut health refers to the health and balance of the community of bacteria, fungi, viruses, and other organisms that live in your intestines. When this community is out of balance it can cause many issues from hormonal imbalances to depression and anxiety.
Most recently, research is showing the link between hair loss and gut health.
Fortunately, there are many simple things we can do to improve our gut health on a daily basis. We’ll share more about this in the hair loss home remedies section.
Additionally, when our gut health is impaired, it can create nutrient deficiencies because we are not able to properly absorb nutrients from our food.
We need certain types of beneficial bacteria in our gut to be able to make the nutrients in our food usable for our body. Nutrient deficiencies can cause hair loss and harm hair growth, which we’ll discuss next.
Thinning hair and vitamin deficiencies
Exploring vitamin and mineral deficiencies is a great place to start when trying to reverse hair loss in women.
According to Dr. Abraham Armani, a hair restoration surgeon and hair loss expert, “iron deficiency in pre-menopausal women is one the main causes of hair loss.”
In addition to iron deficiency, many vitamin and mineral deficiencies have been connected to hair loss. It’s always best to speak with your doctor and get blood work done to see if you have any of these deficiencies.
Research has shown that the following list of vitamins and minerals may be contributing to hair loss in women:
Vitamin A
Vitamin B Complex, specifically riboflavin, biotin, folate, and vitamin B12
Vitamin C
Vitamin D
Vitamin E
Iron
Selenium
Zinc
Hair loss due to weight loss
Hair loss in women can be caused by weight loss when it is done rapidly, in excess, through extreme dieting, or through weight loss surgery.
Weight loss under these circumstances can stress out the body or cause nutrient deficiencies that can lead to hair loss in women.
Hair loss during chemotherapy
According to the Mayo Clinic, “chemotherapy drugs are powerful medications that attack rapidly growing cancer cells. Unfortunately, these drugs also attack other rapidly growing cells in your body — including those in your hair roots. Chemotherapy may cause hair loss all over your body — not just on your scalp.”
If you are going through chemotherapy, it is best to speak with your doctor before trying any of the hair loss home remedies at the end of this post to ensure they wont impact your treatment.
Hair loss during pregnancy
During pregnancy, we experience an increase in the hormone estrogen. This increase causes our hair to remain in the “growing phase” and causes higher hair growth.
After delivery, our hormones return to normal levels, causing our hair to fall out and return to it’s normal cycle. The hair loss that was delayed during pregnancy is what you are seeing after pregnancy. It typically peaks 3-4 months after delivery.
Can hair loss in women be reversed?
Hair loss can absolutely be reversed! Hair is among the few tissues that we can actually regenerate at any time throughout our lifetime. In fact, Remember, about 90% of your hair is growing at any one time, you can do a lot to help it out.
Extreme hair loss may require more intensive interventions, or take longer, but there are many things you can do to help your body regrow hair. If you’re feeling frustrated and worried about hair loss you’ve experienced, fear no longer!
We’ve put together a great list of hair loss home remedies for you!
Hair Loss Home Remedies & Thinning Hair Remedies
Rosemary oil for hair loss
Rosemary Oil has been shown to be anti-inflammatory, promote nerve growth, and improve circulation. These 3 properties allow it to help your hair get the blood supply it needs to stay intact and continue to grow.
In fact, a 2015 trial compared the effects of rosemary oil to Rogaine, and found them both the be equally as effective!
You can try spraying rosemary oil onto your hair and massaging it into the scalp or adding a few drops of the Rosemary essential oil to your shampoo.
Collagen for hair loss
Collagen supports healthy hair in a number of powerful ways.
First, collagen provides amino acids that are essential for building strong, healthy hair. Giving your hair the nutrients it needs to slow and prevent hair loss is a necessary step in reversing hair loss in women.
Additionally, collagen makes up about 70% of your dermis – the middle layer of skin that contains the root of each individual hair. As we age, we naturally begin to lose collagen, which can impact the health of our scalp.
Since collagen has been shown to improve the elasticity and strength of the skin, collagen can help to keep your dermis healthy and as a result keep the roots of your hair healthy as well.
Lastly, hair can become damaged as a result of free radicals. Our bodies produce free radicals as a result of stress, air pollutants, smoking, poor diet, alcohol, and other toxins in our environment. If we have too many free radicals, they can start to damage our cells.
Antioxidants can help reduce the free radicals and prevent hair damage and loss.
Fortunately, collagen has antioxidant properties and can help prevent this damage to our hair.
The biggest benefits from collagen are seen from consistent use so be sure to work collagen into your daily routine.
Our customers love adding our Collagen Creamer to your coffee, tea, or milk each day so they never miss a day. It is made with premium collagen that has been lab-tested to ensure it is free from pesticides and other harmful contaminants to bring you the most results.
Want to learn more about using collagen for hair loss?
Check out our Complete Guide to Collagen for Hair Loss and get all your questions answered. Find out what type of collagen is best for hair loss, how much collagen to take, and how long it will take to see results.
Vitamin and mineral testing for hair loss
One of the best places to start is to have your doctor test you for the vitamin and mineral deficiencies that are common in hair loss (see above).
Talk to your doctor about getting these tests done so you can start supplementing if needed.
If you do supplement with these vitamins and minerals, it is important to choose high-quality supplements as not all supplements are created equal.
Here are the ones we recommend for their quality and the more easily absorbed forms of the vitamins:
Selenium - a great source of Selenium is a good multivitamin or 2 Brazil nuts a day
Red light therapy for hair loss
Red light therapy is another great remedy to try for hair loss. While it is still an emerging field, and it is still in need of more research, it is a great option to try.
A 2017 trial found that women who received red light therapy had a 51% increase in their hair count after 17 weeks of daily treatment.
You can now buy red light therapy panels for your home.
Prebiotics for hair loss in women
As we mentioned earlier, poor gut health has been linked to hair loss in the research. In addition to that, poor gut health can create nutrient deficiencies.
One powerful, yet often overlooked, way to improve our gut health is through prebiotics. Yes, prebiotics.
You have probably heard of probiotics, which are a mixture of bacteria and yeast that we can get from certain foods (think kombucha, kim chi, sauerkraut, and yogurt) that benefit our gut health when we eat them.
Prebiotics are food for our good gut bacteria. Prebiotics are found in foods like dandelion greens, asparagus, onions, garlic, artichokes, and chicory root.
In our modern diets, we often do not get enough prebiotic rich foods, which can harm the balance of good and bad bacteria in our guts.
Since good gut health is so important for healthy hair, it can help to incorporate a quality prebiotic into your diet each day.
We recommend our Collagen Creamer as it contains one of the most well-studied prebiotics, inulin fiber.
Many customers share that they notice their digestion improves within the first day of using our Collagen Creamer.
Foods that help hair loss
One of the most powerful ways to support your body in building strong, beautiful hair is to start with the food you give it for the job!
Here is a list of healthy foods that you can start incorporating into your diet that are packed with nutrients your body needs for healthy hair.
Fatty Fish: it contains essential fatty acids, selenium, B vitamins, and protein that your hair loves.
Leafy Greens: greens contain vitamin A, iron, beta carotene, folate, and vitamin C.
Fruit: fruit contains antioxidants and Vitamin C which fight the free radicals we learned about in the Collagen section.
- Nuts & Seeds: these contain essential trace minerals your body needs for hair growth.
Find a daily way to alleviate stress
A Harvard study found that hair growth is impaired by stress. We often think that stress stays in our minds, but anyone who has ever felt a racing heart or butterflies in their stomach from stress knows that is not true.
One of the most powerful ways you can help your body heal is taking time every day, even for just 5 minutes, to truly relax and rest. It may seem difficult at first, but over time it will become easier. Alleviating stress in the body and mind allows the body to focus on healing, and regrowing your beautiful hair.
Here are a few things you can try that only take a little time:
Try laying down for 5 minutes and taking slow, deep breaths. You’ll notice an immediate shift in your mental and physical state.
Go on a walk outside in nature.
Write down 5 things you are grateful for in your life.
Hug someone you love for more than 30 seconds.
Breath in and let out a big sigh anytime you notice your body starting to tense up.
Wrap up
As we know, hair loss in women can be caused by many different things, but we also know that that means there are many small changes we can make each day to restore our hair.
Struggling with hair loss is not easy, but you are not alone, and you have so many tools you can try to support your body. Don’t be discouraged if something doesn’t work day one, stay consistent with these hair loss home remedies and you’ll see results.
You’ve got this! We’d love to hear from you. What questions do you have? What remedies have you tried that have helped you? Leave them in the comments below.