Root Cause: How To Fight Hair Thinning In Menopause

Forget a facelift. The most transformative thing you can do is to fight for your hair, says Kathleen Baird-Murray.

Hair Thinning Treatments For Menopausal Women That Actually Work

A boyfriend once called it the ‘cash crop’. My hair, in its prime, was, and I say this without vanity, really quite spectacular, not that I remotely appreciated it back then, aged 20-something. So long, thick and glossy that it starred in a series of Pantene commercials.

I credit my part-Burmese heritage for making my hair game strong. But along with the genetic profile possibly came a strong predisposition for premature grey. My Irish grandfather was grey in his 20s, my mother too. From my early 30s I was touching up roots every couple of months. Now, at 58, I make do with L’Oréal Paris Magic Retouch spray every third week, between monthly appointments with legendary colourist Nicola Clarke.

The grey is one thing. But then menopause arrived, and I dabbled with GLP-1s. The body thinning was marvellous. The hair thinning less so. I haven’t needed to do what my erstwhile colleague Olivia Falcon has done: a partial hair transplant, documented on her Instagram (@theeditorslist), but I’m aware that if I don’t tackle it now, I may have to.

As I scroll through my phone, I’m served a relentless parade of DHT blockers, minoxidil serums, scalp injections and growth factor treatments. My scepticism has softened, though, as I’ve dug deeper. Once you filter out the obviously AI-generated nonsense, there are some real solutions out there. And the science in 2026 is genuinely exciting. Here is what actually works.

The Treatment Lowdown

Hair thinning in women over 45 is, above all, a hormonal story. DHT (dihydrotestosterone, the androgen that drives female pattern hair loss) begins shrinking follicles as oestrogen declines in perimenopause, until the strand produced becomes so fine it barely registers and eventually the follicle fuses shut. Dr Sharon Wong, consultant dermatologist and founder of Dose, is unambiguous: ‘Hair loss due to a progressive condition cannot be cured. Treatments can stabilise and slow progression, and in some cases restore thickness, but they require long-term commitment.’

What does she think about those Instagram ads promising to go from visible scalp to a full head of hair in weeks? ‘Anything that claims to cure hair loss should immediately raise a red flag,’ she says matter-of-factly. Even if we think we’re prepared for menopause, it rarely arrives cleanly either. Stress, iron deficiency and, should you choose to take them, GLP-1 medications all accelerate shedding simultaneously, which is why starting treatment early and addressing each contributing factor is so important.

You cannot get far in any hair rebooting conversation without hearing about minoxidil. Originally developed as a blood pressure medication, its hair-growing side effects were soon noticed and it remains the cornerstone of treatment. It works, but the loss returns once you stop using it. For some, the side effects also aren’t worth the transformation, so do check in with your doctor. Dose’s F2 formula, created for peri and postmenopausal women, intelligently combines minoxidil with oestradiol, medroxyprogesterone and finasteride (a DHT blocker), addressing both the circulatory and hormonal drivers of thinning in one fast-absorbing serum.

For those who prefer not to use daily medicated applications, Dr Wong recently introduced Tricopat into her clinic and is one of only a handful of doctors in the UK to offer the treatment. Developed with the University of Bologna, it combines micro-patting, electrical iontophoresis (to drive growth factors deep into the scalp without needles), and LED phototherapy (to energise follicles). Clinical studies show hair density improving by up to 15 percent in four to six months. At £395 per session it is not inexpensive, but many patients see visible results after just three sessions.

Photo by Mateusz Sitek

PRP (platelet-rich plasma therapy) has been a clinic staple for several years: drawing the patient’s own blood, spinning it to concentrate the growth factor-rich platelets, and injecting the resulting plasma into the scalp. Newer exosome therapies, derived from stem cells, are increasingly offered alongside PRP and may prove even more potent at triggering regrowth. For a fully bespoke approach, Ouronyx, a skin and hair aesthetics clinic led by Dr Marco Nicoloso, offers some interesting new programmes built around diagnostic mapping. One option is the anti-inflammatory injectable treatment, which uses polynucleotides to help repair scalp tissue and stimulate robust follicular activity. A new, blood-based, regenerative treatment that requires only one session rather than monthly visits is coming soon, and promises, according to early clinical trials, ‘excellent results’.

Tom Smith, founder of Aevum, a salon in Bloomsbury which treats hair condition and health with the same rigour as colour and cut, likens your hair to an orchestra. ‘As we age,’ he says, ‘the musician who creates pigment leaves; then the one who hydrates the hair; then the one who maintains density. The music still plays, the hair still grows, but the richness is diminished.’ His mission is to recall those players and, as salons go, his approach feels refreshingly different. His main tool for hair loss and thinning is Calecim Advanced Hair System, a bioactive complex derived from umbilical cord lining stem cells, ethically sourced from red deer in New Zealand post-birth. Its active ingredient, PTT-6, increased dermal papilla cell proliferation by up to 20 percent in laboratory studies, with results comparable to minoxidil but without the dependency or irritation.

Full disclosure: I tried it for a month at home and saw nothing. Neither did my sister. But Smith (and several others) tells me, that’s where we both went wrong. Try any hair treatment for three consecutive months, and consider yourself lucky if you see results from six weeks. Smith takes before and after images of his clients pre and post long-term Calecim treatments, and the results are quite staggering.

At Aevum, Smith combines Calecim with red light therapy and begins every treatment with chelating (removing mineral residue), a bond-building extract and a K18 peptide mask), left in for four minutes to rebuild the hair structure’s polypeptide chains. I’ve tried the K18 at home and it is genuinely brilliant: whack it in, leave it in, done.

What about nutritional supplements? Smith recommends a TrichoTest first, which delivers DNA analysis from a cheek swab and identifies which treatments you’ll actually respond to. ‘I have no interest in telling you to take biotin unless we know you’re deficient in it,’ he says.

Colour Me Beautiful

None of the above addresses the grey. Nicola Clarke, acclaimed hair colourist whose clients include Madonna, Cate Blanchett and Kate Moss, is refreshingly frank. ‘Grey equals age. That’s the reality. Embracing grey was a wonderful cultural moment, it removed a stigma. But it does age you.’ Her solution is glow-lights, a technique she invented with fellow stylist and hair colourist Zoë Irwin of John Frieda: a solid base, then tiny flecks of hair painted a golden, summery blonde around the face and through the top layer. ‘As if you’ve been in the sun for a month,’ Clarke says. The effect is youthful without being obvious. It’s less a colour treatment, and more a general impression of vitality.

For thinning hair specifically, she recommends chunkier, layered cuts that create body and movement over anything flat that emphasises loss.

As for grey repigmentation, please let this be science’s next frontier. Dr Wong acknowledges there is no clinically proven product yet, though research into preserving melanocyte stem cells is active and ongoing. Smith reports that some of his clients using Calecim anecdotally notice new hair coming through with its original pigment. The brand makes no official claim. But those orchestra players, gradually returning to their instruments, might just bring the colour section back with them.

Style Sessions

While all of the above works its long game at follicle level, there is still the question of what to do tomorrow morning. Sam McKnight MBE, session legend and the man behind the styling and conditioning haircare range Hair by Sam McKnight, offers advice that is immediately actionable. For volume, use a thickening shampoo and conditioner first, then a styling product matched to your actual routine. A volumising foam with heat protection is great if you find yourself blow-drying a lot; a root-lifting spray is essential if time is the enemy; a dry texture mist applied straight onto dry hair will give you an instant lift in seconds. His velcro roller set, which has sold out three times since launch, is more easy to use than it looks, and delivers big volume and a glossy finish. For shine, squeeze rather than rub with your towel after washing, rubbing roughens the cuticle. Point the hairdryer down the hair shaft when blowdrying, and finish with a lightweight oil.

The cash crop may no longer be what it was. But with the tools and products available now, be they treatments in salon, serums, or the magic of having a colourist who can paint sunshine into your hair with a brush, I might just have saved myself from a facelift.