What Causes Hair Loss In Women?

“Some progestins (synthetic progesterone) found in birth control pills resemble testosterone. In other words, from a chemical standpoint progestins look more like testosterone than real progesterone, which can cause them to shrink and damage hair follicles, triggering hair loss (1).

Four of the most common progestins that act like testosterone are medroxyprogesterone, norethindrone, norgestrel, etonogestrel, and levonorgestrel, so be sure to read your birth control packets to see if your pill has any of these (1, 2, 3).

You might not notice drastic hair loss, but your hair could start to fall out gradually over several months or even years. That’s what happened to me—I’d been on the pill for two years when someone said to me, your hair is so thin! Then I started noticing just how much it had thinned out. I stayed on the pill another two years because it didn’t occur to me that ALL my health problems were linked back to being on the pill, much less my hair loss.”

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