Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow?

Hair thinning? Nails breaking for no reason? Yup, hormones are at it again.
In this episode we unpack why perimenopause and menopause can wreak havoc on your hair and nails, what’s behind the changes, and what actually helps. Real talk and zero shame because this phase deserves honesty, not silence.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:04

Hot Flash and Sassy, a podcast with hot takes, hotter flashes, and a whole lot of sass.

SPEAKER_01 0:18

Welcome back to Hot Flash and Sassy, where we turn the heat up on real conversations about hormones, midlife, and all the plot twists nobody warned us about. And where we remind you that you're not losing your mind, even if you're losing a little hair.

SPEAKER_02 0:34

The topic of today's combo. All right, let's be honest for a minute. Because you know, most of the time we're not. We're always honest. Have you ever pulled your hair into a ponytail and thought, wait, was it always this thin? Last night. Oh, okay. Or maybe you've cleaned out your brush and thought, well, that feels excessive.

SPEAKER_01 0:53

Or what about that drain at the shower? Jeez Louise. Okay. Not good. Uh, and don't let's not get started on the nails. Holly, you know, my nails are a struggle. The nails that used to grow long and strong, now breaking while opening a soda can are peeling just from looking at them the wrong way. That just that just happened to me. Literally summarizes my nails.

SPEAKER_02 1:17

All right, so here's the real kicker. Hair showing up where you don't want it. Hello, chin hairs. Got them. Oh, I have a mustache. Uh well while disappearing from where you want you want it to be. Hormones really said. Let's keep this interesting. But here's the thing: you've noticed changes in your hair and nails during perimenopause or menopause, and you are not alone.

SPEAKER_01 1:40

No, you are definitely not alone. We are here to remind you, you are not alone.

SPEAKER_02 1:44

You at least have Renee and I.

SPEAKER_01 1:47

Is your hair thinning? Do you have increased shedding? Brittle nails, slower growth. These are incredibly common changes, and yes, hormones are often the reason behind them. Shocking. Lucky for us.

SPEAKER_02 2:02

All right. So today we're digging into why your hair may be thinning, why your nails may be breaking more easily, what hormones have to do with it, and most importantly, what you can actually do to support your hair and nail health during this stage of life.

SPEAKER_01 2:15

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:16

Knowledge is power, people. We got power. If we get some fewer broken nails, that's a bonus.

SPEAKER_01 2:23

Just make my life a little bit easier and eliminate the nail problem. That'll be great. Okay. Easy pacing. Do it. So we're gonna break down the uh hormones and which part they're playing in it. And our biggest contributor is estrogen. Um, when it comes to hair and strong nails. So estrogen helps with uh keeping the growth phase longer of your hair. Okay, supporting thicker hair strands. Oh, I'll take that. You need some of that. I mean maintain hair density. Oh, okay. Isn't that the same as thicker hair strands? I don't think so. I think that's like your like overall. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, that makes sense. Yeah. The thickness. Got it. Um, and then your moisture and shine and supports scalp health. Thank you, estrogen. Let's go, my friends. Okay, except when it starts disappearing. Not your friend anymore. Think of estrogen as the hormone that helps your hair stay lush, thick, and growing. It keeps your hair in its growing phase longer, which is why many women notice fuller hair during their reproductive years. Interesting. Remember when you were pregnant?

SPEAKER_02 3:37

When you're pregnant, your hair gets so thick.

SPEAKER_01 3:38

And your nails, they never break.

SPEAKER_02 3:40

And then no one tells you that once that kid comes out, your whole body breaks. You just everything starts falling apart. You start losing all that hair.

SPEAKER_01 3:48

Bombay estrogen. Never mind the fact that you have more than likely there's some sort of um pain reliever involved in your childbirth. And that affects it. Yeah, absolutely. Especially for those that have to go under anesthesia for a C-section. Bye-bye hair. Yeah. That anesthesia's just done, killed all of your hormones. Yeah, good luck. Whatever you might have had left. And then your hair falls out. Yeah. Good luck to you. We're just saying good luck because you need the estrogen people. So it's experiencing any of these symptoms. Consider some type of hormone replacement therapy because you gotta get that estrogen in your body. Yeah. And need it. This perimenopause and menopause is just ripping it away from you. Yeah. They're thiefs in the night. They sure are.

SPEAKER_02 4:40

They're real A-holes.

SPEAKER_01 4:42

What is um, so that the thing that estrogen does for your nails, it supports nails nail hydration, keratin production, nail strength, and smooth nail texture. When it drops, nails become dry, break more easily, peeling and splitting increases, and vertical ridges may appear. Oh, yeah. I think I have some of that. They look really sexy when all that happens.

SPEAKER_02 5:07

I actually did got my nails done. This is misleading. If anyone were to look, they'd be like, she actually looks like she has nice nails. Yeah. You do have nice nails. Right now. I I just got them done. Uh-huh. And I did the dip, which is really pretty, but I can promise you that when this is done, my nails are all gonna fall.

SPEAKER_01 5:25

So do you notice them breaking easier even when you have the dips?

SPEAKER_02 5:32

It's not bad with the dip on because it's too thick. Yeah. Um, but they do afterwards. I mean, my nails cannot stand, they're not strong enough to handle this. Yeah. They're paper thin. But I will tell you, I had actually this is the second dip I got in a row. Oh. Which I normally don't do.

SPEAKER_01 5:50

Look at you treating yourself.

SPEAKER_02 5:51

I know. I know. And I opened a soda, was it so? I opened something, and one of the nails, like the dip, it just completely flew off.

SPEAKER_01 6:02

I think our listeners can probably share.

SPEAKER_02 6:07

There was somebody in my office with me, and I was like, sorry, I just lost a nail.

SPEAKER_01 6:12

Excuse my nail flying and clear it across the room.

SPEAKER_02 6:16

But I don't know. So I the dip is helping because it's so thick, but when I and I didn't have that off long enough to know, I kind of just didn't want to deal with it yet. But I can probably it's gonna be broken. I can't handle that.

SPEAKER_01 6:26

No, I know. It's terrible. But you know, I know, I know we're here for you. We are, we're all here together. This is a community of support. Yes, and this is why you need estrogen in your life. There you go. How about the progesterone being stabilized?

SPEAKER_02 6:41

That progesterone, that's the stabilizer. I love the name. I do like that. It's important, you know, it helps with a lot of things, as we learn every week. So it helps balance our estrogen levels, uh, supports your hair follicle function, reduces excessive shedding, promotes healthy hair growth cycles. So during perimenopause, progesterone is often the first hormone to decline. This imbalance can affect hair stability. Yes. She's like, Yeah. Yes, ma'am. I like this. It says progesterone is like the calming friend in the group, it helps keep things balanced. Oh, that's so sweet. Sweet.

SPEAKER_01 7:24

But well, when it ditches you. Okay. So remember when we had our guest, Andrea, on and she said that she was prescribed. Yes, progesterone. Progesterone. Yeah. That's what we need to ask about.

SPEAKER_02 7:36

Because I do there's a reason we don't have it. I feel like it's the ovary thing, but I feel like maybe you should have it. I don't know. Maybe you don't need it, but I need it. I know, but why don't I need it? I could use some calm. Give me some.

SPEAKER_01 7:48

What is it? That stabilizer. I could use a little stabilizer to be like.

SPEAKER_02 7:53

Sure. My goodness.

SPEAKER_01 7:55

All right. So the other friend that we love so much, near and dear to our hearts, is testosterone. Yep. And uh they're deeming this the surprising player. Oh, it's a fun little name. Oh my gosh. Um, so they don't necessarily increase, but their relative effect becomes stronger when estrogen declines.

SPEAKER_00 8:16

All right.

SPEAKER_01 8:17

Which is fascinating because I get more testosterone. So that's an interesting way to look at it. That it gets stronger when estrogen declines. It is. Yes. Because usually my testosterone is pretty low.

SPEAKER_02 8:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:29

I know. That's that is a interesting. This Google research, I can't follow any means. Right. Again, we just need Judy to validate some of this information. Um, but they do it, the testosterone does increase or influence hair growth patterns, hair follicle size, and hair thickness. And as estrogen declines, they may shrink the scalp hair follicles, hair becomes finer and thinner, and hair loss patterns may shift, which is also very interesting. So, what I'm hearing from this is that the testosterone prevents that from happening as estrogen drops or having the right number of testosterone. Oh, what do you think there?

SPEAKER_02 9:15

You don't think it means that it makes that it makes it can make your hair thinner if you have too much estrogen or too much testosterone and not enough estrogen? Oh, that's a good way to look at it. Because I think it has like, so you look at like balding. Yeah. It's mostly men, right? They have much higher testosterone. So I think that it means like as your estrogen drops, you're naturally kind of have more testosterone, I guess, or it's more prevalent. And that makes sense. That makes sure. I think it's like the combo.

SPEAKER_01 9:42

Like, you need both. You gotta have both. Well, let me tell you. So, for those that see the TikTok, you're gonna see a really bad hair day from Renee today. And one of the things that I've noticed on my hormone replacement journey, because you know I had to go off of it for six months. So I let my hair crash, evidently, and I didn't even know it. Oh no. Because now that I'm back on it, I have multiple things happening with my hair. I have layers of old hair dying. Oh, interesting. New hair coming in. Is the texture different? Between the two is different, it's thicker. You can feel underneath it, it's like a totally different head of hair versus on top where it looks like it's just thin and doing nothing. My hair in the back. It's good it's coming in. Oh, yeah, it's coming in. But thanks to the hormone replacement, that's how bad my testosterone was. I think I didn't have any help in this head of hair. So give it a I'm thinking maybe another two months, I'm gonna have a lush head of hair. All right. I got another haircut coming up next week. Let's get rid of some of this dead stuff. We might go a little bit shorter.

SPEAKER_02 10:50

Okay. Oh, interesting. Okay. I gotta get some of this. I'm excited to see it.

SPEAKER_01 10:54

I know.

SPEAKER_02 10:55

My hair has always been thin, but I think in my youth I had more density. So I always had the thin strands, but I had more of the density, so it didn't look as bad. And now I don't have that. It is a problem, like right after I had my hysterectomy, my hair got really, really thin. I remember that. It was bad.

SPEAKER_01 11:14

Didn't you go on a supplement for that?

SPEAKER_02 11:16

I did all kinds of stuff. I was taking supplements, I was putting like hair oil in, I was doing all kinds of things. I would have to keep it pulled back so I could hide like the bald spots.

unknown 11:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:25

Um but I'll tell you, so it's it's not that now, but I am considering extensions because my hair. This is fun, isn't it? My hair is never going to be long because of how it's just naturally thinner. The longer it gets it, the worse it looks. It's kind of like limp.

SPEAKER_01 11:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:44

Yeah. It's just, you know, um, and I no matter what I use, it doesn't work.

SPEAKER_01 11:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:48

So I've been talking to my hair lady because I was like, I would like some like I don't want to have short hair forever. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:53

No, I'm with you.

SPEAKER_02 11:54

So I might get some extensions.

SPEAKER_01 11:56

That literally, it was my favorite part. Um, the last time I was doing hormone replacement before my six-month hair. Before your break. Yeah, my hair got longer. Yeah. It was fabulous. I'm like, oh, I can maybe grow long hair.

SPEAKER_02 12:12

You have thicker hair. You can do a longer hair.

SPEAKER_01 12:15

I naturally curls naturally were thicker. And now I'm just like, help me.

SPEAKER_02 12:20

It's coming back. It just takes time. I think that's important to note. There's no quick fix with the hair stuff. No. Or the nails. I'm they gotta grow. You gotta do what you gotta do to get them better, and you gotta give it some time.

SPEAKER_01 12:30

You gotta the time to grow out the old. Yeah. Is really a big factor in that. Yeah. But I do feel like having the testosterone helps that speed up. Yeah. My my nails definitely grow faster with the testosterone. Yeah. So anyway, I just really took us on a high age. That's all right. That's all right. That was fun because I had a lot to say about my thin hair.

SPEAKER_02 12:54

That's all right. We all feel your pain.

SPEAKER_01 12:57

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 12:58

All right. Do you want to talk about thyroid hormones?

SPEAKER_01 13:01

I mean, let's talk about it. That's the other thing.

SPEAKER_02 13:03

Often overlooked factor, which I would agree. I have thought barely barely anything about thyroid factors until talking really to you with everything you have going on, Renee. Um so what thyroid hormones do? They regulate hair growth cycles, nail growth rate, metab metabolism. Let's mess that up, energy levels. So both low thyroid and high thyroid can affect hair thickness, nail strength, and hair shedding. So it's very important that your thyroid levels are just right in line. Perfect. Because if not, you're screwed.

SPEAKER_01 13:40

Right. So there are you can tell a difference. I can tell a difference because of my Hashimoto's. I absolutely know when my thyroid levels get off. You can tell. I there's an increase of how much I shed in the shower when I wash my hair. Definitely that drain is filled with hair when my thyroid numbers get off a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 14:02

Which that's what that's one of the things. So that's awareness for if it could be a thyroid-related thing, is the excessive hair shedding, um, brittle nails, fatigue, weight changes, dry skin, hair loss at the outer eyebrows.

SPEAKER_01 14:19

Girl, it happens to me. It's a thing. Really?

SPEAKER_02 14:24

Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 14:26

The eyebrows were the craziest part for me through my thyroid issues. Is they thinned. And I'm like, how back. I used to have beautiful bushy eyebrows, and then I got them plucked, and I was trying to grow them back, and now it's just not coming out.

SPEAKER_02 14:40

And a good thick eyebrow is in right now. I know. It's that thin thing is gone. Well, evidently I'm joining the thin class. I have never had thyroid problems, and I've had my blood work done. I've never had anything, but my hair lady just told me because I was I was getting my unibrow waxed, and she's like, Your your eyebrows are better. Like there's more hair. I apparently had lost some hair there. And you just didn't I didn't really notice, but I don't think it was necessarily the outside. I think it was just like thinning throughout.

SPEAKER_01 15:07

Isn't that amazing what the hair our hair stylist? Oh, I know.

SPEAKER_02 15:11

I was like, oh, well, thank you. I know.

SPEAKER_01 15:14

I know. I don't know what I would do without mine. Shout out to Shelly. Love you, girl. She is actually a big supporter. She shares all of our content.

SPEAKER_02 15:21

Hey, Shelly.

SPEAKER_01 15:22

Yeah. All right. You want to walk us through our fate, my favorite? So I really want to add in here because thyroid is such a different animal, we have to put our disclaimer in. The medical advice. Oh, yeah. Please seek medical advice. We are, speaking from experience, because we've gone down this crazy perimenopause-menopause rabbit hole, but we have been to the doctor several times. Yeah. And we are our own advocates at the doctor. So I think if anybody could hear anything from this podcast, you have to self-advocate. Those doctors are not going to say, please try this. They are going to say, Here's your prescription, bye-bye, good luck. And then you're going to have a side effect from that prescription. And then you're going to go back and find another doctor that'll help you go down that rabbit hole. Just make sure you're advocating for yourself and getting medical advice.

SPEAKER_02 16:18

Definitely. And you could be losing hair that has nothing to do with your hormones. So we're just, you know, like to put it out there that that is a huge cause of that.

SPEAKER_01 16:27

Yeah. Hair and nail changes are a symptom of perimenopause and menopause. They are not the only thing that should be happening. Correct. Okay. All right. So I wanted to talk about your favorite hormone. My favorite cortisol. Stress obviously plays a big part in our hormones in general, but also in our hair and nails. Have you ever noticed when your hair is stressed out? Do you get stressed out hair? Oh no, I get stressed out hair. Yeah. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 16:55

I wonder if our audience would say that how many of them would say that they Oh, when you get high stress, I know somebody who would from a young age too, when she would get really stressed, she would start getting bald spots, like literally chunks coming out. And it would be during high stress. Yeah.

unknown 17:11

That's a thing.

SPEAKER_02 17:13

That is absolutely a thing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:14

It's definitely a thing. And my sister swears that she cannot have her hair cut when she has stressed out hair.

SPEAKER_02 17:21

Really?

SPEAKER_01 17:22

If she gets her hair cut during that time, it freaks out even more. Oh. Yeah. So she will she gets her highlights put in and no trimming. We just let that stress keep on rolling. Um, but I think that is something to take into account because obviously cortisol plays a part in our perimenopause and menopause journey. So um there's a really big word that they're referencing here for stress-related hair. Okay. You want to try it? Or you want me to? I feel like you do such a good job with the T one.

SPEAKER_02 17:52

The T one. Telogen. F lovin. Fluvin. Fluvin.

unknown 17:58

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 17:59

If I just argue I add a little accent, then you won't tell what I'm saying. I don't know, but we'll put it in the comments of the post. Um, anyway, so that's something. Stress can cause your hair to shift into the shedding phase prematurely. That's why people sometimes notice increased hair loss a few months after a stressful event. Yeah. Because your hair gets stressed out and then bye-bye.

SPEAKER_02 18:25

I wonder if that's what so when I had my hysterectomy, I had hair loss, which they said was probably from the anesthetic, because I got my hormones checked and it was not my hormones were in line. But I wonder also, my body also went through a lot of stress, obviously. More so than what I was given to be knocked out. Right.

SPEAKER_01 18:41

And for a longer period.

SPEAKER_02 18:43

Oh, correct. And a bigger recovery is the biggest surgery I've ever had. So I'm sure that had to be like my body's response to stress. I bet it was. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:52

Yeah. Thanks, cortisol. So we need you. Please hang out with us because we need you to keep us stable and calm and relatively in perspective of life. Yes. I feel like I just went to Zen.

SPEAKER_02 19:06

You went into Zen. Look at you.

SPEAKER_01 19:09

Oh, anyway. Holly, Holly, Holly. You are the expert on collagen. So let's hear about collagen.

SPEAKER_02 19:15

I love myself some collagen. I know you do because we start losing it rapidly, ladies. Okay, so it's not technically a hormone, obviously, but it is hormone-related. Um, so why collagen matters? Uh it supports hair strength, nail durability, skin elasticity. That's what I really want out of it. Um, it helps maintain, or estrogen helps maintain collagen production. So again, this is why we need our estrogen. So when estrogen drops, our collagen production declines, our hairs become weaker, and nails become thinner and breakage increases. Definitely. So take your collagen. I love a collagen, I love, love collagen. And a lot of those count towards your protein number, at least so much. There's something with that. You can't count all the collagen you consume as your protein, but I think you can count like up to like 30 grams or something. Because it's not like a complete protein, it's it's missing something. Some scientific but it is still count towards your protein. Got it. And it's like super dissolvable and stuff, it's easy to mix into stuff.

SPEAKER_01 20:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:14

Um, I feel like I consume a lot of it and that I should have tighter skin, but that's okay.

SPEAKER_01 20:23

Yeah, they could just take away these wrinkles that's. Now I mean I don't know whether the magic's not happening, but um, I think this is a good spot to bring up nutrition because you know, it's not all hormones. It does play a part in what you're taking into your body can actually support it. Um, things like iron, protein, which you mentioned, um, vitamin D and zinc, those all help, really help uh contribute to hair and nail health.

SPEAKER_02 20:52

If you have like a deficiency, absolutely, you start losing some hair.

SPEAKER_01 20:56

Yeah, which is also another thing we should advocate here, or we insert our advocation for a full panel of your hormones, your blood work. Don't just get the standard panel, get the full extended one, get your vitamin D levels checked.

SPEAKER_02 21:12

Because it can take you forever to identify what is causing your hair loss or your brittle nails. It can, it can, oh my gosh, it could take you so long to get through all of this to try to determine what is causing yours.

SPEAKER_01 21:25

Just think about the low iron, low protein, vitamin D. If you give two months to each one of those to try and uncover which one's contributing, that's six months. That's half a year of your life. Yeah. Just get the panel done so you know right away what you're missing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:40

Yeah, for sure. I think that's really important. I think it's very important.

SPEAKER_01 21:44

Yep. Have I bitched enough about hair today? I think. I mean, do you need to hear some more?

SPEAKER_02 21:48

I can hear more. I can always bitch about hair. I want new hair. Can I just Well, I guess you can just get fake hair. I'm gonna do it, I think now.

SPEAKER_01 21:56

Just get the imp you could do implants, you could wear a wig. I could, yeah. Um, but I get really hot still, so I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 22:04

I'm gonna maybe try those extensions. I love it. Long hair selling me on.

SPEAKER_01 22:08

I think they would be amazing.

SPEAKER_02 22:09

Just give it a go. If I just come in here one day and have long hair.

unknown 22:12

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 22:13

Oh well.

SPEAKER_01 22:14

You blow everybody away. Look at my look at my lush hair. Oh, girl. Well, for some of this, uh key takeaways would be that these changes are very common with menopause and perimenopause. Don't freak out. You are changing. Your body is changing. We're going through a transition time here. Um, but the hormones are playing a major role. You're not imagining it, and there are always ways that you can support your body. So take some of our recommendations. Ask a friend, ask your hair lady. Girl, they know a lot of secret weapons. They do know a lot.

SPEAKER_02 22:52

And if you know of anything that we haven't mentioned on here, let us know.

SPEAKER_01 22:55

And you know what? I'm gonna put for our tip drop Tuesday is this oil that my sister uses. I'm gonna ask Andrea for that oil. She mentioned it on her episode, but it was one of the life-changing things that calmed her stressed out hair. Yeah. So I think I'll make that our tip topic. Please do.

SPEAKER_02 23:10

I would love to know about that. Yeah. All right, guys. Well, it's about that time. So if this conversation resonated with you, please consider sharing this episode with a friend. Because chances are someone you know is going through the exact same thing. Every like, comment, download, and share allows us to continue to help more women. So until next time, remember your body isn't betraying you. It's transitioning. And understanding what's happening gives you the power to respond, not panic.

SPEAKER_01 23:34

No panic. No panic allowed. We'll panic a little bit because when you lose hair, you naturally panic.

SPEAKER_02 23:41

Zen. Deep breaths, everybody. Go to Zen and know that you can fix this. Alright. Until next time.