How Do Hormones Influence Hair Growth And Loss
Hormones affect almost every part of the body, not just the reproductive process. Hair growth, hair loss, and hair integrity are all influenced by hormones, too. Birth control pills and other hormonal birth control products contain a cocktail of different hormones either estrogen and progestin, or progestin only. Although the express purpose of the pill is to prevent ovulation and thus, fertilization, the pill influences other physiological processes too.
While the female reproductive system is most heavily influenced by progesterone and estrogen, female sex hormones, androgens also play a significant role. Androgens are male sex hormones, such as testosterone. They are also present in the female reproductive system, although at minimal levels. Men also naturally produce estrogen, too, but it is in minuscule amounts. Androgens, however, significantly influence hair loss and growth. The presence of male sex hormones is one of the biggest reasons why men are prone to hair loss and baldness. While women only need to produce a tiny amount of androgens for reproductive health, higher levels of androgens can trigger alopecia in women. Women who experience hair loss tend to have thinning of all of their hair, where balding occurs around the entire head. For men, baldness tends to happen in specific areas of the head, such as the temples, the crown, or the back of the head.
The Link Between Hormones And Hair Growth
Basically, because birth control pills alter hormone levelswhich have a huge impact on the hair growth cycle, they have the potential to affect the growth of your hair. Although the pill may not affect hair growth at all, if it does, the changes can be positive or negative. How a BCP will affect your scalp hair, if at all, depends on what synthetic hormones it contains and whether it is oestrogenic or androgenic. Oestrogens can be considered hair friendly they help to keep strands in their anagen phase for their maximum length of time. Androgens can have the opposite effect, explains Anabel.
Again, whether or not the pill will effect you is dependent on your individual genetic makeup. For instance, if you have a strong genetic predisposition that causes hair follicles on your scalp to be sensitive to normal levels of androgens , androgenic BCPs have a high potential of having a negative impact on your hair growth. On the other hand, Oestrogenic BCPs can be helpful for those with follicle sensitivity. In fact, certain birth control pills, such as Yasmin and Dianette, are often prescribed to help with hair density changes, adds Anabel.
Your Skin Might Break Out
Combination birth control pills , which combine estrogen and progestin, clear up acne in many women because they can lower the bodys levels of androgen, a hormone that produces oils on the skin. You may discover new crops of pimples after you stop taking the pillespecially around your period, when hormone levels fluctuate.
Going off birth control pills may return acne symptoms to what they were before starting birth control pills, says Dr. Bhardwaj. If you do decide to go off the pill, there are other ways to manage your hormonal acne, like switching cleansers, reducing stress, or taking probiotic supplements.
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You Could Get Pregnant Right Away
No, your body doesnt need time to clear birth control from your system. For most women, normal ovulation resumes within a month or two, and one study found that 20% of women were able to get pregnant one cycle after stopping birth control. If youre not trying to get pregnant, make sure to use condoms or another type of contraception immediately after you stop taking your pills.
Will Hair Loss Stop After Stopping Birth Control
Hair loss often occurs in women who start and stop birth control. This typically occurs 1-2 months after starting and stopping and can last 4-5 months . For some individuals it lasts 9-12 months. For the vast majority of individuals, the abnormal shedding eventually stops and returns to normal shedding patterns- even without treatment.
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Questions To Ask Your Doctor Does Birth Control Cause Hair Loss
What Causes My Hair Loss? Is there a cure that will work for me? How long will it take before my hair grows back?
Will my hair grow the same or will the texture rise? I have a fungal infection. How long will it take for the medicine to start working? Do I need to change my hairstyle?
Does birth caontrol cause hair loss? Can I do something to make my hair look fuller?
How Going Off Oral Birth Control Might Affect Your Hair & Skin
Going on or off oral birth control pills is a personal choiceone that people make for a variety of reasons that are certainly not anyone else’s business! Not to mention, there are many options available for birth control, each with its own unique formulas that influence the body and hormones in a variety of ways. And of course, our bodies themselves are highly individualized and may be influenced by said changes in birth control vastly differently.
This is why I find it challenging to write about skin and hair changes within the context of hormonal birth control. What one person experiences will not hold true for the rest: There are simply too many variables.
That being said, there are some similar concerns I tend to get asked about more than others. Most notably? Acne flare-ups and hair loss.
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Can Birth Control Pills Make Your Hair Grow
You should look for pills that contain more estrogen than progestin if you have hair loss in your family. In fact, these pills have a low androgen index, which means they can actually stimulate hair growth by keeping your hair in the anagen phase for longer periods of time. Desogestrel-ethinyl estradiol is one of the low-androgen birth control pills.
What Your Healthcare Provider Might Say
Birth control pills that contain both estrogen and progestin can be prescribed to treat acne and hirsutism , and sometimes hair loss.
Progestin-only methods such as the implant, hormonal IUD, or shot may worsen acne, hirsutism, or hair loss in some people.
To understand these effects requires a little anatomy and physiology lesson.
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Can Birth Control Pills Help With Hair Loss
Not all birth control pills can serve as hair loss treatment. In fact, some can worsen the problem and actually cause hair loss. Birth control pills with a low androgen index are the only ones that should be used as hair loss treatment high-androgen-index birth control pills may contribute to hair loss.
Other Hair Loss Factors
Hair loss can come from a number of factors, stress being one of them, confirms Dr. Firshein. This hormone actually constricts blood vessels and that can cause hair follicles to go into stress or shock because of those changes, he says, adding that another example of a sudden change in hormones would be during pregnancy. In this case, circulating levels of hormones that generally benefit hormones tend to relatively decline. That can be a problem after pregnancy or before.
Other than gender hormones, the thyroid, which is important for metabolic function and for your hair follicles, may be to blame for hair thinning. Hair without enough thyroid hormone can become dry, brittle and thinner. That can give you the appearance that youre having significant hair loss when in fact its related to significant thinning and changes in the quality of the hair. Lastly, another common reason for hair loss is polycystic ovaries, because there is more testosterone produced in this condition. Again, the effect of testosterone and DHEA when theyre converted, are to make baldness more pronounced and more common, he says.
Not everyone experiences excessive hair shedding after stopping a birth control pill, adds Anabel. However, if hair shedding does occur, it can last for up to 3 months.
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Does Starting And Stopping Birth Control Pills Cause Hair Loss
Posted on September 6, 2019 in Female Hair Loss
The short answer is YES. Using oral contraceptives mimics pregnancy in a woman. This medication contains estrogen, which is a naturally-occurring hormone in all women. We know that estrogen provides positive effects on many aspects of a womans body from skin tone, vaginal moisture, and luxurious hair.
During pregnancy, women report that their hair is the best it ever had been in their lives. This is for good reason because estrogen levels are higher during pregnancy.
So, on the Pill, estrogen reigns and hair quality and characteristics are good. However, when the oral contraceptive is stopped, estrogen levels decline rather rapidly and hair shedding, therefore, increases. The phone at Leonard Hair Transplant Associates begins to ring off the hook! Dr. Lopresti and I are on high alert to educate our patients about what is going on.
Thankfully, this is a time-limited situation. The shedding will stop within three months and any hair that was lost will regrow over the next four months or soexcept if one already had signs of female pattern hair loss. If this is the case, the hair density will get better, but not to the fullness it had been before the starting or the stopping of the Pill.
Please make the time, if you are a woman of any age, who is concerned about your hair thinning of worse, to contact our offices for a complimentary consultation. Sadly, without effective therapy, it will only get worse
Dr. Robert Leonard
Other Studies Have Found That Women On Oral Contraception Remember Emotional Stories More Like Men
Other studies have found that women on oral contraception remember emotional stories more like men recalling the gist more than the details. Theyre also not as good at recognising emotions in others, such as anger, sadness, or disgust just like men. It looks suspiciously like certain types of pill are masculinising womens brains.
Women on contraceptive pills arent as good as recognising emotions like sadness in other people which is more common to men
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Can The Birth Control Pill Cause Hair Loss
In some cases, starting the birth control pill can trigger hair loss in women who are sensitive to hormonal fluctuations, especially fluctuations of androgens. Women who do not have any problems with alopecia or hair loss can experience some hair loss when first starting the pill, or if they are on the pill for a period of time and then stop taking the pill. Hair loss in these cases is typically not permanent. But, for women who are prone to hair loss stemming from hormonal issues, they need to be aware of the risk of hair loss when starting or stopping the pill.
A hair cycle consists of a growing and a resting phase. There is a chance birth control pills can cause hair to switch from the growing phase to the resting phase too soon and for too long. This is a form of hair loss called telogen effluvium.
My 23 Year Old Daughter Is About To Stop Loestrin Bcp Due To Major Hair Loss
I received this email and am posting the question, and my response in case it can perhaps help other women confronted with the same situation .
Hi I just came across The Womens Hair Loss Project. We are desperate. My daughters situation sounds similar to yours. Shes been on Loestrin for 4 years since sophomore year in college. Her hair has started thinning, and lately, its accelerated to where her part is very wide, her hair is very thin, the top of her hair pretty bad. All doctors said blood work fine, its female pattern hair loss, start rogaine 5%. Shes so desperate that she finally agreed to listen to me and go off the Loestrin but wants to start ortho tri cyclen because doctor said its a hair protectant. So shes planning on starting that and the Rogaine at the same time. We are so scared. Something doesnt feel right. Im afraid for her to do both at the same time because if something goes wrong, we wont know which. I think she should get off BCP pills completely. Just want to hear your opinion. Please. Look forward to hearing from you. Thank you!!! -S
Dear S
I should state what I think is already known but just in case, Im not a doctor My experience with hair loss is living with it for 21 years and going to great lengths to find an answer to this problem, treat it a number of ways, and along the way deal with the sufferings it brought, disappointments and regrets and having it be one long ass journey to trying to find myself again.
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What Caused My Hair Loss
What caused my hair loss? What caused your hair loss? Me and my wig sit in the sun to discuss this topic. Id love to know what caused your hair loss, and would love to also know if you dont know. I think often many women live their whole lives not knowing, I think that is pretty common, but the more we share, the more we can learn from each other. and sometimes it will just forever remain a mystery. Its hair loss, its complicated, so thats a thing.
In this video I discuss the cause of my hair loss, which was getting off the Birth Control Pill, Loestrin FE in 1999. I also discuss my own regrets in jumping the gun on treatment and not allowing my body to maybeeee have a chance to resolve the situation on its own. Things Ive pondered in the past a million times over. Maybe it would have, maybe it wouldnt. Ill never know, and while we cant look back or go back, I can certainly share my story so that perhaps it helps another. Would love to hear from you with what caused your hair loss and also if you dont know, definitely share that too!
Sending much love to all! XOXO
Androgenic Alopecia Treatment Options For Women
Women are in a Catch-22 position when it comes to drug treatments for androgenic alopecia. While many drugs may work to some degree for some women, doctors are reluctant to prescribe them, and drug companies arent exactly falling over themselves to test existing or new drugs specifically for their ability to prevent and treat female pattern baldness. Physicians are reluctant to use systemic treatment unless they know that the hair loss is due to an excess of androgen in the system or a sensitized over-response to the so-called normal amounts of androgen in the system. Thats because these systemic treatments may lower the bodys androgen levels. Therefore, physicians often choose topical treatments . The best results from treatment happen when you begin treatment as soon as possible after the hair loss begins, because prolonged androgenic alopecia may destroy many of the hair follicles. The use of anti-androgens after prolonged hair loss will at least help prevent further hair loss and encourage some hair regrowth from those follicles that have been dormant but are still viable. Stopping treatment will result in the hair loss resuming if the androgens arent kept in check in some other way. Maintaining your vitamin and mineral levels helps while youre on anti-androgen medications.
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