Health
Hairstylists and medical expert confirm temporary hair loss affecting Ozempic users
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Side effects from GLP-1s can vary — but one lesser-known reported outcome of the popular weight-loss medications is hair loss or thinning.
Some hairstylists have confirmed an uptick in clients who complain about losing hair while on weight-loss journeys.
This includes Ashley DiMatteo, owner of Ashley Lauren Beauty Lounge in Westchester, New York, and Briana Delvecchio, a color specialist and hairdresser at DiMatteo’s salon. The two spoke with Fox News Digital in an on-camera interview (see the video at the top of the article).
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“There has definitely been an increase in clients coming in with hair loss,” DiMatteo said, noting that it ranges from gradual to fast, and from thinning out to completely losing hair.
Delvecchio agreed that she’s had “a few” clients come in reporting thinner and drier hair, which she suspects could be due to weight-loss drugs.
“It’s a mark of success in weight-loss management,” one expert said. “If the patient loses hair, that means they’ve lost weight rapidly.” (iStock)
The hairstylist, who herself takes a GLP-1 drug, said there may be a few reasons for hair changes — including new medications, vitamin deficiencies and weight loss, which can put stress on the body.
Becky Watt, an Ohio hairstylist with more than 20 years of experience, said she has also noticed clients losing hair while taking weight-loss drugs.
“I’ve seen thinning and shedding, and a lot of hair coming out very easily when being washed.”
“I’ve seen thinning and shedding, and a lot of hair coming out very easily when being washed,” she told Fox News Digital. “I have not noticed any bald spots.”
However, she has had some clients who are taking the medications without any hair loss, Watt added.
Medical factors
In a separate interview, Dr. Philip Rabito, an endocrinologist in New York City, explained that this reaction, called telogen effluvium, is a stress response to weight loss that affects the hair follicle.
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The response is only temporary, he noted — the hair will fall out and then grow back once the weight loss stabilizes after a few months.
“It’s a response to severe physical stress — and weight loss is considered starvation,” Rabito said. “It is the rapidity of the weight loss that correlates with the amount of hair loss.”
Telogen effluvium is a stress response to weight loss that affects the hair follicle, experts say. (iStock)
Before weight-loss drugs, traditional bariatric surgery would lead to the loss of 70% of excess body weight in about six months, Rabito shared — which was often followed by hair loss within six to nine months.
“Your body doesn’t understand that this is healthy weight loss — your body thinks it’s starving,” he reiterated. “It happens to almost everyone, to some people more than others.”
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Those who lose weight more repetitively are at higher risk of hair loss, Rabito said, as well as those who have an underlying thyroid issue or micronutrient deficiency — typically in iron, B12 or vitamin D.
These vitamin deficiencies can worsen as weight loss occurs, so it’s important to work with a medical professional to balance these levels, according to the doctor.
“It seems that my clients who say they don’t have any appetite whatsoever are the ones losing the most hair,” one hairstylist observed. (iStock)
“From what I have learned from talking to these specific clients, it seems that the clients that are still eating don’t have the hair loss,” Watt observed.
“It seems that my clients who say they don’t have any appetite whatsoever are the ones losing the most hair,” she went on. “I believe that’s possibly due to lack of nutrients and protein, although I’m no doctor.”
Tips for managing hair loss
DiMatteo and Delvecchio agreed that they “always” advise their clients to see their doctor for a vitamin level check.
“And we will also then taper their hair routine,” DiMatteo said. “Basically, less is more during hair loss.”
Ashley DiMatteo (left), owner of Ashley Lauren Beauty Lounge in New York, and Briana Delvecchio (right), a hairdresser and color stylist at the salon. (Jesse Rinka Photography)
The salon owner suggests keeping up with scalp treatment, reducing the use of heat, brushing from the bottom up and avoiding going to bed with wet hair.
“Check in with your weight-loss doctor or your endocrinologist prior to coming to us to rule out iron, vitamin D or anything that you’re lacking — we need to rule that out before we can help you,” Delvecchio said.
“Then we’ll tell you we need to work on your scalp health; we’ll give you shampoo and conditioner that may be a little gentler for your hair.”
“It’s a response to severe physical stress — and weight loss is considered starvation.”
“Scalp stimulation is huge,” DiMatteo added. “Rinsing with cool water helps as well. Try not to do harsher treatments in the sense of lightening or coloring — spread it out as much as possible.”
Rabito noted that losing hair is “part of the game” — he said he always warns his patients before starting their weight-loss journey that this will most likely occur and is a “mark of success.”
Hairstylists urge clients to check vitamin levels with their healthcare provider to help determine how best to treat their hair loss. (iStock)
“They’re going to lose hair,” he said. “It’s going to get worse before it gets better.”
“But as long as you get the vitamins controlled, get them adequately repleted — when the patient plateaus and the weight is stable for a month or two, the body doesn’t sense starvation anymore, and the body is less stressed, then the hair grows back better than ever.”
Watt said she often recommends a hair vitamin to her clients struggling with weight loss. “Diet also has a lot to do with it,” she noted.
She also recommends using a shampoo and conditioner that are formulated to resist thinning and hair loss, along with a bond-building hair product.
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DiMatteo and Delvecchio assured those who are experiencing hair loss that regrowth does take time, and that there’s no need for excessive hair growth treatments.
Delvecchio added, “The hair loss is temporary. It’s a positive stress, and it’s worth it.”
Novo Nordisk — maker of Ozempic and Wegovy — confirmed that hair loss is an identified risk for semaglutide, and is listed as a side effect in the product information. (iStock)
When previously contacted by Fox News Digital, Novo Nordisk — maker of Ozempic and Wegovy — confirmed that hair loss is an identified risk for semaglutide, and is listed as a side effect in the product information.
“In clinical trials of Wegovy, hair loss was reported in 2.5% of Wegovy-treated adult patients versus 1.0% of placebo-treated adult patients,” the company spokesperson said at the time.
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“Hair loss was reported more frequently in patients with greater weight loss (≥20%), suggesting that the events of hair loss were potentially related to the magnitude of weight loss.”
“Patient safety is of utmost importance to Novo Nordisk,” the statement continued. “We are continuously monitoring the safety profile of our products and collaborate closely with authorities to ensure patient safety, including adequate information on hair loss.”
Melissa Rudy contributed reporting.
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Colorectal cancer, once considered a disease of older age, is becoming a crisis for younger adults. New research shows one group getting hit the hardest – those without a college degree.
A recent study from the American Cancer Society analyzed data from over 101,000 adults aged 25 to 49 who died from colorectal cancer between 1994 and 2023.
While death rates remained stable for college graduates, they climbed significantly for those without a bachelor’s degree, the findings showed.
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For young adults with a high school education or less, the mortality rate rose from 4.0 to 5.2 per 100,000 people, while the rate for those with at least a bachelor’s degree stayed flat, at approximately 2.7 per 100,000.
This does not mean that a degree offers some kind of biological protection, researchers cautioned.
Colorectal cancer, once considered a disease of older age, is becoming a crisis for younger adults. (iStock)
The difference is likely driven by the conditions in which people live and work, which often correlate with education levels, the researchers noted.
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The study suggests that the higher death rates are likely driven by differences in the prevalence of risk factors, including obesity, physical inactivity, smoking and diet, which are “known to be elevated among children and young adults with lower [socioeconomic status].”
Because the study relied on death certificates, researchers couldn’t say exactly why college graduates had better outcomes.
Because the researchers didn’t have the patients’ actual medical records, they couldn’t see things like frequency of screenings or treatment options, which would impact survival outcomes. (iStock)
Certificates typically list the cause of death, age, race and education level, but they do not include a person’s full medical history.
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Because the researchers didn’t have the patients’ actual medical records, they couldn’t see things like frequency of screenings or treatment options, which would impact survival outcomes.
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Colorectal cancer is now the leading cause of cancer death for men under 50 and the second leading cause for women in the same age group, according to recent statistics.
While colorectal cancer death rates remained stable for college graduates, they climbed significantly for those without a bachelor’s degree, the findings showed. (iStock)
Because the disease is highly treatable when caught early, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) lowered the recommended screening age from 50 to 45 in 2021.
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Common signs and symptoms of colorectal cancer can include a change in bowel habits, such as diarrhea, constipation or narrowing of the stool, that lasts for more than a few days, according to the American Cancer Society.
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Other signs that warrant seeing a doctor include blood in the stool or a persistent feeling of needing to go to the bathroom but being unable to go.
The research was published in JAMA Oncology.
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A young woman who started vaping at the age of 15 has been given just 18 months to live — after being diagnosed with lung cancer in her early 20s.
Kayley Boda, 22, of Manchester, in the United Kingdom, was engaging in heavy vaping on a regular basis when she started coughing up a brown substance with “grainy bits” in it in January 2025, news agency SWNS reported.
The retail assistant said doctors turned her away eight times, telling her she had a chest infection — until she began coughing up blood.
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After seven biopsies, Boda was diagnosed with lung cancer. She underwent surgery to remove the lower lobe of her right lung, as well as chemotherapy — and in February 2026, got the all-clear, the same source reported.
Two months later, though, doctors said the cancer had come back in the pleural lining. Now she’s been given 18 months to live.
Kayley Boda, 22, is shown in the hospital. She started coughing up a brown substance with “grainy bits” in January 2025, she said. She had been vaping since the age of 15. (SWNS)
The young woman has now issued a warning to others to be aware of the dangers of vaping.
Boda said she smoked a bit as a young teenager. She took up vaping after that.
Then, “a few months after I switched from reusable vapes to disposable ones, I started coughing up brown, grainy mucus,” as SWNS reported.
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“Doctors turned me away eight times with a chest infection. … Then I started coughing up blood, so they did an X-ray and found a shadow on my lung,” she added.
“They told me they were 99% sure, [since I was] so young, that it wasn’t cancer, so not to worry about it. When I got the results back, and they told me it was lung cancer, it felt so surreal.”
Boda said she was “very naive” before her diagnosis and thought that “something like this would never happen to me.”
She said that she had surgery to remove half of her right lung.
“After the surgery, I started chemo and I had a terrible reaction to it. I couldn’t lift my head up. I was throwing up blood. I was urinating blood. I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t sleep.”
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She said that when she got the “all clear [in Feb. 2026], it felt amazing, but just two months later I was told the cancer had come back, and I have 18 months to live.”
She added, “I’m 22. This isn’t meant to happen to somebody my age.”
“Stay off the vapes because they will catch up with you.”
She blames her cancer on vaping, she said.
“My symptoms started a few months after I started disposable vapes, and there’s no lung cancer in my family,” she said. “I haven’t vaped for three months, I’ve made my partner stop, I’ve made my mom stop, I’m urging all my friends to stop. Stay off the vapes,” she continued, “because they will catch up with you.”
When doctors did an X-ray, they found a shadow on Boda’s right lung. She was later diagnosed with lung cancer and has undergone surgery to remove the lower lobe of her right lung, as well as chemotherapy. (SWNS)
She said she’d been using reusable vapes since the age of 15 and began using disposable vapes a few months before her cancer symptoms started.
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In November 2024, when she developed a rash all over her body, doctors said it could have been due to shingles, chicken pox or scabies, she told SWNS.
‘Nothing worked’
“I got treated for all three, and nothing worked,” Boda said. “It got to the point where I was cutting myself from scratching so hard.”
A few months after that, she began coughing up a dark brown mucus, with “grainy bits, the consistency of sugar, in it,” she said. When the coughing continued, she visited the doctor’s office, but was told it could be scarring from pneumonia or a chest infection, she also said.
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It wasn’t until March 2025 that she began coughing up bright red blood. At that point, doctors gave her a chest X-ray and told her they’d found a shadow on her lower right lung.
Over the next four months, she had seven biopsies as doctors took samples from the “shadow.” In August, when she went to get the results, she was told she had stage one lung cancer.
Boda is shown in the hospital. She was diagnosed with lung cancer and had surgery to remove the lower lobe of her right lung, as well as chemotherapy. (SWNS)
In September 2025, she had surgery to remove the lower lobe of her right lung, and the surrounding lymph nodes. During the surgery, doctors upstaged her cancer from stage one to stage three after finding cancer in six surrounding lymph nodes, she said.
Following the surgery, Boda was unable to breathe properly and had to learn to walk all over again.
“The oncologist said this is so rare.”
After finishing chemotherapy in February 2026, Kayley was given the all clear, leaving her feeling elated.
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However, just a month after that, she began experiencing extreme chest pains and was told by doctors she had a pleural effusion — a build-up of fluid in the lungs. She had the fluid removed, but when doctors tested it, they discovered her cancer had returned to the pleural lining of her lungs, giving her 18 months to live.
“The oncologist said this is so rare, and usually something they see in patients that are 80 years old,” she said, as SWNS reported.
Increasingly, vacation hot spots are enforcing strict bans on the use of e-cigarettes in public venues. (iStock)
Boda claimed that doctors were unable to pin her cancer to a specific cause — but told her that smoking and vaping definitely didn’t help.
Since her diagnosis, she has stopped and is urging others to stop, too.
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She’s hoping to raise the thousands of dollars needed for treatment to try to prolong her life, she said.
Last year, Fox News Digital reported on the case of a Pennsylvania woman, 26, who said she vaped for just one year before her lungs collapsed. She was 22 when she took up the habit, she said in an interview.
“Everybody warned me about it, but I didn’t listen — I wish that I did,” she said.
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Dr. David Campbell, clinical director and program director at Recover Together Bend in Oregon, told Fox News Digital at that time that signs of collapsed lungs include sharp chest or shoulder pain, shortness of breath and difficulty breathing.
Lung issues are just one of the many health issues linked to vaping, he warned. The habit can also increase the risk of heart disease and stroke, as well as exposure to harmful heavy metals.
Melissa Rudy of Fox News Digital contributed reporting.
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The key to feeling better in a fast, overstimulated world might be surprisingly simple: Live a little more like your grandparents.
A growing social media trend, dubbed “nonnamaxxing,” draws inspiration from the slower, more intentional rhythms associated with an Italian grandmother.
The lifestyle is often linked to activities like preparing home-cooked meals, spending time outdoors and making meaningful connections.
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“Nonnamaxxing is a 2026 trend that embraces the slower, more intentional lifestyle of an Italian grandmother (a Nonna). Think cooking from scratch, long family meals, daily walks, gardening and less screen time,” Erin Palinski-Wade, a New Jersey-based registered dietitian, told Fox News Digital.
Nonnamaxxing, derived from the name for an Italian grandmother, is a trend that incorporates lifestyle habits hundreds of years in the making. (iStock)
Stepping away from screens and toward real-world interaction can have measurable benefits, according to California-based psychotherapist Laurie Singer.
“We know that interacting with others in person, rather than spending time on screens, significantly improves mental health,” she told Fox News Digital, adding that social media often fuels comparison and lowers self-esteem.
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Living more like previous generations isn’t purely driven by nostalgia. Cooking meals from scratch, for example, has been linked to better nutrition and more mindful eating patterns.
Adopting traditional mealtime habits can improve diet quality and support both physical and mental health, especially when meals are shared regularly with others, Palinski-Wade noted.
One longevity expert stresses that staying healthy isn’t just about food — it’s also about joy and community. (iStock)
There’s also a psychological benefit to slowing down and focusing on one task at a time. Anxiety often stems from unfinished or avoided tasks, Singer noted, and engaging in hands-on activities can counteract that.
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“Nonnamaxxing encourages us to be present around a task, like gardening, baking or knitting, or just taking a mindful walk, that delivers something ‘real,’” she said.
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Palinski-Wade cautions against turning the trend into another source of pressure, noting that a traditional “nonna” lifestyle often assumes a different pace of life.
The key, she said, is adapting the mindset, not replicating it perfectly.
Nonnamaxxing, derived from the name for an Italian grandmother, is a trend that incorporates lifestyle habits hundreds of years in the making. (iStock)
The goal is to reintroduce small, intentional moments that make you feel better.
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That might mean prioritizing a few shared meals each week, taking a walk without your phone or setting aside time for a simple hobby, the expert recommended.
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Singer added, “Having a positive place to escape to, through whatever activities speak to us and make us happy, isn’t generational – it’s human.”
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