I have been reading that Bandsters experience hair loss. I have just been newly banded (Sept 7 of this year) and have learned a lot from all of you who post on this site but I know nothing about hair loss. Does everyone experience it? How much hair do you lose? And why? If you would tell me your experiences I would really appreciate it.

Hi Green,

Fortunately, thus far I have not experienced any hair loss. I know many other posters have, but I am not sure why this happens. I am keeping my fingers and toes crossed that I keep my hair.

Thanx for your feedback, Susan4794.

I have been reading that Bandsters experience hair loss. I have just been newly banded (Sept 7 of this year) and have learned a lot from all of you who post on this site but I know nothing about hair loss. Does everyone experience it? How much hair do you lose? And why? If you would tell me your experiences I would really appreciate it.

I have heard it could be from lack of Protein, and also some people lose hair just from the trauma your body goes through when you have surgery. I am not a doctor, but this is what I have heard.

I am not yet banded but I've seen the following suggestions to prevent hair loss:

Get in all your Protein

Use Nioxin hair products

Use a protein spray for your hair

I already use Nioxin because I have thin hair and I also use a protein spray so I hope that will help because I have very fine, thin hair and not much of it. I definitely can't afford to lose any hair.

Good luck!

I started losing hair about 3 or 4 months out. I lost a lot of hair. I was really freaked out about it. But it did stop. Thank god! I kept thinking oh what a cruel joke. To finally lose weight and feel good about yourself and then lose your hair. I tried Nioxin, vitamins, shakes. None of them slowed it down. My Dr said it will stop and it did. So remember it is temperary.

I was banded July 14th and am experiencing hair loss. I almost cried when I say the huge strands of hair in my shower drain. It's been going on for a few weeks and everyone says it grows back. I have pretty thick hair so I hope it won't become noticable.

I know it will at some point grow back so this is totally worth it.

I had really thick hair also. I actually like it more now that it is thin. But I have tons of new hair coming in now. So pretty soon I will be dealing with the thickness again. But for now I have all these one inch hairs poking up every where. So it does come back. And I know what you mean about crying. My husband and 6 year old were tired of seeing hair everywhere. It was all over our floors and in the shower. I would clean them up every day. It was really pretty scary.

My hair loss did not start until about 3 months post op. I had been taking biotin, getting lots of protein and only shampoo every other day. Nothing seems to help. Curious about the protein spray....what is the name and where can you purchase it? I personally think stress is a key factor too ladies! I am very upset because after 5 months, I've only lost 6 pounds. I had hoped for more and with the the excessive hair loss...I'm at my wits end. Any suggestions??

Your hair naturally falls out in cycles and when you put your body through any kind of trauma....for example surgery, diet changes, stress, the hair cycles will change around and several of the patches of hair will get on the same cycle and fall out together causing panic when you see that blob in the drain. Not getting enough protien causes a lot of this too, but I found that upping my protien really didn't help a whole lot. It's not a lot different from your period lasting longer or not showing up at all when you have a great weight loss. The body just has to adjust and that's is just the way it is. I was sooooooo scared I would lose enough to see my scalp, but by the time it got thin, it stopped and grew back. It's normal and will stop over time. I lost @ 20% of my hair over a four month period but it is coming back and coming back healthier.

The way I notice it is in the shower. I have to remove pretty large clumps of hair from the drain about 3 times each time I shower. I'm not overly alarmed because I've heard of it - thought it was mainly with bypass - but it can't be good. It's the only way I've noticed - no loss is obvious otherwise. I'm going to try nioxin.