Iron, thyroid and hair fall: the deficiencies worth ruling out first

Hair shedding has a long list of possible causes, and most of them are not solvable with a bottle. Before spending months on topicals, it is worth ruling out the handful of deficiencies that produce shedding reliably — and which a single blood test can settle.

Ferritin, not just haemoglobin

This is the most common miss. Ferritin measures stored iron, and it falls well before haemoglobin does — so it is entirely possible to be told your haemoglobin is "normal" while your iron stores are low enough to affect hair.

Diffuse shedding across the whole scalp, rather than patches or a receding line, is the pattern associated with low iron. Ask specifically for ferritin.

Vitamin D

Deficiency is widespread in India, including among people who spend time outdoors, because most exposure happens through glass or under cover. The follicle has vitamin D receptors, and low levels are associated with shedding.

Thyroid

Both an underactive and an overactive thyroid cause hair loss, and both are easy to miss because the other symptoms — fatigue, weight change, feeling cold — get attributed to ordinary life. A TSH test is inexpensive and worth including.

B12

Common in vegetarian diets, since the reliable sources are animal-derived. Worth checking if you have been vegetarian long-term without supplementing.

The pattern that points away from deficiency

Deficiency-related shedding is usually diffuse and gradual. If instead you are seeing distinct round patches, a receding hairline or crown thinning, or sudden heavy loss two to three months after an illness, surgery, childbirth or a period of severe stress — those are different mechanisms, and the last one (telogen effluvium) typically resolves on its own once the trigger has passed.

What we can and cannot claim

Our hair oils work on the scalp — condition, flaking, comfort, and the strand you already have. They are personal care products, not treatments for a medical cause of hair loss, and we will not pretend otherwise.

If the shedding is sudden, patchy, or accompanied by anything else that has changed, see a doctor first. That is the honest advice, and it costs us a sale.