I’ve been wanting to write this post for a while. Here’s what’s worked for me, and what didn’t.

Scroll to the bottom of this post to watch a Facebook Live where I put my weave on (and take it off) and show the products that’ve helped me. I also talk about meal planning and how to push through an uncomfortable situation.

I started noticing it after my fourth baby was born, but it was probably happening for a while.

My hair was thinning.

Usually I wear my hair up, so I didn’t notice it day-to-day. But on the occasional big night out when we’d take photos, I started realizing how thin my hair looked.

The next day, I’d silently dissect the photos, analyzing my ponytail and how tiny it was. Like, the elastic goes around all of my hair and it’s about the size of your pinky finger.

Then I started getting really insecure about it.

Am I sick? Am I dying? What’s wrong with me? Why do I have such thin hair?

I got an MRI, blood tests and a full body check. I’m fine. And then I started realizing that my mom also has fine, thin hair.

Whatever, it’s hereditary, I decided.

Plus, it’s totally natural for your hair to thin as you get older.

I started trying a few things to make it better, and I’ve found some things that have helped, so I wanted to share.

First, I tried the Monistat hair trick from The Sister Studio.

(She used to have it saved to a Highlight on her Instagram, but I just checked, and it’s not there anymore. Boo!)

Basically, she shared that she started losing her hair after her daughter was born, and she tried the Monistat trick. Yes, Monistat. Yes, the yeast infection cream that you put on your vagina. Yes, that one. She said she used to put it on her scalp and sleep on it overnight, and that it helped her hair grow.

I thought it sounded intriguing, and if you Google it, a lot of success stories come up.

So I tried it. I have no idea if it would’ve worked because I could not do it more than twice. I thought it was gross to sleep on and since I don’t usually shower until the morning, it just didn’t end up working for me. It was too much work.

Next up, I was like, I’m just going to get extensions.

Why, not right?

Life’s too short.

But I quickly realized that, not even considering cost, the upkeep and maintenance of extensions was just more than I was prepared to commit to. Since we do a lot of boating and beaching, I knew my extensions would get tangled and it just wouldn’t work for my lifestyle. Also, I probably “do” my hair once a week at the most, so for someone who usually is wearing a ponytail and no makeup, extensions don’t really make sense.

Then, at my next hair appointment, my stylist started talking about Halo Couture Extensions. The great part about the Halo is it doesn’t attach to your hair or scalp at all, so there’s no damage.

Basically, it’s a circle of what looks like fishing line that sits on the crown of your head, and the long, thick hair is on the back, bottom half. So you can only wear your hair down or in a low pony. But it seemed perfect.

I could wear it for a fun night out, and just slide it off in one second before bed. Plus, it was only like $400, compared to $2000 and up for clip- or sew-in extensions. And most importantly, there was zero upkeep.

I went to the site and chose my color, and surprisingly, my stylist said everyone fits into one of those colors and she rarely has to do color changes. Basically, I guess everyone has lots of different colors in their hair, so when you pick your Halo, it just blends.

Anyway, I love mine and it makes me feel amazing on fun nights out!

I got my Halo from my hair salon, but there are lots of dupes on Amazon. However, I can’t speak to their quality or anything about them. (If you have experience with them, please share in the comments!)

I still wanted my actual, real hair to feel thicker, so I kept Googling and ended up ordering some Nioxin shampoo and conditioner on Amazon.

I started using it, and I did notice that my hair seemed thicker. I don’t think it was regrowing, but it definitely felt fuller, and that’s a start.

After a while, I stopped using the shampoo and just stuck with the conditioner because I read that that had the active ingredients. It smells like peppermint, and it tingles. I think the idea is it really cleans your scalp as it conditions. Sometimes, I also use a scalp massager with it to really clean my scalp.

Around the same time, I also ordered the Viviscal supplement on Amazon, and it seemed to work too.

I would take two pills a day, and after a couple weeks, I noticed my hair felt fuller and thicker. I still take that today.

Still, I wasn’t sure that my hair was actually regrowing, so I made an appointment at the dermatologist just to cover all my bases. I figured he might be able to shed some light on what to do, and I’d heard about these scalp injections that can regrow your hair that I wanted to ask him about. He said those were so new that he couldn’t recommend them, but he did have another suggestion:

Rogaine!

Yep, good old-fashioned Rogaine. And it’s totally worked for me.

He suggested I buy the men’s formula, adding that the only difference between the men’s and women’s is that the men’s has twice the concentration, and there’s no reason women should have half the concentration of the stuff.

I do the drops that go right onto the scalp, every morning and every night. They are hard to find, as the foam is more popular, but I didn’t want to deal with a foam.

It totally works for me! I definitely feel that I have more hair, and even my stylist has noticed.

So that’s what’s worked for me!

So, to wrap up, I do Rogaine men’s drops on my scalp twice a day, two Viviscal pills a day and Nioxin conditioner whenever I shower.

I hope this helps, and if you’re with me on the thinning hair journey, you’re not alone!

Has anything else worked for you? Please share in the Facebook comments or on Instagram! I can’t wait to read what’s worked for you.

This post contains Amazon affiliate links, which means that, when you buy through the links in this post, I get a few pennies for every dollar you spend. It does not cost you any more. The Amazon prices are the same whether you find these links yourself or click through the links in this post. Thank you so much for being part of this community.