6 Ways Your Hair Changes After 50

On average, women reach menopause at 51, and the years leading up to this milestone are known as perimenopause. Hormonal imbalances and other natural processes that we experience during perimenopause trigger a multitude of changes in our bodies: metabolism grows sluggish, wrinkles deepen, and our hair thins, dries up, and falls out!

There are plenty of menopause-related changes we are powerless to stop. Thankfully, the condition of our hair is not one of them. Keep reading to learn the six ways your hair changes after 50, and the six hair care solutions to counter them.

Reduced Tensile Strength

Structural proteins like keratin are our hair’s building blocks. As we near menopause, the amount of keratin available to our hair follicles declines. Reduced keratin leads to weak, fragile, inelastic strands.

• What you will notice — Your weakened hair is more likely to break somewhere along the shaft or develop split ends. It cannot withstand the friction and stress that comes with standard styling techniques, and even brushing must be done with care. It may look frizzy and thin at the tips where some strands are splitting or breaking off.
• What you can do — Use Better Not Younger’s Superpower Fortifying Hair & Scalp Serum to nourish and strengthen fragile fibers. Niacinamide supports healthy follicle function by rebuilding keratin proteins, while kelp extract feeds your hair and scalp with the vitamins and minerals critical for strong, healthy locks.

Coarse Texture

Post-50 hair can develop a coarse texture, even if it was smooth and sleek throughout your life. Your cuticles’ overlapping cells become thinner and more damage-prone. This vulnerability allows moisture to escape, and your cuticle layer remains open instead of lying flat the way healthy hair does.

• What you will notice — Your open cuticles will cause your hair to feel coarse. When you run your fingers through coarse hair, it will seem rougher than the sleek hair you may once have had. Your hair may also appear dull and drab.
• What you can do — Try BNY’s Second Chance Low Suds Repairing Shampoo for Dry/Damaged Hair, a gentle sulfate-free cleanser specially formulated for fragile, aging hair. Second Chance contains rice bran oil to add strength, while passionflower extract revives your lost shine.

Interrupted Growth

Hair follicles typically go through a predictable cycle of growth and rest; however, mid-life hormone fluctuations can interfere with this schedule. Hair grows slower, and it falls out sooner because of the truncated active growth phase.

• What you will notice — You may encounter delays and a shorter "maximum" hair length if you are trying to grow long hair. Each strand is growing, yet they fall out sooner; therefore, your overall length will hit a plateau.
• What you can do — As you get older, your follicles may be in short supply of available micronutrients vital for vibrant hair health. Nourish your body and scalp with a balanced diet, and supplement with BNY's Significant Other Hair, Skin & Nails Supplement. These delicious gummies are packed with biotin, folic acid, and vitamins A, C, D3 and E.

Diminished Volume

Hair follicles shrink with age, creating a cramped space for your strands to grow. As your hair fibers regenerate, they emerge finer than before. The reduced diameter of each shaft, especially when matched with decreased growth activity, can lead to diminished hair volume.

• What you will notice — You may experience wispy or flat locks that lack the life they once had. When you pull your hair together in a ponytail, you will probably notice that it is thinner than it once was.
• What you can do — To offset your thinner hair’s lack of body, try BNY’s Lift Me Up Hair Thickener. When sprayed onto the roots of your hair and smoothed to the tips, this clear gel adds thickness without excessive weight or greasiness.

Depleted Melanin Levels

The pigment that gives our hair its color is called melanin. Our follicles have access to a finite number of melanin-producing cells. Once depleted, they are only capable of producing unpigmented white hairs.

• What you will notice — On average, women can expect to be 50% gray by the time you are 50. Gray hairs tend to start at the temples, and they have a rougher, wiry texture that makes them more challenging to manage than pigmented hair.
• What you can do — Stress has been shown to contribute to gray hair, so reducing stress in your life could help slow its progression. If your hair has already turned white or gray, take care of it with BNY's Silver Lining Purple Butter Masque. This unique moisturizer pampers your locks with the added benefit of a purple tint to offset yellow overtones.

Dried Out Hair and Scalp

There are glands on your scalp responsible for producing sebum, the natural oil that moisturizes your skin and gives your hair its lustrous shine. After 50, these glands become less productive, and as a result, your hair and scalp are prone to dryness.

• What you will notice — You may experience itching, irritation, and dead skin cell flaking when your scalp is dry. These flakes can be seen in your hair and on your clothes, similar to dandruff.
• What you can do — Shampooing every day contributes to a lack of moisture because you are scrubbing away sebum oil. Consider washing less frequently and combating dry hair with deep moisturizers like BNY’s Hair Redemption Restorative Butter Masque. This intense five-butter formula nourishes and hydrates your hair and scalp.

Better Not Younger Addresses Your Hair Changes After 50

Aging directly impacts the condition of our hair. After 50, most of us experience changes to its tensile strength, texture, growth rate, volume, color, and moisture levels. Yet for each of these issues, Better Not Younger has the answer.

Most women are just getting started in their 50s and need hair care solutions that can keep up. Check out Better Not Younger’s Shop page and discover products to breathe life back into your hair.