Hair falling out on Zepbound :(

True-Fam

True-Fam

Active member
I've been taking Mounjaro for about 14 months, and my hair is a disaster. It was super thick before, but now it's shedding constantly and feels so thin. I'm feeling really self-conscious about it. I'm on 12,5mg by the way.

I've heard that quick weight loss can cause this, but I'm still worried. I'm scared my hair won't ever be the same again.

Has anyone else had this happen to them?
 
Sounds like telogen effluvium. When you diet heavily, your hair follicles can go dormant. You still have the hair at this point. Once your body gets used to it, or weight loss slows, the follicles start growing again. Except, new hairs grow instead of keeping the old ones, so eventually the old paused hairs fall out.

So, by the time you notice thinning, your body is already doing better. Your hair growth is back, with short hairs replacing the old ones.
 
I've had some thinning too, but I don't think it's necessarily the drug itself. It's probably the rapid weight loss causing it. Now that I'm at my target weight and maintaining, the shedding seems to be slowing down. It should get better, try not to stress.
 
Yeah, it's common to lose hair during weight loss, whether it's treatments or meds.

Tirzepatide isn't *directly* causing it. There aren't studies saying it does. It's the stress on your body, rapid weight loss, and lack of protein/nutrients that are the issue.

Take your vitamins. Eat more protein and calories. Talk to your doctor about minoxidil.
 
I noticed this maybe two months ago, so I started taking biotin and collagen. It seems to be helping with the shedding, but honestly, I think it's because I'm focusing more on getting enough protein and nutrients in general. There's a ton of info online with ideas. I tried expensive hair masks etc too. Can't really say what worked, just know it's better now lol. Sorry if that's not super helpful!
 
As someone who's lost weight quickly a bunch of times over my 7 decades, this is pretty typical. It sucks to see the hair falling out, but if you focus on your nutrition, especially protein, it'll grow back in a few months. I just chopped off my super long hair yesterday because of the hair loss, and it looks a bit better already. I know it'll get worse before it gets better, though.
 
I've dropped 100lbs on Mounjaro, and lost a TON of hair. I'm 64, so I was worried it wouldn't come back. But my weight loss has slowed a lot, and my hair is growing back all over. I also think it's from rapid weight loss. I don't seem to like eating meat much since starting Mounjaro, so I wasn't getting enough protein until my hair started falling out. upping my protein helped a LOT. Good luck and keep an eye on your protein!
 
I'm sorry to hear about this. What's your hair type? I have 4c hair and I started using rosemary and cloves water spray when I noticed a bit more shedding. Didn't lose any more hair but in fact, it grew and became much thicker.
 
I lost most of my hair after a year on a really strict keto diet and losing 80 pounds. Luckily, it did grow back.

Now that I’m on Mounjaro, I’m not cutting out any food groups, and I haven’t had any hair loss this time, even though I’m down 55lbs. But I can't tolerate high doses, so my weight loss has been very slow over 80 weeks. So I'm guessing that's helped avoid the hair loss.

I don’t think it’s the medication itself causing it, but rather the speed of weight loss.
 
I've had this too, and there are previous threads about it if you search. My weight loss was super slow, so it wasn't from rapid weight loss. Also, I checked for vitamin deficiencies, but nothing was low. I was told it's due to hormonal changes from Mounjaro. Hormones can affect hair, but people only blame the weight loss.
 
I'm so tired of people saying it's always rapid weight loss. It's not!

I've lost weight quicker before, with minimal hair loss. On Mounjaro, I lost about 20 pounds from May to January – and lost a lot of hair. My doctor's seen it too.

My hair's growing back now because I went into action fast. Doctors usually want you to use minoxidil for hair loss, but I didn't want to commit. Anyway, this is what helped me: Viviscal Pro + vitamin D if you're deficient + iron to get your ferritin nice and high + anti-stress supplement + pumpkin seed oil capsules + folate if you need it. I also used aminexil every day.

Get bloodwork done to check for deficiencies.

It's a hormonal med, and it can cause hair loss for some people.
Hugs and hope it gets better!
 
It’s not always the Mounjaro. Weight loss in general can do it. My daughter lost a lot of weight without meds and had hair loss. It’s a common side effect of dieting.
 
Mounjaro isn’t the problem, lack of protein is. My hair stylist says that her clients who eat 80-120g of protein daily never have bad hair loss during weight loss or from GLP1s.
 
Thanks everyone for your replies! I'm going to focus on getting more protein and see if that helps. I think I will get a checkup too to make sure I'm not low on anything else.
 
Update on my own hair: I'm starting to feel more confident showing my face without makeup now too. I think it's from losing weight and just generally feeling better about myself.
data-driven said:
Anyone else feeling more confident and less reliant on doing full coverage make up? I think this is a massive NSV for me personally as I’m finally getting comfortable with the way I look ☺️
Click to expand...
Totally agree!
 
For folks dealing with loose skin after losing a lot of weight, have you looked into skin removal surgery? I saw someone on social media who lost 130lbs (80 of it on weight loss meds) and had arm and face/neck lifts. They said their recovery wasn't too bad. Just something to consider!
 
Why not just push the tirzepatide dose higher first? Once you layer multiple GLP meds you're past what the research supports. Kidney stuff is worth an expert conversation if there's real function issues. Tirzepatide does help slow kidney decline though.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top