Female Hair Loss in Singapore: the patterns, and the causes worth testing for

Women rarely go bald, and that is part of why female hair loss gets missed for so long. It shows up as a parting that is wider in photographs, a ponytail that takes an extra twist, and scalp that is visible under overhead light in a way it was not two years ago. By the time it is obvious, it has usually been happening for a while.

The two patterns, and why the difference matters

Shedding

More hair than usual coming out — on the pillow, in the drain, on the brush — but the density across the scalp still looks even. This is usually telogen effluvium: a larger-than-normal proportion of follicles pushed into the resting phase at the same time, which then release together two to three months later.

The important feature of shedding is that the follicles are not damaged. They have been interrupted. Remove the cause and they generally resume, though the hair takes months to show.

Thinning

Hair is not necessarily coming out faster, but what grows back is finer and shorter each cycle. The parting widens because each hair occupies less space, not because there are fewer follicles. This is female pattern hair loss, also called androgenetic alopecia, and it is progressive if nothing changes.

Most women arrive describing shedding and have both.

Causes worth a blood test before anything else

This is the part we are most insistent about, because it is the part where someone else can help you more than we can, and it is cheap to rule out.

Iron

Low ferritin is common in menstruating women and is associated with hair shedding well before it is low enough to be called anaemia. Ask for ferritin specifically, not just haemoglobin — they are different numbers and the first can be low while the second looks fine.

Thyroid

Both overactive and underactive thyroid cause diffuse hair loss, and both are easy to test and treatable. This is one of the most frequently missed causes.

Vitamin D and B-12

Both are associated with shedding, and deficiency in both is common in Singapore despite the sun, largely because people sensibly stay out of it.

Hormonal conditions

Polycystic ovary syndrome changes the androgen balance, and hair thinning is one of the ways it presents. Perimenopause and menopause change it in a different direction, and hair thinning around that transition is extremely common. Stopping or starting hormonal contraception can trigger shedding months later.

Other triggers

Significant weight loss, surgery, a high fever, severe illness, bereavement or a sustained period of stress all cause shedding on a delay of roughly two to three months. People frequently do not connect the two because of the gap.

If your hair loss started with something you can date, write the date down. It is the single most useful thing you can bring to any consultation, ours included.

What we can and cannot do

We will be plain about this.

• We cannot diagnose. Ferritin, thyroid and hormones are blood tests and a doctor. We can see from the scalp that something is going on; we cannot tell you what it is from the outside.
• We do not sell medication. There is no minoxidil, no finasteride and no spironolactone in anything we make. Those are prescription or pharmacy items and they are a different conversation.
• We can measure it properly. Four zones photographed at high magnification, five things scored, repeated at every visit against your own baseline. That is how you find out whether something is working rather than whether it feels like it is.
• We can look after the scalp the next hair grows from. Where the scalp is congested, inflamed or flaking, that is worth fixing on its own terms, and it is the part we are actually good at.

The honest sequence

Blood test first. If something comes back low, correct it and give it six months, because hair is slow and nothing you do externally will outrun an untreated deficiency.

In parallel, get a baseline measured, because in six months you will want to know whether anything moved and memory is useless for this. The AI scalp scan is free and takes about fifteen minutes.

Then, if the scalp itself needs work, treat it. The Growth series is the home routine — the Growth Shampoo during the wash and the Growth Tonic on the scalp between washes, which is where a leave-on product does its work. In studio, the Fortifying Treatment is aimed at shedding and the Reviving Treatment at hair that has gone fine.

Eight weeks is the earliest anything is fair to judge, and six months is a more realistic horizon. Anyone offering faster is selling.

See a doctor first if

• Hair is coming out in distinct round patches
• The scalp is painful, burning, or the skin in the affected area looks smooth and shiny
• There is scaling, redness or sores where the hair is thinning
• You are also losing eyebrow or body hair
• It came on suddenly and severely over a few weeks
• You have other symptoms — irregular cycles, weight change, fatigue, new acne or facial hair

Alopecia areata, scarring alopecias and systemic conditions all need medical assessment, and in the scarring forms the window to limit permanent loss is early.

Where to start

If you want the measurement before you decide anything, the scan costs nothing and you keep the images. The first customised treatment is $59 at Raffles City or The Centrepoint. If what you are dealing with started after a birth, our guide to postpartum shedding is the more specific one.