You probably don’t use the exact same skincare routine you did 20 years ago. Maybe you’ve graduated to a richer moisturizer, added a retinol, or become religious about SPF. So why do so many of us stay loyal to the same shampoo and conditioner for decades?
Spoiler alert: Hair ages, too. Aside from graying strands, you might have noticed your ponytail looking finer or wimpier, or a new (odd) texture. So if your longtime holy-grail products suddenly aren’t delivering the same shine, bounce, or fullness they used to, it may not be the formula that’s changed; it may be your hair.
“The head of hair you have in your 50s is not the same head of hair that you had in your 30s,” says Jeni Thomas, Ph.D., a hair-care scientist at Procter & Gamble. And while we may not think about hair longevity the way we think about skin longevity, Dr. Thomas says the science shows that our hair changes throughout adulthood (often long before we start inspecting our widening hair part in the bathroom mirror).
What exactly is happening to our tresses over the years, and how much of it can we actually control? We asked Dr. Thomas to break down the science of aging hair and explain how to give the locks you have now the love they need.
Why does hair thin as you age?
It may feel like your hair suddenly changed when you hit a certain birthday, but that evolution actually starts much earlier than you might think. Dr. Thomas points to research published in 2012 that looked at how two important characteristics of caucasian women’s hair — the number of hairs on the head and the diameter of each individual strand — change with age.
“The number of fibers that you have on your head [starts] gradually decreasing” from an early age, Dr. Thomas explains. But there’s an interesting reason you may not notice that right away: Individual hair fibers tend to increase in diameter into and through your 30s. In other words, you may have fewer hairs, but the strands themselves are getting thicker, helping compensate for that loss in density.
Around age 40, that begins to change. “That fiber-diameter curve peaks and starts to drop off,” Dr. Thomas says. At that point, both the number of hairs and their diameter are declining. “That combination all of a sudden becomes noticeably thinner hair.”
That doesn’t mean everyone will notice these changes during a specific decade. Dr. Thomas stresses that these are averages, and that there’s wide variation from person to person. But it helps explain why hair can seem to be suddenly thinning, even though changes have been underway for years.
How does menopause affect your hair?
Density isn’t the only thing that changes with The Change. As women reach their late 40s and 50s, hormonal shifts during menopause can also affect how hair looks and feels. One major change is a decline in sebum production. Those natural scalp oils help moisturize hair, so when they lessen, hair can feel drier.
Texture can change, too. “For most women, that tends to mean increased texture, like more curvature than they had before,” Dr. Thomas says. For some, that may create a welcome wave or a little more volume. But for others, it can mean unwelcome frizz or hair that's harder to style than it used to be.
Then there’s the graying: As the cells responsible for producing melanin slow down and eventually stop producing pigment, hair loses its color — and some of its natural protection.
“Pigments play a naturally UV protective role in our hair,” Dr. Thomas explains. “That’s why your hair bleaches in the sun. It’s because the UV rays are breaking down the pigments, which is helpful because that means less of the UV damage is going toward breaking down the fiber itself.” But once those pigments in your hair are gone and it loses color, she explains, the fiber itself bears more UV stress, making protection even more important.
Can you prevent age-related hair thinning?
There's no pause button for aging hair, but Dr. Thomas says it’s also a misconception that you have to just accept bad hair days as your new normal. “There are meaningful things that you can do to address age-related changes,” she says.
She compares the approach to using SPF on your skin: Sunscreen doesn’t stop the biological aging process, but protecting skin from external sources of damage can influence how it ages. Researchers are now applying similar thinking to the scalp and hair.
One area they’re studying is oxidative stress on the scalp, which can be caused by factors including UV exposure, pollution, and the breakdown of scalp oils. According to Dr. Thomas, that oxidative stress can weaken the scalp barrier and, in turn, weaken the hair root’s anchor to the scalp, causing some hairs to shed prematurely.
“The earlier you start, the better,” Dr. Thomas says. But if scalp care hasn't been on your radar, that doesn’t mean you’ve missed your chance. “If you haven’t started by the time you’re 40, it’s not too late to begin.”
What ingredients should you look for in products for aging hair?
You already scrutinize the ingredient list on your face serum. It may be time to start paying a little more attention to the back of your shampoo bottle, too.
One ingredient Dr. Thomas thinks more women should know about is piroctone olamine, which she describes as a scalp-care ingredient with antioxidant properties. It’s at the core of Pantene’s Abundant & Strong system, along with provitamin B5 and niacinamide. Dr. Thomas says the three ingredients work together to increase antioxidant activity on the scalp.
The clinically tested three-product system takes a slightly different approach to each stage of the routine. The Pantene Abundant & Strong shampoo delivers the antioxidant complex while cleansing the scalp; the conditioner helps reduce hair loss from breakage through the lengths; and a leave-on scalp serum lets women care for their roots daily, without changing how often they wash their hair.
The trio is designed to address hair loss in two ways: reducing breakage and shedding from the root. According to Pantene, the Abundant & Strong system can reduce hair loss by up to 85 percent in six weeks.
And if "scalp serum" makes you picture an oily product ruining a good hair day, Dr. Thomas says the leave-on formula was specifically designed with that concern in mind. You can apply it to wet or dry hair; it's non-greasy and fast-drying.
How should your hair-care routine change as you get older?
The good news? Supporting your hair as it ages doesn’t mean turning your shower into a complicated 12-step routine.
Instead, Dr. Thomas recommends paying attention to what your hair is telling you now, rather than automatically reaching for the products that worked a decade ago. That might mean adding more hydration if your hair has become coarse and dry, or choosing a lightweight serum if your strands have become finer but still need moisture. If you regularly blow-dry, curl, or straighten your hair, she also recommends heat protection.
Because UV exposure can damage the hair fiber, UV protection should be part of the conversation, too. Pantene’s Miracle Rescue 10-in-1 spray, for example, provides both heat and UV protection, while other treatments can address your hair’s texture and its evolution over time.
“I think treatments become even more important as we age,” Dr. Thomas adds. It comes down to “recognizing how your hair has changed, what it needs, and changing up your hair routine to suit it.”
For years, hair care has largely been reactive: We notice dryness, thinning, or damage and then try to fix it. But Dr. Thomas says she’s finally seeing a more proactive approach to hair longevity. “There’s a mindset shift towards prevention for hair,” she says.
Her advice isn’t to fight the fact that hair changes: It’s to understand those changes and work with them. “It’s very natural for your hair to age,” Dr. Thomas says. “There are things that you can do to help it age well and extend the health of the hair that you love.”
