The Hair Zone was created to allow you to research the effects of drugs on hair, and for us to learn how the drugs you are taking are affecting your hair.
Among the first side effects of drugs to be established was the effect of the first contraceptives on hair. This was established by women and their hairstylists, not experts. Nobody understands how drugs impact hair like you and your hairstylist. We know that drugs can significantly alter hair in various ways, but there is a huge gap in the data – it does not tell us enough about the specific changes individuals want to know about. The effects of drugs on hair can be minor – such as hair color not taking properly while you are on antidepressants, or it can be quite devastating, but there has been no way for people to share experiences and knowledge.
An older version of the Hair Zone was launched in 2012 and accompanied by a blog post called “Is your hair on drugs?” Although it’s from 2012, and some of the information about the website is out of date, it’s well worth reading for the comments from the doctors, hair stylist, and people who have experienced these issues.
If a medication has caused changes to your hair, or if you’re a hairdresser who has witnessed these changes in your clients, we would be grateful if you would leave a comment on that blog post. We may reach out to some of you to learn more. It would be great if some salons accessed the Hair Zone when asked questions by people who come to them, and even better if people reported the observations they have.
Finally, there is another set of drugs worth noting. Finasteride, a drug initially used to relieve prostate problems, unquestionably causes hair to grow luxuriantly. It has been marketed aggressively to young men worried about thinning hair and while helpful for some, for others it causes sexual dysfunction that may be permanent (see post-finasteride syndrome in the Sex and Relationships Zone) and it can also trigger suicidality.
Finasteride and a range of other drugs, like spironolactone are also taken by women transitioning to be men who at the same time are taking testosterone which can cause hair loss. Anyone taking drug combinations like these is exploring areas that no-one previously in history has visited, and while the FDA reports may not be of much help in that they deal more with individual drugs than with combinations, this is all the more reason to get people trying these combinations to report back on what they observe happening to them. We don’t know for instance whether finasteride is likely to cause the same problems in someone transitioning and on other medicines as it can do in young men.
Hair-related adverse event reports
Enter the name of a medication in the box below to see a list of hair-related adverse events that have been reported to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
We have more tools to look up adverse event reports on our Drug Search page.
You might also want to enter the name of a drug or side effect in the website search box at the bottom of the page. This will search our website for any related content.
Other side effects
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