If your parting has gradually widened, your ponytail feels thinner and you can see more scalp on top while your hairline has stayed put, the most likely cause is female pattern hair loss. It affects a large proportion of women by the age of 50, it is driven by follicles gradually shrinking rather than dying, and it is progressive if nothing is done. A trichologist in Wellingborough can measure it properly and tell it apart from a temporary shed, but your GP is the one who can run bloods and prescribe, so most people benefit from seeing both. The single most useful thing you can do today is photograph your parting, because this condition moves slowly enough that memory is a poor witness.

How do you tell pattern loss from a temporary shed?

This is the question a trichologist answers first, because the two feel identical from the inside and need entirely different plans.

They can overlap. It is very common to have slow pattern loss quietly in the background and then a stressful year on top, which produces a dramatic shed that reveals thinning that was already there. If your hair loss feels like it happened overnight, that is usually what has occurred.

Where are you on the Ludwig scale?

Clinicians grade female pattern hair loss with the Ludwig scale, which has three stages and is judged from the parting.

• Ludwig I. Noticeable thinning along the parting, mostly visible to you. The crown still looks full to other people.
• Ludwig II. The parting has clearly widened and scalp is visible through the crown, particularly under bright overhead light.
• Ludwig III. Diffuse thinning across the top with the scalp clearly visible. The frontal hairline still typically remains.

Some clinicians also describe an Olsen pattern, sometimes called the Christmas tree, where the widening is broadest at the front of the parting and narrows towards the crown. That shape is characteristic of female pattern loss and helps distinguish it from a general shed.

Grade yourself honestly using a photograph rather than the mirror. Most women underestimate stage in the mirror and overestimate it in a phone photo taken from above under a ceiling light, which is the harshest possible angle.

Why does the parting widen and the hairline stay?

Because the follicles on top of the scalp are more sensitive to androgens than the ones at the frontal hairline and around the sides.

In susceptible follicles, dihydrotestosterone shortens the growing phase slightly with every cycle. The follicle itself shrinks, so the hair it produces next time is a little finer and a little shorter. Repeat that over many cycles and a thick terminal hair becomes a fine, barely visible one. The follicle is still there, which is why treatment can partly reverse the process if it starts early enough.

This is why a trichologist looks at hair diameter rather than counting hairs. On a healthy scalp, hairs are broadly the same thickness. On a scalp with pattern loss, you see thick, medium and wispy hairs mixed together in the same square centimetre. That variation, called anisotrichosis, is the diagnostic sign, and it is visible under a trichoscope long before the parting looks obviously different.

Androgens are involved, but this does not mean your hormone levels are abnormal. Most women with female pattern hair loss have entirely normal blood results. Sensitivity at the follicle matters more than the level in the blood. Our guide to pattern hair loss in men and women covers the stages in more detail.

What blood tests are worth asking your GP for?

Not because deficiency causes pattern loss, but because it stacks on top and makes it markedly worse. Correcting a deficiency will not cure the pattern, but it often stops the extra shedding that is making everything look alarming.

What actually works for female pattern hair loss?

Separating the evidence tiers here saves a lot of money.

How long before you can tell whether something is working?

Hair grows about a centimetre a month, and a follicle needs a full cycle to show a change. That sets the floor on how fast any of this can move.

1. Weeks 0 to 6. Nothing visible. Possibly a temporary increase in shedding if you have started a topical.
2. Months 2 to 3. Shedding settles back to baseline. Still nothing to see in the mirror.
3. Months 4 to 6. The first honest assessment point. Compare photographs, not memories.
4. Months 9 to 12. Whatever benefit you are going to get is largely visible by now.
5. Beyond. Maintenance. Stop, and you lose the gain over the following six to twelve months, because the underlying condition has not gone anywhere.

That last point is the one people find hardest, and it is worth deciding up front whether a treatment is something you are prepared to continue indefinitely.

What helps the way it looks right now?

Treatment works on a scale of months. These work on a scale of minutes, and dismissing them is a mistake when the day-to-day distress is the actual problem.

• Move your parting. Hair trained one way for years lies flat. Switching sides or going slightly zig-zag adds visible volume immediately and costs nothing.
• Fibres or a root concealer. The fastest visible improvement available for a widening parting, and completely reversible at the next wash.
• Go shorter. Long hair pulls flat under its own weight and makes the top look sparser. A collarbone-length cut with layers usually reads as fuller.
• Add a little colour contrast. Scalp shows most where dark hair meets pale skin. Lightening a shade or two reduces the contrast.
• Skip heavy conditioners at the roots. Keep them on the mid-lengths and ends so the roots keep their lift.
• Loosen everything. Tight ponytails, clips and grips in the same spot add tension damage on top of pattern loss.

Hair Building Fibres, £19.95

Keratin fibres that cling to the hair you have and visually close a widening parting in about thirty seconds. Purely cosmetic, entirely reversible, and washes out. It does nothing whatsoever to the follicles, which is exactly what it claims. For a lot of women this is what makes the six-month wait for a treatment bearable.

View Hair Building Fibres

Shampoo, Conditioner & Scalp Elixir Set, £53.40

The everyday-care layer that sits underneath whatever your GP or pharmacist recommends. Sulphate-free cleansing, a detangling conditioner that reduces breakage, and a leave-on scalp elixir. These are cosmetic products for the condition and appearance of the hair you have. They are not a treatment for female pattern hair loss and they do not replace topical minoxidil.

View the 3-step set

Finding a trichologist in Wellingborough

Your practical catchment stretches to Rushden, Kettering, Northampton and Milton Keynes, with Bedford and Leicester in reach for a wider choice. What to check before booking:

• Registration. Institute of Trichologists or the International Association of Trichologists. "Hair loss specialist" is not a protected title in the UK, so ask directly.
• A trichoscope. The whole value of a trichology appointment for pattern loss is the magnified assessment of hair diameter. Without it you are paying for an opinion.
• Willingness to work with your GP. A trichologist cannot prescribe or order bloods. The good ones write to your GP with what they think needs checking.
• Costs stated up front. Consultation, follow-up and any products, in writing, before you book.
• No guarantees. Nobody can guarantee regrowth in female pattern hair loss. Anyone who does is selling, not diagnosing.

Expect roughly £50 to £120 for a private first consultation. Your GP appointment is free and can do the things a trichologist cannot, so it is usually the sensible first stop.

Frequently asked questions

How much hair loss is normal for a woman?

Between 50 and 100 hairs a day, and more on wash days because you are collecting several days of naturally released hairs at once. What matters more than the count is whether the hair growing back is as thick as the hair coming out. Our guide on what counts as normal hair loss for a woman goes into the numbers.

Is female pattern hair loss reversible?

Partly, and only while treated. Follicles that have miniaturised but are still producing hair can improve. Follicles that have been dormant for many years generally do not come back. This is why early action preserves far more than late action.

Will my hair loss stop after menopause?

Not usually. Female pattern hair loss often accelerates around menopause as oestrogen falls, and it tends to continue slowly afterwards rather than stopping. It is manageable, but it does not resolve by itself.

Does washing my hair less often help?

No. The hairs that come out in the shower were already released from the follicle and would have come out anyway. Washing less just collects them for a bigger, more upsetting shed later, and leaves the scalp less comfortable in the meantime.

Can a trichologist prescribe treatment?

No. Trichologists are not medical doctors. They can assess, measure, advise and recommend over-the-counter products, and they should refer you to your GP for bloods or prescriptions.

Do hair vitamins help female pattern hair loss?

Only if you are genuinely deficient in something. Supplementing when your levels are already normal has little effect on pattern loss, and very high biotin doses can distort thyroid blood test results, so always tell whoever takes your bloods what you are taking.

Should I get a blood test before or after seeing a trichologist?

Before, if you can. Bloods are free through your GP, and having ferritin, thyroid function and vitamin D results in hand makes any private consultation far more useful. It also occasionally makes it unnecessary.

Is stress causing this?

Stress causes diffuse shedding, not pattern loss. It can unmask pattern loss that was already progressing quietly, which is why so many women date the start of their thinning to a difficult year. The underlying pattern was almost certainly there beforehand.

Can I still colour my hair?

Yes, as long as your scalp is healthy. Colour does not cause pattern hair loss, and lightening slightly can genuinely make a widening parting less obvious by reducing the contrast between hair and scalp. Avoid bleach directly on the scalp if it is sensitive.