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The Wider Part
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Hair loss in women · sourced, dated, unsold

The part is where it shows first

A parting seen from above, drawn in soft washes: two sweeps of hair with a pale channel between them that widens towards the crown.
  • hormones
  • iron, thyroid
  • a medicine
  • inherited pattern
  • where it shows first
Every treatment, gradedWhy a part widens

A widening part, a thinner ponytail, more hair in the brush. This site takes women's hair loss apart cause by cause — pattern loss, after a birth, through menopause, with PCOS, on a GLP-1 medicine — and grades every treatment on what was actually tested in women.

Start with the question you came with

All of it →
Oct 26, 2026

Minoxidil in Pregnancy and Breastfeeding: What the Labels Say

The women's minoxidil label, the tablet label and the NIH lactation database disagree in tone. Here is each one, word for word.

Oct 26, 2026

Receding Hairline in Women: Pattern Loss, Traction or FFA?

A woman's hairline that moves back is often traction or FFA, not pattern loss. The scarring signs come first.

Sep 12, 2026

GLP-1 Medicines and Hair Shedding: What the Trials Pooled

Nine interventional studies and 4,114 people on GLP-1 medicines produced a pooled hair-loss risk ratio of 3.252 — with a confidence interval wide enough to be honest about, and a likely mechanism that has nothing to do with the drug's chemistry.

Sep 8, 2026

Hers for Hair Loss, Read From the Company's Own Filings

Hers would not let us read its shop — so we read its parent company's annual report instead, which turns out to be far more informative about who prescribes, who dispenses, and how the billing works.

Sep 4, 2026

Nutrafol Women Review: The Trials, and Who Wrote Them

Three women's formulas, one price, and two genuine randomised placebo-controlled trials — both co-authored by a co-founder of the company. Scored 6 out of 10 on a published scale, with the arithmetic shown.

Sep 1, 2026

Hair Transplants for Women: Who Is Actually a Candidate

Women were 15.3% of surgical hair-restoration patients in 2024. The reason is not prejudice — it is the donor area, and it is the first thing a careful surgeon will talk you out of surgery over.

What this site is for

It exists because the search results for women's hair loss are mostly shops. Ask what to do about a widening part and you are handed a subscription before anyone has asked whether your thyroid has been checked, whether you had a baby four months ago, or whether the medicine you started in spring is doing it.

So this site does the boring parts in the right order. Every fragile fact carries a source and the date it was read. Every treatment is graded on whether it was tested in women, not on how confidently it is sold to them. Where the honest answer is a pharmacy generic or a blood test, that is said first, and it is said plainly that those pay us nothing.

What you will not find here

No photographs of anyone's scalp, and no before-and-after galleries — they are the least reliable and most manipulative thing in this field, and the demand for them is not a good enough reason. No invented statistics. No "nine in ten women". No patient quotes we made up, no "we tested it", no clinics or surgeons ranked, and no dosing instructions of any kind: strengths are described as the label prints them, and what to take is between you and a prescriber.

There is also no medical reviewer here, and you will never see a claim that there is. This site is written from labels, regulators, trial papers and company filings, and read by no clinician before publication. That is exactly why every page points you to one.

Where to start

If you want the short version: get a diagnosis, then read the graded list of every treatment offered to women. If you want to understand what is happening before you decide anything, start with why a part widens. If the loss followed a birth, the timing of postpartum shedding will probably reassure you more than any product will.

Asked first, nearly always

Why is my part getting wider?
A widening part is the classic first sign of female pattern hair loss, which the American Academy of Dermatology calls the most common cause of hair loss in women and says usually begins in midlife. But it is not the only thing that thins the top of the scalp: thyroid disease, low iron, a recent birth, a new medicine, a scarring alopecia and years of tight styling can all look similar at the part and are treated completely differently. That is why the first useful step is a diagnosis rather than a purchase.
What hair-loss treatment for women actually has evidence behind it?
Topical minoxidil has the strongest published evidence in women specifically: a 48-week randomised placebo-controlled trial in 381 women found 5% topical minoxidil beat placebo on all three of its main measures, and it is the only active ingredient the FDA has approved over the counter for female pattern hair loss. Prescription anti-androgens such as spironolactone are used off-label with far weaker evidence, devices and supplements sit below that again, and cosmetic serums are graded on consumer questionnaires rather than trials. Our treatments page grades every route on what was tested in women, not on what is advertised to them.
Can women use the 5% minoxidil sold to men?
Both 2% and 5% topical minoxidil are approved for female pattern hair loss, but the products are labelled differently and the label is what tells you whether a product is meant for you — a pharmacist or doctor is the right person to ask before crossing over. The trial evidence is real on both: 5% beat placebo on every main measure in a 48-week trial of 381 women, and also produced more itching, local irritation and unwanted facial hair than 2%. This site prints no dosing of any kind; that belongs to the label and the prescriber.
Should I have blood tests before I try anything?
That is a decision for a clinician, and it is worth asking for. The American Academy of Dermatology describes dermatologists examining the scalp and nails, doing a gentle hair-pull test, and ordering blood tests or a scalp biopsy when a disease, a hormone problem, an infection or a deficiency might be behind the loss. If something treatable such as thyroid disease or low iron is driving the shedding, no bottle on any shelf substitutes for treating it.
Do the hair supplements marketed to women work?
There are randomised, placebo-controlled trials in women behind the best-known brand, and they were funded and co-authored by the company that sells it — which is exactly the weakness independent reviewers keep pointing at. Nothing in that category is approved to treat hair loss, because supplements are not approved by the FDA before sale at all. If your hair loss follows a deficiency a blood test found, treating that deficiency is a medical decision, not a shelf purchase.