Birth control and hair growth.

Amber_moon

Amber_moon

Well-Known Member
I am scheduled to go on birth control (nuvaring) in the next two weeks. I know the chemical hormones can sometimes mess with the natural processes in your body, but how does it affect hair growth?

Has anybody noticed any difference in the way their hair grew while on BC? And if so, what was the diff? Was it faster or slower? Thicker or thinner?
 
Hasnt affected mines. most of the ladies who have admitted to using BC on this forum have really long hair :yep: I think Depo is the only one where you should really worry about extreme side effects. Hair loss and thinning is one of the most common Depo complaints besides weight gain.
 
I have heard that Depo shots and the Patch can cause hair loss. I don' know about other BCP pills. I think the newer ones have less hormones now or a better balance of estrogen to progestin (sp?) to stop some of the side-effects.
 
Amber_moon said:
I am scheduled to go on birth control (nuvaring) in the next two weeks. I know the chemical hormones can sometimes mess with the natural processes in your body, but how does it affect hair growth?

Has anybody noticed any difference in the way their hair grew while on BC? And if so, what was the diff? Was it faster or slower? Thicker or thinner?
Click to expand...

I use the Nuvaring and LOVE it. It has not had and adverse on my hair or caused any hormonal changes because the medical is centrally concentrated, it's a "local" contraceptive so it doesn't enter your blood stream like it would if you were ingesting a pill or receiving an injection. You s/b just fine :grin:
 
I've been on Nuvaring for almost a year now and I haven't noticed any change in hair growth. Stay FAR, FAR AWAY from Depo though. It caused me all unwanted problems including hair shedding/breakage and the infamous weight gain. :wallbash:
 
I was on ortho tri-cyclen for 2 years, and it didn't increase my growth rate either. I did experience a lot of shedding when I went off of it. Don't know if it was a coincidence, but I don't normally have a lot of shedding.
 
Like alot of the other gals- I was on the Patch for a good while, fine while on it, extreme shedding along my hairline once I stopped taking it - similar to
post pardum shedding.
 
Birth control heavy on tetesterone and low on estrogen can cause hair loss. Tetosterone converts to DHT, which is the primary cause of balding in men and women. This is why a lot of women experience thinning and baldness during menopause. I found this out after trying to eliminate the causes of my thinning hair. Did some research online, and found out this info, and stopped taking the BC pills immediately. I called my black female family doctor, who had prescribed the pills for me, to get more info. But I haven't even heard back from her yet, and it's been a week! GRRRR! (I'll be calling her right after I submit this post)! Anyway, be an informed consumer. Find out what's in your BC of choice and how those ingredients/components will affect your hair.
 
Alpha Female said:
Birth control heavy on tetesterone and low on estrogen can cause hair loss. Tetosterone converts to DHT, which is the primary cause of balding in men and women. This is why a lot of women experience thinning and baldness during menopause. I found this out after trying to eliminate the causes of my thinning hair. Did some research online, and found out this info, and stopped taking the BC pills immediately. I called my black female family doctor, who had prescribed the pills for me, to get more info. But I haven't even heard back from her yet, and it's been a week! GRRRR! (I'll be calling her right after I submit this post)! Anyway, be an informed consumer. Find out what's in your BC of choice and how those ingredients/components will affect your hair.
Click to expand...

Wow, interesting!

I've also heard that birth control can deplete vitamin B, so supplementing while on the pill may be necessary.
 
Depo made my hair fall out in clumps! I'm not talking 8-10 hairs a day, I'm taking handfulls if i combed my hair out. I could just touch my hair and literally hairs would fall out. I tried everything to stop this, but the only thing that stopped this severe shedding was stopping the shots. I'm lucky that I even have hair on my head today after those shots. I also gained about ten pounds while on the shot.

Now I'm on Seasonale. I have no side affects that I'm aware of.
 
I was on Ortho Tricyclen, off and on for almost 3 years then switched to Yasmin for the past 3 years and did not notice any changes (negative or positive) in my hair. I stopped taking BC because of the negative hormonal effects on my body.
 
I've heard that one of the side effects is hair loss. My hairdresser asked if I was on anything when we couldn't figure out why that patch in the back of my head was breaking off.
 
Can't remember the exact name of the BCP, but it was teeny tiny and started with an "M".

My hair grew nice and long, past S.L. for the 3 mos. that I was on them. But once I stopped, it shedded like crazy and became noticeably thinner

It's as if the BCP mimicked a pregnancy. My hair grew nice and long but once it was over, I had mock postpartum shedding.
 
When you stop taking BCP your body mimics pregnancy post partum hormone loss. It's the same process according to my doctors.

I stopped taking them in June 06 and 3 months later, around September 06 (just like after pregnancy) my hair starting shedding. At first I didn't know what was happening to my hair, then after going to my PCP and Derm doctors they told me it was hormonal shedding from stopping the BCP. It didn't stop shedding until I got pregnant in November 06.

Also while on the BCP my hair shed less and grew longer. I did notice this difference but didn't understand it until I stopped taking them. HTH
 
michigander said:
Can't remember the exact name of the BCP, but it was teeny tiny and started with an "M".

My hair grew nice and long, past S.L. for the 3 mos. that I was on them. But once I stopped, it shedded like crazy and became noticeably thinner

It's as if the BCP mimicked a pregnancy. My hair grew nice and long but once it was over, I had mock postpartum shedding.
Click to expand...

The shedding is the hair that should/or would have shed during the time you were on the BCP...your hair sheds while on BCP, just not as much.
 
BrownSkin2 said:
I was on Ortho Novum 777 for nine years, and experienced some aweful shedding when I got off of them.
Click to expand...

Oh man! Those have to be the worse!:nono: I was on them for 5 years, and had all kind of shedding, breakage....and weight gain!:wallbash:


I'm on the nuvaring now....and everything is coming up roses:) No problems at all!
 
I really dont want to stop taking my birth control pills but some of these posts are really making me think twice:perplexed
 
Tried OrthoTriCyclen in college and it broke off my hair sooo bad. It was the longest it had ever been too. Too much progestin or estrogen i guess.

My mom noticed it while doing my touch-up. I didn't notice cause i was so concerned about not wanting to gain weight and seeing my skin clear up that i totally forgot to pay attention to my hair.

I'm now on Triphasal/Trivora-28 and have had no issues. Everyone's body will react differently. You have to watch everything. Weight, skin, hair, nails, overall health.

*sigh* :perplexedWhat we go through to avoid having an unwanted pregnancy or just a happy period!
 
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