I’m a Woman and My Hair is Thinning at the Crown – Tips and Advice That May Help

The other day, I received an email from a woman who told me that she was noticing a lot of thinning and scalp showing through at her crown.  She told me: “If I hold a mirror at the back of my head, I see that my part goes all the way to the back.  I can see my scalp back there and it forms almost a little L at the back of my head.  I’m so self conscious of it and I’m always trying to cover it up but I’m wondering if the all the teasing and spraying is making it thin worse. What is causing this and what can I do to fix it?” I’ll try to answer all of her questions in the following article.

Typical Causes For Hair Thinning At The Crown In Women: Actually the crown is a place that is very vulnerable to genetic or androgenic thinning and / or shedding.  Certain areas on your scalp – like the temples, the top, and the crown – are more prone to being affected by DHT and other androgens which can choke out the follicle, kick out the hair, and make the regrowth skimpy and thin so that the over all effect is much more sparse.

So, androgenic alopecia, (or genetic thinning due to age or oversensitivity to hormones), is the most likely cause in seeing more scalp at the back of your head.  But, it is not the only possibility.  You actually start out with less hair in the top of your head than in other areas on your scalp.  The temples are another example of this.  So, these two areas are going to be the first places that are noticeably affected if you are shedding or losing hair due to something else.

The next most common cause of this is probably telogen effluvium or shedding.  There are many reasons that this can occur (illness, medication changes, stress, skin issues, etc.)  but probably the most common cause of this in women is hormonal changes, like birth control pills (going off or on), or giving birth and / or becoming pregnant.  Sometimes, thyroid and adrenal changes can cause TE also.

As I said, any aggressive shedding or hair loss can cause noticeable thinning on your scalp.  But the crown is one area that begins more sparsely so it can be one of the first places that the loss is noticeable.  Other reasons for hair loss include autoimmune issues, allergic reactions, and any condition that can affect your skin or scalp.

How Do I Cover Or Treat My Thinning Crown?:  Your first line of defense is going to be your hair cut.  You want a cut or style that is going to push the hair up and away from the scalp. This often includes layered cuts (although you want to avoid harsh cuts that allow scalp to show through.) Curls or waves can help too.

There are also products now that are like little lifts that you put under your hair.  This lifts that hair up without your needing to tease it.  You basically just lay the hair over the lift. And, you really should avoid harsh back combing or teasing.  The hair here is often quite fragile and you could inadvertently pull more hair out. There are also powders that you get in the same color as your hair that you sprinkle onto your scalp so that the white of your scalp isn’t such a noticeable contrast.

A more long term solution is aggressively addressing the cause of your hair thinning or shedding. If you genuinely have telogen effluvium, you’ll need to wait it out, but you can most definitely stimulate your scalp to ensure that you have quick and healthy regrowth.

If you have one of the other issues (AGA, scalp issues, allergies, medical problems, autoimmune issues, etc.) then you will need to directly address and attempt to fix these things while simultaneously stimulating your scalp to help decrease the loss while increasing the regrowth. Because look at it this way, no matter how good you get at covering your thinning crown, the job is only going to continue to get harder if you have less hair to work with. 

I’m a Woman and My Hair is Thinning at the Crown – Tips and Advice That May Help by Ava Alderman