Last year, after months of feeling bloated and exhausted, with debilitating back pain, I decided enough was enough and it was time to see a doctor.
Thanks to perimenopause, I had gained up to 65kg – the same weight I was when I was pregnant 13 years ago. I am 1.68m tall and still a healthy weight, but I was bordering on the overweight category on the BMI scale and just didn’t feel right. So I wasn’t surprised when a blood test revealed I was pre-diabetic.
I vowed to change my lifestyle and started packing a suitcase of supplements, exercising more, and eating mindfully, which meant slowing down and cooking from scratch whenever I could.
However, the real moment of inspiration came when I went to see a private GP in London, who suggested weekly injections of the slimming drug Ozempic. It was then that my health really began to improve – with one major caveat.
I started my Ozempic journey in April of last year at 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 and cutting back on brushing after noticing strands of her hair falling out.
Starting at a low dose like this meant I avoided the common side effects of nausea and stomach cramps and was then able to slowly increase my dosage, until my weight plateaued and I eventually moved up to the full 1mg dose a couple of months ago.
I now weigh 22 pounds less than before, the crippling lower back pain is gone, my cholesterol has dropped from a high of 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 I hadn’t anticipated has hit me hard, as it has hundreds of other Ozempic users.
The first signs of trouble appeared about six months ago. While I was in the shower, my heart sank as I watched strands of my long blonde hair slide down the drain. When I ran my fingers through it, a few strands came loose.
I panicked and went from washing it three times a week to washing it just once. Brushing also made my hair matted, so I cut that off, too. My signature ponytail shrank by 30 percent, and most worrying of all, the hairline around my temples looked patchy. Yes, I loved my new slim figure, 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 connect this alarming hair loss to Ozempic, but then I visited my hairdresser, Tom Smith, who told me that he sees clients every day who are suffering from hair loss and say that the only lifestyle change they have made is taking Ozempic.
I was curious and spoke to Jane Martins, a senior consultant trichologist at Philip Kingsley. “Although there is no evidence to suggest that Ozempic causes hair loss, some people using it have reported an increase in hair loss,” she told me.
“Rapid weight loss appears to be the cause – it’s a condition known as telogen effluvium, which means the good news is that it’s temporary. It’s all down to a change in eating habits or a low-calorie diet and the nutritional deficiencies this can cause.”
Other hair loss specialists, such as Kelly Morrell of Scalp Confidential and cosmetic doctor Munir Somji, are also seeing an increase in the number of clients using weight loss injections arriving at their clinics with excessive hair loss.
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 can be self-administered at home (kits lasting six weeks from £315) or applied in a clinic using a more powerful microneedling machine (from £350 per treatment at drmedispa.com).
I’ve been using it very frequently for the past six months and it does indeed make a noticeable difference. After just eight weeks, I noticed a halo of baby hairs starting to grow, and after three months, my ponytail has definitely gotten thicker.
I have found it difficult to accept that my weight loss has been accompanied by hair loss, but the reality is that I care much more about the health of my body than that of my hair.
However, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t love my crowning glory and am extraordinarily grateful to have been rescued from limp hair and an uneven hairline thanks to this high-tech hair solution.
Olivia Falcon is the founder of @theeditorslist