The real midlife crisis: How to restore thinning hair in middle age

There are few things as frustrating as seeing your part grow wider and watching more and more hair seemingly disappear right before your eyes. It’s enough to make you want to pull your hair out, you know, if your hair wasn’t the thing driving you crazy in the first place. But fear not, while it may seem like a hopeless battle, there are ways to combat thinning hair in your middle age.

Losing hair can make you feel devastatingly self-conscious. However, the hair loss you’re experiencing may very well be a temporary battle. A condition known as telogen effluvium pushes hair follicles into the telogen phase, or a temporary phase of non-growth. This may simply be due to increased stress, hormonal changes or nutritional deficiencies. In most cases medical treatment is not needed as hair will regrow naturally, especially with the help of small lifestyle changes.

In order to move the follicles back into the growth phase, you have to identify what has started making your hair thin in the first place. Stress can be one of the toughest triggers to treat, because once you identify it as the root cause, you are then faced with the task of determining what exactly is causing the stress reaction. If this is the cause, you’ll first want to find a healthy coping mechanism to prevent unwanted stress reactions, such as meditation or reduction of the stressor.

Hormonal changes are also a huge factor in midlife hair loss. Our bodies are constantly evolving, and any woman around middle age will be the first to admit it. When menopause arrives, it brings a whole slew of fun new challenges to women’s lives, and unfortunately hair loss can be one of them, thanks in large part to reduced estrogen and progesterone production. Hormone regulation can be tricky, but there are several things you can do. Eating a balanced diet, supplements, keeping hair hydrated, and reducing the amount of heat and styling products used on hair can all play a role in keeping your lock luscious during this time.

If it’s due to nutritional deficiencies, changing up your diet to get sufficient amounts of protein and iron, and adding in vitamins, like Better Not Younger’s hair fortifying gummies, can jump-start hair growth. And while supplements can be helpful for a period, it’s important to try to get ample amounts of nutrients naturally. Additionally, try eating foods like fatty fish, red meats, leafy greens, carrots, walnuts and flaxseeds, which contain omega-3’s, iron, and more to help promote hair growth.

This later type of hair loss can also be due to something more severe, such as illness. If you think your hair loss could be due to this, it is worthwhile to speak to a doctor about changes you are experiencing, as medication or other medical treatment may be necessary, and certain tests can help rule out more serious causes.

However, if one of the other aforementioned conditions seem to be what’s plaguing you, there are also products that can help to thicken your hair and nourish your scalp. Your head will thank you for the much-needed care, and you will undoubtedly regain your lost self-confidence. The Lift Me Up hair thickening spray from Better Not Younger uses ingredients like niacinamide, wintergreen oil and ceramides to lift hair at the root and give a fuller appearance while stimulating your scalp for a winning combination.

Have you experienced midlife hair loss, yourself? Know of another answer not addressed here? Let us in on your secret, below.