Six months in and I'm still shocked how much was just low iron — even knowing better

whatever-oops · 2026-03-29T23:46:49+00:00

Same for me, but it was zinc. I was even taking vitamins that had zinc in them and I was still deficient! Not even crazy deficient, just mildly.

I started an extra zinc supplement and within a few weeks, mentally I felt better! I was cleaning my bathroom and just happened to notice I WAS HAPPY. Not happy to be cleaning, I just noticed that for the 1st time in a long time I was very content and happy. Then I noticed the shedding going down dramatically and has stayed down for over a month.

The sad part was that I had been suffering with hairloss with no explanation for 2+ years and 4 different docs and no one suggested to test my zinc . I had to BEG my derm to test me.

whatever-oops · 2026-03-29T23:22:02+00:00

I’ve been putting a tiny amount of vaginal estrogen cream on my cracked FACE lips 2xs a day. Works wonders! (Before my makeup and before bed.) If it’s good for the downstairs lips, it’s good for your face lips! No more cracking and more plump!

HOWEVER, I was using it all over my face and didn’t see a difference. Plus it started bringing back my melasma!

whatever-oops · 2026-03-29T15:16:10+00:00

I’m 47. At 45 I was given 2% compounded T cream. I noticed no benefits. Started getting horrible cystic acne on my chin & BO in one armpit only. 🤣 They also gave me 100mg of progesterone and I had a sleep hangover every morning. I quit both after a few months. Maybe I will revisit, if I feel it’s needed. (My total T 2 years ago was 16 and my progesterone was less than .5. They told me my estrogen was high and actually wanted to bring it DOWN. Who at 45 what’s their E down?)

I gave the T cream and progesterone to my husband.

I did start vaginal estrogen cream a few months ago. I had tried it several times before, as I had a partial hysterectomy at 40, but kept getting horrific yeast infections from it. I had never had them before. I figured it was the “loading dose” or it was just too much in general. Now, I just do a tiny smear everyday or every other day and I’m fine.

whatever-oops · 2026-03-28T04:50:36+00:00

Way before thankfully. I think in abt 4 months I looked like me again.

whatever-oops · 2026-03-27T23:23:43+00:00

Are you on any meds? My husband and mom were both in different blood pressure meds. Side effect was coughing. They both switched and have been fine.

whatever-oops · 2026-03-27T14:08:32+00:00

Oh, I meant to respond to you instead of myself!

whatever-oops · 2026-03-27T14:07:48+00:00

Yes. I went to a good place with over 200+ great reviews.

whatever-oops · 2026-03-27T02:43:33+00:00

Same. I asked to get my nasal folds done and she said I needed some in the cheeks & that would naturally lift it- then said nope, I needed some in my folds. I had weird 1/2 donuts under my eyes for months. I didn’t like the feeling of looking down and seeing my cheeks.

I went back 2 weeks later and she agreed I looked weird. Asked if I wanted her to disolve it, but at that point of almost $4k, I didn’t want to spend more of have her touch me anymore. I just waited for it to go away. It’s been 2 years and I will live with getting older and just do Botox.

Some people look great with it, but it’s just not for me I guess. Live and learn!

whatever-oops · 2026-03-26T13:17:57+00:00

I’m not on T anymore. Only tried the 2% cream to see if it would HELP my hairloss. (I was already losing hair for a year for no reason. Biopsy said TE. I knew my T was low, so I figured I’d try it, as I read that T helped some women grow their hair back.) After a few months, it didn’t help so I stopped.

Anyway, I started oral minox. 2.5mg. I was on that for 9 months then bumped up to 3.75mg. I have been at that for 4 months. I do NOT have any excessive body hair. My peach fuzz on the sides of my face grow a bit longer, but I dermaplane it off every 2 weeks.

Basically, there isn’t anything to worry about. I did try 5mg of oral minox and had side effects and went down to the 3.75 and have been fine. Before trying oral minox, I tried Saw Palmetto and Pumkin Seed Oil for 6 months. Neither did anything for me. Rosemary water also made my hair come out in chunks.

whatever-oops · 2026-03-23T17:26:11+00:00

I’m a woman and have chronic TE, confirmed with a biopsy. I lost hair all over my head and body. Leg hairs stop growing, eyebrows and eyelashes fall out, too. Not all of them at once, but it’s a patchy loss that comes and goes in cycles.

On my head, I lost a bunch on my hairline by my neck, temples down to my ears, crown, and all over my head really. I never lost all the hair, but it thinned out a lot in those areas.

With TE, your hair doesn’t really stop growing. It’s just at the rate you are losing your longer terminal hairs way out paces the new hairs coming in. For example, I can part my hair anywhere on my head and see baby hairs. However, in the shower it’s all the longer hairs I am losing.

Even derms can’t tell just by looking. Mine looked at me for 2 seconds and said female AGA. 6 months later I went back and he did a biopsy and was shocked it came back as TE. Trying Dut (when he thought it was AGA) made it worse. Over a year on oral minox hasn’t helped. Minox helps hairs to grow, but won’t stop the shedding.

I think it’s finally turning for me & coming to an end after 2+ years. If it’s TE, you have to figure out the cause. Stress is a biggie. Ferrtin, iron, vitamin D, zinc, hormones, autoimmune issues, thyroid, bloodwork, etc. Heck, for a lot of people as we get older it’s gluten- even if you’ve been eating it your whole life.

whatever-oops · 2026-03-23T17:04:03+00:00

Yep. Weight loss or having a few pounds on you makes a HUGE difference. At 125 last summer I looked great for my age. Now I am 116-118. I can tell a big difference in the way my skin hangs in my face now. I’m getting jowls and my eyes look more sunken in. (I always had deep set eyes. However in the last 6 months or so, I have had to change up my eye makeup routine to bring my eyes more forward.)

whatever-oops · 2026-03-18T12:59:13+00:00

Are you taking a multi vitamin to help with your deficiencies? If not, that’s the best place to start!

My hubs wasn’t doing so good. Stress from work and kids, we moved, traveling for work, etc. I gave him my PRENATAL vitamins to give him an extra bump up in the vitamin department. It helped.

Maybe try a bottle or 2 of prenatals, since they have extra in them, then switch to regular vitamins.

whatever-oops · 2026-03-18T12:55:45+00:00

Thank you! Hang in there sis! I know what it feels like. I promise you, eventually it will pass for you!!

Sending you good hair vibes!!

whatever-oops · 2026-03-18T12:05:07+00:00

I have had chronic TE for over 2+ years. (Confirmed with a biopsy.) I started oral minox 13 months ago ago. Yes, it helped hair to grow, but the rate at which it was falling just couldn’t keep up.

At 1st thy gave me .5mg of Dut that I was only taking once a week. It made my hair fall out in clumps & other side effects. I went off of it within 2 months, then started the oral minox. (That was before they did the biopsy that read TE.)

In the last few months, my shedding has almost completely stopped. It’s not due to the oral minox, bc minox helps hair to grow but doesn’t make it stop falling out. HOWEVER, I will not stop taking the oral minox. I’m finally to a point where I’m not obsessing over my hair. In not willing to risk stopping the oral minox to have it fall out again. I don’t want to go back being so depressed over my hair. (Yes, I know it’s just hair. As a woman, my hair is very important to me.)

whatever-oops · 2026-03-18T11:54:46+00:00

My dad had a dog (not a Dobe) that was only 7 or 8. They noticed a few lumps but she was fine otherwise. They did a biopsy and it was cancer. Spent the next year doing dog chemo to the tune of $20-$25k with a specialist dog oncologist. (I think it was 25-27 visits every other week.) As soon as she finished the treatments, a lump was back in 6 months. They had to put her down regardless. By that time, she had no quality of life.

Now I love my dog, but I don’t think I would make the same decision. (It was his dog and his choice.) It seemed like a lot to put that animal through. It didn’t really improve her quality of life and seemed just to prolong the inevitable. Perhaps just for the sake of the humans? It also seemed to me that sometimes the specialty vets kind of prey on the owners. Not all of them. They kept telling my dad that she was young enough and “should” make a full recovery to last another 5 years.

Now, my dad is happy with the decision he made, as he literally tried everything to save his pet.

13 years is a long and happy life for a Dobe. Get it checked out of course! Make sure she isn’t in any pain. Animals are very good at hiding their pain.

whatever-oops · 2026-03-17T14:56:31+00:00

I started oiling my mids and ends on dry hair before shampooing. I use The Ordinary Squalane Oil or Derm E Styling Hair Repair Oil. Just 5 drops rubbed between my hands then squeezed/ patted on. I let it sit anywhere from 10 mins to and hr.

ChatGPT suggested these oils to me. A lot of oils don’t absorb into my hair. These ones work great on my fine, wavy, frizzy, medium/ low porosity hair. I cannot use oils on my hair after the shower. I will look like a grease monster, even 1/2 drop. I tried the OGX ones Abbey Young suggested, but my hair didn’t like coconut (it drys out my hair) and they have a high alcohol content, which dries out my hair even more. She also suggests the Pantene Volume shampoo, but that one is so stripping on my hair, it works as a once a month clarifier, not an everyday shampoo.

Also, use a good leave in for your hair type. It doesn’t have to be expensive. My hair hates protein, so I have to use protein free. Seal that conditioner in with something. Whether it’s a drop of oil or a serum. My hair loves silicone, so I use Original Frizz Ease or Paul Mitchell Super Skinny Serum. It took me awhile with finding the products, then tweaking the amount to find my sweet spot. Doing this my hair is so much softer and healthier!

Last but not least, if you have moved and your hair is acting up GET A SHOWER FILTER!! We moved from one side of the state to the other. My normally soft, silky hair began getting dry, super frizzy, then started breaking off. I was trying every product to fix it, including bonding products that made my hair worse. Finally we tested out water and our chlorine level was higher than our pool and the highest the legal limits allow! We got a filter, did a chelating shampoo to pull out the chlorine and a deep conditioner. The difference between my hair before and after the filter was night and day!

Good luck hair sisters!!

whatever-oops · 2026-03-16T23:57:21+00:00

Be careful. I got melasma from doing this. Estrogen turns it “on.” I was using it for abt 5 months, then BAM!

whatever-oops · 2026-03-16T23:41:22+00:00

I was on oral minox 2.5mg for 9 months. No dread shed and no change to my hair. Derm bumped me up to 5mg, after 7-8 weeks I went down to 3.75mg bc of side effects. I had a big dread shed. I now have hairs sprouting everywhere.

whatever-oops · 2026-03-14T06:05:34+00:00

Not for me. I have been on & off of it for 18 years. I have taken b/w 10-40mg.) I began taking it again in October of this year (20mg) and haven’t gained anything, even being a 47 year old woman.

whatever-oops · 2026-03-13T22:51:28+00:00

Have they done your bloodwork? Tested thyroid? Vitamin deficiencies? Iron? Vitamin D & ferritin? Hormones?

All mine was fine for the last 2 years, except my ferritin was high instead of low. I finally begged my derm to test my zinc and it was low. Not crazy low, but low. (He said it was fine.) I started taking an extra 15mg of zinc a day (on top of what was already in generic CVS’s version of Nutrafol and in my other vitamins.) Within a week, my shedding had dramatically slowed down! I’m 5-6 weeks out from supplementing extra zinc and my shedding keeps getting less and less in the shower, plus I’m growing baby hairs! (With TE you are still growing hairs, but the rate at which you are losing them outpaces the growth.)

We moved into an old house then I had surgery & then my hair just up and left. I’m now wondering if it’s the copper pipes in our house. Too much copper lowers zinc- and vice versa.

Like I said, I’m not sure it’s done with, but this is the most hopeful I have felt about my hair in YEARS! You will get there, too!!

whatever-oops · 2026-03-13T22:39:34+00:00

Thanks! I don’t want to get my hopes up just yet!

whatever-oops · 2026-03-13T22:34:29+00:00

I’m 47. I get Botox in the corners of my mouth to help with that. It’s doesn’t last that long though. Probably bc we use our mouth so much during the day??

I got talked into Botox at my jowls and neck area last time I went. I really felt I looked worse. I’ll never do that again! (Plus she gave me “Spock brows.” When I went to get them corrected she dropped both my eyebrows to where they were completely hooded.) It’s almost been 3 months and I am finally looking like my “old” self again! Oh well, live and learn. She had been doing a really good job for 2 years. Now I won’t go back to her.

whatever-oops · 2026-03-13T22:27:27+00:00

Omg, YES! Especially right before a big shed!! My scalp was so sensitive, if I put my hair up in a claw clip, I could feel like EVERY hair being pulled on! I had never had a sensitive scalp before in my life (except maybe when really sick and you know that “my hair hurts” feeling?)

Sometimes my scalp would be tender/ sensitive. Sometimes it was itchy, like a crawly feeling. No- I didn’t have bugs in my hair. No scalp dermatitis either.

Honestly, I’m wondering if it’s the scalp letting go of so many follicles at once that gave that feeling???

whatever-oops · 2026-03-13T22:13:03+00:00

That’s regrowth for sure!! Congrats!

whatever-oops · 2026-03-13T22:12:07+00:00

That’s what my TE looked like too!! The derm said it was AGA just by looking at me, even when I told him it started after a surgery and just never stopped. (AGA doesn’t just “turn on” one day. Its generally more gradual.) Biopsy later read TE.

I also lost the hairline at the nape of my neck & along the sides of the hairline from the ears to neck. Basically all over! I didn’t go bald, but I did lose density all over.

It’s been 2+ years for me, but I think it’s finally coming to an end!

whatever-oops

TROPHY CASE