In your first 6-12 months on estrogen, people on estrogen may notice changes in their body hair, facial hair, and even scalp hair. While the full effect of hair growth changes may take up to three years to develop, they are a natural part of transitioning with estrogen.
Around 40% of women will experience deterioration to their scalp hair around menopause. Oestrogen is recognised as being hair protective and encourages hair growth, and HRT can often improve hair condition – but some women feel HRT worsens hair loss for them.
Estrogen and progesterone can help keep your hair in the growing (anagen) phase. Therefore, these hormones can help your hair stay on your head longer and may even help your hair grow faster. This may be why many women notice their hair thinning starts to improve with estrogen replacement therapy.
Generally, women find that HRT improves the symptoms of menopause, including hair thinning, although this of course depends on the cause of your hair loss. However, some women find that HRT makes their hair thinning worse.
Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) restores your body's oestrogen to an average pre-menopausal level. This treatment relieves menopausal symptoms, including hot flashes, mood swings, osteoporosis and decreased libido. It is also known to help with hair thinning.
Taking HRT can help prevent this loss and may even help regrow hair. In fact, some trans women with androgen alopecia who underwent HRT saw hair regrowth3. The best HRT for hair loss is usually a combination therapy of estrogen and progesterone, with limited amounts of testosterone, or DHT.
A recent study of postmenopausal women, ages 50 to 80, found that those who took hormones had significantly lower levels of belly fat than women who did not take hormones.
Some transgender people on HRT (whether they are trans men, trans masculine people, or non-binary people) might see hair thinning or other signs of “male pattern baldness.” There are many different ways that testosterone HRT can affect hair growth and loss, and it's important to remember that no two bodies are the same ...
Recent studies show that menopausal women on hormone therapy tend to have less body fat, especially visceral belly fat. Because estrogen affects how your body distributes fat, low estrogen levels can contribute to gaining fat in your belly area.
HRT is also known to help women maintain softer, smoother skin, resulting in a younger look. In addition to—and, often, as a result of—these physical changes, HRT often changes how you see yourself. In very real ways, using HRT to address symptoms of hormonal change can help you feel younger.
Your facial hair may thin a bit and grow slower but it will rarely go away entirely without electrolysis or laser treatments. If you have had any scalp balding, hormone therapy will usually stop it, however the extent to which it will grow back is variable. Some people may notice minor changes in shoe size or height.
How long HRT takes to work. It usually takes a few weeks before you feel the benefits of HRT. It can take up to 3 months to feel the full effects. If you have not felt the benefit of HRT after 4 to 6 months, it may help to try a different type.
There are several reasons why your HRT may not work immediately. It takes time for the hormones to build up to an effective level and to reverse the changes caused by months or even years of low oestrogen levels.
Immediate results are what we all want, but the benefits of HRT take a little time. While many people notice improvements in sleep or mood within weeks of starting HRT, changes like improved muscle mass or fat loss can take at least three to six months.
Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is medicine used to treat the symptoms of the menopause. It is common to have side effects in the first few months of taking HRT. These usually settle on their own within 6 to 8 weeks. Side effects include weight gain, irregular bleeding, feeling sick (nausea) and skin irritation.
Taking hormone replacement therapy (HRT) can slow down or even stop hair loss in some women. It is hard to predict who will benefit. Body identical estrogen and progesterone are preferable.
Muscle mass and strength will decrease. Additionally, arms and legs will appear smoother. This is because the fat below the skin becomes thicker. As the fat under the skin increases and moves, the eyes and face may take on a more “feminine” appearance.
Many women actually find that they lose weight by using HRT as it shifts the metabolism back into a pre-menopausal metabolic state. Progesterone can sometimes cause fluid retention which can mimic weight gain, but there are alterations that can be made to the regime to minimise this impact.
In fact, a recent study found that women who used HRT had one point lower on the BMI scale and also about three pounds less of body fat compared to women who didn't use hormone replacement therapy.
Hormone replacement therapy for weight loss
Bioidentical hormones are preferred because they're tailored to have the same molecular structure and biological effect as the hormones produced by your body. Research shows that bioidentical hormones may be safer and rarely cause side effects.
Certain HRT products can help to treat female pattern hair loss. The hair- friendly ones are Premique and Indivina (both of these products contain the anti- androgen medroxyprogesterone acetate) and Angeliq (containing drospirenone).
Research says yes. Many studies have consistently shown a benefit of HRT on sleep in women who have vasomotor symptoms, when the vasomotor symptoms are causing the sleep disturbance. The main part of HRT is estrogen, to treat symptoms caused by estrogen deficiency.
Genes associated with follicle growth were not significantly altered by vitamin D3. However, it increases expression of genes involved in the estrogen-biosynthesis. Further, estrogen concentrations in porcine granulosa cell-cultured media increased in response to vitamin D3.