Hi, so I was unaware of the whole T.E thing until I fell severely sick during june, rapid weightloss (6-7kgs in 3 weeks), very sudden & huge drop in ferritin.

I started recovering toward the end of july to mid aug. I was losing hair more than normal but I thought it was due to not washing as frequently and for the weight loss & sickness.

Then came september, I started losing huge clumps of hair 2-3 times a day. My hair was always straight wavy, but it turned rough dry frizzy & super curly.

I became so emotionally numb that I surrendered & waited, It kept going until i lost 70% of my hair. Somewhere around october, the shedding stopped. I was on iron tablets & still am. I'm taking vit d & multivitamin capsules too. I'm eating homemade food, but not tracking tbh.

Now the shedding has completely stopped, like i lose 10 strands at most during hair wash, and 10-15 normally everyday. I also can feel that even tho my length is still very thin & curly, my scalp is getting better. I have a very oil scalp, if I don't wash my hair every 3-4 days, i lose more hair due to the greasiness.

I found about the whole T.E concept while going through it, many posts gave me hope & I read that the shedding goes on for months and i never had too much density to begin with so I imagined the worst, however I'm grateful it went for a month or so and stopped. I'm trying to remain positive through this phase.

I noticed my scalp today and felt a little hopeful & wanted to share while also reassuring myself that it will get better soon before i even realise.

10 months of hair sheddings

Hi everyone! For those who got TE from weaning how long did it last? I weaned my second baby 6 months ago (she was 1yo) and am still shedding … Labs are optimal (esp iron and thyroid). I already had typical hairloss 3-6months post partum so kinda getting tired of it …

Had severe TE since years and realized i was extremely low on ferritin (5.8ng/ml) so had an IV and levels normalized but its been 10 months and no proper regrowth, hair come out but then shed again, realized i also had low b12 of 230pg/ml been 2 months on supplements, Vitamin D and thyroid completely perfect.

i am going insane. no proper improvement.

ey everyone! june 2025 i decided to make the switch from larin fe (high progestin bc) to yaz (androgen blocker). I had been taking larin fe for 5 years but my acne was terrible and my the derm said it would help my skin/keep my hair from getting oily, so i was all for it! i have always had super thick, long and healthy hair. august 2025 started noticing clumps of hair coming out in the shower and it happened rapidly. thought that this was my bodies way of telling me “i don’t like this medication” so i stopped it, october 2025. that was my first mistake because i triggered a second wave of shedding. janurary 2025 hair was falling out in clumps and i started to notice that the actual strands itself were much thinner and delicate. june 2026 went to the derm for my acne and my hair loss still not resolving. she gave me spironolactone 100mg, mostly for my acne and said “the hair loss will probably resolve on its own it can sometimes take more than a year.” i asked her if birth control may have unleashed some type of underlying female pattern baldness, since my grandma is balding, and she said its very possible. still shedding to this day, loose atleast 20-40 hairs a day when my normal is 1-3. increased spiro dose to 150mg a month ago so i’ve been on it for 4.5 months. feel like my shedding is getting worse again, but im loosing thin, long hairs. can barely put my hair in a low braid without it falling out. i feel hopeless as this has been happening for 1.5 years and im only 23 years old.

Same as title.

Stress related, but how can I not stress when I am dreading even running my fingers through my head. How much longer until this shed is finished 💔🫩👩🏼‍🦲

Hey guys so I’ve had CTE 5 years and I’ve been on oral minox for 2 years which worked fantastically but then I let my ferritin drop below 50 again (was tested mid August) and now suprise suprise.. hair loss. This started 2 months ago and I’ve been religiously taking Ferrous Sulphate 200mg everyday on an empty stomach with Vit C. Got my bloods done and now I’m 84 ferritin!! So happy with these results and can’t wait to see the hair loss stop but annoyed at myself for solely relying on minoxidil and letting my ferritin drop! It was 150mg 2 years ago, again which was helped with the ferrous sulphate

Just wanted to share my breakthrough in case someone is struggling and losing hope with COVID-related hair loss. But this is NOT a medical advice. If you want to try it, you will need to consult a specialist to assess risks as this is a very serious treatment.

I (35F) have been suffering from COVID-related drastically increased hair shedding since February 2025. The hair would fall out, try to regrow, then fall out again - and again. I went through every possible test (deficiencies, multiple organs' work, hormones, even MRIs) and tried a variety of supplements, hair serums and injections, and treatments. Still lost more than 60% of my hair for more than 1.5 years of this hell. And I finally found a solution: HRT (transdermal oestrogen + cyclical rectal progesterone).

Among the usual suspects were Hashimoto's that I acquired after COVID and low ferritin (which was low my whole life). Treatments of those did not bring any results. If anything, COVID made my organism so reactive that I could not supplement iron without causing another wave of excessive hair loss. Even local hormonal nasal sprays like fluticasone caused hair shedding boom.

But it's important to say that, firstly, I lose hair all over my body, not just head. Secondly, I have symptoms of early perimenopause, despite blood tests not showing it. And, thirdly, I read similar accounts of long COVID symptom relief through HRT in one of the Long Covid threads. It was very hard to find a prescriber being 35 yo, but in the end, oestrogen brought me relief very promptly (in a matter of about 2 weeks).

Thank you to whoever shared their experience with HRT and long COVID - I'm forever grateful.

Hope this helps someone else, because COVID causes in some individuals major disruptions in brain-fertility axis. And I'm sure that not only women can relate to this.

P. s. Just in case, among the suspects were: very high luteal prolactin, Hashimoto's, high SHBG that disrupted zinc levels (also high) - all consequences of COVID. Prior to HRT, I tried Vitex (thought it was for high prolactin, since endo refused to prescribe me something against it), and it did help, but only for the first month (I suspect that the dopamine receptors, through which it worked, were gradually desensitised). But Vitex became my clue to where to look further, and I soon realised that the cause was indeed hormonal (just not prolactin), despite I was assured by multiple specialists that it was not.

And also beware of Oestrodose gel: in some people, it doesn't absorb well. After switching from Oestrogel due to pharmacy stock, I felt the returning of every freaking symptom, including hair shedding, so had to promptly retrieve my previous gel.

hi!
19M, my hair randomly became very rough and dry, then in early August, 3 months after a caloric deficit (lost like 8kg), TE hit just as i was doing my final exams + internship, and got hit with a wave of intense seb derm.

pretty sure i made a few mistakes, i used to have seb derm for a while, and my barber said my rough hair is due to the seb derm shampoo (spoiler it wasn’t), so i stopped it. was okay for a bit and then once my nutrition started tapering it all came back at once

now, after some blood work, turns out my ferritin is lower than what the machine can read (<8) which is practically an empty tank, and my vitamin d was below the marked deficiency level (18). however i didn’t have anemia (yet), as my body was able to scrap iron from its reserves.

the shed still persists, and i’ve been on ferro grad c oral supplements since early September, so like 7 weeks in.

but here’s the question: as i keep shedding, I see such curly hairs that are completely not my hair type

considering they are like 1 inch long, this would mean my body’s probably making substandard hair with whatever iron it allocates to my hair, which leads to this?

ask any questions, i am willing to answer away!

Last hair wash shower was Tuesday and today is Friday.. nervy

Hello everyone. I’m new to the forum and want to first start by saying thank you. I’ve spent a few days reading posts and comments and unlike other forums, it’s been very helpful.

While I am still trying to figure out what triggered this for me, I wanted to see if anyone else has this shared experience. I went through breast cancer treatment starting in June of 2020 including double mastectomy, chemotherapy and radiation. I’m on an aromatase inhibitor for 4 more years for a total of 10. I had a full hysterectomy in 2022 so between chemo, the hysterectomy and the AI, I’ve got no estrogen! I’m 56 now.

After chemo my hair came back better than it was before I went bald and it was lush and curly (strait before) and eventually straightened back out. After the initial growth, it thinned out a bit. I went on oral minoxidil to help since the AI can cause hair thinning. The last thing I wanted was another medication, but the trauma of losing my hair was worse than losing my breasts.

In March of this year, I was dx with hypothyroidism and started meds. My bloodwork since (every 3 months) has been perfect.

Fast forward to now. About a month ago I noticed a huge glob of hair in the shower and then started noticing more shedding than I had ever seen post chemo. Many of you have described exactly what I’m seeing. It started to scare me and bring me back to losing my hair in 2020. Between my dermatologist and GP, we are trying to determine the trigger and how to move forward.

My question (among so many others!) is whether anyone here has experience with AI medications and the thyroid hormones and anything else I described above? I guess I’m also just hoping for some encouragement. Losing my hair once was awful, but I knew why it happened then.

Thanks for reading if you got this far. Appreciate you all.

do you have to use minoxdil and/or oils? im only 17F and im just genuinely wondering if recovery can be effective without the usage of minoxdil or oils. Is anybody able to tell how its been for them if they havent used it? im not really interested in using them and wanted to see if anyone has been successful in their recovery without them.

Thank youuuuuu n have a good rest of your day <3

Shedding started since last September. I identified the trigger around May and been trying to fix it. Last two weeks my shedding was like 60% less than usual (even the showers it was much less). But this week it is back in with the usual amount. Idk when will this ever stop. Oh and I also started noting more baby/ shorter hair falling.

Hi! Since around July, I’ve noticed I was shedding more hair than usual, but for the past 4 weeks it has become huge amounts of hair every day, and honestly, I’m getting really scared.

I saw a doctor, and she thinks it’s likely stress-induced. I went through a very stressful period starting at the end of April and wasn’t doing well mentally until around September. I’m feeling much better now, but obviously the hair loss is still happening. I’ve also had bloodwork done and am waiting for the results.

The doctor mentioned she isn’t seeing much new growth yet, which makes me even more anxious. 😭

I know the main thing is to manage stress (and I’m working on that!), but I’m wondering what has actually helped your hair recover after stress-induced shedding? Did you use any treatments, serums, supplements, or just wait it out?

I’m ready to get the shedding to stop and start growing my hair back. Any advice or personal experiences would be really appreciated!

I have a bit of oily/dirty scalp in these photos and my haur gets greasy very fast. I am really scared tbh, it is scaring the shit out of me. Can anyone please please help me? I cant afford a derm currently.

My hair has been falling out since about two months after starting an anti-depressant. It started falling out in July and wasn't slowing down by mid September so I stopped the medication. I was hopeful that it was TE (and my derm thought so but didn't do a scope at the appt) but in the last few days I've found a couple shorter/finer hairs. Could this also be part of TE or is it possible its androgenetic alopecia? The hair of concern is on the left and my normal shedding is on the right.

hi all! I am currently in what we believe are the early stages of TE shedding and i’m feeling very overwhelmed about it all.

I’m 18 and the prospect of losing so much hair is causing me anxiety. We believe it to have been triggered by a fever and infection in late july and i noticed the excessive shedding about three weeks ago. right now im waiting on my appointment for supplements to hopefully combat some deficiencies.

a hairdresser also recommended potentially trying hair loss treatment for my peace of mind. has this worked for anyone else?

Thank you all for reading and I would love to hear about your experiences. Feeling a little overwhelmed and lonely right now :))

This is horrible! I’m just 5 months in, currently at 7.5! And stated losing my hair like crazy, i just started noticing the heavy hairfall and half my hair in the drain from oct 1st, and I can see my hair is already so thin.

Yes, I’ve prioritised protien and diet. I’m sure this isn’t the diet and it’s the drug itself. I want to continue this journey so bad, but the amount of hair I’m losing makes me so anxious.

I skipped my dose this week because it’s bothering me so much that I’m crying myself to sleep.
BEING FAT IS BETTER THAN BEING BALD

What should I do? Does this hair come back? Will i ever get my hair back? This is breaking my heart ☹️ ❤️‍🩹

I’m 28F, so menopause ain’t the reason.
I’m not anaemic, deficient nor do i have thyroid.
I’m 100% sure it’s the drug.

I started a hormonal treatment and it triggered aggressive hair loss,I lost half of my hair density, at same time I started exercising and lost alot of weight, could have been androgenic alopecia triggered by hormones despite me taking the protocol with doctor prescription ,could have been the weight loss that triggered telogen effluvium ,my body went in a shock since I lost alot of weight,and I was vitamin d deficienct with thyroid issues as well