Diffuse hair loss, no receding hairline...

Hi everyone!

I've been losing hair for 3 years now and I'm 19 y/o. I don't have a receding hairline at all, but I'm losing hair all over the top, back and maybe sides. The area around my hairline is actually thick and don't seem to thin out, even though I've lost a lot of density overall these last 3 years.

I have dandruff and itches (especially on the sides and back, it itches a lot when I don't wash my hair for a few days). I'm also losing some eyebrows, or maybe I'm just noticing them more, I don't know, but there's some dandruff/dead skin on them so...

Same with my pubic hair, every time I go to pee, there's always some hair falling out (2/3). But again, maybe it's normal so...

Just before the hair loss (or at the same time), I had some kind of seasonal allergy which caused me to cough a lot after any physical activity (after taking the stairs for instance). I don't remember how it ended, pills by the doctor or time, but that's like the only thing that happened before my hair loss. I doubt it's relevant though, but who knows...

My last blood test came back normal according to my doctor (TSH at 0.83 mUI/L). I don't know much about it, but if you do, please let me know.

My hair loss is starting to show, so I have to do something now. I don't know if it's MPB or something else, but I don't wanna take any drugs right now or topical solution like Rogaine. I wanna go the "natural" way, not only for my hair loss, but also for my health in general. I don't know what to do, there's too much information so I need your help.

What do you think about my hair loss?

What would you advise me to do?

Thanks (and please forgive my English, it's not my native language).

You might have a thyroid issue.

http://healthyfixx.com/plan/6/fixxing-your-thyroid

And on achieving optimal health/hair naturally, the general consensus that seems to be floating around here is to cut out grains, refined sugars, dairy, and hydrogenated vegetable oils. I was in your situation very recently, except my hairline was also receding. I reversed that through diet a while ago, but everything else was still thinning. That has slowed down drastically in the last two weeks or so, maybe something else inside me finally caught up to the healthy diet. Either way, I've ordered some Iosol because I'm sure my thyroid still needs plenty of catching up.

Thank you for answer, Satan.

I'd like it to be my thyroid (lol), but I'm not sure. I mean, I have some other signs like constipation (if I don't eat a bowl of high fiber cereals every day, I can have a constipation that can lasts over a week, but otherwise it's fine), dry lips and maybe skin, tiredness maybe (everybody tells me that I look tired, like high/stoned), I'm overweight but it's not noticeable, I don't know how to explain... I'm the kind of guy who's overweight but athletic too, but I clearly have a lot of fat to burn.

If I had a thyroid issue, my doctor would have said something, don't you think? I know there's more to the thyroid than the TSH levels, but still, how are my levels?

Also, if my hair loss wasn't MPB, why would it be gradual in time?

I'm gonna read more about all this stuff.

Thank you all, I really need your help here!

EDIT: little mistake, my TSH levels are at 0.83 mIU/L, not mUI/L (typo).

I also had a lot of back acne like 1 year ago, but it's now almost gone even though there are always a few pimples now and then. Is there link somehow to my hair loss (DHT, inflammation...)?

look for FredTheBelgian's posts. he was a diffuse too and found great relief from a topical concoction of ACV + cayenne pepper

I'm no doctor so I don't know how those levels are, but I do know that those are all hypothyroid symptoms.

I've also seen links to hair loss and acne, not sure how it works though.

Do you have any other thyroid results other than TSH?

As a side note my back acne stopped when I stopped drinking milk.

I agree that you could try some iodine, but start out very slow. Another think that comes to mind is the cortisol connection to diffuse hair loss. Do you feel stressed/tired or depressed in any way?

Also another important note is to eat healthy and excercise

@lustucru - yeah I saw his post, but he's not active anymore, is he? Plus, he took a lot of things (like Minoxidil), so his story is a bit confusing.

@Satan - ok, and thanks for the website, there are a lot of information on it.

@tooyoung - no, that was the only thing I was tested for I guess; there was other results but nothing related to the thyroid (only TSH).

@Vikingo - Well, depends on what you mean by "depressed". I'm definitely not "happy", sometimes really depressed but that may be due to my hair loss, so who knows. And yeah, I do feel tired/sluggish and unmotivated.

I'm gonna eat healthy from now on by following the advices on the site, and I'm gonna try some natural topical solution + supplements.

For iodine, can I just eat food high in it?

Also, when I apply coconut oil to my hair, let it for a few hours, then go wash it, I seem to shed a lot of hair, is that normal? Is it good taken orally?

Thanks!

Hey whtod,

I wouldn't follow fredthebelgian's also neither...

I have been the hair topical route, properly tried almost everything, but only to get short relief. You have to address the underlying issue! As I see it after a "million" hours on this forum, there are three areas you need to focus on hair-wise.

First, the thyroid. It is really crucial that its in good order (most people here are hypothyroid) Here iodine plays a large part but not everyone feel good on it from experience and this forum. Another great option for the thyroid is desiccated thyroid as written on the IH psychology page (you have to read that!!). Very important to know that the thyroid goes hand in hand with the adrenals. which lead me to the second area...

second the adrenals. If your thyroid is out of order, there is a large chance that your adrenals are as well. So the best thing to do, is supplement both at the same time. Again, read the IH psychology page (on the main website). again form too much time on this forum, my conclusion (as for mostly what Immortalhair has written) is that if you feel depressed/tired/fatigued, then its the adrenals (also causes hair loss) and if just hair loss its the thyroid. Of course there are other things, but these they are all related somehow to these.

Third, is the gut. If you have a weak gut then you don't get the minerals etc. that you need, so you need to fix that aswell. Go for probiotics to start with.


If you like, I can write you a "starting list" in this thread

@Vikingo - thanks your answer!

So yeah, I'm a bit skeptical about topical solutions, I just tried coconut oil & emu oil so far (which is too expansive for so little, plus I'm a student so I don't have much money), but I don't see much results really, even though I have to take into account the hair cycle etc. It probably helps with dandruff and keeping a healthy scalp, but otherwise... I don't know.

I wanna get to the source of the problem, for my health in general like I said, but also for my hair loss. Good thing, they seem to be related...

I've been doing a lot of reading these last few days, but there's a LOT of information out there, kinda hard to know what to do in the end because an information leads to another and I have like a hundred tabs open in my browser, lol....

My goal is off course stopping my hair loss (I still don't know what's the cause, but even if it's MPB, I'd like to slow it down/reverse it), but also losing weight and feeling better in general. I was planning on reading the page you mentioned, just wanted to finish what I was reading first.

For the diet, a paleolithic/low carb diet is the way to go apparently for losing weight and health (correct me if I'm wrong). I'm gonna do more reading about it.

For the thyroid/adrenal glands/gut, I'm still a bit lost (there seems to be a lot of things to take), so yeah I wouldn't mind a "starting" list like you said.

Thank you!

I have the same problem as you. I am 23 and been suffering from diffuse hair loss for 4 years. My hair line is thick and has not receded at all and my forehead is small. It all started in university after I lost a lot of weight, I was 145lbs dropping from 180lbs mainly because of stress and lack of diet. But ever since then my diet has been great, I'm at 200lbs (normal BF) and I've been on many different supplements. My TSH is 0.86, but according to reference ranges it is not low enough to say it's hyperthyroidism. I've tried multi vitamins, Nizoral, biotin, herbal creams everything you can imagine but nothing has worked. I do have Rogaine and steroid cream which I tried for a couple of months, but it didn't seem like it was working and it won't answer the eyebrow shedding and other body hair so I decided to stop. In the beginning of the hair loss I shedded lots of hair daily and had dandruff/seborrhea but it's manageable now. I'm healthy and blood tests show everything is in perfect order (cortisol, testosterone, T4, etc), with the exception of bilirubin as it is high which is caused by Gilbert's Syndrome which is a harmless condition that affects 1 in 20 males.

So far my guess is we have a rare form of alopecia areata. Normally alopecia areata cures within a year but for our cases it looks like hair will grow when it wants to, if ever. Is there anything else you can recount what happened before you suffered hair loss? And I suggest not to waste any money on supplements like I did. The best thing to do is to eat healthy.

diffuser wrote:I have the same problem as you. I am 23 and been suffering from diffuse hair loss for 4 years. My hair line is thick and has not receded at all and my forehead is small. It all started in university after I lost a lot of weight, I was 145lbs dropping from 180lbs mainly because of stress and lack of diet. But ever since then my diet has been great, I'm at 200lbs (normal BF) and I've been on many different supplements. My TSH is 0.86, but according to reference ranges it is not low enough to say it's hyperthyroidism. I've tried multi vitamins, Nizoral, biotin, herbal creams everything you can imagine but nothing has worked. I do have Rogaine and steroid cream which I tried for a couple of months, but it didn't seem like it was working and it won't answer the eyebrow shedding and other body hair so I decided to stop. In the beginning of the hair loss I shedded lots of hair daily and had dandruff/seborrhea but it's manageable now. I'm healthy and blood tests show everything is in perfect order (cortisol, testosterone, T4, etc), with the exception of bilirubin as it is high which is caused by Gilbert's Syndrome which is a harmless condition that affects 1 in 20 males.

So far my guess is we have a rare form of alopecia areata. Normally alopecia areata cures within a year but for our cases it looks like hair will grow when it wants to, if ever. Is there anything else you can recount what happened before you suffered hair loss? And I suggest not to waste any money on supplements like I did. The best thing to do is to eat healthy.

Hey man!

Apparently, we have the same problem as well as the same TSH levels! (0.84 here), so yeah it points more toward hyper (which actually make you lose hair) than hypothyroidism... but like you said, it's not low enough to be that so... I took only one blood test though (and one before that, but it was at the very beginning and I don't remember the results, but I guess it was normal), I don't know if it can change quickly or not...

The only thing I remember before or during the beginning of my hair loss, is some kind of seasonal allergy (first & only time I had it)...

I don't know really know what to do, I plan on eating healthy, taking 3 tbsp of virgin coconut oil/day (it's cheap, it's healthy and it's a mild DHT blocker), black/green tea, maybe some ketoconazole shampoo and see what happens... I'm not sure about the alopecia areata though, I've seen some pictures and it seems to be more like round patches of hair loss, which I don't have (maybe that's why you said "rare")... and for the eyebrows thing... I don't know if I'm really losing them or just noticing them more, but even though they fall I don't see any change in their appearance (or at least I think so)...

I'm thinking about Rogaine, but really, that's as far I would go... no fina

IMO, it's either MPB or telogen effluvium... or something else...

maybe I should go see an endo and make a full blood test like you did... our story is very similar!

whtod wrote:

diffuser wrote:I have the same problem as you. I am 23 and been suffering from diffuse hair loss for 4 years. My hair line is thick and has not receded at all and my forehead is small. It all started in university after I lost a lot of weight, I was 145lbs dropping from 180lbs mainly because of stress and lack of diet. But ever since then my diet has been great, I'm at 200lbs (normal BF) and I've been on many different supplements. My TSH is 0.86, but according to reference ranges it is not low enough to say it's hyperthyroidism. I've tried multi vitamins, Nizoral, biotin, herbal creams everything you can imagine but nothing has worked. I do have Rogaine and steroid cream which I tried for a couple of months, but it didn't seem like it was working and it won't answer the eyebrow shedding and other body hair so I decided to stop. In the beginning of the hair loss I shedded lots of hair daily and had dandruff/seborrhea but it's manageable now. I'm healthy and blood tests show everything is in perfect order (cortisol, testosterone, T4, etc), with the exception of bilirubin as it is high which is caused by Gilbert's Syndrome which is a harmless condition that affects 1 in 20 males.

So far my guess is we have a rare form of alopecia areata. Normally alopecia areata cures within a year but for our cases it looks like hair will grow when it wants to, if ever. Is there anything else you can recount what happened before you suffered hair loss? And I suggest not to waste any money on supplements like I did. The best thing to do is to eat healthy.

Hey man!

Apparently, we have the same problem as well as the same TSH levels! (0.84 here), so yeah it points more toward hyper (which actually make you lose hair) than hypothyroidism... but like you said, it's not low enough to be that so... I took only one blood test though (and one before that, but it was at the very beginning and I don't remember the results, but I guess it was normal), I don't know if it can change quickly or not...

The only thing I remember before or during the beginning of my hair loss, is some kind of seasonal allergy (first & only time I had it)...

I don't know really know what to do, I plan on eating healthy, taking 3 tbsp of virgin coconut oil/day (it's cheap, it's healthy and it's a mild DHT blocker), black/green tea, maybe some ketoconazole shampoo and see what happens... I'm not sure about the alopecia areata though, I've seen some pictures and it seems to be more like round patches of hair loss, which I don't have (maybe that's why you said "rare")... and for the eyebrows thing... I don't know if I'm really losing them or just noticing them more, but even though they fall I don't see any change in their appearance (or at least I think so)...

I'm thinking about Rogaine, but really, that's as far I would go... no fina

IMO, it's either MPB or telogen effluvium... or something else...

maybe I should go see an endo and make a full blood test like you did... our story is very similar!

At first mine was likely telogen effluvium because I had long hair and was constantly shedding. After the shedding stopped there wasn't regrowth at all. I drink coconut oil for general health reasons but haven't noticed a difference in growth with it. It's true that alopecia areata is patchy but there is something known as DUPA where the patches are very even. If you have the option, test for as much as possible with hormones and their related hormones. Here is a picture a couple years ago which is still the same as today for me:



And no, it's not the flash that's causing it to look like that. It's really terrible and I have to shave my head and wear a hat. My forehead is only about 1.5 inches with a strong hair line and has never receded. Been so stressed out because of this and definitely have a lot of anxiety when going outside or doing anything with people. I used to have so much hair

Hey whtod, sorry for the late reply...

If I where you, I would start out with iodine http://www.iherb.com/TPCS-Iosol-Formula-II-1-fl-oz-30-ml/4785?at=0 and at the same time take a raw thyroid supplement, which also contain adrenal tissue plus som others. http://www.iherb.com/Natural-Sources-Raw-Thyroid-60-Capsules/6009?at=0

By doing this its a safe and cheap aproach to see if it helps the thyroid and adrenals. About dosage, try out with a couple of drops of iodine and one pill of the raw thyroid a day.

about hyperthyroidism, its hard to say even if your TSH is 0.84 (isn't bad in my view), so you need to take other tests to be sure. But if it is hyperthyroidism, then be a little carefull with the iodine.

And hang in there

just wanted to say that it is good you are not going to touch finasteride. i took it at 19 and had horrrrrible side effects. don't ever take it. no matter how bad your hair gets, DO NOT EVER TAKE IT. you may want to if it gets worse, but trust me.. DO NOT DO NOT DO NOT.

carry on now..

Just want to clarify something- DIFFUSE hair loss means all across the scalp, INCLUDING sides and the back of the head. There is nothing abnormal about having hair loss all over the TOP of the scalp only. If you are having hair loss all over the top of the scalp, that doesn't mean your thyroid is bad, it just means you have the NORDIC hair loss pattern. The pattern of your hair loss has nothing to do with health conditions, it has to do with what racial type you are.

@Vikingo - Thanks for everything, gonna make a full blood test to be sure!

@sanderson - Yeah man, but it's hard... I swear I would never touch fin, but losing your hair makes you lose your mind, lol... but don't worry, I'm still young and I don't want to screw with my health/body, so I highly doubt I will ever take it. Hell, I'm even afraid to take Rogaine...

@Espio - Yeah, off course. The thing is, I'm not sure about the sides. There are some signs, but maybe it's normal... I'm highly critical so I wouldn't say that for nothing... and you may be right about the hair loss, maybe it's just MPB!

Gonna go see the endo, make a full blood test and see what happens... I just don't feel right, I'm not talking about the hair loss alone, but in general...

Also guys, are the side effects from Rogaine real? I don't plan on taking it, but who knows...

Thanks everyone!

EDIT: one last question: does exercise/losing weight benefits or increases hair loss? (or none?)

Hi All,
I have been looking for how to stop a receding hairline since so long, I had tried everywhere but couldn't get the permanent solution for it as some treatment is beneficial for 2-3 months but after that it doesn't affect any more and problem increases more than before. What to do now please suggest.