No one wants to talk about this, so I will

In my 30s and 40s, my long hair was my whole personality.

I was on television every day, so I spent hours getting my hair blown out and styled. I loved it. But it wasn’t until I started losing my hair that I realized how intertwined my confidence was with how my hair looked.

Even before getting my hair styled for work every day, I identified with thick, healthy hair. But when I went through a divorce and (unknowingly) perimenopause, my hair started falling out in clumps. I tried to keep it long, but the ends kept breaking. Even the texture changed, it became dry and brittle. If you walked into my apartment during that time, you would have seen my hair covering the floor.

As if being newly single and dating wasn’t stressful enough, these hair changes took a huge hit to my confidence (as I talked about here). Suddenly navigating a new hair reality, I was frustrated and confused. What was going on?

Like many women, I didn’t associate midlife hair loss with menopause and thought something was wrong with me. But the truth is, it’s a very normal symptom. According to hair expert Dr. Michelle Henry, “over 40-50% of women, especially when you get to that perimenopausal period, will have some sort of hair loss.”

Opening up about my experience changed everything. The more I talked about it, the more I heard from women searching for answers. Now it’s one of the most common questions I’m asked.

I know firsthand how upsetting it can be when you start to see your scalp through your hair, or when suddenly your brush seems to have as much hair in it as on your head. This is exactly why I asked Dr. Michelle Henry to come on The Tamsen Show.

In this episode, Dr. Michelle Henry shares evidence-based protocols that can slow thinning, support regrowth, and improve scalp health. We discuss:

• What treatments actually work (minoxidil, PRP, microneedling, and red light therapy) and which are only fads (biotin, rosemary oil, scalp exfoliation)
• The impact GLP-1 medications have on hair health
• The supplements Dr. Michelle Henry recommends to patients in her office
• How hormones, stress, nutrition, and illness directly impact your hair health
• The role Hormone Replacement Therapy plays in protecting and restoring hair health
• When to consider a hair transplant

If your hair is changing, this episode will help you understand what’s happening and what you can actually do about it.