In 2019, Taylor Swift opened up about a hair phenomenon every curly girl fears: Her natural curls disappeared.
In an essay for Elle, she confirmed her curly hair was losing its curl. “From birth, I had the curliest hair and now it is STRAIGHT. It’s the straight hair I wished for every day in junior high. But just as I was coming to terms with loving my curls, they’ve left me. Please pray for their safe return.”
Older women in my life—my mother, grandmother, aunties—used to whisper about hair texture changing at certain milestones, specifically puberty, during and after pregnancy, and menopause. My own curls arrived around age 13, another pubescent crisis to be dealt with along with the mustache that sprouted overnight and a sprinkling of T-zone blackheads.
However, at least as far as the public was aware, Swift was well beyond puberty, was not with child, and was likely too young be experiencing perimenopause or menopause (the aforementioned essay was about turning 30). I secretly harbored my doubts about the disappearance of her curls, speculating wildly and without cause that maybe she’d gotten a keratin treatment, or that her hair was simply recovering from her brief stint as a platinum blonde. And then it happened to me.
Earlier this year, after months of blaming products, cuts, color, Mercury retrograde—the gamut—I finally admitted to myself that styling wasn’t the problem. It was my hair texture. For whatever reason, my curls had stretched and softened, tight spirals transforming slowly and then all at once into loose, S-shaped waves.
At the risk of sounding overly dramatic, the realization was devastating, as if I’d lost a part of my identity. Could I still claim membership in the curly girl community, which had been there for me at my frizziest hour? My hair was as much a part of my style as my tattoos or my signature plum lipstick, and without it I’ve begun to feel lost. I began wondering, Did I ever really have curly hair at all? And more importantly, what the hell do I do with wavy hair?
Turns out, seemingly random texture changes are more common than I’d thought, at least according to a quick survey of my Instagram followers. “In middle school I was a giant frizz ball and was embarrassed by my curly hair,” Whitney McCormick, an educator in Los Angeles, tells Glamour. “As I approached my 40s, I noticed my hair wouldn’t curl as tight with the same product I’ve been using for years.”
She continues, “I’m trying to embrace the new curl, but it feels like every time I wash it, it curls differently and I have to adjust the routine, which is frustrating.” Exasperation seems to be a common denominator for many of the women who experienced changes in hair texture. Kaitlyn Huie Shaw, whose naturally “pin-straight” hair began to get wavy—but only in some patches—after college, tells Glamour “it’s been SO frustrating” to deal with an unfamiliar texture.
For Haley Spaulding, whose curly hair began losing its curl when she hit puberty, there was a feeling of FOMO, like no longer being invited to the party she once hosted. “I look at my friends that have really curly hair and I’m like, I wish I had those curls!” she says. “To be a woman is to suffer in envy of someone else’s hair.”
Celebrity hairstylist DJ Quintero, a John Frieda hair care ambassador who’s worked with scores of women over his decades-long career, confirms that texture change is fairly common among his clients. “I have seen women’s hair change from straight to wavy or wavy to curly or wavy to straight,” he says. “I don’t know if this is a result of hormonal changes, but it does happen a lot.”
Given what I’d heard from friends and family about post-pregnancy and menopausal hair changes, I wondered if mine, too, could be related to a mess of hormones—even though I am not and never have been pregnant. Like many women, I’ve been on several different birth control pills and tried two different IUDs over the past two decades. Additionally, after suffering a bad bout of adult acne, I was prescribed an antiandrogen called spironolactone. Could all of these different hormones be the root of my suffering? Or is this texture change just a sad but normal fact of life?
In an attempt to get to the bottom of it all, I spoke with reproductive endocrinologist Nicole Ulrich, MD, from the The Fertility Institute, and dermatologist Shari Lipner, MD, from Weill Cornell Medicine and New York-Presbyterian, about what causes hair texture change, how hormones impact hair texture, and what—if anything—can be done about it.
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How do hormones actually impact our hair?
First things first: What’s actually going on during these major life events that causes our hair to change?
According to Dr. Ulrich, the relationship between hormones and hair “seems to be incredibly complex” and can vary throughout our lives. Hormonal impact also varies depending on where on the body the hair follicle is located, she says. “For example, head hair and body hair can respond to the same hormone in different ways.”
Here’s what we do know.
Estrogen: High levels of estrogen are typically associated with thicker, fuller hair. Says Dr. Lipner, “When estrogen and progesterone levels drop, hairs become thinner and more brittle and fragile, and the scalp becomes drier.”
Androgens: As Dr. Ulrich explains, androgens—including testosterone—are known to impact body hair follicles, often making the hair “curlier and coarser” while increasing pigmentation.
“We call this terminal hair growth,” she says. “We see this effect during puberty with the growth of terminal hair in the pubic area and armpits. This effect also leads to terminal hair growth on the chest, back, and face in individuals with higher testosterone levels. However, we know that, depending on a person’s genetics, androgens may have different effects on head hair, leading to thinner hair and balding in some cases.”
Changes at puberty: “Puberty is known to cause changes in the texture of head hair,” explains Dr. Ulrich. “This is thought to be related to hormonal changes.” However, she reiterates that the exact reason this happens is not completely clear.
And it’s not limited to women. Soren Roi, a barber in NYC, recently shared his experience on Instagram with a dramatic texture change at puberty.
Changes at pregnancy: It’s a fairly well-known fact that hair can get thicker and longer during pregnancy due to hormonal changes.
“Pregnancy keeps hair in the growth phase longer and increases hair diameter, making hair grow faster and appear thicker,” says Dr. Ulrich. “We think this is related to higher estrogen levels in pregnancy. Estrogen also has an antiandrogenic effect, opposing some of the effects androgens have on hair follicles.”
Quintero, the celebrity hairstylist, says he’s witnessed clients who “had trouble growing hair past a certain point then become pregnant and have most luscious hair.” However, he adds, “anywhere from three to six months after giving birth, women typically experience hair loss.”
According to Dr. Ulrich, that hair loss is a result of hormones returning to their pre-pregnancy levels, resulting in a “temporary period of head hair loss as the growth phases of the hair follicles recalibrate to the non-pregnant state,” she explains.
Change at menopause: “During the menopausal transition,” says Dr. Ulrich, “the body’s production of estrogen declines, and head hair spends less time in the growth phase. Female pattern hair loss is likely related to genetic factors and may be hormonally triggered, but the exact causes aren’t clear.”
But what if you’re not pubescent, pregnant, or menopausal?
While Dr. Lipner says that “hair texture does not generally vary significantly over a person’s life,” she adds that “the hair follicle can undergo some structural changes every three to five years.”
“In general, hair follicles are either curly or straight,” Dr. Lipner continues. “For people with straight hair, the hair follicle is straight, and the hair follicle cells grow in a coordinated fashion. For people with curly hair, the hair follicle is S-shaped, and the hair follicle cells grow in an asymmetrical fashion.”
According to Dr. Lipner, scalp hairs grow for three to five years, then go into a resting phase for several months before falling out. It’s during the resting phase that “the hair follicle can change its structure, but the factors that control these changes, including hormonal changes, are still being studied,” she says.
Can birth control impact hair texture? “Hormonal birth control generally does not change hair texture for most people,” says Dr. Lipner. “However, depending on the progesterone component, it may be associated with either hair loss or hair growth.”
Dr. Ulrich confirms that texture is not typically affected by hormonal birth control, but that it may “soften the male pattern type hair and prevent growth of new male pattern terminal hair due to the antiandrogenic impact of estrogen."
Changes due to chemotherapy: Patients who undergo antienoplastic treatments, including chemotherapy and radiation, may experience changes to their hair texture after initial hair loss. Says Dr. Ulrich, these treatments can impact the diameter and shape of the follicle, “often making hair curlier when it grows back.”
Is there anything that can be done to retain your hair texture?
“If there is a medical cause for the changes in texture or coloring, for example, thyroid disorders, nutritional deficiencies, or abnormal hormone production, correcting this may slow or even reverse the effect,” says Dr. Ulrich. “We know that stress hormones and even melatonin can also have effects on hair follicles, though their exact actions aren’t completely established.”
Dr. Ulrich also underscores the importance of a healthy lifestyle. “Adequate sleep, exercise, and a nutritious diet with appropriate intake of essential vitamins and minerals will help maintain overall health and prevent lifestyle related changes in hair quality,” she says.
As for any quick-fix solutions, there’s nothing available quite yet that can cure a girl who’s lost her curls. However, says Dr. Ulrich, “there are human studies underway investigating products that could be applied directly to the scalp to change the texture and pigment of the hair at the level of the hair follicle.” These products are still in the testing phase.
The bottom line
While modern medicine seems to be in agreement regarding how hormones impact hair growth and hair loss, the hormonal impact on actual texture—be it curly, wavy, or straight hair—is still a mystery.
Although texture changes appears to be fairly common, for now, there’s not a lot that I or Taylor Swift can do about it. Except maybe write a song.
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