Ozempic, Wegovy & Mounjaro Hair Shedding: Why It Happens and What Helps

You’re losing weight. It’s working. But now you’re losing hair too — and nobody warned you this might happen.

If that’s where you are right now, I want you to know three things straight away: you’re not imagining it, you’re not alone, and in the vast majority of cases, this is temporary and very manageable. I see this in my clinic regularly, and I want to walk you through exactly what’s going on — and what you can do about it.

This is more common than you’ve been told

Hair shedding on GLP-1 medications — Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro and similar — is something I’m seeing more and more in clinic. It doesn’t happen to everyone, but when it does, it tends to start two to three months after you begin losing weight. That delay is what catches people off guard. By the time you notice extra hair in the shower or on your brush, the trigger actually happened weeks ago.

What you’re most likely experiencing is called telogen effluvium. It’s not a disease or a disorder. It’s your body’s natural stress response to rapid change — and it’s one of the most well-understood patterns in trichology. That means we know exactly why it happens, how it progresses, and what helps it resolve.

Why your hair is responding this way

Your hair grows in cycles. At any given time, most of it is actively growing while a small percentage is resting and preparing to shed — you naturally lose 50 to 100 hairs a day without ever noticing.

When your body goes through a significant change — and losing weight quickly absolutely counts — it shifts its priorities. Hair growth gets scaled back so that energy and nutrients go to more essential functions. A larger-than-normal number of hairs get pushed into the resting phase all at once, and a couple of months later, they shed together. That’s why it feels sudden and alarming, even though the process started quietly weeks earlier.

With GLP-1 medications, three things tend to converge:

You’re eating less — so you’re absorbing less. Iron, zinc, vitamin D, and B vitamins are all essential for healthy hair. When your appetite drops significantly, your intake of these nutrients often drops with it. Low iron stores — what we measure as ferritin — are one of the most common nutritional drivers of shedding. It’s one of the first things I check when someone comes to me with this concern, because your body will redirect iron to your blood cells long before your hair gets what it needs.

Your protein intake has probably dropped. Hair is built from protein. When there isn’t enough available, your body simply won’t prioritise hair production. This is one of the simplest things to address, and one of the most commonly overlooked.

Your body reads rapid change as stress. It doesn’t know you’re losing weight on purpose. It just registers the shift and responds protectively. And if you’re also navigating hormonal changes, work pressure, or disrupted sleep, those layers compound each other.

What actually helps

This is the part I always enjoy talking about — because there’s genuinely a lot you can do, and most people feel more in control once they have a clear picture.

Get the right blood work done. A standard GP blood test often doesn’t check what your hair actually needs. Ask specifically for ferritin (not just haemoglobin), vitamin D, zinc, and thyroid function. If your ferritin is below 50, that’s worth addressing — even if your doctor says it’s “within range.” I’ve seen this make a real difference for clients time and again. We’ll be covering exactly what to request and why in an upcoming guide — keep an eye on our Studio Notes.

Make protein a daily priority. When your appetite is suppressed, this takes conscious effort. Aim for protein at every meal — eggs, fish, lean meat, dairy, legumes. If you’re struggling to eat enough, a good quality protein supplement can bridge the gap. Your hair needs the building blocks to recover, and this is one of the fastest wins.

Keep washing your hair. I know — this one surprises people. When shedding increases, the instinct is to wash less often. But all that does is collect the loose hair, so when you finally do wash, it comes away in one alarming clump. The hair was already shed. Washing didn’t cause it. I’ll be covering this in more detail soon — it’s one of the questions I’m asked most.

Look after your scalp. Healthy regrowth starts with a healthy scalp. Gentle, naturally formulated products that avoid harsh sulphates support the new growth that’s forming beneath the surface right now. It won’t stop the current shedding — that’s driven by internal factors — but it gives your incoming hair the best possible start. This is something I care deeply about, and it’s exactly why we developed our own range.

Be honest about what you don’t know. This is the one I feel most strongly about. Everything above can help — but none of it replaces knowing what’s actually going on with your hair. Telogen effluvium is temporary and fully recoverable. But not all shedding is telogen effluvium. Pattern thinning, hormonal hair loss, thyroid-related changes — these can look very similar in the early stages, and they need very different responses. An article can point you in the right direction, but it can’t diagnose you. A proper scalp and hair assessment can — and that clarity is something my clients tell me makes an enormous difference, not just to their hair, but to how they feel about the whole situation.

Here’s what I most want you to take away

In most cases, this resolves. Once your weight stabilises and your nutrition is where it needs to be, the hair cycle resets and new growth begins. Most people I work with see visible improvement within three to six months of addressing the underlying factors — and I genuinely love being part of that moment when someone starts to see the change.

But I’d be doing you a disservice if I left it there.

Because here’s the question worth sitting with: what if you’re still experiencing this in six months’ time? Acute telogen effluvium typically settles within that window. If it hasn’t, something else may be going on — a nutritional issue that hasn’t been fully corrected, an underlying hormonal factor, or a different type of hair loss that was there all along but only became noticeable when the shedding started. The longer these things go unidentified, the longer recovery takes.

That’s not meant to worry you. It’s meant to encourage you not to wait. The earlier you understand your individual picture, the shorter and smoother the journey tends to be. And “it’ll probably sort itself out” is a strategy that works — until it doesn’t.

Not sure where to start?

Drop us a Private Note. It takes two minutes, it’s completely confidential, and it gives me and my team enough to point you in the right direction — whether that’s specific blood tests to request, a recommendation for a full assessment, or simply the reassurance that what you’re experiencing is completely textbook and will pass.

You don’t need to wait until it’s a crisis. In fact, I’d much rather hear from you now, while there’s the most we can do, than in six months when you wish you’d reached out sooner.

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Next in this series: GLP-1 Shedding Timeline — when it starts, peaks, and settles. Coming soon to Studio Notes.

We combine genetic testing, blood biomarker analysis, and personalised treatment protocols with naturally formulated, COSMOS-certified products — because your hair deserves both the science and the care. Clinics at Harley Street London, Blackrock Dublin, and Eden One Health Club Dublin.

This article is for information purposes and doesn’t replace medical advice. Please discuss any medication concerns with your prescribing doctor.