Is GLP-1 causing my hair loss....or is it the weight loss??The truth about hair loss and GLP-1

Added: 2026-05-05

[00:00:01]GLP-1's weight loss and hair loss, my friends.

[00:00:07]I have had many comments about my hair recently. Thank you all very much for the kindness. I appreciate that. But, I have also had some people reach out and ask specifically to do a video about the hair loss and what do we do about it?

[00:00:23]So, that is what we're going to chat about today, my friends. Even if you are not on a GLP-1 stop, you really should be listening um because the truth of the matter is your GLP-1 medication Zepbound, Mounjaro, Ozempic, Wegovy, and such are not actually causing your hair loss.

[00:00:49]So, welcome, my friends. I am Sheryl.

[00:00:51]This is my channel where I've been documenting my weight loss journey for over 2 years now.

[00:00:59]And I do know a thing or two about GLP-1 side effects and about hair loss. Here is a picture here of probably about four-ish, 5 years ago.

[00:01:14]Um and let me tell you, I had a full set a head of hair. Like a full head of hair.

[00:01:23]So much so that I would get frustrated and like everybody, don't we all wish we had what everybody else had? So, growing up, I had very thick, curly um full hair. And even up until just a few years ago, I would do my hair and constantly wish that I had straight, thin hair.

[00:01:49]Now that my hair is thin and it is I I know it doesn't appear it, but trust me, guys, it is. Um and I Obviously, my hair may not be as thin as others, um but I started out with this.

[00:02:04]My hair is very, very thick and very, very coarse. So, with that curly wave is a coarseness to my hair that kind of takes up more space. So, even now, um I just took a shower and dried my hair so that you could see exactly what my hair would look like on day one.

[00:02:27]But, when I tell you, this is what I So, here's a picture here of wedding day, um 3 and 1/2 years ago with my son.

[00:02:38]And all of that hair, they had to find something to do with. Now, I can barely I can do a ponytail, but it doesn't look great. Like I've got a lot of these stragglies that are like happening now.

[00:02:54]Um but years ago, I would be able to put my hair up on the top of my head here in like a a poofy curly bun. Now, look at this. I can barely And I again, I know that a lot of you are going to say like I have more hair than you do. But, this I can't even get up onto the top of my head. This is what happens if I try.

[00:03:20]And I mean, it looks it actually looks ridiculous. Like this is what I'm dealing with.

[00:03:27]And I know this is the least of anybody's concerns.

[00:03:32]And I'm not going to lie, this is the least of my concerns, either.

[00:03:36]But, when it first started happening, I was very nervous.

[00:03:44]And the more hair I started to lose, I kind of got to a point where I was like, is this worth it? Like I don't want to lose my hair. For so many women, hair is such an identity. And I said, well over a year ago, I did a video um where I felt very similar about my boobs. You As a woman, you start to put labels and identity with certain things. And for me, because I was so morbidly obese for so many years, um my hair was something that I could control and I could make really, really pretty and I could take time and care in doing. And my boobs were something that I had that were like, "Hey, look at me.

[00:04:36]This is me. This is This is what I am."

[00:04:39]And it could almost because they were so large, it could almost distract from everything else. And I feel like for many of us, there's something that we have been able to hold onto to do that for us through life being overweight.

[00:04:59]And for me, my hair has always been one of it. I had always had compliments on how thick and full my hair was. And while during all of that time, I was always like, "Ugh, I wish my hair was this or that or the other thing." Um I am now at a complete opposite place where I wish I could have that back.

[00:05:24]But, I've also grown to accept that this is the season of life that I am in and um I'm not not to blame for any of this.

[00:05:35]So, first and foremost, friends, if you are on a GLP-1 medication, your medication is not causing your hair loss. It's just not. That is not actually a side effect of a GLP-1.

[00:05:51]It's a side effect of weight loss. So, if you are on a GLP-1 and you're on a weight loss journey and you're losing hair, congratulations because that means that you've lost a pretty significant amount of weight for you.

[00:06:09]Um maybe you started at 142 lb and you lost 22 lb. That's a significant amount of weight for you. Maybe you started at 400 and you've lost 70. That's a significant amount of weight. I have lost a little over 80 lb. When I got to about 40-ish, 40 to 50, somewhere in there, that's when I first started to really notice. So, like last spring or summer, about a year ago, I really started to notice the change. In the beginning, um when I would see other people's videos talk about hair loss, I was like, "Oh, thank goodness, I don't have that side effect." Well, I just hadn't lost enough weight yet to get there.

[00:06:57]And um I am way beyond that at this point. But, like I said, it's not the GLP-1, it's not the medication that is causing the weight loss. It's the shock and the trauma that your body is going through losing weight. So, if you are at that point and you are losing hair, that means you are in like this great season where you are in the midst of significant weight loss.

[00:07:33]But, your body is trying to compensate for that and it's losing hair because it's fighting to keep your body strong and healthy during this weight loss. So, during your weight loss, your body is going through so many changes. And guys, I am not a doctor. I don't pretend to be a doctor here on your TV set, your phone, your iPad, whatever the case may be. I am just giving you my experience and what I have gone through and what my doctor has told me and what research I have done says.

[00:08:09]So, your body's going through a hell of a time right now losing weight. And while it's doing that, it's compensating in a lot of different ways. So, losing hair is what's happening because your body is stressed out. Your body's going through all of these different things and they're trying to figure all of this stuff out while it's happening. And what happens when we stress our bodies out?

[00:08:36]We lose hair.

[00:08:37]>> [snorts] >> Have you ever um experienced tragedy or loss in your life? Um maybe a divorce or loss of a loved one, maybe a medical condition or someone you know has a medical condition or financial situation or job situation and you're just stressed out.

[00:08:57]This is like the first thing to go.

[00:08:59]Maybe you see someone bald walking down the street and you're like, "Wow, that guy is really stressed out." I I don't know where all of the male component of that um plays into effect.

[00:09:14]That's probably genetics.

[00:09:16]But, for most women and there is majority women here, so that's where where I'm getting this information.

[00:09:27]Hair loss is very, very common with significant weight loss. It's like almost a given. Your body is going through so much. Your body needs an outlet. So, anytime your body is under a lot of stress or has gone through trauma. And for your body, significant weight loss is in fact trauma.

[00:09:49]So, this is very, very normal.

[00:09:54]Um Now, here's the other thing.

[00:09:58]Again, I know who watches my videos. The majority of the people here watching this video are going to be women of a certain age.

[00:10:09]Um, and gentlemen, if you're here watching, thank you. Just bear with me for just a moment. Um, menopause is also going to cause hair loss. Cuz again, our body is going through a lot. Hormones are all place.

[00:10:27]All of these things play into account um, for hair loss. Excuse me.

[00:10:37]So, it's very common for women of a certain age to start losing their hair because of hormone imbalance, because of weight loss. I mean, because of menopause. So, for me personally, I am in the midst of menopause. I have lost over 80 lb.

[00:10:58]And in losing weight and starting to feel better about myself and my appearance, I also started coloring my hair. So, I bleach my hair now to get it blonde. I will put in a picture here.

[00:11:16]My hair is dark.

[00:11:19]These are my roots. My roots are dark.

[00:11:22]My dad's hair is almost black. My brother's hair is almost black. My sister has, like me, the darkest brown hair with auburn highlights. Um, but my husband has always wanted my hair blonde. And when I started to feel better about my overall appearance, I went blonde. And I actually liked it. I was also trying to hide the gray.

[00:11:52]Because I am very, very gray because my hair is so dark.

[00:11:57]Um, so when you account for significant weight loss, dark hair, menopause, and coloring my hair, and you see how curly my hair is? Yep, this is how curly my hair naturally is. I can't do curly hair. I just don't know how.

[00:12:17]Um, I also straighten my hair.

[00:12:21]So, when you put all of those things into account in the past 2 years, my body and my hair have been like, "What the actual?"

[00:12:32]So, I am losing a ton of hair.

[00:12:38]Now, will hair grow back? Will your hair go back to normal?

[00:12:46]Maybe.

[00:12:47]So, here's the thing. You can see your doctor, and you can get a prescription for minoxidil, or you can actually get it over the counter. They do sell it in the pharmacies. And my doctor had prescribed it to me, and it was denied because they sell it um, at the pharmacy.

[00:13:07]I have not started using it because, to be honest with you, I don't really care that much. Um, I'm fine with the hair loss. If I started to get to a point, like a little bit through here, I'm starting to see, and I will show you again a picture here.

[00:13:25]Um, you can really start to see a little bit of the difference. If I start to see it too much, then I will start the um, minoxidil and the Nutrafol.

[00:13:39]Um, but right now, I'm just I'm okay. I'm not overly concerned about it because it is trivial in the overall scheme of things. In the beginning, I was really concerned about it, and I was like, I if this doesn't stop, if I start to lose my hair, I'm going to stop this medication.

[00:13:59]Like, this isn't worth it.

[00:14:01]It is worth it because my kidney disease has gone from a stage four to a stage two.

[00:14:09]I no longer have fatty liver disease.

[00:14:11]Sorry, like the where my part is is bothering me.

[00:14:15]I no longer have fatty liver disease. I am no longer pre-prediabetic.

[00:14:20]And I am no longer at cardiac risk. And I have lost over 80 lb. And I have been able to become more active and just enjoy life more. So, all of those things are way more worth it than hair. Um, I mean, there's a lot of wig companies out there if it ever got to be to that point. But for right now, I mean, obviously, I still have hair.

[00:14:48]I wish you guys could actually I get so many comments about my hair. Um, and and again, thank you. It is so This is so thin compared to what it was. I know it doesn't look it, but again, my hair is very coarse. Um, and another thing that I do do, so I've done a lot of research.

[00:15:09]Like I said, I've talked to a lot of doctors. Guys, I had a whole thing of research. I haven't even looked at it cuz I just have so much to tell you.

[00:15:15]Um, I did talk to my doctor. I talked to two doctors. So, I talked to my doctor, and then I also spoke to the gynecologist the other day who um, specializes in menopause and everything. And I asked for the third time now about retinol, collagen, all of the things that everyone out there is telling you to do for hair loss.

[00:15:42]Don't. Just don't. It's There is not enough collagen that we could take into our bodies on a regular basis to re-supplement these types of things. And there's really no proven research stating that any of this stuff really does help. Now, is that to say that I didn't go buy conditioner that says it has retinol? I did. Um, I switched from harsh chemical-based shampoos and conditioners for a very long period of time to Kitsch um, bars that I told you guys about. I bought them twice. I stopped with those. I didn't see that was um, rice water that I was using, and another one was rosemary and collagen, I think. And they were great. I loved them. They're very pricey.

[00:16:38]But I saw absolutely no difference whatsoever. The expensive conditioner that I bought, I saw no difference whatsoever.

[00:16:47]Um, what do I do?

[00:16:49]I try to get as much protein into my body as possible. In order to repair the damage on the inside of our body, we need to worry about what we're putting into it.

[00:17:03]So, protein, protein, protein, protein, my friends. We still need to be getting that protein. Protein is going to help reactivate all of the things in our body. It's going to help with the um, building back the muscle and calcium in our bodies. Like, all of the things that we need really is going to come from that protein. So, getting in your protein, that's what we still need to be worrying about. That's the key ingredient to this journey, regardless.

[00:17:31]Um, I know myself and most content creators sound like broken records at this point, but this is This is real life that we're living. So, getting in your protein is really number one.

[00:17:46]Going and spending a bunch of money on all of the other gabage, it's just you're spending money on garbage. That's all you're doing.

[00:17:53]Um, in my opinion. Um, if you have gotten to a point where something you're is working for you, I'm so happy for you. Let us know in the comments below cuz a lot of people want to know.

[00:18:06]Again, for me personally, I wash my hair twice a week. Typically, on Sundays and Wednesdays, I wash and dry my hair.

[00:18:17]Um, I feel like less crap that I'm putting into my hair and less trauma that I am putting it through is going to be helpful.

[00:18:28]I don't know. It seems to be working.

[00:18:31]Um, I straighten I like let my hair air dry after washing on those 2 days, and then I dry it as little as possible.

[00:18:41]And then I do straighten my hair almost all days, and I try very hard to do as little as possible. So, what I typically do is I use a coconut oil.

[00:18:56]I just put a little coconut oil on the palm of the my hand.

[00:19:02]And I typically run that through my hair before I um, straighten it. And this helps to not have to have my heat as high and not have to straighten it as much. Now, I know many of you, especially if you're a hairdresser, you're going to say, "Heat protection."

[00:19:24]I use it about 40% of the time.

[00:19:27]I do have heat protection here.

[00:19:30]I have more than one.

[00:19:32]Um, I use the coconut oil. I think it protects my hair. I think it helps. Um, I love the smell of it.

[00:19:39]And it keeps my hair a little less frizzy so that I don't have to straighten it as much. And the reason that I straighten my hair is because it's curly. Through here, it gets like crunchy and gross and I just don't like it.

[00:19:57]A lot of you have made had comments about how nice my hair looks on different days.

[00:20:03]Typically to give my hair, especially by like the second day, um more volume, what I do is I curl it. So I know again this is going to be um using heat. So some days I'll use heat protection, some days I don't. Because I don't wash my hair every day, I try to not put a lot of product in it.

[00:20:27]And then just typically what I do is I curl it this direction and then it's not going to curl cuz I don't have it on. I curl it that direction. I do a little bit on the sides. I just throw a few curls in and then typically I would use Pantene finish spray. This is super super super lightweight. I can't find it. Listen, I'm almost out. It's like this much left. I'm almost out and it's like $13 on Amazon. I'm not spending $13. But Walmart doesn't have it anymore. So if anybody's seen it, let me know. It's super super super light and again I don't like something um heavy on my hair. So this is what I just bought. Sorry guys.

[00:21:19]Ooh.

[00:21:20]I'm trying to keep you guys with me this whole time.

[00:21:24]Ah.

[00:21:26]I really just didn't want to Okay. So I did just buy this one.

[00:21:31]I don't know how it's going to be because I'm I'm trying to not put a lot of product in my hair. This is Aussie Mega. I've used some I love the Aussie shampoo and conditioner, but I've had some product in the past where it's been like sticky. So I'm really hoping that it's not. This is just a light hold.

[00:21:48]It's a number one.

[00:21:50]But ew.

[00:21:52]I already don't like it.

[00:21:54]No, it's broken. Come on.

[00:21:57]It's like not even spraying right.

[00:22:00]Oh shoot.

[00:22:04]It's not [snorts] spraying properly.

[00:22:06]Well, that's Ooh.

[00:22:10]Hate that.

[00:22:12]Nope.

[00:22:13]Shoot. All right, well that doesn't work.

[00:22:18]But I feel like I don't know. I feel like it's going to be sticky. Now I've got to find something else. But anyway, sorry guys.

[00:22:26]Yeah, it's I don't like it. I I need to find the Pantene. The Pantene was what was working better for me.

[00:22:33]Let me know what you guys are using.

[00:22:35]So if you have started to lose your hair or if you've lost hair or if you're losing hair bear with yourself um I have read that once you stop losing weight and you kind of go into like a more of a maintenance phase that in 6 to 12 months your hair starts to regenerate.

[00:22:58]Um I'm still kind of sort of losing, so I don't really know um you know, if this is where I stayed, I would be fine with that. I'm hoping that I don't continue to lose more. It's kind of hard to gauge. Obviously like I'm you know, I'm kind of trying to keep track in my mind in the shower. That's when I lose the most and then um while I'm doing my hair, I will like you can always there's always see there's always hair.

[00:23:31]This is my dryer curler, but even the um hair that I pull out it it's got a very different texture.

[00:23:40]It's very soft and fine compared to what it used to be.

[00:23:43]So I'm sorry I don't have like a ton of great news and information for you guys.

[00:23:51]Retin-A all definitely um seems to work.

[00:23:54]That being said, if you are like right in the thick of your journey I don't know that I would waste the time and energy on trying to fight that battle while you're working so hard on your weight loss. Um but that's just me. But talk to your doctor, see what's best for you. Uh try washing in between days if possible. Try less severe products on your hair. All of those types of things um has worked for me personally. I hope that this video helped somebody. If you guys are in the thick of it, um good luck to you, but that just means that you've taken control, that you are getting healthier and stronger every single day.

[00:24:46]With that my friends, I'm going to leave you here. I would love it if you would stick around for future videos. Go hit that subscribe button, like, comment, share, do all of the things and we will see you on the next one my friends.

[00:24:57]Remember, when you can't find the sunshine, you go out there and you be the sunshine. Bye.