Whats the scoop on hair loss?

I keep reading about how much hair I'm going to lose.  It has me wondering how much is real and how much is subjective.  I have grown my hair long for the first time in my life and am amazed at how much seems to being falling out now.  My hair dresser explained that it is the same quantity, just longer, therefore it seems like more.  I had my thyroid ablated with radioactive iodine i******ight after I had a baby.  I had pregnancy hair loss and thyroid disease hair loss.  Lets just say it was alot of hair loss.  I even had a small bald spot for about a year.  It has never come back as thick as it was, but it is still very thick.  Will hair loss after RNY be like that, do you think?  Should I start using Nioxin now?

 I am very curious also... I have read that it usally starts around 4 months out but I am just 2 months and it began yesterday. It's very scary to me.... as I have never lost hair before, through the thyroid trip nor my pregnacies. I would like to hear about how long this lasts and does your hair really thin out and does it grow back????

I'm at two months as well.  My hair has been falling out since my pre-op diet, so I'm glad I have lots of it.  I work really hard on protein levels, and have started biotin to keep hair loss at a minimum.

 

i'm 15 months post op.  my hair loss started at 4 months post op and lasted for 3 months.  i already had thin hair due to a vitamin "d" deficiency diagnosed a few months before WLS....so i was in a panic!  i didn't have any hair to spare!  i was already using nioxin products, taking biotin, vitamin "d"....anything that might help with the hair loss.  my hair loss was pretty bad....seemed to come out by the handfuls!  but....the good new is that when the hair loss started..almost immedicately i could see new growth.....the new growth came in pretty slow at first but i just made sure i took my vitamins and made sure i got all the protein i needed daily.....and now my hair is much better....it's actually thicker than it was before my WLS/vitamin "d" deficiency diagnosis!

i lose hair anytime i'm put to sleep.....always have.....but never had it to fall out like it did post WLS.........but it was worth it!!!  no more blood pressure problems....no more CPAP machine...no more high cholesterol (without meds!  woohoo!)  it was worth those few months of hair loss!!

the funny thing is....i could feel my hair and tell i was about to lose a lot.....my hair has always been fine and silky feeling but right before it would come out it would feel dry and dead....kind of eerie!

best wishes on your journey!!!

jenni

My hair loss from VSG was worse than my hair loss from pregnancy. It really did come out in handfuls and that freaked me out at times. However, it did all grow back and my hair is actually better than it was pre-op.

This was my experience:

Started losing hair at 1.5 weeks out. Yes, I said weeks.
At around 3 months, the hair loss was in clumps and handfulls
At around 12 months it had really slowed down
It didn't really stop until 17 months out and, until about 2.5 years out when I started taking more iron, it would still occasionally

Looking back, I think this is what was going on:

-I had ferritin on the low side and low protein from pretty much the start. So the early and late hair loss was from that. More protein didn't help (or didn't help enough) as I have some sort of issue with my protein and it's always low even though I always get at least 100 g a day and often as much as 170 g a day. Changing up my iron supplementation did help as it raised my ferritin from 24 to 34 and that seems to be enough to get it over the hump and now I only lose as much hair as I always did.

-the massive hair loss starting at about 3 months out was due to the surgery and the rapid weight loss. Nothing stops that. Believe me, I tried everything before I gave up and accepted it.

I tried all the different hair supplements that every suggested and none of them did squat for my hair loss. If your hair loss is due to the shock of the surgery, your hair died the day you had surgery and taking supplements can't change that. Dead is dead. You are just making expensive pee. If your hair loss is from malnutrition, supplements can help. But just taking supplements hoping it will help is not the answer IMO. The answer is to look at your labs and address any deficiencies you see there.

I experienced a little bit of it during month 2 but that's it.  I had taken biotin from the start and it was making the hair on my FACE thicker too so I stopped that and started concentrating on my protein intake.  Haven't had any further loss so far and I'm at 8 months.  Labs have been good and that's important.  I take a lot more supplements than just a multi-vitamin, B-12, and calcium to keep them that way.

Good luck!

I started bioten months before surgery and still take it but I don't think it is don't squat.  My loss started late, around 6 months and I thought I was going to dodge the bullett but oh no.  My hair is fine and thin and I am still losing hair.  It is growing back and I have a layer of 2" growth, at least in front.  I'm a little scared since I am looking at one little and one big surgery coming up.  I may be bald like DH.

 It is harder when it's longer because it seems like more...
It is a freaky thing and actually was the hardest thing about WLS...for me
MY hair always looked nice even if I was fat but suddenly I was both fat and 
losing hair...
It has grown back fuller and better...
It will grow back don't worry
I would get a shorter hair cut if I were you or trim it up so it looks fuller and
won't be so shocking when it falls out.
I wore it up alot and didn't think about it unless I washed it and then I just
got clumps out and put it up again
FYI ...leg hair and all other hair will stop growing in as fast and that's a bonus...
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