Thinning hair in Cardiff

Pattern loss or shedding

Is this pattern hair loss or shedding?

The most common hair loss in women falls into one of two groups, and they look different if you know what to look for.

Some women have both at once - a shed that unmasks pattern thinning that was quietly there underneath. That is exactly why guessing gets people the wrong treatment. If you want the full picture on shedding, including what to do while you wait for it to stop, read our guide on hair shedding. If you want to know which one is happening to you, the Cardiff Hair Loss Clinic assessment will tell you in 2 minutes.

What it means

Is this a sign of something serious?

It's the question on many people's lips. Most female hair loss is either pattern hair loss or shedding. Neither is dangerous. Neither means anything is wrong with the rest of you. They are common, they are treatable or self-limiting, and they are not a warning sign.

A smaller group of women are losing hair because of low iron stores or an underactive thyroid. It's worth finding this out, because the hair won't fully recover until they're fixed, and low iron and thyroid problems affect a lot more than hair. Both show up on a blood test, which your GP can arrange, and both are usually straightforward to treat.

A very small number of women have a type of hair loss that needs a specialist. These have particular signs, which we describe later.

Am I going to go bald?

Almost certainly not. When women imagine hair loss they picture what happens to men - a receding hairline, a bald crown, eventually a shiny top. Female pattern hair loss doesn't do that. It thins. The parting widens and the hair gets finer, but the follicles rarely stop producing hair altogether, and complete baldness in women is very rare.

It is progressive if you leave it alone, which is the honest argument for acting rather than waiting. But the picture in your head is almost certainly worse than what is actually going to happen.

Find the cause first

Why the cause matters

Imagine two women in Cardiff with the same widening parting. One has pattern hair loss. The other has been shedding for four months because her iron stores are low after years of heavy periods. If both start minoxidil, the first is likely to see her hair thicken over the next year. The second will see very little, because minoxidil can't fix a shortage of iron, and she'll think nothing works.

That's why we don't start with treatment. We start with the cause. For a lot of women the answer is clear from a few careful questions. For others, the next step is a blood test, which is cheap, quick, and changes the plan for a meaningful minority. Two things matter most - ferritin, which measures your iron stores rather than just your blood count, and thyroid function. Vitamin D is often checked alongside them.

And for a few women, the right first step is a doctor rather than a pharmacy. Knowing which group you're in is the whole point.

If your GP said your bloods were normal

A lot of women reading this have already been to their GP about their hair. They had a blood test, they were told everything was fine, and they were sent away with a suggestion that it was probably stress. Nothing changed, and they were left feeling they'd imagined the whole thing.

But here is what "normal" actually means. Every blood test has a reference range, and a result anywhere inside it is reported as normal. For ferritin, that range starts very low, because it was set to answer the question "has this person run out of iron?" It was not set to answer "is there enough iron here to grow hair well?" Many hair specialists want to see ferritin comfortably above the bottom of the range before they'd rule iron out as a factor.

This is why, if the assessment suggests a blood test is relevant, it asks you for the actual number rather than whether you were told it was fine. Your GP wasn't wrong. They were answering a different question. If you have a recent result, dig it out before you start.

Common triggers

The things that trigger hair loss in women

Here are the most common causes, so you can spot yourself quickly. The assessment asks about all of them.

After having a baby

During pregnancy, high hormone levels hold hair in its growing phase, which is why so many women say their hair was never better. A few months after the birth, all that held-back hair lets go at once. It's alarming, it's normal, and it usually peaks around three to four months and settles by the baby's first birthday. If you're a year on and your parting is still widening, that's the point to look further, because pregnancy shedding can also unmask pattern hair loss. If you're pregnant or breastfeeding now, we won't offer treatment, and we'll explain why.

Perimenopause and menopause

As oestrogen falls, the balance tips towards the androgen hormones that drive pattern hair loss, and thinning that was quietly there for years can suddenly become visible. This is the single most common time for women to first notice it. HRT can help many symptoms of menopause, but it is not a hair loss treatment in itself, and plenty of women on HRT still need something for their hair. If you're in your forties or fifties and your parting has changed in the last couple of years, this is very likely part of the story.

PCOS and hormonal causes

Polycystic ovary syndrome raises androgen levels, and in some women that shows up as thinning at the crown and parting, often alongside irregular periods, acne, or extra hair on the face or body. The hair loss itself is treated in the same way as pattern hair loss, but PCOS deserves its own conversation with your Cardiff GP, because it affects far more than hair. If you recognise the other signs and haven't had them looked at, do that too.

Hormonal contraception

Starting, stopping or switching hormonal contraception can trigger a shed a few months later. It usually settles. Less well known is that some progestogens are more androgenic than others, and for women who are prone to pattern hair loss, a particular pill or coil can nudge it along. That isn't a reason to stop contraception, but it is worth raising with your Cardiff GP surgery or sexual health clinic, because there are options with a lighter androgenic profile that are more hair-friendly.

Iron and thyroid

Heavy periods, a vegetarian or vegan diet, or a known thyroid condition all make low iron or thyroid problems more likely, and both are common, correctable causes of hair loss that don't respond to hair treatment alone. If any of these apply to you, a blood test is the smart first step, and the assessment will say so.

Tight hairstyles, braids and extensions

Years of tight ponytails, braids, weaves, extensions or tightly pulled-back styles can gradually pull hair out at the roots, especially along the front hairline and temples. This is traction alopecia. Caught early it's usually reversible, and the treatment is changing the style, not taking a tablet. Left for years, the follicles can scar and the loss becomes permanent. If your hairline has crept back and you've worn tight styles for a long time, loosen them now, whatever else you decide.

Weight loss injections and rapid weight loss

Losing weight quickly, whether through diet, surgery or medicines like Mounjaro or Wegovy, is one of the most common shedding triggers we see right now. It's thought to be the weight loss and the drop in nutrients that cause it, not the medicine directly, and it almost always settles once your weight stabilises and any deficiencies are addressed.

When to see a doctor

When hair loss needs a doctor, not a pharmacy

Some kinds of hair loss should be seen by a GP first, and in some cases by a dermatologist, before anyone talks about hair loss treatments. We don't treat these, and we'll tell you if the assessment suggests one of them. Here are the signs to know:

• Your hairline is receding at the front or sides and your eyebrows are thinning or disappearing at the same time, which in women, particularly over 40, can be a condition called frontal fibrosing alopecia that needs a dermatologist early because hair lost to it doesn't come back.
• Smooth, round, completely bald patches, which can be alopecia areata.
• A scalp that is sore, itchy, scaly, blistered or looks scarred.
• Hair loss alongside other symptoms such as unusual tiredness, unexplained weight change or irregular periods.

Patchy loss, a sore or inflamed scalp, or hairline and eyebrow thinning in women should be seen by a GP first. If the assessment picks up any of these, it won't offer you treatment. It will give you a short, clear list of what to say and what to ask when you book the appointment, so you're not starting from nothing.

Learn more about scalp treatment and conditions.

Not sure your hair loss fits either pattern, or want your scalp checked in person before starting treatment? A registered Cardiff trichologist can see you face to face. We've set out what they do, what it typically costs and when a visit is worth it.

You've already spent money on things that didn't work

Biotin. Rosemary oil. Collagen. Caffeine shampoo. A scalp massager. Hair gummies that taste like sweets. If some of these are in your bathroom cabinet, you're not alone. It's what gets sold to women who type "thinning hair" into their phone at midnight.

None of it is dangerous. But none of it moves the needle either. Biotin only helps if you're deficient in it, which almost nobody eating a normal diet is. Collagen is digested like any other protein. Shampoo washes off - it can make hair look fuller for a day, but it cannot reach the follicle where hair is actually made. Iron tablets help if your iron is low and do nothing if it isn't, and taking them when you don't need them can cause harm, which is why we'd rather you tested first.

We don't sell any of it, and we won't suggest you buy it. At Cardiff Hair Loss Clinic, we only recommend what the evidence actually supports.

Explore your treatment options

Female hair loss treatment in Cardiff

Once pattern hair loss is confirmed, the treatment with the strongest evidence in women is minoxidil, and it comes in two forms.

Topical minoxidil - the licensed first-line option

Minoxidil foam or solution, applied to the scalp, is licensed for female pattern hair loss and is available from most pharmacies in Cardiff without a prescription. It works for a good proportion of women who stick with it. The main issue is the sticking with it. It has to go on the scalp every day, it can leave hair greasy or stiff, it's hard to apply through long or thick hair, and it can irritate the skin. Many women who start it have stopped within a year, and when you stop, the benefit goes.

Low dose oral minoxidil - another option

This is the same ingredient, taken as a small once-daily tablet. Minoxidil was originally licensed as a blood pressure medicine at much higher doses. At the low doses used for hair, it's what's called off-label - it's not licensed for hair loss on the packet, but is widely prescribed for it by dermatologists and hair specialists because the evidence has grown and because women actually take it. There's no foam, no greasy scalp, nothing to work into your hair. A clinician will check it's right for you before it's prescribed.

It isn't right for everyone. It's not prescribed if you're pregnant, breastfeeding or planning a pregnancy, or if you have certain heart or blood pressure conditions, and the full consultation will ask about all of this. The side effects worth knowing about are that some women notice fine extra hair on the face or arms, which is dose-related and fades if the dose is reduced or the tablet is stopped. Some women get mild ankle swelling or feel light-headed on standing, and some see a temporary increase in shedding in the first couple of months, which is the treatment working, not failing. Read the full minoxidil for women page for how it's prescribed.

What we don't do

We don't offer PRP injections, laser caps, 'hair growth serums', supplements or scalp treatments, because the evidence for them in women is thin (and the prices are not!). We aren't a dermatology service, so we don't diagnose or treat scarring or autoimmune hair loss. And we don't do hair transplants. For most women with pattern thinning, a transplant isn't the right first step anyway - when the thinning is spread across the whole top of the head, there's rarely a strong enough donor area at the back to take hair from, and the underlying loss carries on around the transplanted hairs.

How it works

Our Cardiff female hair loss clinic

We're an online clinic, so there's no waiting room in Cardiff to sit in. Where a scalp needs to be seen in person, we'll say so, and point you to someone who can help.

Track it properly

Take this photo today

Thinning is too gradual to judge in the mirror. A photo from today next to one in three months is the only reliable way to tell whether your hair has stayed the same, your parting has widened, or your shedding has started to grow back. This works for you if you're:

Take two photos now - one looking down on your usual parting, and one of your ponytail pulled over your shoulder, so you can see how thick it is. Same light, same parting, same phone position each time, just after washing and drying.

We'll remind you when it's time

We'll email you a reminder at 3, 6 and 12 months to take the same two photos again and compare them. If you can see a change, we'll tell you what it usually means and what to do next.

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