Just As Well, The Women's Health Podcast - Why Is My Hair Falling Out? Trichologist Annabel Kingsley on What Really Works

Episode Date: July 28, 2026

Noticing more hair in your brush, a thinner ponytail or widening around your parting? Hair loss can be frightening – but understanding what’s causing it is the first step towards tackling it.  In this episode of Just As Well Claire Sanderson and Gemma Atkinson are joined by leading trichologist Annabel Kingsley to explain why women experience hair loss during postpartum, perimenopause and menopause – and how stress, rapid weight loss, GLP-1 medication and low iron levels can also trigger shedding.  Annabel reveals how to tell normal shedding from a potential problem, when hair loss may be reversible and when to seek expert help. She also shares the changes that can support healthier hair growth, from getting enough protein and carbohydrates to looking after your scalp properly.  Plus, she separates fact from fiction on collagen, biotin, red-light therapy, minoxidil and expensive hair products – and explains why taking supplements without a blood test could make matters worse.  If you’re worried about hair loss, this practical and reassuring episode will help you understand what’s happening – and what to do next.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Watch the Hulu original series Furious, now streaming only on Hulu on Disney Plus. Hi, I'm Gemma Hikinson. And I'm Claire Sanderson. We've just recorded another episode of Just as well, and it was fascinating. It was with Annabel Kingsley. She's a consultant tricologist, and the president, the brand president of Philip Kingsley.

She's actually Philip Kingsley's daughter. Yeah. So she grew up. We actually asked her where did her, like, passion and knowledge of hair and scalp health start? And she actually said I was born into it. I lived above my dad's salon. She did.

It was written in the stars for her. but she knew so much, didn't she? Up until this chat, I genuinely, I washed my air maybe twice a week max, I live in a top knot, I don't do anything with it. I've taken away so many things that I need to do. I need to sleep like Pippi Longstocking.

There's certain products. She told us a tip, if you've got kids who have swimming lessons, Claire was saying it was a battle to get her son and daughter to wash their hair after swimming. I'm currently at that stage. We're doing it wrong anyway.

She gives us some tips of what to do before you get in the swimming pool to protect your hair. She was also really reassuring for those among us who have suffered hair loss and we both have to greater or lesser extent

and for different reasons but she was reassuring of what the future holds. So if you are experiencing hair loss there is a positive outcome to be had and changes you can make today that will improve the outcome tomorrow. Yeah, so whether you're perimenopause, postmenopause,

postpartum or mid-pregnancy, there's tips and advice and things we can do to help with our hair loss. So enjoy this episode and as always, please like, please subscribe, please share us far and wide. It'll help us book even more guests in the future. So Annabelle, thank you so much for joining us here just as well. Thank you for having me. It's lovely to have you.

Let's start off, if you can take us back, start with your background and how you got into scalp and hair health. I guess I was born into it. So my dad, Philip Kingsley, he was the world's most respected and well-known tricologist. I guess he's the person who put tricology on the map. It wasn't a known term before he started practicing. And I grew up above his clinic in Green Street, London. So hair and scalp's always been something that I've been aware of every day when I'd go to school and come back. I would be filled with his clients having treatments for hair and scalp health.

I'd overhear him speak about his clients. So I've always had that awareness of it and also the awareness of how much people care about their hair and what the vast psychological impact it can have. But then I suppose I didn't properly get into it. professionally until my early 20s. So I started working for my father in his New York clinic at reception. Actually, I was in mail order. So I would pack up all the products and send them out to clients.

And then I managed our New York clinic and then move back to London and I studied tricology. And I just, I love everything about it. So it's been quite a long journey, but I guess it started properly in my early 20s. So what exactly is tricology? Trichology, it's the scientific study of the hair and scalp. So tricologists are hair and scalp scientists. And it's interesting, you say, when you think about it, it is fundamentally how it makes a lot of people feel,

determine how their hair looks, how they determine a good hair day. But I'm only hearing about scalp and hair health as in the tricol, like today. I didn't realize there was specific fields for it because it's something that's not really looked into. No. And it should be because like you say, if you have a good hair day, you feel good. And I think women, especially in different life phases, like postpartum, during pregnancy, during perimenopause, the hair changes drastically. Yeah. And a lot of people, myself included, thought it's just something we have to live with, but ultimately it isn't.

No, I mean, things like postpartum hair loss, everyone's going to experience it to a degree. But it's often worse than it needs to be. or it takes women by surprise or women to understand why it's happening. And I think it's that it's not understanding and not expecting it that makes it so scary. But once you know the science behind it, know that it's normal and when it's not normal, it's more you can be empowered to take steps.

Yeah, so not knowing. And is it sure there's different types of hair loss? Yes, there are many. Can you go through some of them with those? Yes. So, I mean, there are lots of different types of hair. loss, but the two most common in women are telogen effluvium. So that's what you experience postpartum.

It's when you have that monstrous amount of hair coming out on a daily basis. You see handfuls coming out when you shampoo, when you brush your hair. And then you have female pattern hair loss. And that is a more slow and gradual loss of hair density. So there's male pattern hair loss where you get recession at the temples and kind of balding over the crown and it can affect all this area. But for women it's more spread out. So you don't typically get bald patches, but you just have less hair density over this area at the top, but don't get bald spots. And that's more, it's genetic. We don't know of all of the contributing factors,

but it often becomes worse during perimenopause and menopause, but it can actually start to occur soon after puberty. So the hair loss postpartisan. is hormone triggered, I'm assuming. Yes. Partially. So partially. And the hair loss in perimenopause is also hormone triggered. But that's different.

That's different. They're different types of hair loss. Yes. Yeah. So in, so actually it's a bit complicated. So postpartum and perimenopause, you can get telogen of fluvium. So that's due to rapidly shifting hormone levels. So during pregnancy, your estrogen levels, rise. Estrogens are very hair-supportive hormone, so more hair stay in the growth phase, so you see less coming out. And then when those levels drop postpartum, all of those extra hairs

maintained shed. So they kind of had to come out because the type of hair shedding you were having during pregnancy is not sustainable and it's not normal. And a similar thing kind of happens in perimenopause, when you can get those really rapid and significant shifts in estrogen and progesterone, and that can cause ongoing bouts of telogen effluvium. And then when you shift into menopause and estrogen levels remain low, then this can impact the actual hair follicle and it might become smaller and start to produce hairs that are finer and shorter. And how much hair loss is considered normal? Because when we lose hair, every day, don't we?

Yes. But is there a limit of which someone should seek help for it? I think everyone's normal is different. So I never want people to hair check or hair count because it just feeds into hair loss anxiety. And I've seen this a lot online on Instagram, on TikTok, where people are counting the hairs and saying, oh, it's normal to lose up to X amount of hairs a day and I'm losing why.

So it's too much. It's when you think, goodness, this is more. then I normally lose and that is sustained over more than a few weeks. So, but generally it's between 100 and 150 hairs a day. Wow. Yeah, it's quite a lot. Yeah. Yeah.

But you don't, a lot of them will come out throughout the day on your clothes, floor, when you shampoo or they just go down the drain. But with telogen ophluvium, you can have up to three times the amount of hair shedding. So that can be three to 400 hairs a day. coming out and it can be incredibly distressing. How is that different to the type of catastrophic hail or someone might experience when they're having chemotherapy or alopecia? So chemotherapy causes hairs to come out in the anogen phase.

So telogen, your hair normally goes through a very distinct cycle. So it's anogen, which is growth, catagen, which is like an intermediary phase. telogen, which is a resting stage, and this lasts for three months, and then exigen, which is when the hair sheds. So in telogen effluvium, something happens, so it might be a hormonal shift, it might be a vitamin or mineral deficiency, a period of intense stress, rapid weight loss, that causes more hairs than usual to move from growth, so anogen, into telogen, and they remain there for about three months, because that's how long that stage lasts, and then they shed. So that's another thing to say is you have to look back for triggering.

with telogen effluvium, it doesn't happen right away. With chemotherapy, the drugs cause hairs to come out in anogen. So you don't have to wait three months. It can happen within a couple of weeks. And the amount of hairfall you see is much more than you would see with telogen of fluvium. But equally, the hair recovers very quickly after chemotherapy finishes, typically. I've got since, and it's only since pregnancy, since having both my kids, little faint tiny patches

either side of my temples and I did have postpartum hair loss but it was just something I noticed like if I had like a cardigan on I'd look down and be like oh we've got quite a few hairs on this just picked them off it wasn't like drastic and then after my youngest is now too it's all come back lovely and thick

but there's these two little patches would there be a reason for those typically in the women that I see postpartum it's due to suboptimal ferretin levels. So ferretin is a stored iron or a protein that stores iron. And ferretin drops

before your iron levels do and your hair is very, very sensitive to low, or your hair follicles are very sensitive to low telogen, sorry, to low ferretin levels. And it typically causes thinning at the temple. And that I'd make sense because I don't eat red meat, do I?

Although I do have beef spleen supplements, but I can't bring myself to eat. Sounds delicious. I know. So it's a case of up in your iron, which would then up the ferretin, which would then help the hair. Yes, yeah.

But the only way to know is to have a blood test. Have a blood test and have the levels checked. Yeah, and then probably if you are ferretin deficient or iron deficient, at least for a period of time, you'd need to take an iron supplement because diet alone isn't going to shift those levels. Yeah.

And is it something as well? Would hair loss increase, like with stress levels or which again, every mother and father when a new baby arrives, it's stressful, isn't it? So with that count as well? I think there are so many things that happen postpartum other than the big hormonal chef that contribute to postpartum hair loss. And one is stress. It is really stressful.

It's wonderful, but also stressful when you have a newborn and lack of sleep. You might not have the support that you need. Your diet might not be great. you might not have the time to nourish yourself. You might feel pressure to fit back into the clothes that you were wearing pre-pregnancy. So that kind of rapid weight loss or restrictive eating can also feed into postpartum hair loss.

Iron deficiency, ferretin deficiency, lots of vitamin and mineral deficiencies happen postpartum that just aren't looked into. So when you have postpartum hair loss, it typically would last up to six months and stop if it were just the hormones. But for many women, it continues on for much longer than this. And often it's due to one of those other factors.

So what can someone listening or watching today do, if they are postpartum and they are mortified, every time they brush their hair or have a shower, what life changes can they make that will affect, improvements in their hair? I think one of the most important things is to advocate with your doctor. So don't be dismissed as this is all normal.

It's the post-partum period. You're meant to feel tired. What do you expect? So insist on having some tests done. And just try and look after yourself as best you can try and eat really nutrient dense foods, keep your stress levels low, take help in whatever way you feel comfortable

with from friends and family and I think and look after your scalp as well because in the post-partum period it's you might not be shampooing or cleansing your scalp as often as necessary so there's a lot that you can do you can't stop that initial shed from hormonal crash but there are a lot of other things that you can kind of control because the instinct is to just wash your hair less

when you are losing hair yeah but you mentioned diet, what diet should someone follow, not prescriptively, but what can people add into their diet then there's nutrient dense to the benefit of here? Think protein rich foods are great. Your hair is made primarily of protein. So if you aren't getting enough dietary protein, which most people don't, that's going to impact the growth and the strength of your hair. Things like eggs are great. And I know that you have. Eggs for breakfast.

They have protein. They have different minerals in them if you eat the yolk. Complex carbohydrates are really important. Your hair cells are the second fastest dividing cells your body makes. So they're really hungry for energy. And if you're not having carbs, your hair is going to struggle. So don't cut out carbs. Iron rich food.

So if you eat meat, steak, if you like liver, that's a great. source of iron. Did anyone like liver? I like liver, but it might be because I know it's good for my hair. You mentioned then about obviously the lack of nutrients. We did an episode on GLP1s and the weight loss, and a friend of mine, a male friend of mine, he's been on the, is it, Monjor?

Monjarro. His hair has gone, it's not that it's fallen out, but it's gone very brittle, very, it's damaged. It looks like he's bleached it and been in the sun for an hour. and he hasn't. It's just, and he's just, I don't know what's happening. Would it be because of the lack of nutrients? Because he's obviously not eating as well.

Probably. Hair loss following using GLP ones is very common. Anytime you lose weight rapidly, you will experience telogen of fluvium because your hair is non-essential tissue, at least physically, psychologically, yes. But when you stop, when you have, your body suddenly is deprived of cancer, calories and nutrients, your body diverts energy and vitamins and minerals away from producing

hair cells to keep essential systems functioning because your body doesn't know that you're taking a weight loss drug, it thinks... You're dying. Yeah. That food is scarce. There's a food scarcity. So there's that and then just ongoing, if your appetite's very reduced, you might be having really small portions, which might be.

not be enough to sustain normal hair growth. Certain vitamin and mineral deficiencies and even lack of protein can cause the hair texture changes. And then now there's thought that thyroid is playing a role as well. So it might be causing fluctuations in thyroid hormones. And your hair is also sensitive to thyroid. So or thyroid levels. So I think there's probably more than one thing contributing.

to hair loss from GLP ones and we just don't know exactly what all those things are yet. But it's reversible though. It's not that you lose the hair and it's gone forever. If you're losing it in this Teligens or remind me.

Telethyne of fluvium is totally reversible. Telogen ophluvium. So if someone was to then increase their nutrient intake, olive oil you mentioned earlier when we were off camera is Gemma loves olive oil and she has fabulous hair.

So there are ways to overcome the loss. Yes, and I think just making sure that what you're eating is packed full of nutrients, so don't reach for fast foods. Probably see a dietitian so that they can help you put together meals that are really packed full of the vitamins and minerals and proteins that you need. I think I'm normally kind of not against supplements, but I'm a bit wary of them. But I do think with JLP ones, they can be very helpful because your appetite. is reduced and you're eating smaller portions. But I think it's always important to coordinate with your doctor on this,

have regular blood tests to monitor your vitamin, mineral and thyroid levels. I think it probably is reversible, but we just don't know. People haven't been using them for long enough to know if it would always be. Because with male and female pattern hair loss, hair follicles only miniaturized between hair growth cycles. So there's a school of thought that if you keep disrupting that and you have a predisposition potentially, something like that could be triggered sooner.

This isn't proven. It's just something that I thought about. And then that is, even though you can manage female and male pattern hair loss, it isn't completely reversible, if that makes sense. So I don't think we will read that. know the answer for a few years. And what about, we see lots of them now, the red light therapy masks.

Do they play a part? The helmets. Yeah. There's lots of them going around, isn't there? And would they be beneficial, red light? Yeah, I think it can play, red light therapy can, it can be a nice add-on therapy to whatever else you're doing. If you have female passion hair loss, I don't think on its own, it's going to give you the type of improvement.

that you'd want, but it used alongside other evidence-based treatments like monoxide, and a healthy diet, I think it can form a good part of a treatment plan. And how often, when I was growing up, it was don't wash your air every day, you'll wash the natural oils out. How often, because there's so many myths, isn't there around hair washing, it was that you'll wash the natural oils. How often should we be washing our hair? And is it a wash, condition, cleanse?

Do you treat it like we should treat our face? Yes. Right. So I guess you have two tissues to think of. You have your scalp, which is skin and it's living, and you have your hair that's dead tissue. And what benefits your scalp, which is daily to every other day cleansing, isn't always realistic from a hair standpoint and might.

Not shampooing itself won't damage your hair, but what you do to it after might. So it's the drying, the blow drying. It's the blow drying and the heat and the traction from brushes that can. So for the scalp every day, that is best. But then it's about finding a balance between that and what works for you and your hair texture and your routine and how you style your hair. But shampooing in and of itself isn't damaging. Natural oils are there sebaceous secretions.

So I think you want to be removing oils from your scalp regularly because they break down and they become inflammatory. And this can, that doesn't create the best environment for hair growth and it causes inflammation. And then the oils throughout your lengths, some can be removed by shampooing. They're called free lipids, but they are replaced when you condition your hair. So as long as you use it. Conditioner. It just goes on the ends. Does it go on the roots?

Mid-length to ends. But it doesn't strip away. There are two types of oils on your hair. There are free oils that can be shampooed away. And that doesn't matter because they're replaced. And then there are ones that are chemically bonded to your hair. And those aren't removed by shampoos. Because I'm one of them school mums in the morning.

I happily go to school with wet hair because I don't have the time to dry it. And at the time I'm thinking, I bet people are thinking, oh, you scruff. But my comeback now can be, I'm not putting heat on my hair. Yeah. So it's a good thing to let you dry naturally if you can. Yeah, and low drying doesn't have to be damaging.

It's when you use a really high heat and you use a really abrasive hairbrush. But you can, there are ways. And if you can get quite creative at home by using a low to medium heat and a gentle hair brush and you're not going to be damaging your hair and just use heat protection. Like a spray beforehand.

Yeah, yeah. So I'm 48, very much in the period. menopause and started losing hair last summer. I had fabulous hair. My hair was always my crowning glory. I can see it in my daughter now. She has the hair I used to have, you know, a very thick ponytail, big circumference on my ponytail. They started coming out in the shower last year.

I can only attribute it to the perimenopause. And when you're going through this life stage, everyone's, and you start talking to people about it, your shared experience is so common. And the amount of women I've spoken to you said, it's happened to me, it's happened to me, or the condition of my hair is deteriorated, and I used to be able to leave my hair dry after a blow dry, but now I have to, without blow drying it, but now I have to blow dry it to get it looking sleek. Is it inevitable that we're either going to lose hair or its condition is going deteriorate when we're in the perimenopause, menopause?

I think, to an extent, yes, because our hair follicles, their mini organs, our scalp, is skin. So like any part of the body are our scalp and hair follicles they age. So no one in their 40s, 50s, 60s plus is going to have the same quality of hair as they did in their 20s. But the degree of change is going to vary. It's a lot to do with genes. Lifestyle factors also probably play a role as well. But I see women in their 80s with fantastic heads of hair. It's not as thick as it was when they were in their 20s, but it's still great hair. And then I see women in their 70s who are very, very thin hair and used to have thick hair. So I don't really think there's a way to predict it.

But it doesn't mean that when you go into menopause, you're going to lose all your hair. You'll probably notice some changes. I think the most pronounced thing, at least initially, is that shedding that can happen during perimenopause. But that is temporary. It's not permanent and your hair grows. back once your hormone battles. I really thought it was permanent. And when you see it, you think, oh my gosh.

What about, I don't have them now, but in my 20s, I used to have hair extensions. And I don't know, I didn't need them. My hair was long and thick, thicker than it is now. But I just tried them on time. Would extensions ruin your hair over time? If they're poorly maintained and they place a lot of traction on your hair, in scalp, then yes, over the years they can cause permanent hair loss. So that's called traction alopecia.

But it really depends on how long you leave them on for and how they're woven into your own hair. Okay, so it's like how they're managed ones they're on. Yeah. And what about colouring? I would say probably 95% of the people who are watching or listening to this, colour their hair in one way, shape or form. if your hair is going through a period of shedding

or you've noticed the texture and the quality is diminishing, is colouring something you should avoid? No, I love colour. Well, I do. I can't remember my natural colour to be honest. It makes you feel good. You know, your hair is there so you can express yourself and it's meant to be there to boost your mood. So I think if colouring your hair makes you feel good,

definitely do it. It's just about knowing how to keep your hair healthy in between and also where you need to stop. So having a colour, who will tell you. Yeah. No, I'm not going to do an overall white blonde on your hair because it's going to snap off in a few weeks.

But it's just maintaining your hair in between. It means that you'll have more work to do yourself so that to reduce breakage. But if you're up for that, then go ahead and color your hair. I bleach my hair. And this might be a random question. Because my, when I sleep with my hair down, Sometimes in the morning it's quite matted at the back

because it is quite thick. I've seen things online. Some people sleep with the hair in a plat. Some people pin it all up. How's the best way to sleep with your hair so that it's not damaged in the night? Silk, I've seen it. It's all kinds of things.

What's the best thing to do? I braid my hair before bed. So I'll do it in a side braid or I'll do like pippy long stocking. And that's probably the easiest and then you don't have to buy anything extra and that will protect your hair from tan. tangling when you sleep. Silk and satin pillow cases can help to reduce friction. I don't know how if they're going to prevent tangles, but they'll prevent frizz.

Yeah. Which means that you won't have to use as much heat in the morning to tame your hair. So that can be beneficial or the bonnets as well. It depends what works for you. But I can platt it and then just sleep with plaits. Yeah, as long as you're not putting too much tension on the scalp, then yeah. Okay. So you must hear some myths in your career. What's the biggest hair myths that you hear regularly and that you would love to dispel?

I mean, I think the one about shampooing is probably the biggest one is that shampooing's bad for your hair. But in fact, it's one of the... We were told that all the time, but not. Yeah. One of the best things you can do for your scalp is shampooing. And really get in with your scalp. Yeah, don't scrub your hair.

Focus on your scalp. You don't really need to touch your hair much. when you shampoo, you just, you massage, I'm going to mess my hair up now, you massage all over with your fingertips and then just squeeze the sods through the lengths of your hair and rinse. Don't smush your hair on top of your head. Don't rub it. That will damage your hair.

So just focus on your scalp. I know. I mean, I'm thinking, because I love a head massage, Indian head massage for me. I used to have it every month before kids, and they've ruined it for me now. I never have time. But I love, like, I'll just, say to my daughter, can you just play with my hair and just messing with it?

And I also have, again, it's probably not good for my hair at all, but you're the metal prongs. It's like a stick with the metal umbrella and I just sit going like itching my head with it. And I absolutely love it. I think out of all things that, because they're just rounded at the end, aren't they? I think

they're actually probably okay. I think those ones out of everything. I wouldn't use a scout brush or a scalp. No, you see them. There's just so many gadgets And it's and stuff now. But I think the prongs, they feel nice, but they're not really doing any harm. I think those are fine.

I guess supplements is another myth. Just every woman I see with hair loss is just popping supplements. And you should really only take them after having a blood test. Because what I'm seeing now is over supplementation, when people are taking too much of something. And that can be just as harmful as being deficient. in something. So too much vitamin A or too much selenium can cause hair lus. Too much iron is kind of toxic. Things like biotin, they're not really going to do anything. No one's biotin

deficient. Well, hardly anyone is biotin deficient. So I would just get yearly blood tests and base your supplement intake on that. And if you really want to take a supplement, then just go for a protein supplement. What about collagen? Um, I, I think it's a good source protein. I don't know if I would spend the type of money people are spending on a collagen supplement when you could just get a nice protein supplement if you want to kind of boost hair growth or support hair growth that way. There's limited evidence for skin. I mean, there is. some, there's really none for hair. I don't think it's going to do any harm, but it wouldn't be something, I would say, right,

if you want to optimize your hair, everyone should take a collagen supplement. I would say if you want to and you can afford it and it makes you feel good, fine, but there's just not the evidence. Yeah, and supplements, they're just, they're not really regulated. They're not regulated like medications. They're regulated like foods. So you don't really know what you're getting. in a supplement and there have been some

test done with some supplements where they say they contain X amount of collagen or whatever it is and actually it's minimal so I just you have to take it with a bit of a pinch of sign find one that's like third party tested and then that comes at a cost higher price bracket and you've got to do people go for what's quick and convenient not necessarily what's that best quality

I think spending you know spending that money on really good food. Food. Yeah. It's better. What about, sorry, another myth. And again, it's for our story on Instagram. Apparently washing in cold water on your scalp's better than water that's too warm.

Would that make a difference or not? No. No. I mean, cold water doesn't make your hair shiny. Just, sorry. But that's the only. Sorry, hairdresser when they had the cold water at the end of a blow dry. And that's the only thing it just wouldn't.

I think. I think where this myth comes from is that when you splash your face with cold water, it constricts or blood vessels. So it, but your hair doesn't, it's dead, it doesn't have blood vessels. So cold water

is not going to like close it up. I think that's where the myth comes from. And in terms of your scalp, it's not going to do anything positive. It's not as long as it's clean. Yeah. Quality of hair products. Is it a myth? Maybe not. But I've read some,

Some claims that the type of conditioner you can get on the high street as opposed to salon quality is not as good. Maybe contains paraben. That's a minefield. You can. You should go for the better quality salon. But they come at a cost. I mean, I'd say go for what works for you.

Because everyone's hair is different and everyone's preference is different. And maybe your holy grail product is a drugstore conditioner. and maybe it's a really expensive one and maybe it's you can kind of swap between the two. I think you have to try. Yes, more premium products. They'll have the testing behind them, which costs money. You have a wider variety of actives or ingredients that are available to you because some are too expensive to put into a drugstore product.

But I wouldn't, I would, conditioners generally work quite well. So I wouldn't feel pressured into going and buying a salon one if you don't have the finances too. I would save your money, get blood test if the NHS isn't going to do it for you. But yeah, I think it's so variable. Some premium products are much better than drugs or ones and some aren't. It's really about testing them and reading reviews and finding, what's going to work for your hair texture. And with sun damage, that's something you hear as well on holiday.

I mean, I used to put lemon juice in my air on holiday. Sanin. Sunning, yes. Sunning, yes. Just to spray. It ended up like a sort of a tinge of ginger. In the 90s, it was the blonder the better, wasn't it, back then? Does sun play a part in her health?

Yes, yeah. Like, sun works on your hair a lot like bleach. It's an oxidizer, so it's why your hair gets lighter in the sun. It's because it's being bleached. And it's whether that's the sun or bleach in a salon, the same thing happens to your hair. So it gets weaker. It's more brittle. It's easily broken.

Can feel rough and look dull. So yes, the sun, try and protect your hair from the sun. I mean, I do like a beechy sunkiss look on my hair, but then I always pay the price at the end of the summer. The ends are split. So, and also if you spent a lot of money getting your colour perfected, you then don't want to go ruin it over the summer without using protection. And also your scalp can burn. So, which is really serious because over the years,

that can lead to cancer's changes on your scalp. So it's really important to protect your scalp from the sun. So here's another myth or maybe not, maybe true. It's one I use on my chorum and I take them swimming. Make sure you wash your hair because the chlorine will turn it green. Is that correct? I would say, you mean afterwards? Afterwards, yes, when you're battling, when they were younger, a little bit older.

It was an absolutely battle to get her to wash the hair after. It's better to do it before. Not wash it, but wet it before. Because if you wet your hair before you swim, it will be swollen with water, so it will be fresh water, so it will be less likely to uptake poor water, so that can help protect it. And if you want to go a step further,

you would use a water-resistant cream in your hair before you swim. So my dad made one called swim cap cream that he made for the US Olympic synchronized swim team. Wow. And it's a waterproof elastasizer. So lastisers are best-selling pre-shamph shampoo deep conditioner. So swim cap.

So swim cap protects your hair from chlorinated water and it shields your hair from UV rays and it conditions it while you're swimming. So when you wash it out afterwards, your hair feels in better condition than before. It's a really good one. We'll protect from the green tins you can get from the copper in pool water. But even without that product, just wetting your hair.

I've never heard that of you. But it makes sense as to why they advise you to have a shower before you go in. No, but I thought they were doing that to get grime and coffee. So you're cleaner. A lot of footpools used to walk in. But I didn't realize wetting your head before you went in. Yeah. It's an easy hack.

That's a top tip. Yeah. What's the one thing you wished most. women or women knew about hair loss? I guess it's that you're not alone. A lot of things, a lot of the time, women will come to see me in clinic and they're ashamed and embarrassed

and I'm the only one and you're not. It is so common. It's a sign of femininity, isn't it? And if you feel that you're losing that, maybe you're losing your femininity. Yeah, no, and I've had hair loss multiple times. I've had shedding. And yes, that it, you do, you feel like,

attractive, you feel less, you feel less, you feel less you because it's so closely linked to your identity. But I think when you, you don't feel alone, it's less horrifying or you feel that it's still upsetting, but it's not isolating. And I think if you have hair loss, if you were to speak to your friends, at least one of them, probably many of them have experienced it or are experiencing it as well. They just haven't said anything either. So that would be it. So no, you're not alone.

It can happen to women of any age. It's not just perimenopause and menopause. I've seen young women as young as 14 with female pattern hair loss. So things like polycystic ovaries can cause that. Telogen effluvium can impact women of any age. It's really common in younger women too in their teens. and that is totally reversible. When my little girl was born up until about age 18 months,

we used to say she's awful, bless her, we used to say she was like Danny DeVito, because her hair only grew. She was like a friar tuck, like a little monk. It only grew from the sides to the back. The top of her was bald. And I remember thinking, oh my gosh. But then it came, she's got lovely hair now.

But it was a good 18 months that it was either Danny DeVito or friar-topped. You know what? My son as well, I called him Danny Debuto. Not to his face. I mean, not that he can understand, but when he was Yassick is. Yeah, it didn't grow on the top. And I remember panicking, thinking, where's all a hair?

Like, when's it going to come? And the tips that you've just given us and the myth busts and things, is that the same thing for men to do? Because my other half, Gorka, he's Spanish, and his dad's receded at the top. And he's just started it now. and he's just said, oh, it must be from my dad. Would that be the case?

Is it a genetic thing? And can they do the same as those if there's any men listening? So, yeah, so it can be inherited from either side of the family, either mother or father. So for male pattern, female pattern hair loss, the treatment, the best treatment, it would be monoxidil. So topical or oral. And the sooner you start treatment, the better because it is a progressive condition. So it's much easier to maintain hair density or to slow down thinning. then it is to bring it back.

So if he's noticing it, I would say don't wait until it's really bothering him. It would be to start treatment now. And that's for men and women. Right. And you have to get that prescribed. So you'd have to go to the doctor. So monoxidil.

Topically, no. You can buy it in pharmacy. So both rogane. Orally pills, yes, you'd need it prescribed. And if you want it compounded with anything else, like hormones or antips. or anti-androgens, something like finasteride, then you would need a prescription.

So we do that at a clinic. We have prescription monocidal drops for men and for women that are compounded with different either anti-androgenic or anti-inflammatory ingredients, which we see work better than just using monoxide on its own. I say to him, Google means he mentions it. I'm like, just because you're losing a bit of fuzz, doesn't mean you're not still a peach.

Don't worry. You know? My husband lost his hair. I've never known him with here. He lost it when he was 20. I mean, that might be quite traumatic for him at the time. Does his dad? Did his dad?

His dad has still got here, but the grandfather, we think it's come down from. So, no, his mum and dad have still got thick hair. It's just the stress living with you. No, no, he lost it way before he met me. Anyway, thank you so much for coming in. My pleasure. Annabelle. I find that fascinating.

I've learned loads. loads. There. But before we let you go, we do have some quickfire questions. God. Yes. So, myself and Claire are clocking off early, and we're going to come round to yours for tea.

What are you going to make us? I'm assuming something that's going to benefit our hair. I was going to say cereal, because I have a three and a five-year-old. You're in the trenches. You know, they've seen me downing a bottle of wine. or takeaway. But yes, if in a perfect world,

I would make you a lovely maybe seafood, because you don't eat meat, a seafood spaghetti and that will have, it has maybe whole wheat spaghetti for the complex carbohydrates with the shrimp and scallops and it's a good source of zinc and it's low in mercury.

It's important not to eat too many, too much fish that's high in mercury. some olive oil for the healthy fats. Sounds nice, isn't it? Some white wine to pear. We'll book at a date after this. You go into a desert island for a year and you can only take one item.

What would it be? Oh God. Oh. I would say a hair product but it wouldn't really be, would it? A magic wand? That's a good answer. We've not had that answer before.

I like that answer. I think that's actually the best answer we've had. I would now, if I was going again, now I'll take the swim cap cream. Protect me from everything if I was going. Or I'd take a boat. Yeah, just escape. For the rest of your life,

you can only drink either coffee or wine. Which one are you going for? Oh, my God. It's tough that one, isn't it? It's a tough one. Oh, gosh. I think coffee, actually. Yeah, it would be coffee. We agree.

What's the last thing that made you belly laugh? I think this. And lastly, what's the one? one thing someone can do to make themselves feel a bit better today? Oh, that's a really good question. I would say, oh gosh, get a head massage. Oh, wait, to say to themselves or to do. Oh, that's a good thing.

Get a head massage because it does make you feel relaxed. It's glorious feeling. It's pampering, yeah. Bit of pamper yourself. Lovely. I like it. Well, Annabel, thank you for coming on just as well today. Thank you for having me.

Gemma's made notes. I have. She's going monoxidil. Monoxidil, swim cap cream. Yeah. And sleep with my hair. You do not need monogstole. Oh, no.

It's okay. Yeah, go half does. I'm sure he's thrilled. She's stayed with the world now that he's losing his hair. He's still a peach. She's just not got the foes anymore. Thank you, Annabel. My pleasure.

Thank you for having me.