Let’s face it — If you’re a woman, you’re eventually going to experience the dreaded “menopause.” Hot flashes, mood swings, insomnia, weight gain. And, if that isn’t enough, millions of women experience hair loss during menopause. Most doctors declare menopause as an “estrogen-deficient” time, where a woman’s estrogen level drops by 90%, so there may be even more hair loss after you’ve completed menopause.

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Does Menopause Cause Hair Loss?

The hair follicle, a complex mini-organ with its own blood supply, requires a great deal of metabolic energy to reproduce itself, and it’s one of the most sensitive among all of the organs. That means it is easily affected by even subtle shifts in energy, which can lead to hair loss.

The long-standing belief is that the hormonal imbalances that occur during menopause — when the body produces less estrogen and progesterone — trigger the production of androgens (male hormones), leading to hair loss. This is caused by an increased sensitivity to testosterone, the androgen, which turns into or DHT (dihydrotestosterone). Over time, the DHT causes the hair to miniaturize, until the hair is barely visible. This is known as post-menopausal hair loss.

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Before a woman has her last period, she may be “estrogen dominant,” meaning she has too much estrogen relative to her body’s progesterone production. This happens when the estrogen begins to overstimulate the body and the brain. “Estrogen dominance” may occur for 10-15 years, beginning as early as the age of 35, until menopause officially begins. All of these symptoms are exacerbated by stress of many kinds.

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Progesterone Therapy for Hair Loss

Plenty of medical professionals use progesterone therapy for hair loss in menopausal women as a “go-to” treatment. Since progesterone is a precursor to testosterone, it can help inhibit DHT (that tricky little devil that causes the follicles to shrink) and stop more loss from occurring. Of course, progesterone isn’t the only cause of the loss, and there are other things that might be triggering the loss. We will look at those next.