I know there are a million posts about hair loss. But I'm putting this here because I just want to whine about it.

I started shedding heavily at 3 months post op. The last two weeks have been so much worse. Literal handfuls in my brush, in my shower drain, when I run my hand through my hair, in my dryer screen, loose hairs all over my clothes (so professional looking!).

I'm getting my protein in. I've taken biotin since before surgery. I added L-lysine and zinc two weeks ago. I take a good multivitamin. I rarely blow dry or flat iron my hair. I feel like I'm doing everything right.

I don't think it is noticeable yet, in most circumstances. But I can feel it is significantly thinner. It is also thin at my hairline and temples. I was at a industry golf tournament last week, and I pulled my hair up into a pony tail. The thinning at my temples and hairline was completely obvious. I wanted to cry. I hope that my visor mostly covered it up.

If this continues, I'm going to have to do something other than whine. I've googled weaves for Caucasian hair. It seems possible, but it's not common. Seems like there is a serious upcharge vs. salons that specialize in AA hair (not that that is inexpensive!).

The only thing I can see that might be contributing diet wise, is my calories have been very low since surgery. I am almost always under 500 cals/day, except sometimes when I'm traveling and eating every meal out. Some days I'm well under 400 cals. I really don't want to up these cals, because I have a lot of restriction and mostly don't have physical hunger. I don't want to eat just to eat. That's a big part of why I needed WLS. I also want to get to goal as quickly as possible. I have a small window at the end of the year to have plastics. If I'm not at goal by that time then my work and travel schedule will make it very difficult to find the time in 2019 for surgery and recovery.

Ugh, thanks for listening

@sideeye CUTE! (Unfortunately I still fear the long bob )

So ... good news, and hopefully encouraging news for everyone...

My hair loss has slowed, dramatically!

I started to notice it was lessening three weeks ago, but didn't want to jinx it. But now I am sure of it. I'm still losing hair, just much much less than I was a month ago.

I'm so glad there seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel. My hair loss is only noticeable at my temples and hair line. So as long as I don't pull my hair back, no one should really notice.

Just an FYI for those struggling with hair that is brittle, dry, and frizzy: A few days ago I got a professional keratin relaxer done on my hair. What a huge difference! I wish I had done this before, my hair feels the healthiest it has been in months. Not sure yet how this will work over the long term, but it certainly helps a lot with the regrowth that formed a halo of frizz around my head. It is all relaxed and looks really pretty and smooth.

2 hours ago, sillykitty said:

My Hair loss has slowed, dramatically!

I started to notice it was lessening three weeks ago, but didn't want to jinx it.

I love that you're my Ghost of Hair Future - same, hair loss abruptly slowed over the past few days. Definitely still needed to cut it (partly because it was just looking ratty), but the hunks of hair have stopped coming out in the shower and my pillowcase is no longer looking like I have a yeti paramour.

3 hours ago, sillykitty said:

@sideeyeMy Hair loss has slowed, dramatically!

I started to notice it was lessening three weeks ago, but didn't want to jinx it. But now I am sure of it. I'm still losing hair, just much much less than I was a month ago.

Mine, too! I'm definitely still losing hair, but not NEARLY as much. It's definitely a relief, because it was starting to get worrisome.

Ooooh, I'm jealous. Mine's still abandoning ship at full speed!

This week I did a lot more hair manipulation than usual. I washed multiples times, blow dried, flat ironed .... and minimal hair loss!!

I can't even believe how relived this makes me

Got my hair cut this weekend. Wasn't really because of my hair loss, just general, summer, going on vacation, take some of my length off type of cut, or so I had intended. Went from mid back to at/just below shoulders. Shortest I've had my hair, since, probably high school, maybe earlier, I really can't remember. One would think if you have the same hair dresser for 18 years, AND she's your sister this wouldn't happen, but apparently not.

1 hour ago, sillykitty said:

Got my hair cut this weekend. Wasn't really because of my Hair loss, just general, summer, going on vacation, take some of my length off type of cut, or so I had intended. Went from mid back to at/just below shoulders. Shortest I've had my hair, since, probably high school, maybe earlier, I really can't remember. One would think if you have the same hair dresser for 18 years, AND she's your sister this wouldn't happen, but apparently not.

Bet it looks great, though!

2 minutes ago, Orchids&Dragons said:

Bet it looks great, though!

Thanks!

It doesn't look bad .... just not good with change, especially unexpected change, lol! My hair grows super fast, so no stress about it, just some annoyance.

My hair started coming out at about 6 months and continued until about 18 months. I’m 2yrs post op and it’s now just starting to be the way it used to be

This is from an article that I read recently. I am considering buying the vitamins she mentions.

its a bit long but well worth the read.

I went to an excellent and brilliant doctor who my best friend uses. He practices Oriental medicine & uses a different approach than other doctors; he doesnt want to treat the problem but find out the cause, then fix that. He ordered a full blood work up like all the other doctors do but this time he added something no other doctor ever did and that was my ferritin levels & my iron saturation. My iron came back totally normal, as it always had BUT my iron saturation was 14% and my ferritin level was a 34. There it was, MY SMOKING GUN.


I ran home & googled low ferritin levels and there it was; the most common reason for losing hair is a ferritin level below 70. Why the hell this never came up before when I searched I dont know but whatever.

nothing was going to get me down now because I found out what is wrong with me so now I can fix it. I did ask the Dr why I have low ferritin & he said its not important why or how, lets just get my iron stores up. I eat red meat at least 3x a week so it was pretty shocking that my iron is low but for some reason my body wasnt able to store it. I started on 325mg of FERROUS SULPHATE 2X A DAY , after 1 month my blood was tested & my ferritin level went to 41. Did I notice any hair improvement? A tiny bit maybe instead of losing 1,000 hairs a day it went down to 950! Then I decided to search for a better way to raise my levels & thank the lord for the internet because I found out that the best iron with the greatest level of absorption is FERROUS FUMARATE so I started myself on 325mg twice a day AND with each pill I take 500mg of L-Lysine & take it with a big glass of orange juice if I have to take it with water then I add 500mg of vitamin C.then I waited, but not for long because within 2 weeks my dream came true. The shedding really slowed down. but I thought it was my imagination /maybe I was going insane because I was at my breaking point with my damn hair. i saw my best friend who said, holy **** your hair looks so thick on top, I think its working she asked me to take it down from the clip but I wouldnt. Not yet. Another week passed and it wasnt just a dream or wishful thinking but I could tell my curls were longer & when I showered it wasnt ALL over my body. Its been about 5 weeks since I began taking my ferrous fumarate cocktail and I am wearing my hair down. I can hardly believe it. I just took a shower and hardly anything came out. A lady at Target came up & asked me if I permed my hair or if my curls were all natural, and I had such pretty hair.TOTAL SHOCK!! I COULDNT EVEN THANK HER BECAUSE I WAS SPEECHLESS. I havent had a compliment on my hair in about 14 years.14 LONG years!

So this is my story with a very happy ending. All it took was a simple blood test followed by 4 weeks of supplements and the nightmare has ended. Every 30 days I will get my blood tested to make sure I dont go into iron overload but my goal is to get my ferritin levels over 100 and keep them at about 120sih. If I had read a post like this 10 years ago I would have avoided a decade of hair despair. And if your ferritin levels are fine, keep searching for your smoking gun because it is out there

I’m shedding A LOT (3 1/2 months post op). I bleach my hair, think I should not add the stress of bleach during this stage? If so, How long should I wait?