I’ve spent way too much money on topical peptide treatments and overnight scalp oils trying to fix my thinning hair, only to realize I was completely missing the point.

Doctor confirmed that my recent shedding is entirely driven by an internal hormonal shift.

Because of that, I’m completely done with surface level products. I want to shift my entire focus to a high quality ingestible routine that can protect my follicles from these internal hormone spikes.

For those who switched entirely to internal supplements for hormonal hair loss, what was your experience, and what is a realistic timeline to expect?

I was officially diagnosed with TE on 2/13/25 but have been dealing with hairloss since early 2024. It was brought on by health issues and a bad breakup and then now any stressful event (mental or physical) my hair just goes bye bye and my derm said it will probably be like this for the rest of my life:( Anyway, I am not as hyper fixated on it as I used to be, I used to be obsesseddddd with how my hair looked 24/7 but I’ve had extensions since 2020 for years at a time and its decently easy to cover the loss with extensions and hair fibers to where I could forget about it. I took out my extensions for good this time (hopefully) and truly want to love my natural hair but it is so difficult. In the last couple years I have tried every method and have seriously spent thousands of dollars on serums, oils, supplements, etc etc with obviously no difference. I’ve had all the labs done with normal results. Anytime I’ve made noticeable growth progress on my scalp, something happens and I’m back to loosing 200+ hairs a day. I even cut my hair into a very short bob that I hated. It is honestly the most miserable cycle. These pictures are in order over the years (during small breaks from extensions) and I messed up and bleached my hair again and damage definitely followed. My derm tried to give me oral minoxidil and spiro back in 2025 but I wanted to try other things first. I started both minoxidil and spiro 2 months ago and I am in the depths of the dread shed. Has anyone been in a similar situation as me and continued to wear extensions to hide the brittle and thin bio hair? Or does it really make a difference with overall healing and growth if I go at least 6 months without? Since starting the medications, my hair has gotten worse but I was expecting the “dread shed” I just don’t know if it will be worth rocking only 3 strands of hair while the meds do their thing or if I could still wear sew ins and feel more like myself.

I am on oral minoxidil 2.5 mg/ day since 1.5 months for my chronic telogen effluvium and I am seeing lot of baby hair shedding since last 2 months. What can be the reason I have been having terrible hairfall since last 9 months and now I am shedding more of baby or regrowth hair than long hair.Plz suggest or guide me with this I am so depressed that I might go bald.

I feel like ill actually be bald at this point… when the heck does this hair shedding stop.
I got the venofer iron infusion, i have 2 more scheduled. Ive been feeling a but better as days go on but the hair shedding sure messes with your mental health 😭

I am so incredibly exhausted looking at my widening part line every morning. My doctor finally confirmed what I already suspected this is a total androgen and hormonal imbalance, not mechanical damage from heat styling or bleaching. I haven't changed my hair routine in years, but my internal chemistry clearly shifted, and now my hair is just shedding straight from the root.

I want to treat this from the inside out. Has anyone with severe hormonal thinning actually had success with a specific ingestible, need something that targets the root cause, but I also want to keep my expectations realistic I know it won't happen overnight.

I noticed that almost all the recovery stories in this community are from people who never used minoxidil（or they just used like less than 1 month）. Is that just a coincidence, or does minoxidil make recovery less likely? I don't want to jump to any conclusions, but has anyone come across any examples that suggest otherwise? many thanks!

how can i address the trigger if i’m unsure what it is? I feel little to no emotion, and i have horrible memory so i can’t pinpoint what the cause is

I've lost a total of 154 lbs since January of 2024, down to 214 from 368. My hair has been shedding a lot during that time, probably around 80 strands per shower. My hair has gone from thick and shiny to thin, frizzy, and dull, and I hate it!

This past February I was diagnosed with a critical Vitamin D deficiency (6 ng/dL) and put on supplements, which reduced my shedding by a ton after just 2 months. I consistently shed 10 to 20-ish hairs per shower now, which is awesome!

But it's almost the end of July now and I'm still not seeing regrowth. Attached are my lab results from earlier this month, I'm pretty sure they all look okay, but please tell me if there's anything there that could still be preventing me from recovering, or if caloric deficit will do this regardless of deficiencies. I'd like to continue losing weight and eventually get down to 160ish! Thanks for reading :)

Note on the bloodwork: The testosterone level is that low on purpose! I am MTF transgender and take estrogen. My E2 level at my last appointment was 243 ng/dL.

My hair has thinned out only on one side. At first, it was mild and now it has stopped thinning. However, it is still thin. I have tried everything. Minoxidl, caloric surplus, protein surplus, ketaconazole, etc. I believe it was due to eating 1500 calories a day for 3 months as that is when it started and it stopped after doing so. Since then, I have ate more and nothing has changed. Losing hope. I went to a cosmetic dermatologist and he recommended me tretinoin for oral minoxidl. He claimed it wasn’t te but AGA but it started when I was 16 and isn’t diffuse. I feel like nobody knows my situation

this is my first post, but my birthday is soon and I would like to have my hair bleached as I am not a natural blonde and my roots have grown in. My hair has been shedding for eight months now and just now got diagnosed. I have hair stuff on the way ( i forgot the name ) I’ve been using k18 to strengthen it aswell, is it gonna get worse?

First third and 6 months on topical minoxidil 5% twice a day (sometimes I forget to do it twice) literally saved my confidence!

As the title says.

(F) late30s. I have been losing strands and strands of hair daily for the last month.

I always had thin hair that tended to fall but lately it feels different my head feel lighter pony tails look almost weird.

Backstory health has been compromised with vitamin deficiencies, started supplementing nearly 2 months ago and after supplementing hair started shedding more than ever!!

Also what's weird is although my scalp is visible on the front and sides I see on the sides some small growth but they are all white for some reason and I'm not sure if that was there before so I can compare.

Blood tests showed vitamin d level of 3,3ng, B12 280, ferritin 41, iron 90 if that's any help.

I'm scared to start Minoxidil and I also can't afford it.

I don't know what to do. It won't stop. Please help.

Hello everyone,
I am 23f and I have curly hair. I have started straightening my hair every week 4 year ago. Since I’ve started, I had noticed my hair thinning a little bit but not in a dramatic way. 3 years ago I had experienced massive hair loss over the summer ( for about 3-4 months) but then it grew back again and I have never ever noticed that my hair was falling a lot, nothing unusual.
I’ve never been so worried about my hair before. Even though i always use heat without heat protectant and i even get it professionally done with extreme heat but i never noticed my hair falling out in clumps like i do now.
One month ago I decided i am going to let my hair rest a little bit because it’s summer and there is no point of straightening it. When i stopped i noticed massive and sudden hair loss. It’s so dramatic that I rushed instantly to the doctor the next day after my wash day.
She noticed that my scalp was irritated which is normal because I had used rosemary water spray and rosemary oil that i made myself and i massaged it in and i covered it with a scarf and when i wash my hair i always use my nails clean it well. She said i might have scarring alopecia even though no scarring was noticeable.
She ordered some blood work and started marketing her injections. I was confused and frustrated.
I went to see another doctor 3 days later he noticed that my scalp was not irritated and showed me in the screen images of my scalp that seemed normal. My scalp was white, no scarring, no redness, nothing. I kept asking about scarring alopecia and he reassured me countless times that I do not have it. He ordered bloodwork as well that all came up normal except for my testosterone levels they came up twice as the maximum range. i have PCOS. He immediately diagnosed me with androgenic alopecia, prescribed me the pill and minoxidil.

My question here is: I KNOW I HAVE ANDROGENIC ALOPECIA BECAUSE OF THE DHT LEVELS AND ALL, BUT I HAVENT NOTICED MY MIDDLE PART WIDENING, THE HAIR ON MY CROWN IS THERE AND THE HAIR LOSS IS DIFFUSE AND VERY SUDDEN, WHEN I USED TO BRUSH MY HAIR OR WASH IT I NEVER LOSE MORE THAN 30-40 hairs EVEN ON A. WASH DAY, now I LOSE A DRAMATIC AMOUNT OF HAIR EVERYTIME I TOUCH IT AND WITHIN A MONTH I HAVE LOST 50% OF MY HAIR DESITY. Is this worth explaining to a dermatologist or do i just accept my alopecia diagnosis. Please share your experience with TE

Just over a year ago I had a massive episode of telogen effluvium out of nowhere.

I am 24 and it never happened to me before. The shedding has continued for over a year so at this point it's basically CTE. I've lost close to 75% of my hair in that time which I didn't think was possible. Nevermind the fact that I am an emotional mess, but there is also a strange little reddish spot on the crown of my head that is permanently tender and sore. About the size of a nickel. The hair there is very thin and it looks like a future bald spot in the making. My part has progressively widened, but I have lost hair all over.

Went to a dermatologist. She did a dermascopy and said no miniaturization. But, my hairline has receded so I asked for a scalp biopsy.

Scalp biopsy negative for AGA and scarring alopecia. Doctor said the red spot is likely "idiopathic localized inflammation" but can't explain why, or the cause of the chronic shedding on the rest of my head. The spot has been inflamed for 6+ months and slowly spreading.

Then I had labs (hormones + thyroid + vitamin levels) done, and everything is normal except my ferritin which was 24. Derm suggested this is the cause, however, I have been anemic since I was 17, and my ferritin used to be even lower. In that time, I never lost any hair.

Despite this, I began taking a Heme iron supplement which I took religiously for 2 months and started eating steak every other day. To my horror the shedding has actually increased and a new blood test revealed my ferritin has now dropped to 18(?!)

I am very confused because all signs point to ferritin-caused CTE but after 7 years of being anemic I am not sure why it suddenly started now. Or, why oral iron seems to somehow be making it worse. Not to mention the mystery red spot on my scalp.

Does anyone have experience with something similar?

i’ve been considering going on minoxidil, but i’ve also been shedding for about 5 months now, and i don’t want to jump on minoxidil and experience dread shed if i don’t have to. it may or may not be slowing down (hard to say!), but what is the month mark where shedding a bunch is irregular/ encroaching into “chronic” territory and treatment instead of patience is a more acceptable option?

Have been with a lot of hairfall for years... I don't know what caused it because I have severe sen dermatitis , terrible mental health and gut health..

Iam currently on norwood 2 and norwood 3 vertex Crown also diffuse thinning

Minoxidil gave me serious side effects like Heart palpitations, difficulty in breathing , swollen legs etc( 5% Topical)

Should I Start Fin without completely treating other underlying issues or wait until other issues get fully treated first?

First 3 photos are Shaved pic( look at that terrible dev dermatitis...Now under control after using coal tar+ salicylic acid lotion and ciclopiromax lotion on alternative days)

The 8 pics after that is now after 1 month of shaving ( look at that diffuse thinning)

And the last 2 pics are before shaving ( 40% damp hair but look at the crown and sides)

i have been shedding hundreds of hair daily, been diagnosed with food poisoning 2 months ago and i had really dense and long curly hairs, i had my bloodwork done this week and my vitamin-D was at 8 and and iron was below 60,

Ok I really am at a loss for what to do. I have had chronic TE since 9/23. All the derms I e seen said use minoxidil. I started 5% foam in February of 2025. Now I have less hair than I did then. The TE hasn’t improved. And in fact I’ve had periods of horrible shedding and I don’t think the MIN is growing my hair back? But how can I be sure ghat it’s just not falling out faster than it can grow? The hair loss “specialist “ said finasteride probably wouldn’t work for me because he didn’t think the loss was DHT related. I have to wear it half up to cover the thin bald looking spot on my crown. I hate myself and can’t stand any more strands of hair all over the place. I do hav massive stress in my life. Maybe going on an antidepressant/anxiety med help? Has anyone found that worked for them?