Last year, after months of feeling bloated and exhausted and suffering from debilitating back pain, I decided I had had enough and it was time to see a doctor.
Perimenopause had seen me gain weight to 11 stone – the same weight I had been when I was pregnant 13 years earlier. At 5ft 6in, I was still a healthy weight, but I was bordering on the overweight category on the BMI scale and I just didn’t feel right. So I wasn’t surprised when a blood test revealed I was pre-diabetic.
I decided to change my lifestyle and started taking supplements, exercising more and eating more consciously. That meant slowing down and cooking as much as possible.
But the real eureka moment came when I went to a private GP in London, who recommended weekly injections of the slimming drug Ozempic. That’s when my health really started to improve — with one big caveat.
I started my Ozempic journey in April of last year on the lowest dose of 0.25mg, which I took for three months.
Olivia Falcon began her Ozempic journey in April last year on the lowest dose of 0.25mg, which she took for three months
She said she went from washing her hair three times a week to just once a week and brushed it less often after she noticed tangles falling out.
By starting so low, I was able to avoid the common side effects of nausea and stomach cramps and was able to slowly increase my dose until my weight plateaued and I finally moved up to the full 1mg dose a few months ago.
I am now 10 kilos lighter than before, the debilitating pain in my lower back has gone, my cholesterol has dropped from 6.6 mmol/l to a much healthier 5.5 and my blood tests show that I am thankfully no longer in the pre-diabetic zone.
And yet, one side effect that I hadn’t anticipated hit me, like hundreds of other Ozempic users, hard.
The first signs of trouble started about six months ago. While I was in the shower, my heart dropped as I saw clumps of my long, blonde hair going down the drain. When I ran my fingers through it, clumps came loose.
In a panic, I went from washing my hair three times a week to just once. Brushing it also created a bird’s nest of hair, so I cut that off too. My signature ponytail thinned by about 30 percent and, most disturbing of all, my hairline around my temples looked uneven. Yes, I loved my new slim body, but I was terrified of going bald.
Common side effects of the weight loss drug Ozempic include nausea and stomach cramps
At first I didn’t see any connection between this alarming hair loss and Ozempic, but then I went to my hairdresser, Tom Smith. He told me that he sees clients every day who suffer from hair loss and they say that the only change they made to their lifestyle was that they started using Ozempic.
Curious, I spoke to Jane Martins, senior consultant trichologist at Philip Kingsley. ‘Although there is no evidence that Ozempic causes hair loss, some people who use it have reported increased hair loss,’ she told me.
“Rapid weight loss seems to be the cause — it’s a condition called telogen effluvium, which means the good news is it’s temporary. It all comes down to a change in eating habits or a low-calorie diet and the nutritional deficiencies that can cause.”
Other hair loss specialists, such as Kelly Morrell of Scalp Confidential and cosmetic doctor Munir Somji, are also seeing an increase in clients coming to their clinic for excessive hair loss and using weight loss injections.
One of the most effective solutions they recommend is the Calecim Advanced Hair Regrowth System (calecim professional.com), an innovative stem cell serum therapy that you can either do yourself at home (kits last six weeks, from £315) or in a clinic using a more powerful microneedling device (from £350 per treatment at drmedispa.com).
I have been using it religiously for the past six months and it does make a noticeable difference. After just eight weeks I started seeing a fluffy halo of baby hairs coming up and after three months my ponytail has definitely gotten thicker.
It’s hard to accept that my weight loss comes with a side order of hair loss, but the reality is that I care much more about the health of my body than I do about the health of my hair.
But I would be lying if I said I wasn’t happy with my beautiful hair and that I am incredibly grateful that this high-tech solution has freed me from my limp hair and uneven hairline.
Olivia Falcon is the founder of @theeditorslist