Is your hair ageing too fast? As we get older, we run into all kinds of hazards on the hair journey, from dryness and dullness to thinning and breakage, so how do you squeeze the brakes when you feel you’re losing control?
There are, of course, plenty of treatments, products and tools out there to rejuvenate ageing hair, but when you’re trying to course-correct, experts say it’s actually the small, daily changes that really add up.
Hairstylist and social media star Amber Rose Peake leaned into various innovations in a bottle when she began her #hairtransformation journey towards thicker, healthier hair. But while there are products she adores, she’s emphatic that there’s no single miracle product to transform your hair overnight – it’s the right habits that stack up to slow-ageing hair.
‘When you visit a personal trainer and tell them you want to get leaner, faster, stronger, they give you a programme of different little exercises to implement. It’s the same process with hair,’ she says.
This little-and-often protocol is echoed by trichologist Mark Blake. His business is in fixing hair woes from thinning to dryness, yet he wishes fewer people reach the stage when his help is needed. ‘I’m the hospital specialist. Practise what I call “good first aid”, and you won’t have to come and see me. So much of it is getting the basics right.’
Here are golden rules that can help.
Get ahead of hair loss
‘We tend to notice hair loss only once we’ve lost quite a bit of hair,’ says Mark. ‘For most of us, some degree of thinning is inevitable as we age – cells don’t regenerate as quickly, we don’t absorb vitamins as well and our sleep patterns change, giving our bodies less chance to repair overnight.’
His solution is one of ‘prejuvenation’ to help get ahead of hair loss: use a thickening shampoo and conditioner with every wash (look out for ingredients such as caffeine and niacinamide), apply growth-stimulating scalp serum (Nioxin’s Hair Fall Defence Serum is his favourite), and make sure your vitamin D levels are optimal. ‘It’s about covering your bases – it’s far easier to maintain what you already have than to bring back density once it’s gone,’ says Mark.
Act fast with a personalised plan
If you’re actually seeing female pattern hair loss, act quickly. ‘It’s progressive, and you want to use something from the get-go that has the greatest likelihood of working,’ says Philip Kingsley trichologist Anabel Kingsley.
‘For age-related hair diameter changes, minoxidil tends to be the most effective treatment.’ It’s available over the counter but Anabel advises going to a clinic for professional advice: ‘You can be tested for nutritional deficiencies or hormonal imbalances that can be impacting growth, giving any treatment the best chance of working.’
An affordable way to get minoxidil plus professional advice is via Hair+Me, a derm-led online service offering personalised prescription treatments for hair loss. It begins with an online consultation to assess your suitability, followed by a personalised monthly prescription (£34.99, including unlimited free expert support).
Hair + Me The Drops for hair growth
Use oil for healthy hydration
Dry hair equals dull hair, and it’s a very common issue as we get older, says Anabel. ‘Left untreated, dryness makes hair more prone to damage.’
If hair is dry, you need to nourish and hydrate it with oil, she advises. ‘It adds shine and replaces the fatty acid layer that protects the hair cuticle (which can be damaged by colouring and other chemical processes) and can help growth by making hair more resistant to breakage. But keep it off your scalp. ‘It can inflame the scalp, which will in turn inhibit hair growth,’ she adds.
The type of oil is key, advises hair specialist and dermatologist Dr Aamna Adel. ‘Pumpkin seed is my top choice for hair growth – and coconut oil for stronger, shinier hair. Warm the oil before you apply it and then wrap your hair. Four to six hours is long enough. Don’t leave it on overnight as it can clog pores and cause inflammation,’ she says.
Invest in effective treatments
‘Midlife is the moment to prioritise both moisture and strength,’ says celebrity stylist Edward James. ‘Use a rich conditioning mask with emollients and bond-supporting ingredients. A weekly strengthening treatment helps fragile strands bend rather than snap.’
Even though hair is technically dead once it leaves the follicle, leave-in bond-building treatments really can make a huge difference to its health, confirms Aevum salon co-founder Tom Smith. ‘When the proteins that make up your hair’s structure get damaged, they start coming apart. Bond builders hold them together again. The products you leave in your hair are probably more important than the ones you wash out.’ K18 Leave In Mask is his favourite.
K18 Biomimetic Hairscience Leave-in Hair Mask
Double up on heat protection
Heat protection is vital for reducing avoidable hair ageing. ‘It acts as a barrier, reducing the amount of moisture lost from inside the hair shaft and helping to shield the delicate cuticle layer from direct heat,’ explains Fudge global ambassador Jonathan Andrew.
For maximum protection, he advises doubling your defences. ‘Start with a heat protection spray, applied to damp hair after washing. This offers protection as you blow-dry and style,’ he says. ‘After blow-drying, use an instant-dry heat protection aerosol for an additional layer of protection before using irons or tongs. Think of it as building a base layer of defence, then reinforcing it later,’ adds Jonathan.
GH recommends blowdrying with Fudge Tri-Blo Heat Protecting Blow Dry Spray, then add Living Proof Flex Hairspray as extra defence before using irons.
Massage for growth
‘While not a magic bullet for hair loss, scalp massage is proven to stimulate growth,’ confirms Dr Adel. ‘We know from studies that a scalp massage of 10 to 20 minutes a day can be beneficial in helping to increase hair density and the speed of hair growth. You need to really move the skin and scalp with your fingers as you do it,’ she says.
As well as stimulating fibroblasts (key to increasing hair thickness), says John Frieda Salon creative director Zoe Irwin, scalp massage loosens build-up around the follicles, especially combined with a scalp scrub. Zoe says, ‘If you’re not removing dead skin cells from your scalp, the hair can’t grow through. There’s a big issue in midlife called miniaturisation, where each strand of hair gets finer and more fragile. I recommend a thorough scrub with massage once a week to get rid of that build-up, so when you apply a scalp growth serum, it can really penetrate and feed growth.’
Sidestep avoidable harm
Heat styling and chemicals are your obvious hair enemies, but don’t overlook a common, more easily avoided culprit: mechanical damage. ‘That’s daily wear and tear: brushing the hair harshly, getting it caught on your handbag strap and tight ponytails or braids,’ says Tom Smith. ‘Even how you sleep can have an impact. If you’re waking up with tangles, that friction on your pillow is probably causing mechanical damage.’ A silk bonnet is a great overnight fix.
Wash more often
‘A clean scalp equals a healthy scalp, so daily shampooing, if not outweighed by daily heat styling, is one of the first things you can do to improve your hair and scalp health,’ says Anabel Kingsley. Dr Adel agrees: ‘Double-shampoo to remove the excess oil and scalp yeast, which can cause inflammation and hinder growth. Proper scalp cleansing also helps remove DHT, a hormone associated with hair thinning. It builds up when you haven’t shampooed for longer periods.’
If daily shampooing isn’t feasible, ‘every other day is a good rule,’ adds Mark Blake. ‘Everyone can benefit from incorporating an anti dandruff shampoo into their routine once a fortnight, too. It does a bit more of the heavy-lifting, deep-cleaning the follicles and ensuring that the new hair that sprouts through is better quality.’
Dry low and slow
Leaving hair to dry naturally isn’t the kinder alternative we often assume, says Amber Rose Peake. ‘I air dried for years, but my hair quality is better since I stopped. Hair is weaker when it’s wet, so leaving it full of moisture leaves it vulnerable to damage for longer.’
The ideal post-wash protocol, she says, is to remove as much water as quickly as possible by wrapping hair in an Aquis towel for 15 minutes before turning to a dryer that relies on power over heat to get the job done. ‘For me, that’s the Dyson; it dries faster with less damage,’ she says. The Supersonic Nural has a sensor that automatically lowers the heat when it’s closer to your head.
Whatever dryer you’re using, go easy. Mark says: ‘I recommend blow-drying around 15cm away from the scalp. Place your hands in front of the dryer sometimes to check: if it’s burning your fingers, it’s burning your scalp.’
Dyson Supersonic Nural hair dryer
Soften your water
Around 60% of the UK has hard water coming through its taps, which contains dissolved minerals, such as calcium. ‘Getting rid of those deposits makes hair softer and easier to style,’ Zoe Irwin says, recommending shower heads with inbuilt filters as a practical version of her mineral water rinse – try Hello Klean.
Experts agree that hard water is terrible for scalp health, too. ‘Those deposits affect the scalp’s microbiome, which is a living and breathing ecosystem in our faces and has so much to do with healthy hair growth,’ says skin-health expert and brand founder Kat Burki. ‘If you can keep those off your scalp, you’ll see a change really quickly,’ she adds.
Hello Klean Shower Head 2.0
Supercharge your serum
A great, clinically-proven hair growth serum really can work wonders, alone or in combination with minoxidil. ‘You do need to use it daily for several months for best results,’ says Dr Adel. To boost penetration and supercharge the results, she advises incorporating a derma-stamp twice a week. This is a small microneedling tool that you press down on to your scalp, creating tiny channels to boost product absorption.
‘Use that rather than a derma-roller, which is often used incorrectly, and can scar hair follicles,’ Dr Adel advises. ‘I created the Rhute Stamp to use alongside the Rhute serum because I kept seeing people damaging their scalps with derma-rollers. They’re hard to control, and the rolling motion can also catch or break fragile new growth.’
Eat your way to better hair
Hair is a non-essential for survival: ‘The last part of the body to receive nutrients you ingest and the first for them to be withheld from,’ says Anabel Kingsley. ‘That holds true at any age. However, what many people don’t know is that protein requirements increase with age, so it’s even more essential to eat a protein-rich diet as we get older.’
She notes that people under 65 are recommended to eat 0.75-0.8g of protein per kg of bodyweight per day, while those over 65 should get 1-1.2g per kg per day. This is partly to counter the natural decline in muscle that comes with age, and partly because our body also gets less efficient at absorbing the amino acids in protein. ‘So, in terms of our hair, we need more, not less, protein to support healthy growth,’ Anabel says.
Iron is also key: ‘It’s essential for producing haemoglobin, which carries oxygen to cells, including those in hair follicles that promote growth,’ says Anabel. Low levels can push hair follicles into the resting (telogen) phase prematurely, leading to shedding, also known as telogen effluvium.
In terms of how to incorporate sufficient protein into your daily diet, she advises: ‘Eat at least a palm-sized portion of any protein (like fish, chicken, lean meat, eggs, quinoa, nuts or pulses) together with a portion of complex carbohydrates (such as wholewheat toast, skin-on potatoes, oats, barley, brown rice or pasta).’
The good news, says Anabel, is telogen effluvium caused by nutritional deficiencies can often be simply treated with changes to your diet, and nutritional supplements such as Philip Kingsley Density Amino Acid Booster.
Nurture your hair via your gut
Feed healthy hair by eating a gut-healthy diet, limiting ultra-processed foods. ‘Studies show a link between gut health, scalp health and hair growth,’ says Anabel. ‘By keeping your gut microbiome healthy and diverse, you’re in turn supporting healthy hair growth. A food-first approach is best. Instead of reaching for off-the-shelf probiotics, which are often ineffective, try fermented foods, such as kimchi and kefir, as well as antioxidant, fibre-packed fruits and vegetables, anti-inflammatory omega-3-rich fish, such as salmon and sardines, and grains.’
