3 months out & my hair is falling out. The black & white photo was when I weighed 295. I had thick, amazing hair. The one on the right was this Christmas at 173lbs. Hair is definitely thinner & stringy. & I'm wearing it curly, it looks even thinner when I straighten it.

I know this isn't permanent, I know it'll grow back eventually. But man its still upsetting

What have you guys done to combat this? Or how to cope with hair loss?

Edited December 30, 20223 yr by bbykitty

Our hair can be such a strong representation of how we see ourselves soo losing it like this can be stressful & difficult to accept. I cut mine to just above my shoulders. My hair looked thicker, bouncier (didn’t have all the weight of my long hair pulling my remaining hair down) & the shorter strands didn’t look so scary in the bottom of the shower or in my brush. Plus it takes less time for your new growth to catch up to the shorter length. You can always grow it again to a longer length if you want.

Try not to let it stress you more - you don’t need the extra worry to add to the loss. It will slow back to its usually shedding rate in about 3 months.

It is heart breaking. My husband had never seen me with short hair. I think he loved my long hair more than me. I went shoulder length and then a couple of months later, a pixie cut. My hair loss phase lasted about 4 scary months and settled just before it became really noticeable. I have some new growth, we call it bum fluff, fine whispery strands.

I think I may keep it short in future because its a revelation to me how easy it is to wash and style

you just have to ride it out and know that it'll grow back. Like the others have said, a shorter style will make it look less obvious (mine was either chin-length or shoulder-length at the time, and I didn't lose all that much hair, so on me at least, it wasn't a noticeable loss)

Ugh! It’s not a fun part. I will agree with the other posts about cutting it shorter, perhaps shoulder length or shorter. Curls will help fill in the gaps.

Although my hair started growing back after about six months, at almost 2 years it is still not back to how it looked before surgery. I still have parts around my forehead that are only 2 inches long, I hope they are the last to fill-in.

But definitely worth the trade-off! Hang in there, it will get better.

It's the worst! In one shower I lose what I used to lose in a weeks worth of showers. I am so glad I had thick hair, but it is getting to be so noticeable. I have been considering shaving the rest of my head...

I havent had my sugery yet and Im already losing hair because Im old!! I keep my hair short so its not so noticeable. I too used to have very thick hair but not any more.

23 hours ago, bbykitty said:

What have you guys done to combat this? Or how to cope with Hair loss?

I started losing large amounts of hair around 3 months post, and cut it into a pixie a week or so after. The shorter hair was easier to style and fluff (and stay) up to give the illusion of volume vs the longer hair, which weighed down against my scalp, making the scalp more visible and looking bald-ish. Plus i was sick of vacuuming up the carpets of long hair i kept shedding around the house.

Little chicken hairs started to sprout up around 6 months post and by 2 years post those chicken hairs were down to the tops of my shoulders.

Im a little over 4 years post op today and its almost exactly like it was before surgery. I say "almost" because i believe it's actually thicker looking now, but that may also be due to the fact that the hairs came in wavier/bendier that before. which im not hating at all. ?

Below my hair progress pic lol.

I actually had a lot of fun putting this collage together...i spent a good couple hours trying to find a pre-op pic of me with my hair down (i almost always have my hair in a bun or ponytail), and i was marvelling at all my obese pictures! i am in shock at how big i was...i could've sworn i was never that big! crazy. just crazy.

Edited December 31, 20223 yr by ms.sss

For me this was the hardest part to deal with after surgery. My issue is and was that I had already had some hair loss before surgery and now I see a lot of scalp. My plan was to get a curly hair cut and once I see my stylist she may be able to still do it though I'm not holding out hope for that. My hair is finally starting to grow back though I still have a lot of scalp showing and the hair loss has slowed down. Hang in there it will get better.

On 12/29/2022 at 8:10 PM, Arabesque said:

Our hair can be such a strong representation of how we see ourselves soo losing it like this can be stressful & difficult to accept. I cut mine to just above my shoulders. My hair looked thicker, bouncier (didn’t have all the weight of my long hair pulling my remaining hair down) & the shorter strands didn’t look so scary in the bottom of the shower or in my brush. Plus it takes less time for your new growth to catch up to the shorter length. You can always grow it again to a longer length if you want.

Try not to let it stress you more - you don’t need the extra worry to add to the loss. It will slow back to its usually shedding rate in about 3 months.

Thank you. My hair used to absolutely be part of my identity. I used to dye it so many colors & I had fun with it for so many years. So this is hitting me extra hard

I think that's what I need to do, cut the ends that look thinner on hopes it looks like I have more volume.

I think ranting here about it will relieve that stress . I just needed to tell someone so thanks u guys for listening

5 hours ago, ms.sss said:

?

THANK YOU. I'm thinking I'm also gonna have to cut it short for the time being. Your visual representation makes me feel so much hopeful, thank u!

12 hours ago, Esi said:

Ugh! It’s not a fun part. I will agree with the other posts about cutting it shorter, perhaps shoulder length or shorter. Curls will help fill in the gaps.

Although my hair started growing back after about six months, at almost 2 years it is still not back to how it looked before surgery. I still have parts around my forehead that are only 2 inches long, I hope they are the last to fill-in.

But definitely worth the trade-off! Hang in there, it will get better.

"worth the trade off" you're absolutely right!! I'm a bit bummed but being healthy is so much better ?

18 hours ago, summerseeker said:

It is heart breaking. My husband had never seen me with short hair. I think he loved my long hair more than me. I went shoulder length and then a couple of months later, a pixie cut. My Hair loss phase lasted about 4 scary months and settled just before it became really noticeable. I have some new growth, we call it bum fluff, fine whispery strands.

I think I may keep it short in future because its a revelation to me how easy it is to wash and style

Ahh I didn't even think about how much easier shorter hair is too style! My longer fuller hair would sometimes take 2hrs to fully style. Maybe shorter hair will be a nice break haha

Edited December 31, 20223 yr by bbykitty

I am still pre-op so do not have first hand experience with the surgery/hair loss battle but, I wanted to pass along some info I saw on a video from a large bariatric surgery group concerning hair loss. The doctor said recent research has determined that excessive hair loss can be attributed to a deficiency in iron.

16 hours ago, hills&valleys said:

I am still pre-op so do not have first hand experience with the surgery/hair loss battle but, I wanted to pass along some info I saw on a video from a large bariatric surgery group concerning Hair loss. The doctor said recent research has determined that excessive hair loss can be attributed to a deficiency in Iron.

My iron levels have been fine and I still got hair loss so I think the doctor is telling fibs

Its hard to deal with. My hair is very sensitive to whatever is going on with my life, helth, body, stress level. When I'm under tremendous stress, I have lost a bald spot, as in one circle on the back of my head that was about 2-3 in circle and it took months to grow it back. So, I was concerned that might happen after this surgery. It did not! So for that I'm happy, I did however lose handful of hair everytine I brush or wash. I always had a shoulder full of hair that fell out.

The hait lose started at 3 months post op, I'm now at almost a year and its finally slowed down and I'm working on growing back all those hairs that have broken off. I'm almost 65 yrs old, so my experience will be different from others. I do take a vitamin for skin and hair, not sure if it really helps. I had a shampoo in my cabinet already that helps with hiar loss, I mix it with my regular shampo becuse it otherwise dries out my hair too much. I think it helped a little. Didn't stop it though!

I did the opposite of ,ost people. I rew my hair out down to my shoulders to make me feel like I have more hair! I usually wear it in a short chin length bob. I'll admit there was laziness involved, my hairdresser double her prices after Covid and I didn't want to pay that much so kept putting it off. During that time I got used to shoulder length hair and now keep it that way.