Thread: Women's Rogaine

I wonder if you don't have telogen effluvium. The type of hair loss known as TE is more common in women than in men. And it is more of a diffuse, even hair loss rather than the patches associated with traction alopecia from wearing the hair too tight etc. It is characterized by many hairs entering the telogen or resting stage of the hair cycle at one time. The profuse shedding that occurs during TE can seem overwhelming to women experiencing it. The condition is often brought on by crash dieting (losing more than two pounds a week), prolonged emotional or physical stress, post-pregnancy hormone changes or changes in hormones that occur with birth control pills, and severe illness. When these triggering factors are removed, TE hair loss usually ceases. The recovery of the lost hair, however, may take six months to a year. Recovery of this kind of hair loss is probable even without treatment.

To speed up recover from TE many professionals recommend bringing serum ferritin levels up to 70 or 80 ng/ml. The wide normal range for this level of iron stores in the body is between 12 to 150 ng/ml for women, but the lower end of this range is not sufficient to speed up hair growth. Eating iron-rich foods (lean meat) will usually raise the level over a period of time. Vegetarians may have a hard time bringing serum ferritin to the levels needed though. You can also help by taking prenatal vitamins

Rogaine used for only a few months sometimes will start the recovery process for TE. With TE the Rogaine will not have to be used after the hair begins to grow back.

Doesnt gear cause hairloss in women??? I wonder if the PS's could have caused it.

Originally Posted by Var

Doesnt gear cause hairloss in women??? I wonder if the PS's could have caused it.

What is PS´s?

i think he meant phs for prohormones. (i think)

Prosteroids.

No, I have been losing hair in the past year - this isn't a sudden thing. The only thing that I have taken was Methyl-D - and I since I am a woman, I only took up to a half a pill a day. But I started that back in March for 4 weeks. Oh, and I stopped taking the Pill back in March when I started Methyl-D.

My mom told me that after she gave birth to my brother when she was 28 that her hair started to fall out. I think that my dad went bald in his late 20's...so I have a feeling that it's either hereditary or from stress. I would think that if it is hereditary, that it would wait until I'm in my late 30's - I'm only 23. So I think that I'm convinced that it has something to do with stress and/or wearing a ponytail. What I think I'm going to do is stop wearing a ponytail for a while (even though it is VERY tempting) and see how that goes. In addition to that, I'm going to shape up my diet. It seems like I have little hairs growing back, but I'm still worried. I could care less if it takes up to a year to grow my hair back - just as long as it grows back!!!

Originally Posted by Var

Doesnt gear cause hairloss in women??? I wonder if the PS's could have caused it.

It depends on your genetics.

Baldness, or more commonly, male pattern baldness is inherited in a polygenic fashion. or a trait inherited by either or both of the parents. It may be a sex limited due to incomplete expression and penetrance but not X linked inheritance like color blindness. Male pattern baldness is a classic example of how inheritance pattern for something as simple as balding cannot be explained by pure Mendelian genetics anymore.We used to think it was inherited in an autosomal dominant manner but we now know it is inherited from both parents and can have incomplete penetrance thus, have varying levels of expression in the person who carries the gene. Ie: you can have the gene, but you don't go bald or you can look michael jordan if the environment is right.

Since the hormonal environment has to be right, it makes sense that men express it at an early age due to high levels of testosterone and byproduct hormones. Women can express it early if they have untreated congential adrenal hyperplasia (where the adrenal glands overproduce male hormones) or a ovarian tumor that produces testosterone, or use androgenic hormones and carry the gene.

The hormonal mileu of the women approaches that of men after menapause (higher ratio of testosterone to estrogen) (Remember, our adrenal glands continue to make testosterone until death) so some women who carry the gene will start expressing it then. Also overactive or underactive thyroid can cause hair loss.

Intersting there is a racial preferrance. Androgenic alopecia is responsible for male pattern baldness in fifty percent of white men and women over 40 but the percentage is less in asians, blacks and lastly, American Indians. So the idea of coinheritance (say a racial gene inherited with the balding gene ) may also be important.


Some people may not have the gene and still have age related miniaturization of the hair follicles and it can look like incomplete balding. These people probably won't respond to Propecia (a 5-alpha reducatse inhibitor) but might respond to Rogaine (don't really know the mechanism of action of the latter).




Rember, there are other causes of "cue ball" like non scarring alopecia called alopecia areata, alopecia totalis etc. which are not genetic disorders so much as autoimmune conditions (like Lupus, Rheumatoid etc.)

Most of all, remember, we have yet to isolate the specific gene or set of genes exclusively responsible for male pattern baldness!!!!


Interesting, that some women exhibit the female pattern hair loss (diffusse thinning ) and some the M shaped male pattern of (early loss in temporal area etc.) Female pattern hair loss may be a different mechanism and responds to estrogen and or Rogaine but not to Propecia unlike male pattern hair loss where you can use the Propecia in these women. In addtion, it may be that women have the 5-HT enzyme expressed in a diffuse manner rahter than concentrated in the M distribution on the men. I would have to look into that.

As always, a great post from Bandaidwoman!

Originally Posted by Var

As always, a great post from Bandaidwoman!

Yeah, i love reading her posts.

How is your scalp condition? Has your scalp been uncommonly itchy? You could have Sebhorreic Dermatitis which has been known to cause TE. Nizoral could help with the situation if that were the case, you can get non-prescription strength at a pharmacy for like $10.

As always, BandAidWoman Ownz this post.

bandaidwoman is my idol....once again....great information.

the true cause of your hairloss may be multifaceted and certainly could be related to the methyl-d or the pill....but it is unlikely since the dose was so small. Also....hair loss related to "gear".....in small doses...usually only happens to people who are genetically predisposed to hair loss.

some things that i have seen work with great sucess are:

GNC's Womens Ultra Mega Vitamin (stop taking the one you are on now.....this one is better in most cases)

and Biotin 2500 mcg....1-2 times per day.

as a side note..just to get more information...how are your fingernails? Are they thin or brittle? Do they crack easily?

i would try the vitamin and biotin....they are good for you anyway so they can only help....and if you dont get the desired result with your hair at least you know it wasnt because of a vitamin defeciency.