Kratom and hair loss

[PistolsAtDawn]

The thing about my hair loss is that it's been happening my entire adult life, slowly. I've got a noticeable bald spot now, but otherwise I've still got pretty good coverage. This is, I'm pretty sure, due to autoimmune issues and not male pattern baldness. It's been going on close to 20 years now, and the available medications have been ineffective for me.

I'll never be able to separate any hair loss due to kratom from my pre-existing hair loss, and since I'm not alone in that, I'm skeptical that kratom is causing it. Until some sort of scientific proof of that is found and confirmed more than once, I think it's not good logic to blame kratom.

[Supersonic75]

I’m 60 y/o, been using Kratom daily for a little over two years; I have a lot of hair and no thinning at all post-Kratom use. I’m a pretty low doser though (3.5 - 5 gpd).

[Rhino236]

Around 25g per day here. Using leaf for close to 10 years. Zero hair loss, hair is just a thick as ever.

[dimmitree]

I'll go ahead and add mine in. Now, this needs a massive disclaimer. Men in my mom's side of the family were bald by their late 20s. My dad was thinning in his mid-30s and has lost quite a lot by his 50s. My brother, however, hasn't thinned at all, but he's only 24. This is in contrast to me starting balding pretty heavily at 22, right around the time I started taking kratom daily. I also quit a massive drug habit of benzos, alcohol, and opioids at the same time, so I attributed it to stress and withdrawal.

I'm 27 and I have very little hair at this point. I could sort of hide it for a while with different hairstyles, but not anymore. I've been using kratom almost daily for about 5 years now and have been occasionally using it for 7. I think kratom likely does cause some amount of balding. I'm not a great test case thanks to my genes and past, though.

[MycatTimmy]

I'll go ahead and add mine in. Now, this needs a massive disclaimer. Men in my mom's side of the family were bald by their late 20s. My dad was thinning in his mid-30s and has lost quite a lot by his 50s. My brother, however, hasn't thinned at all, but he's only 24. This is in contrast to me starting balding pretty heavily at 22, right around the time I started taking kratom daily. I also quit a massive drug habit of benzos, alcohol, and opioids at the same time, so I attributed it to stress and withdrawal.

I'm 27 and I have very little hair at this point. I could sort of hide it for a while with different hairstyles, but not anymore. I've been using kratom almost daily for about 5 years now and have been occasionally using it for 7. I think kratom likely does cause some amount of balding. I'm not a great test case thanks to my genes and past, though.

Bald guys are sexy !

[StringThing]

This sounds like an urban myth to me.
I googled and read some of the search results from reddit and other forums.
Seems like a lot of BS.
I'm 42 and have a bit of hair loss.
Why? Because I'm 42 and that is around the age men in my family began to experience some minor hair loss.
I'm not going to blame kratom.
Seems ridiculous to me.
I don't buy into it.
Just me humble opinion.

Unless there is some observable mechanism by which kratom causes hair loss, there is no reason to believe it causes hair loss.

However there are some interesting medical reports that indicate it might be a problem

https://www.empr.com/home/news/case-rep ... of-kratom/


It would not be unheard of for an opioid, but it's usually more of a long term risk.

I'm willing to bet it's a non-factor in hair loss for most people, considering most people come back with normal hormone levels, unlike this dude in the medical report. Definitely something to be looked at in more detail.

[Moonbeams]

Hello, I registered specifically to respond to this post. I’ve been researching kratom and hair loss and I believe we can figure out what’s causing it if we all share our experiences and data about our use.

I have been using kratom for 1.5 years, I use a lot, maybe 30 gpd and that’s been consistent for at least a year. I started noticing a lot of hair loss around four months ago. The hair loss started out of nowhere and now about 1/3 of my hair has fallen out, hair is all over my house and I have to clean a huge handful out of my brush every day. I want to cry. I have a long hair that I can put in a ponytail a know the size that it used to be compared to now. I have never had hair loss in my life until now and I’m a female in my mid-30s. It’s definitely the kratom. This is real, do not tell us it’s not when you are not experiencing it. I take many supplements (vitamins, fish oil, probiotics, ACV) and did before the hair loss started, but I take them more consistently now. This did not help. I had been ordering exclusively from Super Speciosa and Kats Botanicals for about a year, specifically because they do testing and have a certification saying they are supposedly safer, I was concerned about heavy metals. My method of consumption has always been toss and wash, and I dose around 5 times per day. I’ve always used green maeng da and occasionally other green strains.

I’ve tried many things and nothing has worked. I’m going to try tea next so that I’m not consuming so much powder and putting it through my digestive system, just in case that has something to do with it. Please keep adding to this thread if you have experienced hair loss from kratom, share as much data as you can about your use. I tried posting something like this on Reddit but they make it too difficult to share information freely there, and the threads that exist haven’t led me to an answer yet.

[froggy33]

A full spectrum vitamin and mineral my doctors recommended me. Plus exercise.. I have seen results with that if it helps. Twice daily multi vitamin by designs for health. ( I only take the vitamin once a day)

[Sassysquatch]

I lost so much hair when I first started taking Kratom. It was awful! Someone on Reddit swore by a supplement called Saw Palmetto for hair loss so I thought I would give it a try. It’s only $11 on Amazon and the brand I use is Nature’s Craft and IT ABSOLUTELY WORKS! I took 1 a day in the beginning until I noticed my hair coming back and now I take 1 every other day for maintenance. BTW, I didn’t take any for about two weeks when I ran out of it and my hair started falling out again. Once I started taking it again, my hair stopped falling out. I still lose the normal 10 hairs or so a day, but not handfuls like before.

[PistolsAtDawn]

I lost so much hair when I first started taking Kratom. It was awful! Someone on Reddit swore by a supplement called Saw Palmetto for hair loss so I thought I would give it a try. It’s only $11 on Amazon and the brand I use is Nature’s Craft and IT ABSOLUTELY WORKS! I took 1 a day in the beginning until I noticed my hair coming back and now I take 1 every other day for maintenance. BTW, I didn’t take any for about two weeks when I ran out of it and my hair started falling out again. Once I started taking it again, my hair stopped falling out. I still lose the normal 10 hairs or so a day, but not handfuls like before.

I did some quick research on saw palmetto, and yes, it absolutely works. It's chemically very similar to Propecia. Unfortunately that means I need to stay away from it.

I took Propecia for about two weeks once, and the side effects were scary. I'm a dude with plenty of testosterone already, and Propecia blocks the conversion of testosterone into DHT which is what causes hair to fall out. Unfortunately that also meant I had (I think) way too much testosterone in my system. I felt weirdly aggressive and I couldn't have an orgasm! Another male friend of mine tried it about a decade later and had an even worse time! It took weeks for both of us to get back to normal. Not before awkward conversations with our girlfriends who were suddenly concerned about us not being able to have an orgasm while intimate with them.

But that said, I have autoimmune issues including thyroid problems, so my hormones have been out of whack for most of my life. My friend too. I would guess that saw palmetto and Propecia are easier on women, but I'm no doctor.

I'm sincerely glad it worked for you!

[georgiegirl]

Yes, I agree with Sassysquatch about the saw palmetto. It absolutely works!! And it is the only thing that has worked and I tried nearly everything. I've noticed no side effects whatsoever. I haven't checked with my naturopath yet about long term use, and if it will have any effect on my hormones, but for right now it has been a blessing.

[GrannyJ62]

Going in my 4th year of kratom use and just wanted to respond again to this thread I had hairloss before kratom related to my hypothyroidism and started moringa I get it from Amazon take 2 caps a day it stopped my hairloss didn't notice new hairloss with kratom in the first couple of years but I have had to increase my thyroid meds then about a year ago I noticed thinning it could be the amount I'm now taking less than 20gpd I added biotin to my supplement s and no more thinning,it could be my age 58 but I m curious if it had something to do with my thyroid again as my thyroid meds have increased some.I m super interested in the apple cider vinegar rinse.But as of right now still taking moringa everyday and biotin every other day. I mix up the way I take kratom and filter out plant material at least half the time another thing I ve done is increase my water intake over a gallon closer to 2 a day also hairloss dosent run in my family.

[froggy33]

Saw Palmetto just from scanning this forum seems to have worked for everyone that tried it. The side effects are the only downside, if any..

[mettaworldpeace95]

Anyone who is experiencing hair loss, do you want to share the type of kratom you’re using? Along with the vendor or method of preparation?
There’s gotta be something linking it all together.
IF we can get people to come together, and get more data, maybe that’ll help?

I've been taking super green and some red blends for a year and a half and I'm losing a lot of hair.

[Lokey]

I just started taking biotin in a hair skin and nails formula jellybeans and moringa capsules. I used to have very thick hair and noticed it got much thinner and thinking of adding the Indian gooseberry and maybe saw palmetto. But before kratom I was taking 12-15 Advil a day and also I'm on prednisone due to the very bad pain I had. I googled Advil and hair loss and guess what, it can cause it. I'm also post-menopausal. If kratom causes hair loss it may be not be the actual kratom but maybe the powder affects nutrient absorption, we just don't know. But a lot of people take different medications and any number of them can also be contributing. I use a wide tooth comb every day for many years and wash my hair way less often, and have been avoiding the blow dryer and flat iron and it shows but healthier to give it a break. Also color it still but way less often. Recently went longer than ever out of curiosity and wish I could say it's a beautiful silver but it's not. More like very dark brown mixed with gray and white, whiter around the hairline, not pretty at all so out came the box. It may be psychological or just that my hair's finally getting longer after a hairdresser chopped way too much off but it seems thicker already. I'm not willing to give up kratom, it helps me function and without it I don't know how I could.

[Kelleytoons]

So - a very old thread and I can only contribute my own personal experience but... I'm EXTREMELY doubtful kratom could cause any hair loss. What the hell would the mechanism be?

In any case, I'm ancient as hell, so much so that anyone my age has lost all their hair for sure, and I have a full head of thick stuff that I sometimes WISH were not so (not to be bald, but getting a haircut every three or four weeks is a PITA). It's all heredity - my dad had a similar hair experience up until the day he died. I do NOTHING to my hair except abuse it (lots of sun, chlorine, no conditioner and I wash it a couple times a day).

[Lokey]

Lucky you! I searched the word moringa knowing the subject hair loss would come up but it's also a superfood and purportedly good for inflammation, pain and other things. I think it's actually more expensive than kratom. I read also that it's possible it interacts with other things so hope it doesn't interact negatively with kratom or my other meds. I don't think it's known for sure. That's probably true for most things.

[herbalhippie]

All I know is my hair started falling out after I started taking kratom. Is it kratom that's causing it? I have no idea it could be age it could be kratom it could be a lot of things.

[froggy33]

All I know is my hair started falling out after I started taking kratom. Is it kratom that's causing it? I have no idea it could be age it could be kratom it could be a lot of things.

Its not just you. My hair use to be so thick that I would get an afro if I didn't cut it every 2 weeks. Its not thick like that anymore. The benefits of kratom outweigh the side effects that come with it.

[Kelleytoons]

Hate to ask because... are you folks all women?

One of the mechanisms of hair is hormones. Perhaps those of you who are women who suffer hair loss are doing so because kratom (*somehow*) is interfering with your hormones in ways that it doesn't with men (or perhaps men's hormones are just that different as a result).

It just seems VERY odd to me that what is essentially an opioidal process would cause hair loss (has anyone looked up to see if scripts do the same thing? I.E. if someone is hooked on oxy do they go bald?)

[uspatriot995]

This is an interesting thread, I have never noticed any hair loss correlation to kratom use. Most "culprits" have already been mentioned. As I understand it, it (allopecia) could be due so many different things or combination of things. The two most obvious things that come to mind are genetics, aging and nutrition.

One thing I can say is that you're diet/nutrition are quite likely to change with daily kratom use over time--which in itself could be correlated to hair loss. I know of several non-kratom users who have this issue and they have both gone down the rabbit hole trying to find out where it comes from, only to find out there's no "one thing" they can pin it on.

Good luck with it.

[herbalhippie]

Hate to ask because... are you folks all women?

I am.

[froggy33]

No to Kelly, Good point patriot as well.

[Daydreamsofmountains]

Hate to ask because... are you folks all women?

I am.

Me too. I started having issues with hair loss this spring but I am also going through peri menopause and had Covid at the end of April which has been shown to cause hair loss. My dermatologist put me on spironolactone which has pretty much reversed it. Took four months or so though to see a change.

Hair loss related to kratom comes up a ton in Facebook kratom groups.

[Roofdog]

Ive had thinning hair since my late 30's
Ive been taking kratom right around 5 years. My hair has stayed the same since I started. My wife is a hair stylist so she is the only one who cuts my hair and she hasnt noticed anything as of yet. Just my 2 cents. Take care everyone!!!