Female hair loss.

sued59 - At the risk of repeating myself As I have mentioned above I wear a 'hair system'. It is not hot or itchy. It is also not cheap. It is done at a specialist hair clinic. I now have no hair at all really. This system is firmly attached to your head. I have been out in gale force winds, all sorts of weather and there is not a chance of it coming off. I can wash it as normal (head in the sink as with normal hair), curl it, style it. I go back to the clinic once every 6 weeks and they take it off and cleanse and condition my scalp before re-attaching the system. It is not how I want my life to be but it is what I have to deal with so I am doing the best I can. A similar system to mine (but not the one I go to is a salon run by Lucinda Ellery, you can find clips of her system on youtube I believe. By the way, my hair never fell out, it just stopped coming through my scalp if that makes sense. I have learned lately the there is a condition whereby the scalp can get clogged and the hair is unable to get through. This can be cured with certain products but can take a long time. The clinic where I go also uses laser treatment which works for some people.

Tegan
my hair started thinning about 10 years ago after I had total hysterectomy. I've also had an underactive thyroid for 20 odd years but apparently this was not a contributory factor!
I've always had fine hair but ther used to be plenty of it, but now I have almost total hair loss on top, and after exhausting every possible medical avenue - endocrinologist, full blood work, etc etc, it appears that I am cursed with "female pattern baldness" - hideously depressing term. Both my parents had thick luxuriznt hair all their lives, so do my 2 children, I drew the short straw ����
Last year in desperation I turned to "non surgical hair replacement", which turned out to be an extremely expensive hairpiece that was attached to my own hair in much the same way as hair extensions. I could wear it swimming, in the rain, and in fact treat it exactly as if it was my own hair. I was assured that it would not cause any damage to my scalp or my precious remaining locks, and so after discussing wth my daughter and a very close friend, I took the plunge and invested £800 in this enterprise. At first I was thrilled with the result, everyone remarked on how great my hair looked, 10 years younger, blah blah blah, and I would just smile and say I'd had a colour and a few extensions!
But very quickly the thing became loathsome! Hot and uncomfortable so that I wanted to rip it off! But I couldnt of course. Then after a couple of hair washes (took hours to dry too) the bead fixings would begin to work loose until it was flapping and detaching on one side. This meant I was going back to the salon to have it reattached every month, at £75 a time. This procedure was a couple of hours of sheer torture, the removal was painful, although the relief was enormous each time. But the amount of my own hair that came out with it each time was alarming. It was washed, my scalp was massaged, then it was reapplied .... more agony!
After 6 months of this I decided I couldn't bear it any more. It had got to the point that it was almost falling off so I removed the last 20 or so beads (even cutting some out) and got myself a couple of wigs. I have also found a wonderful NHS registered wig specialist who was horrified and said that attachment method was totally unsuitable for my problem. She has helped me to choose a wig that is very realistic, fits well and feels comfortable, and a fraction of the cost of the detested "roadkill" hairpiece. All in sll I spent over £2000 on the piece and the maintenance visits! �������� The wigs have cost me a couple of hundred each, I wish I'd just done that in the first place....older, wiser and poorer!
So Tegan I truly sympathise with you, it's an awful problem that made me feel somehow ashamed, as well as depressed and embarrassed, but I have ginalky found a readonable solution and feel much happier and more confident again.
Don't give up!

Tegan I've come to this post very late on! But I wanted to let you know the response from people I know (friends, work colleagues, neighbours) to my new look has simply been ... "ooh, your hair looks nice"!!!!! I think all they really see is the change of colour and the fact that I have loads more of it suddenly seems to go unnoticed! Close friends in the know have been unfailingly supportive and complimentary. Oh, and I have a much cheaper hair fall on a quite secure band for more active pursuits such as gardening!
My only problem is I won't even go out to the dustbin without the wig on, as I really couldn't bear to be seen 'au natrel' now!

I must have been very lucky with my hair replacement system. I have had it for nearly 6 years now and it's fantastic. Not hot, I can't even feel it on my head, it's just like having my own hair. I wish I had done it years ago and saved myself and my family a lot of upset and stress.

I don't see how anything could be attached to my hair because everywhere I look there's hair [on my desk/pillow/hairbrush etc]. I still haven't wore my wig in public although I did go out and spent a lot of time on my hair on Tuesday and put lots of Bouffe on it and I looked ok.

Tegan - mine is not attached to my hair as I have practically no hair now. It is put on with a special glue (which sounds horrendous but is fine). I have been out in gale force winds and it has stayed firmly stuck.

I just couldn't afford the maintenance Katy; could put a lump sum into it initially but couldn't keep paying indefinately.

Thats a major problem for people and during my search for a solution I was upset that there is no financial assistance available for something which causes so much distress yet young girls who are depressed because their boobs are too small can sometimes have them enlarged on the NHS. I am on a pension and sometimes struggle to pay for my hair but I will go without other things. Its not easy.

India Knight writing in The Sunday Times Style magazine praised John Frieda's 7 day luxurious volume in shower hair treatment.

www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/style/fashion/Beauty/article1552380.ece

So I bought some and so far I am with her my usually fine lank hair is as she says 'bouffy'. I have only tried the in shower treatment but will definitely be getting the other items in the range when I next go shopping - it's also on offer at Boots at I think 25% off.

Thought this was definitely worth sharing to others who suffer from thinning lank hair.

Hi, I lost all my hair through chemo treatment. Hated being bald so wore a wig. I worked in a doctors practice and at the time and most of the patients had no idea they thought it was just a new new hair do. I would recommend going to a salon that specalises in treating customers for hair loss. I cannot stress the confidence it gave me the staff were excellent advised on style, shade and when fitted gave the wig a great personalised cut. My own hair did grow back albeit very fine and I am always looking out for and trying out new products.
p.s. continued to use the same salon until our relocation North.

I'm so glad to have found this discussion. So firstly thanks for talking about something that is really important that usually gets ignored. I've had alopecia arreata for around 7 years now and was initially told by my GP that there was nothing I could do about it. Well, that was fine for him (he was a young male doctor and probably thought I shouldn't be worrying about such things 'at my age'). Anyway the patches grew and multiplied and even though you couldn't tell as none were at the front of my hair line, I knew and worried about it. A few years later, living in a different area I went to my new doctor (a woman in her 50s I think) who told me that of course there was a treatment I could try and I could even get it on the NHS! Well, I was desperate to try it out. But also, not very hopeful as everytime I googled I found people saying nothing could be done.
Long story short I went private (as husband had cover) and went to a clinic in Harley street for what I thought was a consultation. Well, the doctor said we could do treatment there and then. They injected the patches with some kind of steriod treatment I think and then sent me home. The whole thing took less than an hour. A few months later and most of the patches have grown back in. She did say other patches would probably appear (one has so far) but I have new hair growth in most of the previous places. And it's kept growing.
I just wanted to write this down - even thought it's come out rather long-winded, that so that if anyone like me has got this issue - know that this kind of treatment could work for you too. And don't let a doctor fob you off - there IS something you can do!
Good luck ladies with everything. Mary xx

That's interesting. I sometimes used betnovate scalp application on my scalp and often wondered if, as a topical steroid, it would help hair growth [but obviously didn't use it a lot]. Won't you have to continue having the treatment on a semi regular basis, though? I thought that, once hair follicles had died it was irreversible[sp] though?

Apparently it's something to do with the immune system attacked the hair follicles and the steroids suppress it just in those areas. To be honest I would go again but it's been a year since I had the treatment and my hair still only has the one patch back. It's small and well hidden, so ...so far. So good. I know it probably won't work for everyone, but if even one more person is helped through me mentioning it, I'll be glad to have shared my experience,

I'm glad it worked out so well for you Mary. I have heard of those steroid injections but having lost all of my hair (well almost all) I'm not sure that would have worked for me. They weren't offered to me by my GP though. Tegan - I think I mentioned somewhere on this thread that a hairdresser on TV said that there is a condition where the follicles get clogged and with treatment can be unclogged and the hair will grow back. It is a long process I believe. I'm convinced that was what happened to me as at no point did my hair fall out, it just stopped coming through the scalp. Also on TV last week there was a lady who had the most beautiful luxurious hair. It had grown back to its former glory after it had fallen out. She researched the subject and found that she had a condition that was something to do with her stomach (sounds unlikely but that's what she said - I can't remember the name of the condition). She completely cut out sugar and some carbs and her hair was restored.

I have frontal fibrosing alopecia which my dermatologist told me is an auto immune condition. This fits with previous conditions ranging from skin rashes (hives) to what was eventually diagnosed as fibromyalgia, all of which apparently are auto immune disorders. My immune system appears to be attacking different parts of my body. Thanks immune system!! My hairline has receded from the front and some at the back, for several years now despite various steroid treatments and a year on hydroxychloroquine sulphate tablets which were prescribed as a last resort. I am told the hair will never grow back as the follicles have been destroyed. I have a good haircut which disguises it somewhat but when the wind blows there is no escape. Winter hats are great and in summer I often wear a cap or sun hat (if there is any sun). An unrelated (apparently) condition means that I have also lost all body hair, including eyebrows and most eyelashes.
KatyK I also saw the same programme on TV but my diet is very low in sugar and carbs already so that's not likely to be an answer.
MaryDairy I'm glad you had some positive results but I'm afraid going private is not an option for me and I don't think I have the same condition as you.

The trouble with winter hats is that I sometimes find myself in a situation where I've been wearing a hat and then I get too hot and I don't want to take it off cause I think people will notice my hair. I still haven't had the courage to wear my wig, yet, but I am going to Yorkshire for a short break and might take it with me [that's what I'll probably do with; take it to lots of places and never wear it...I might give it a special bag and take it for walks the way that some people do with little dogs!].

Tegan you made me laugh, taking your wig for a walk! I don't think a wig is the answer for me as apart from the bald band around the front hairline the rest of my hair is OK (so far). I have several friends however, who do wear wigs and you would never know, especially as people are constantly changing their colour and styles these days. Try it girl and enjoy Yorkshire - lovely place and lovely people!

I too have been suffering with alopecia for 7 yrs. I had the steroid injections which seemed to help for a while but then the hair just stopped coming through so I called it a day with them as it was a painful procedure. That was about 2 yrs ago. Anyway now the thinning is much worse. I recently bought a topper, which I'm happy with from the front but have a problem with the back view as the hair is so shiny and quite thick. I've always had very fine hair. I can still disguise it with using bouffe but soon am going to have to resort to a wig I think. I have only worn the topper indoors l haven't had the courage to go out in it. Think I'll have to have a wig made which will be expensive but don't know what else to do. Why are wigs so thick I wonder.........

I agree; I want a wig that looks like my own thin, straggly grey hair but in a greater quantity than I've got! If we lived close to each other we could go out for the afternoon wearing a wig! Bouffe helps but I find that when I use it my hair falls out more afterwards [it's quite sticky]. Everywhere I look in my house I find grey hairs, although not as much as a few years ago when my hair went through a massive fall out phase [my boss used to pick the hair off my shoulders whenever she walked past me ].

I know, I'm at the stage now when every time I comb it I have hair on my clothes. I'm amazed that I can still manage to disguise it to some degree. I use restrand and bouffe, they're a boon. Anyway, I've made my appointment this coming week to get advice on a wig. Oh dear, not looking forward to it at all.

Let me know how you get on. I had my wig styled at my haidressers the other week [the only time I've worn it outside of the house]. My daughter says that my hairdresser does awful pudding basin cuts so I'm hoping that people will think that no one would possibly be wearing a wig that was cut so badly! I did go to a shop afterwards wearing it and the lady there [who I've spoken to a lot] said that, as I always have my hair tied back she just thought I'd blow dried it. I think that, now the weather is so hot it's going to be unbearably hot to wear.

It's clear from the number of posts on this thread that this is a big problem for women now. When I first had my hair system fitted, (6 years ago) the place I go to only had mens magazines in the waiting room, now they have lots of womens magazines too. The lady who does my hair tells me that they are getting more and more women now. As I said above, this almost ruined my life. There should be more help available free of charge.

I have sometimes wondered about getting a wig, but the nearest I've come is a hairpiece that's supposed to look like a messy ponytail. I bought 3 online for just £12 to make sure I got a good colour match and wore one to my 60th party, after first seeking the approval of my brutally honest DD1, who would have told me if it looked ridiculous. It was a great success, and I was complimented several times on my new hair style and even asked who had done my hair. It amazed me that no one thought to wonder how my baby fine, thin hair that I normally just tie back in a scrunchy because the ends are so wispy had suddenly blossomed into a voluminous "do". I was upfront about the new me, happily admitting that it was all down to a cheap "piece" and 4 hairclips.

I've got one of those Maggie; it works really well if I wear shades on my head or a fascinator [rare occasion that, though]. One of my problems is that, since my hair got really thin, I tend to look at other womens hair and wonder if it's a wig or a hairpiece of some kind; when I was younger it never crossed my mind. I therefore feel that everyone is scrutinising me, which isn't the case.

Though I think they're now such a fashion item, even for those without hair issues, that nobody thinks anything of it (I was going to say nobody turns a hair, and do you know, I think I will!).

Which is good news for us.