March 24, 2025 • 22 mins
Discovering clumps of hair in your shower drain or on your pillow can be genuinely distressing, especially when you're already navigating the complex terrain of perimenopause. In my clinic, I've guided countless women through this common yet often overlooked symptom of hormonal transition.
Hair loss during perimenopause isn't just about aesthetics—it's a powerful signal from your body that something needs attention. The fascinating reality is that as oestrogen and progesterone decline, we experience relative androgen excess where these shifting ratios trigger both thinning scalp hair and unwanted facial hair growth. But hormones are just one piece of this complex puzzle. Thyroid dysfunction, nutrient deficiencies (particularly iron and zinc), chronic stress, and insulin resistance all contribute to the perfect storm that leaves many women watching helplessly as their once-vibrant locks thin and fade.
What truly excites me is how responsive hair loss is to the right interventions. Through targeted testing, personalised nutrition, stress management techniques, and strategic supplementation, the vast majority of my clients regain not just their hair, but their confidence. While patience is essential—it typically takes six months to see significant regrowth—the comprehensive approach I outline provides a roadmap for addressing not just your hair concerns, but your overall hormonal health during this transition. Whether you're noticing subtle thinning or significant loss, this episode delivers practical, evidence-based solutions to help you maintain luscious hair throughout perimenopause and beyond. Subscribe now to continue receiving weekly insights that help you navigate hormonal health with confidence and ease!
Are you a woman feeling stressed, flat and experiencing the challenges of perimenopause?
It’s time to reclaim your youthful energy, radiance and self-assurance (and your ideal weight).
I’m here to help with my proven method.
Here's how I can support you -
1. Hit your health and wellbeing goals this year, balance your hormones and lose weight with your own personalised protocol, based on your body's biochemistry. Sounds awesome right!! Book a free 30 minute Peri Weight Loss Assessment with me so we can discuss your health and wellbeing goals and also see how I might be able to support you. Book your call here.
2. Follow me on Instagram and Facebook - @the.perimenopause.path
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, I'm Susie Garden and this is the Ageless and
Awesome podcast.
I'm an age-defying naturopathand clinical nutritionist and
I'm here to bust myths aroundwomen's health and aging so that
you can be ageless and awesomein your 40s, 50s and beyond.
The Ageless and Awesome podcastis dedicated to helping women
(00:24):
through perimenopause andmenopause with great health, a
positive mindset and outrageousconfidence.
Hit, subscribe or follow nowand let's get started.
Hello, gorgeous one, andwelcome to this week's episode
of the Ageless and Awesomepodcast.
This week, I'm talking about atopic that's pretty close to my
(00:47):
heart, because I have so many ofmy clients with this problem
that particularly turns up athormonal events in their lives.
Let's put it that way.
What I'm talking about is hairloss, and this can be quite
distressing, and for any of youthat this has happened to, I'm
(01:09):
sure you completely understandwhat I'm talking about.
Now it's probably fairly commonknowledge that after pregnancy,
many women go through periodsof hair loss, and that's because
of the hormones adjusting, andthere's a similar thing that can
happen.
It doesn't happen probably asfrequently, I don't think, to
(01:34):
women in perimenopause, but it'sdefinitely something that can
happen and it's a pretty easilyexplainable phenomenon, although
there can be multiple causes ofhair loss in women.
I'm going to list off a numberof possible causes and so you
know if this is something that'simpacting you, then you may
(01:57):
think oh, maybe this applies tome and perhaps for many of these
possible causes there areactually testing a blood testing
that you can do to actuallyknow for sure whether this is
potentially a reason why you'relosing hair.
I feel pretty lucky.
I've got if you've seenpictures of me, I've got a
(02:19):
fairly luscious mane of longhair, but it has taken a lot of
care in order to have my hair inthis really healthy state and I
think a lot of the things thatI do, including having a
personalized nutrition plan,really help me to make sure that
I'm getting exactly thenutrients that I need to make
(02:43):
sure that actually all of mybody systems are working well,
but including hair and hairgrowth.
So let's talk about some ofthese possible causes of hair
loss in women, specifically inthat perimenopause phase.
So hormones obviously we havethat drop in estrogen and
progesterone and sometimes thatdrops and what that can do is
(03:07):
actually give us a relativeandrogen excess or relative high
androgens.
Androgens are like more of ourmale type of sex hormones, like
testosterone.
So it's not that thetestosterone is getting higher,
it's just that our estrogen andprogesterone is dropping and the
testosterone might be stayingthe same or it might be dropping
a little bit, but it means thatwe have that imbalance there.
(03:30):
Stress is a massive cause ofhair loss and any of you that
have been through stressfulevents may have found that
that's happened to you.
So definitely that's one tolook at, and we know that women
in their forties in particularcan be going through quite a lot
of stress because of their youknow their family, their career.
(03:52):
So many different things aregoing on when we're in our
forties that may really increasestress.
Thyroid thyroid issues canoften occur after the age of 40.
And we'll get into that shortly.
But definitely thyroid it's oneof the things.
If I've got someone, a client,in front of me that's
(04:15):
complaining of hair loss.
When I say complaining, by theway, that's a medical thing.
Even when I was a nurse, youtalked about someone complaining
of this.
It's basically it must be anold-fashioned way of expressing
um, that what the problem is,okay, so please don't feel like
I'm.
It's a negative connotation,because I think it.
When I said as soon as I said Ithought, oh, that can sound
really negative, but it'sactually what we say in in
(04:37):
medical kind of um, uh,terminology.
So you know, if I do get aclient that's coming in that has
the hair loss happening, then Ilike to dive into that a little
bit and just see whatpotentially could be causing
that, and thyroid is often onethat comes up.
Nutrient deficiencies can alsobe a culprit in hair loss, and
(05:00):
particularly iron and zinc.
Autoimmune conditions can causeit, fungal infections can cause
it and some medications andsome of the medications that are
really commonly prescribedDrugs like antidepressants,
cholesterol lowering medications, antibiotics, antihypertensive
(05:21):
so they lower blood pressure theoral contraceptive pill, blood
thinners there's actually quitea lot If you're on a number of
medications that could be acause, or even if you're on just
one of these types of meds, andthe list is quite extensive.
So if you want to know moreabout that, you can definitely
just Google prescribedmedications that cause hair loss
(05:43):
in women, something like that,and you'll get a whole list of
them.
The other thing you know, oftenwe're getting this hair loss
happening from the scalp andpotentially at the same time
getting random hairs growing onour face.
So the chin hairs, themoustache.
(06:03):
You know, fantastic, that'sexactly.
You know, getting the hairgrowing where we don't want it
and losing hair from where weactually do want it, and that
happens.
It's another sign that perhapsyou have this relative androgen
excess, so the low estrogen andprogesterone and the elevated or
not elevated testosterone, butrelatively elevated androgens
(06:26):
such as testosterone.
Another thing when I'm talkingabout these sorts of hormone
imbalances is that if you'vebeen diagnosed with PCOS in the
past, you can get this hair lossbecause of the same hormone
imbalance.
And so that is anotherpotential diagnosis for hair
(06:50):
loss is PCOS or polycysticovarian syndrome, and the thing
which is fairly key with thatparticular syndrome is insulin
resistance.
So insulin is a hormone thathas many, many roles in the body
and it's a really important oneto be managing well, and that's
(07:12):
something that we as humans cancontrol with what we choose to
put in our diet.
And the thing is, as we'reencroaching our perimenopause
and postmenopause years, we dohave a tendency, as part of that
process, to become lesssensitive to insulin and
(07:33):
therefore more insulin resistant.
So there's that similarity withPCOS in that you get that
insulin resistance inperimenopause and you can get
these hormonal imbalances.
And so if you have PCOS andgoing into peri.
I actually haven't looked up tosee if there's research on this
(07:54):
, but it wouldn't surprise me ifthat kind of send if you've had
a relative, relatively goodbalance and then go into
perimenopause there may be moreimbalance that happens that you
may need to correct for, andthings like reversing the
insulin resistance can actuallyreduce the facial hair and
improve the hair loss, and I'mgoing to talk shortly about how
(08:17):
you can take steps to reverseinsulin resistance or to make
your insulin more sensitive,particularly in perimenopause
and menopause.
One thing I do want to justmention there is a condition
called androgenic alopecia andthat is probably the medical
name for this female patternhair loss.
(08:38):
So androgenic alopecia and thisis the one that's linked to the
relatively high androgensalopecia and this is the one
that's linked to the relativelyhigh androgens and hormone
testing can definitely bebeneficial in hair loss in women
for anything for thisandrogenic alopecia, but for any
hair loss that, um, like, whenI'm saying hair loss, I'm not
just talking about a little bitthat comes out.
(08:58):
I'm talking about you wake upin the morning and you've got
hair on your pillow, or thatyou're really noticing a lot
more hair in the shower when youshampoo your hair, and I know
for myself I go through periodsof time where sometimes there'll
be a lot of hair coming out.
So sometimes I think you justhave a bit of a shed every now
and again and maybe because I dohave very long hair, that would
(09:18):
be the case, but I do alwayskeep an eye on that.
If I feel like, oh, that'squite a lot of hair coming out,
I do sort of go, okay, well,what have I been doing with my
diet?
What have I been, you know,slacking off a bit, and I make
sure that I'm correcting that,also checking in with my stress.
So that's something to thinkabout when I'm talking about
this hair loss.
It's actually not just thedaily hair loss that you might
(09:40):
have.
It is significant.
Yeah, you might even noticebald patches on your head, and
if you do, then you really doneed to get that checked out by
a medical professional becauseit can be tested and it can be
managed.
But definitely, you know, we cantest things like hormones.
We can test the thyroid which,as I mentioned before, when you,
(10:04):
as we get over 40, often that'swhen thyroid conditions appear,
and it's generally thehypothyroidism.
So it's the kind of thyroidcondition where you tend to put
on weight, you get fatigued, youfeel kind of sluggish, you can
get constipation and you can getthis hair loss happening.
And the thing is, when you havethis, thyroid function is a bit
(10:28):
low.
It impacts as well as thosethings.
It impacts your circulation.
That's why people with ahypothyroid can often feel cold
and it's the poor circulationthat can potentially lead to
hair loss because you're notgetting, you know, good
circulation to the scalp.
So it's important again, that'ssomething that can easily be
tested through blood to see whatyour thyroid's doing, and most
(10:51):
people that are getting regularblood testing, like I, get my
bloods done every year.
The thyroid test is a standardtest.
Now you might want to go adeeper level of thyroid testing,
in which case you would want tobe looking at some private
pathology, looking at workingwith a naturopath or
nutritionist that can order thatfor you, because in Australia
(11:13):
under Medicare there's only avery top line thyroid marker
that can be tested, andsometimes having that deeper
level of testing can be veryhelpful in just analyzing and
making sure you're not missinganything, particularly if you
are having symptoms.
(11:34):
Nutrients, so low iron low ironactually can impact thyroid
function.
So you want to make sure thatyour iron levels are checked
regularly as well, and generallyin a yearly blood test.
That's going to be checked.
And I mean I'm sure you're wellaware iron levels can be low
(11:54):
for many reasons, particularlywomen in perimenopause.
If you're having exceptionallyheavy periods, that can really
drain your iron.
There's just an epidemic ofiron deficiency, to be honest,
here in Australia at the moment.
But in all age groups, and itcan be from period issues.
It can also be just lack ofabsorption of iron.
(12:14):
Again, if you're stressed, yourability to absorb your iron or
your nutrients generally fromyour food is going to be
decreased.
If your diet isn't reallyparticularly good if you're
drinking coffee with your meals,for example, that's going to
block your absorption of thingslike iron and zinc.
If you have got some gut issueslike chronic constipation,
(12:37):
chronic diarrhea, abdominal pain, excess gas, then that can be
suggestive that maybe your gutmay not be absorbing your
nutrients very well.
If you're quite fatigued, thatcan be a sign of iron deficiency
, but can also be a sign of manyother deficiencies.
It can also be a sign of lowthyroid function.
(12:58):
So it's not something really tobe ignored.
If you're feeling fatigued, itreally does need to be checked
out by a healthcare professional.
So, stress I mentioned beforeand I think most people if
you've been through a period ofvery intense stress, you may
have experienced some hair loss,and so learning to regulate
(13:18):
your nervous system can be oneof the.
I think it's a key life skill,to be honest, for everybody,
including kids, to learn,because there are stressful
things going on in our world allof the time.
And when I say in our world, Idon't necessarily mean around
the globe, although there isthat, but I just mean in your
world that there can be thingsthat are causing you a lot of
(13:42):
stress, and so if you can learnto regulate your nervous system
and doing that, that's prettyeasy to do that with even just
some deep breathing.
But there's, you know, spendingtime in nature, going for a
daily walk.
I've started doing a dailyafternoon walk with because one
of my dogs is getting a bitskitzy in the afternoon and I
(14:03):
find I'm doing it for her tokind of make her more settled.
But I feel so much better afterI've done that walk and I'm
very lucky.
I live near bushland, sowhenever I'm walking I'm around
trees.
Sometimes I see koalas, I seelots of birds, I can see the
ocean, so that I'm veryfortunate in that gives me a lot
(14:24):
of opportunities for connectionto nature.
Even if you're walking aroundyour you know suburban street,
just looking at any of thegardens, the trees, the sky,
noticing any birds, anythinglike that is going to help
connect you to nature.
You don't have to have the bushor the ocean there to inspire
(14:46):
you or to have that connectionto nature.
So I guess the main things Iwanted to highlight when I'm
speaking about hair loss andwhen I'm seeing hair loss in
clients is there are generally.
My top five, I guess, is what Ilook for.
(15:07):
So one is the hormonalimbalances.
So is this person inperimenopause?
Are they postpartum?
Have they got PCOS?
They're probably the main onesand we can absolutely do the
testing for hormones.
It's a blood test, it's prettyeasy.
We can also do things like aDutch test.
That's a urine test that'sgoing to give like an
(15:27):
unbelievable analysis.
It's a fantastic test.
It is quite expensive and youcan get away with.
If it's just for something likethis, like looking at hair loss
, you can get away with justdoing blood testing, which is a
lot cheaper.
Um, thyroid, obviously Imentioned.
So testing for thyroid issues.
(15:50):
If, if, the symptom patternkind of matches that of low
thyroid, that can be reallyhelpful to just even rule it out
as a cause of hair loss,insulin resistance.
So again, this is somethingthat can be tested and also
managed.
Stress, we spoke about already.
(16:10):
And also, I would always justpromote nutrition.
I love the power of food.
I would always just promotenutrition.
I love the power of food.
I am constantly, constantlyamazed by the power of food and
what it can do for your health,your wellbeing, and how quickly
it can actually work.
And particularly, I'm talkingabout personalized nutrition
(16:30):
which uses your blood tests,uses your body measurements and
any medical conditions and foodpreferences to design a
nutrition plan that has theexact foods, exact proteins,
veggies, salads, bread, breadportions, also portion sizes of
your macros, so that you have noconfusion, you know exactly
(16:54):
what you need to be eating andwhen, and you know it's going to
be really supporting youroptimal health.
Now I often get asked aboutsupplements when it comes to
hair loss, and there are a few.
Zinc definitely can help, andyou know I work with a lot of
women that are a littledeficient in zinc, so you can
(17:15):
take zinc without being tested.
Just make sure if you're takingit you're not taking it at the
same time.
You're having coffee, so Ioften recommend for my clients
to have it at night, have itwith a meal, because it can make
some people feel a bitnauseated, and yeah, so zinc can
be helpful for hair and hairloss.
Silica can be really good andyou can buy silica supplements.
(17:38):
All those hair and nailsupplements you see at the
pharmacy have got silica in themand I have used silica from
time to time myself.
If I feel my nails need alittle bit of extra TLC, or my
hair, then I'll just take amonth of silica supplements and
that really kind of gives it alittle boost.
(17:59):
Collagen, I find, can be veryhelpful for and it has multiple
uses.
It's great for skin, it's greatfor gut health and we do,
unfortunately, as part of justgetting I hate saying the aging
process, but it is Once we'reover 40 and 50, our ability to
(18:20):
make our own collagen does drop.
So having collagen is superimportant and having vitamin C
with it, because that helps thebody use the collagen, that's
pretty important as well.
If you're thinking about takingan iron supplement, I would
always recommend getting testedfor your iron levels first,
(18:41):
because it is possible to havetoo much iron and I think it's
you know it's not.
It's.
It's kind of seen as being avery easy supplement.
It's so accessible, it's soeasy to buy it, but there can be
problems if you've got too muchiron on board.
So I really recommend that ifyou're concerned about your iron
(19:03):
, that you go and get sometesting done.
What else do I want to say?
I think that was probably aboutit.
The main thing is to be patient.
It does take time to correctnutritional deficiencies.
It does take time to see theresults in hair, because
(19:27):
obviously you know it growspretty slowly for a start and it
can take six months to seeimprovements when we're looking
at hair loss, and becausethere's a lot that's going on in
the body that needs to beaddressed in order to get that
(19:48):
beautiful hair growing well.
As I mentioned before, I think,definitely if you've got really
obvious bald patches happeningand you don't know why, please
go and talk to a healthcareprofessional about that.
That's not something that Iwould recommend you DIY and just
have a bit of silica.
An autoimmune condition anddefinitely needs to be assessed
(20:15):
because there can be somespecific things done to really
get on top of that.
That's not something you muckaround with, so I think that's
probably all, actually, the onlyother thing that I've.
I think I've talked about thison the pod before.
It might've been a while ago,but probably for the past year
or so.
It might've been a while ago,but probably for the past year
(20:38):
or so I've been wearing a silkbonnet to bed, and I know it
sounds a bit odd.
I was.
When I say the word bonnet, Ifeel like I'm back in the 1800s,
but it's just basically a silkcap.
It's it's cause I've got longhair Mine's sort of a fairly
long one but I've found sinceI've been wearing that it's been
an absolute game changer for myhair because it protects it
(21:00):
during the night.
As I'm, you know, and movingaround in bed, my hair's not
getting caught anywhere.
It's uh.
When I take the cap off in themorning, it is my hair.
It looks like I've had itstraightened it just so silky,
so flat, no frizz.
It's amazing, and you don'thave to pay a lot of money for
(21:22):
these things.
If you just Google silk sleepbonnet, you'll see them around,
mainly online.
I've bought mine online and,yeah, they I highly recommend.
So I hope that's been helpful.
If you have any questions aboutthis, please head over to
Instagram, attheperimenopausepath, to engage
(21:45):
with me.
You can DM me, make a commenton the podcast post and, yeah,
I'd love to hear what you think.
Enjoy the rest of your week tohear what you think.
Enjoy the rest of your week andI will see you next week with
some more fresh content.
Thanks so much for joining meon the Ageless and Awesome
(22:05):
podcast.
If you liked this episode,please make sure you click the
little plus button if you're onApple Podcasts, or the follow
button if you're on Spotify, sothat you get each new episode
delivered to you every singleweek.
If you feel like writing me afive-star review, you would
absolutely make my day.
If you found this episoderesonated with you, head over to
(22:27):
my Instagram and DM me attheperimenopausepath.
I would love to connect withyou.
Hi, I'm Susie Garden and this is the Ageless and
Awesome podcast.
I'm an age-defying naturopathand clinical nutritionist and
I'm here to bust myths aroundwomen's health and aging so that
you can be ageless and awesomein your 40s, 50s and beyond.
The Ageless and Awesome podcastis dedicated to helping women
(00:24):
through perimenopause andmenopause with great health, a
positive mindset and outrageousconfidence.
Hit, subscribe or follow nowand let's get started.
Hello, gorgeous one, andwelcome to this week's episode
of the Ageless and Awesomepodcast.
This week, I'm talking about atopic that's pretty close to my
(00:47):
heart, because I have so many ofmy clients with this problem
that particularly turns up athormonal events in their lives.
Let's put it that way.
What I'm talking about is hairloss, and this can be quite
distressing, and for any of youthat this has happened to, I'm
(01:09):
sure you completely understandwhat I'm talking about.
Now it's probably fairly commonknowledge that after pregnancy,
many women go through periodsof hair loss, and that's because
of the hormones adjusting, andthere's a similar thing that can
happen.
It doesn't happen probably asfrequently, I don't think, to
(01:34):
women in perimenopause, but it'sdefinitely something that can
happen and it's a pretty easilyexplainable phenomenon, although
there can be multiple causes ofhair loss in women.
I'm going to list off a numberof possible causes and so you
know if this is something that'simpacting you, then you may
(01:57):
think oh, maybe this applies tome and perhaps for many of these
possible causes there areactually testing a blood testing
that you can do to actuallyknow for sure whether this is
potentially a reason why you'relosing hair.
I feel pretty lucky.
I've got if you've seenpictures of me, I've got a
(02:19):
fairly luscious mane of longhair, but it has taken a lot of
care in order to have my hair inthis really healthy state and I
think a lot of the things thatI do, including having a
personalized nutrition plan,really help me to make sure that
I'm getting exactly thenutrients that I need to make
(02:43):
sure that actually all of mybody systems are working well,
but including hair and hairgrowth.
So let's talk about some ofthese possible causes of hair
loss in women, specifically inthat perimenopause phase.
So hormones obviously we havethat drop in estrogen and
progesterone and sometimes thatdrops and what that can do is
(03:07):
actually give us a relativeandrogen excess or relative high
androgens.
Androgens are like more of ourmale type of sex hormones, like
testosterone.
So it's not that thetestosterone is getting higher,
it's just that our estrogen andprogesterone is dropping and the
testosterone might be stayingthe same or it might be dropping
a little bit, but it means thatwe have that imbalance there.
(03:30):
Stress is a massive cause ofhair loss and any of you that
have been through stressfulevents may have found that
that's happened to you.
So definitely that's one tolook at, and we know that women
in their forties in particularcan be going through quite a lot
of stress because of their youknow their family, their career.
(03:52):
So many different things aregoing on when we're in our
forties that may really increasestress.
Thyroid thyroid issues canoften occur after the age of 40.
And we'll get into that shortly.
But definitely thyroid it's oneof the things.
If I've got someone, a client,in front of me that's
(04:15):
complaining of hair loss.
When I say complaining, by theway, that's a medical thing.
Even when I was a nurse, youtalked about someone complaining
of this.
It's basically it must be anold-fashioned way of expressing
um, that what the problem is,okay, so please don't feel like
I'm.
It's a negative connotation,because I think it.
When I said as soon as I said Ithought, oh, that can sound
really negative, but it'sactually what we say in in
(04:37):
medical kind of um, uh,terminology.
So you know, if I do get aclient that's coming in that has
the hair loss happening, then Ilike to dive into that a little
bit and just see whatpotentially could be causing
that, and thyroid is often onethat comes up.
Nutrient deficiencies can alsobe a culprit in hair loss, and
(05:00):
particularly iron and zinc.
Autoimmune conditions can causeit, fungal infections can cause
it and some medications andsome of the medications that are
really commonly prescribedDrugs like antidepressants,
cholesterol lowering medications, antibiotics, antihypertensive
(05:21):
so they lower blood pressure theoral contraceptive pill, blood
thinners there's actually quitea lot If you're on a number of
medications that could be acause, or even if you're on just
one of these types of meds, andthe list is quite extensive.
So if you want to know moreabout that, you can definitely
just Google prescribedmedications that cause hair loss
(05:43):
in women, something like that,and you'll get a whole list of
them.
The other thing you know, oftenwe're getting this hair loss
happening from the scalp andpotentially at the same time
getting random hairs growing onour face.
So the chin hairs, themoustache.
(06:03):
You know, fantastic, that'sexactly.
You know, getting the hairgrowing where we don't want it
and losing hair from where weactually do want it, and that
happens.
It's another sign that perhapsyou have this relative androgen
excess, so the low estrogen andprogesterone and the elevated or
not elevated testosterone, butrelatively elevated androgens
(06:26):
such as testosterone.
Another thing when I'm talkingabout these sorts of hormone
imbalances is that if you'vebeen diagnosed with PCOS in the
past, you can get this hair lossbecause of the same hormone
imbalance.
And so that is anotherpotential diagnosis for hair
(06:50):
loss is PCOS or polycysticovarian syndrome, and the thing
which is fairly key with thatparticular syndrome is insulin
resistance.
So insulin is a hormone thathas many, many roles in the body
and it's a really important oneto be managing well, and that's
(07:12):
something that we as humans cancontrol with what we choose to
put in our diet.
And the thing is, as we'reencroaching our perimenopause
and postmenopause years, we dohave a tendency, as part of that
process, to become lesssensitive to insulin and
(07:33):
therefore more insulin resistant.
So there's that similarity withPCOS in that you get that
insulin resistance inperimenopause and you can get
these hormonal imbalances.
And so if you have PCOS andgoing into peri.
I actually haven't looked up tosee if there's research on this
(07:54):
, but it wouldn't surprise me ifthat kind of send if you've had
a relative, relatively goodbalance and then go into
perimenopause there may be moreimbalance that happens that you
may need to correct for, andthings like reversing the
insulin resistance can actuallyreduce the facial hair and
improve the hair loss, and I'mgoing to talk shortly about how
(08:17):
you can take steps to reverseinsulin resistance or to make
your insulin more sensitive,particularly in perimenopause
and menopause.
One thing I do want to justmention there is a condition
called androgenic alopecia andthat is probably the medical
name for this female patternhair loss.
(08:38):
So androgenic alopecia and thisis the one that's linked to the
relatively high androgensalopecia and this is the one
that's linked to the relativelyhigh androgens and hormone
testing can definitely bebeneficial in hair loss in women
for anything for thisandrogenic alopecia, but for any
hair loss that, um, like, whenI'm saying hair loss, I'm not
just talking about a little bitthat comes out.
(08:58):
I'm talking about you wake upin the morning and you've got
hair on your pillow, or thatyou're really noticing a lot
more hair in the shower when youshampoo your hair, and I know
for myself I go through periodsof time where sometimes there'll
be a lot of hair coming out.
So sometimes I think you justhave a bit of a shed every now
and again and maybe because I dohave very long hair, that would
(09:18):
be the case, but I do alwayskeep an eye on that.
If I feel like, oh, that'squite a lot of hair coming out,
I do sort of go, okay, well,what have I been doing with my
diet?
What have I been, you know,slacking off a bit, and I make
sure that I'm correcting that,also checking in with my stress.
So that's something to thinkabout when I'm talking about
this hair loss.
It's actually not just thedaily hair loss that you might
(09:40):
have.
It is significant.
Yeah, you might even noticebald patches on your head, and
if you do, then you really doneed to get that checked out by
a medical professional becauseit can be tested and it can be
managed.
But definitely, you know, we cantest things like hormones.
We can test the thyroid which,as I mentioned before, when you,
(10:04):
as we get over 40, often that'swhen thyroid conditions appear,
and it's generally thehypothyroidism.
So it's the kind of thyroidcondition where you tend to put
on weight, you get fatigued, youfeel kind of sluggish, you can
get constipation and you can getthis hair loss happening.
And the thing is, when you havethis, thyroid function is a bit
(10:28):
low.
It impacts as well as thosethings.
It impacts your circulation.
That's why people with ahypothyroid can often feel cold
and it's the poor circulationthat can potentially lead to
hair loss because you're notgetting, you know, good
circulation to the scalp.
So it's important again, that'ssomething that can easily be
tested through blood to see whatyour thyroid's doing, and most
(10:51):
people that are getting regularblood testing, like I, get my
bloods done every year.
The thyroid test is a standardtest.
Now you might want to go adeeper level of thyroid testing,
in which case you would want tobe looking at some private
pathology, looking at workingwith a naturopath or
nutritionist that can order thatfor you, because in Australia
(11:13):
under Medicare there's only avery top line thyroid marker
that can be tested, andsometimes having that deeper
level of testing can be veryhelpful in just analyzing and
making sure you're not missinganything, particularly if you
are having symptoms.
(11:34):
Nutrients, so low iron low ironactually can impact thyroid
function.
So you want to make sure thatyour iron levels are checked
regularly as well, and generallyin a yearly blood test.
That's going to be checked.
And I mean I'm sure you're wellaware iron levels can be low
(11:54):
for many reasons, particularlywomen in perimenopause.
If you're having exceptionallyheavy periods, that can really
drain your iron.
There's just an epidemic ofiron deficiency, to be honest,
here in Australia at the moment.
But in all age groups, and itcan be from period issues.
It can also be just lack ofabsorption of iron.
(12:14):
Again, if you're stressed, yourability to absorb your iron or
your nutrients generally fromyour food is going to be
decreased.
If your diet isn't reallyparticularly good if you're
drinking coffee with your meals,for example, that's going to
block your absorption of thingslike iron and zinc.
If you have got some gut issueslike chronic constipation,
(12:37):
chronic diarrhea, abdominal pain, excess gas, then that can be
suggestive that maybe your gutmay not be absorbing your
nutrients very well.
If you're quite fatigued, thatcan be a sign of iron deficiency
, but can also be a sign of manyother deficiencies.
It can also be a sign of lowthyroid function.
(12:58):
So it's not something really tobe ignored.
If you're feeling fatigued, itreally does need to be checked
out by a healthcare professional.
So, stress I mentioned beforeand I think most people if
you've been through a period ofvery intense stress, you may
have experienced some hair loss,and so learning to regulate
(13:18):
your nervous system can be oneof the.
I think it's a key life skill,to be honest, for everybody,
including kids, to learn,because there are stressful
things going on in our world allof the time.
And when I say in our world, Idon't necessarily mean around
the globe, although there isthat, but I just mean in your
world that there can be thingsthat are causing you a lot of
(13:42):
stress, and so if you can learnto regulate your nervous system
and doing that, that's prettyeasy to do that with even just
some deep breathing.
But there's, you know, spendingtime in nature, going for a
daily walk.
I've started doing a dailyafternoon walk with because one
of my dogs is getting a bitskitzy in the afternoon and I
(14:03):
find I'm doing it for her tokind of make her more settled.
But I feel so much better afterI've done that walk and I'm
very lucky.
I live near bushland, sowhenever I'm walking I'm around
trees.
Sometimes I see koalas, I seelots of birds, I can see the
ocean, so that I'm veryfortunate in that gives me a lot
(14:24):
of opportunities for connectionto nature.
Even if you're walking aroundyour you know suburban street,
just looking at any of thegardens, the trees, the sky,
noticing any birds, anythinglike that is going to help
connect you to nature.
You don't have to have the bushor the ocean there to inspire
(14:46):
you or to have that connectionto nature.
So I guess the main things Iwanted to highlight when I'm
speaking about hair loss andwhen I'm seeing hair loss in
clients is there are generally.
My top five, I guess, is what Ilook for.
(15:07):
So one is the hormonalimbalances.
So is this person inperimenopause?
Are they postpartum?
Have they got PCOS?
They're probably the main onesand we can absolutely do the
testing for hormones.
It's a blood test, it's prettyeasy.
We can also do things like aDutch test.
That's a urine test that'sgoing to give like an
(15:27):
unbelievable analysis.
It's a fantastic test.
It is quite expensive and youcan get away with.
If it's just for something likethis, like looking at hair loss
, you can get away with justdoing blood testing, which is a
lot cheaper.
Um, thyroid, obviously Imentioned.
So testing for thyroid issues.
(15:50):
If, if, the symptom patternkind of matches that of low
thyroid, that can be reallyhelpful to just even rule it out
as a cause of hair loss,insulin resistance.
So again, this is somethingthat can be tested and also
managed.
Stress, we spoke about already.
(16:10):
And also, I would always justpromote nutrition.
I love the power of food.
I would always just promotenutrition.
I love the power of food.
I am constantly, constantlyamazed by the power of food and
what it can do for your health,your wellbeing, and how quickly
it can actually work.
And particularly, I'm talkingabout personalized nutrition
(16:30):
which uses your blood tests,uses your body measurements and
any medical conditions and foodpreferences to design a
nutrition plan that has theexact foods, exact proteins,
veggies, salads, bread, breadportions, also portion sizes of
your macros, so that you have noconfusion, you know exactly
(16:54):
what you need to be eating andwhen, and you know it's going to
be really supporting youroptimal health.
Now I often get asked aboutsupplements when it comes to
hair loss, and there are a few.
Zinc definitely can help, andyou know I work with a lot of
women that are a littledeficient in zinc, so you can
(17:15):
take zinc without being tested.
Just make sure if you're takingit you're not taking it at the
same time.
You're having coffee, so Ioften recommend for my clients
to have it at night, have itwith a meal, because it can make
some people feel a bitnauseated, and yeah, so zinc can
be helpful for hair and hairloss.
Silica can be really good andyou can buy silica supplements.
(17:38):
All those hair and nailsupplements you see at the
pharmacy have got silica in themand I have used silica from
time to time myself.
If I feel my nails need alittle bit of extra TLC, or my
hair, then I'll just take amonth of silica supplements and
that really kind of gives it alittle boost.
(17:59):
Collagen, I find, can be veryhelpful for and it has multiple
uses.
It's great for skin, it's greatfor gut health and we do,
unfortunately, as part of justgetting I hate saying the aging
process, but it is Once we'reover 40 and 50, our ability to
(18:20):
make our own collagen does drop.
So having collagen is superimportant and having vitamin C
with it, because that helps thebody use the collagen, that's
pretty important as well.
If you're thinking about takingan iron supplement, I would
always recommend getting testedfor your iron levels first,
(18:41):
because it is possible to havetoo much iron and I think it's
you know it's not.
It's.
It's kind of seen as being avery easy supplement.
It's so accessible, it's soeasy to buy it, but there can be
problems if you've got too muchiron on board.
So I really recommend that ifyou're concerned about your iron
(19:03):
, that you go and get sometesting done.
What else do I want to say?
I think that was probably aboutit.
The main thing is to be patient.
It does take time to correctnutritional deficiencies.
It does take time to see theresults in hair, because
(19:27):
obviously you know it growspretty slowly for a start and it
can take six months to seeimprovements when we're looking
at hair loss, and becausethere's a lot that's going on in
the body that needs to beaddressed in order to get that
(19:48):
beautiful hair growing well.
As I mentioned before, I think,definitely if you've got really
obvious bald patches happeningand you don't know why, please
go and talk to a healthcareprofessional about that.
That's not something that Iwould recommend you DIY and just
have a bit of silica.
An autoimmune condition anddefinitely needs to be assessed
(20:15):
because there can be somespecific things done to really
get on top of that.
That's not something you muckaround with, so I think that's
probably all, actually, the onlyother thing that I've.
I think I've talked about thison the pod before.
It might've been a while ago,but probably for the past year
or so.
It might've been a while ago,but probably for the past year
(20:38):
or so I've been wearing a silkbonnet to bed, and I know it
sounds a bit odd.
I was.
When I say the word bonnet, Ifeel like I'm back in the 1800s,
but it's just basically a silkcap.
It's it's cause I've got longhair Mine's sort of a fairly
long one but I've found sinceI've been wearing that it's been
an absolute game changer for myhair because it protects it
(21:00):
during the night.
As I'm, you know, and movingaround in bed, my hair's not
getting caught anywhere.
It's uh.
When I take the cap off in themorning, it is my hair.
It looks like I've had itstraightened it just so silky,
so flat, no frizz.
It's amazing, and you don'thave to pay a lot of money for
(21:22):
these things.
If you just Google silk sleepbonnet, you'll see them around,
mainly online.
I've bought mine online and,yeah, they I highly recommend.
So I hope that's been helpful.
If you have any questions aboutthis, please head over to
Instagram, attheperimenopausepath, to engage
(21:45):
with me.
You can DM me, make a commenton the podcast post and, yeah,
I'd love to hear what you think.
Enjoy the rest of your week tohear what you think.
Enjoy the rest of your week andI will see you next week with
some more fresh content.
Thanks so much for joining meon the Ageless and Awesome
(22:05):
podcast.
If you liked this episode,please make sure you click the
little plus button if you're onApple Podcasts, or the follow
button if you're on Spotify, sothat you get each new episode
delivered to you every singleweek.
If you feel like writing me afive-star review, you would
absolutely make my day.
If you found this episoderesonated with you, head over to
(22:27):
my Instagram and DM me attheperimenopausepath.
I would love to connect withyou.
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