We don't just transform hair we change lives susan's weight loss and hair thinning story

“I didn’t recognise myself. I wasn’t ill, but I felt like I looked ill. I had no confidence. I didn’t want to go out. I didn’t want to do anything.”

Susan had reached a point in her life where she desperately wanted to lose weight, but the decision came with unexpected and unwanted consequences. As well as losing weight, she also began losing hair.

“I was almost 22 stone. I’m quite a tall person, but I was overweight. I was finding it difficult to get up the stairs and getting out of breath easily. I was 54 at the time and thought, ‘if I don’t do something about it now, when will I?”

Susan began using a popular weight loss treatment.

She also changed her diet, cutting out carbs and alcohol, as well as eating more healthily. Initially, she was thrilled with the results.

“My weight loss was really quick at the start and I lost a lot of weight in the first few months.”

However, just as Susan was feeling better about herself and how she looked, her newfound confidence was dealt a cruel blow.

“It was around that time I noticed my hair was getting thinner. I began googling and found out that what was happening to me wasn’t caused by the medication itself. It was because I was losing weight.

There was a name for it. Telogen Effluvium is when weight loss makes your body deficient, so it conserves energy away from non-essential growth like your hair. It can affect your nails and skin too. Then the menopause happened and it got worse.”

To hide her hair loss, Susan wore a head scarf and tried a wig, but neither made her feel any better.

“I didn’t recognise myself. I felt like I looked ill, I didn’t look like me. The confidence I’d begun to gain from losing weight started to disappear. I didn’t want to go out. I didn’t want to do anything.”

Yet Susan had been through too much to give up now. “I said to myself ‘no, you haven’t gone through all of this and lost all this weight for nothing.”

After finding Hair Solved through social media, Susan had her first Enhancer System fitted in June 2025. As she recalls,

“I never really had long hair apart from when I was a teenager, so I decided to go long. That very evening after my first fitting, I went to my local pub and they said, ‘Wow, we didn’t recognise you, you look so much younger’. Now that’s what you want to hear isn’t it?”.

Because of the amount of weight I’ve lost, I’ve had to have some surgical procedures too. But honestly the worst thing about those was when I had to have my system removed for one of them. I missed it so much.

I went back to Hair Solved as soon as I could, even though I was still in pain and had lots of stitches. Sally and her team were brilliant at helping me through my appointment. That was when I decided to go really long and blonde – a complete change!”

Susan has shown a huge amount of determination to get to a place where she feels good about herself from head to toe.

“They say for women your hair is your crowning glory and for me, losing weight and having the Enhancer System are the two best things I’ve ever done.

I’ve always loved experimenting with hair, clothes and make up and I love that with the Enhancer you can reinvent yourself. I’ve had different lengths, I’ve been brunette and now I’m blonde and I might have a different colour or a bob another time. I can have it curled, straightened or put up. Anything I like.

With a wig, I’d worry it would come off. But with my system it just doesn’t move. I can pull it, or if my hair is being pulled – like hairdressers can do when they’re blow drying your hair – I know I don’t have to worry.”

Susan’s journey has been nothing short of life-changing – and she’s looking forward to the future with renewed self-belief and confidence.

“Recently a friend who also wanted to lose weight, lost six stone. She told me I was her inspiration – well I’ve never been one of those before!

I was 56 this year and feel more confident and positive than I’ve ever done. I have been single for a really long time, but I finally feel ready to put myself out there and then this Christmas, who knows!”

A big thank you to Susan for sharing her inspirational story.

Considering a new weight loss regime? The NHS provide some useful guidance on how to start https://www.nhs.uk/better-health/lose-weight/

If you’re looking for help managing hair thinning related to weight loss, our team can help.