9 Signs Your Thinning Hair Isn't "Just Your Age"
If your parting's wider, your hair's finer and you've been told it's just your age, read this before you spend another penny on your hair.
"It's your age."
Most women over 60 who sit in my chair have already heard it from a GP, a hairdresser, a daughter and the mirror.
It's rarely the whole story.
I'm a trichologist, a hair and scalp specialist. Before I'd ever say those words to anyone, I look for nine signs.
You won't have all nine. Nobody does. But I'd be surprised if you don't recognise most of them.
1Your parting looks wider than it used to
It used to be a thin line. Now it's a stripe.
Some mornings you move it, just to see if the other side looks better.
That widening isn't hair falling out. Each hair along the parting comes back a little finer than the one before, so less of the skin is covered.
2Your brush looks normal, but there's less hair on your head
If you were losing more hair, the brush and the plughole would show it first.
They don't. Because you're not losing more.
You're growing finer. Each new hair comes through a little thinner and shorter than the last. Same number of hairs. Less hair.
3It feels finer, falls flatter, and there's less to hold
It won't hold a set or a blow-dry the way it did. By lunchtime it's flat.
The bobble goes round one more time. The clip slides out.
If you thought you'd been doing your hair wrong, you haven't. It's every strand being a little thinner, added up across your whole head.
150 days to decide · nothing to send back
4It's thinner on top than at the back
Lift the hair at the back of your head. The hair low at the nape has held on far better than the hair on top.
Same blood. Same age. Same head.
Those low follicles barely respond to DHT, the hormone that quietens the follicles on top once the menopause has taken its brake away.
So it can't be what you eat, or you'd be thinning everywhere. And it can't simply be age, or the back would have aged too.
Try it tonight: the two-hair test
- Take one hair from the nape of your neck.
- Take one from your parting.
- Lay them side by side on white paper, in good light.
Most women are surprised by how much finer the one from the parting is. That difference is the signal at work, not your age.
5You see more scalp under bright light
The bathroom mirror. The lift. The hairdresser's lights. A photo someone took from behind.
Under bright light, the scalp shows through. That's light passing between finer hairs and bouncing off the skin.
So you've started working round it. A different parting. Root powder. Checking photos for your hair before anything else.
6It doesn't grow as long as it used to
It reaches a certain length and seems to stop. The ends look thin and wispy, however often you trim them.
Each hair has a growing phase. When the signal weakens, that phase gets shorter, so each hair stops sooner and finer.
7It crept up on you
Maybe you can't name the month it started. Or something set it off, the menopause, an illness, a hard year, and it never came back the way it was.
When oestrogen falls, it takes away the brake that kept DHT off the follicle. Each cycle, the signal to grow gets a little weaker.
And it doesn't settle by itself. Every cycle a few follicles finish for good, and those don't come back. The rest are only quiet.
8Nothing you've tried has really changed it
Vitamins. Rosemary oil. A serum with a dropper. Regaine. Or standing in Boots, not sure what any of it does.
Most of it lands on the hair, or goes into the blood. Hair is dead; nothing in it can take an instruction. And your blood, as sign 4 shows, was never short.
Minoxidil does reach the scalp, and for some women it's right. But it does one job, blood flow, and the shedding tends to come back when you stop.
9You've been told it's just your age, even if you're the one who said it
A GP. A hairdresser. A daughter. Or the voice in your own head in the bathroom mirror.
But some women your age still have all of theirs. She isn't lucky in her hair. She's lucky in her signal. And a signal is a thing that can be sent.
The follicle doesn't know how old you are. It knows whether it's been told.
How many did you recognise?
Most women I see recognise nearly all of them.
Every one points the same way: not a supply problem, not your age, but a signal that's gone quiet. Here's what reaches it.
What reaches a quiet follicle
Anything you try next should do three things.
- 1Go on the scalp, not the hair. That's where the follicle is.
- 2Stay there for hours, not seconds. Not rinsed away in ninety.
- 3Carry a signal, not supplies. Your blood already has the supplies.
And it should tell you how much of each active is in it. These actives are expensive, which is why cheaper bottles leave the amounts off.
The serum I work with, Formula No5, does all of it. It goes on at night and stays on while you sleep, with the strength of each active on the label:
The part most serums get wrong: getting it there
Most scalp serums come with a dropper. On anything longer than a short bob, most of each dose lands on your hair, your fingers and the pillow.
Formula No5 comes with its own applicator. You fill it from the dropper, then draw it along your parting.
Six chrome tips lay the serum on the scalp like a pen on paper. Ten seconds along the parting, ten across the crown. No glasses, nothing on your fingers.
What happens, honestly
150 days to decide · nothing to send back
What women ask me before they start
My hair's grey. Will it work?
It works at the follicle, whatever the colour. New hair grows in the colour you are now.
Is it safe with HRT or my tablets?
It's a leave-on scalp serum with nothing swallowed. It can be used alongside HRT, Regaine or supplements.
Will it make my hair greasy?
Apply the label dose to the scalp rather than coating the lengths, and let it dry before styling or going to bed. Avoid adding extra serum; how it feels can vary with your hair and routine.
Can I still colour or set my hair?
Follow your colour or styling product's instructions. Avoid applying serum to an irritated scalp, and ask your colourist about timing around a colouring appointment.
Is this a subscription?
The five-bottle offer linked here is a one-time purchase. It does not enrol you in a subscription or automatic repeat order.
Anagen Lab asked me to include their current offer
- The No5 applicator in the box
- Free UK delivery
- Five months of serum, about 40p a day
150 days. Nothing to send back.
If you're not seeing a difference by day 150, email them and they'll refund you in full. You don't need to send the bottles back.
Nobody gives 150 days on something they expect back.
Before you decide anything, do the two-hair test tonight.
Then it's your choice: start tonight, or once you've looked for yourself. And if you'd rather put it down to age for another year, that's your call.
Just remember: the follicles that finish don't come back. The quiet ones are waiting to be told.
Dr Rachel Osei
Consultant trichologist (BSc Hons, MSc Trichology). She sees women with thinning hair every week, and works with Anagen Lab on Formula No5.