Female hair loss check

The female hair loss check is a ten-marker blood panel covering the causes doctors look for first when a woman's hair is shedding or thinning: iron stores, thyroid function, androgens, vitamin D and zinc. It costs $199 with your own doctor's signed request, or $279 with a KnowLuna doctor who requests the panel and explains the results in a 20-minute video consult. Collect at an accredited Australian centre, or choose a home kit or a nurse visit at checkout (options below).

What it measures

• Iron studies: ferritin, serum iron, transferrin and saturation. Low iron stores are the single most common checkable contributor to hair shedding in women.
• Full blood count: haemoglobin and red cell size, which show whether low iron has progressed to anaemia.
• TSH: the first-line thyroid check. Both an underactive and an overactive thyroid can thin hair across the whole scalp.
• Free T4: read with TSH so a borderline thyroid result can be interpreted rather than guessed at.
• Total testosterone: the main androgen measured in women, read as part of a pattern, not alone.
• SHBG: the protein that binds testosterone. When SHBG is low, more testosterone is active even if the total looks normal.
• Free androgen index: testosterone and SHBG combined into one figure, which is the more useful reading of androgen activity.
• DHEA-S: an adrenal androgen. A clearly raised level points your doctor towards the adrenal glands rather than the ovaries.
• Vitamin D: commonly low in Australian women and often checked alongside hair concerns.
• Zinc: a nutrient needed for hair growth, more likely to be low with restricted eating or gut problems.

Who it's for

Women noticing more hair in the brush, the shower or on the pillow, a part that has widened, a ponytail that feels thinner, hair loss after a baby, after illness or after a period of weight loss, or thinning that has crept in through the forties. It is for adults aged 18 and over.

Which hair loss a blood test helps with

Blood tests are most useful for diffuse shedding, the kind where hair comes out all over rather than in patches. That pattern is often driven by low iron, thyroid change, a nutrient gap or a stressor a few months earlier, and each of those is measurable.

Blood tests help less with patchy hair loss, hair breaking rather than shedding from the root, an itchy or scarred scalp, or loss along a tight hairline. Those need a scalp examination, and sometimes a dermatologist. Female pattern hair loss, where the part widens and the crown thins gradually, is recognised by its pattern rather than by a number, although this panel checks the contributors that can make it worse.

What you'll learn, and what you won't

You'll learn whether iron, thyroid, androgens or nutrients are contributing, with every marker explained against your laboratory's range and read together as a picture. That is what turns a frustrating symptom into a specific conversation with your doctor.

What it cannot do: it cannot look at your scalp, tell you which type of hair loss you have, count follicles, or say when your hair will grow back. It does not recommend any product or therapy. A blood test is one input to a doctor's assessment, not a diagnosis on its own.

Hair loss after a baby and around perimenopause

Shedding two to four months after giving birth is common and usually settles on its own, because oestrogen holds hair in its growing phase during pregnancy and the drop after birth releases it all at once. What is worth checking is whether low iron after birth, or a thyroid change in the first year, is making it worse and longer. The postpartum recovery check covers that ground.

In perimenopause, falling oestrogen shifts the balance so that ordinary androgen levels have more effect on the hairline and crown. Levels can look normal and hair can still thin. Reading testosterone with SHBG, rather than testosterone alone, is what makes that visible.

Reference ranges and what they mean

Marker	Typical adult range	What it usually means
Ferritin	Below about 30 ug/L is widely used in Australia to indicate low iron stores; some laboratories use 15. For hair, some clinicians prefer a level comfortably above the bottom of the range, but there is no agreed target and the evidence is limited	A ferritin inside the range but near the floor can still sit alongside shedding. Ferritin also rises with inflammation, so your doctor asks whether you were unwell around the time of collection and may add a CRP, which this panel does not include.
Haemoglobin and red cell size	Laboratory-specific female range	Anaemia with low ferritin makes iron the likely contributor. Normal haemoglobin does not exclude depleted stores.
TSH	About 0.4 to 4.0 mIU/L	Above range suggests an underactive thyroid, below range an overactive one. Both can thin hair. Free T4 refines it.
Total testosterone, SHBG, free androgen index	Laboratory-specific female ranges	A raised index, especially with irregular cycles or jawline acne, is one feature doctors assess for PCOS. A markedly high testosterone is always investigated further.
DHEA-S	Laboratory-specific range that falls with age	Mild elevation is common and often means little. A clearly high result points towards the adrenal glands.
Vitamin D (25-OH)	50 nmol/L or above at the end of winter is sufficient	Below 50 nmol/L is deficiency, graded mild at 30 to 49, moderate at 12.5 to 29 and severe below 12.5. It is often found alongside hair concerns rather than being the sole cause.
Zinc	Laboratory-specific range	Low zinc is uncommon on a varied diet and more likely with restricted eating or gut conditions.

Ranges vary by laboratory; your report shows the range your lab uses. Typical ranges on this page are drawn from Pathology Tests Explained (RCPA) and the sources listed below.

When to do this test

Book a morning collection, and avoid testing while you are unwell. Androgens are highest in the morning, and infection or recent illness lifts ferritin and can hide low iron stores. No fasting is needed. If you still have cycles, day 2 to 5 gives the cleanest androgen reading, although any day can be interpreted. Combined (oestrogen-containing) contraception raises SHBG and lowers free testosterone, so tell us what you use; progestogen-only methods have a smaller and less predictable effect. Tell us too about iron, zinc or vitamin D you have taken recently, and about any thyroid medicine your doctor has prescribed, because each changes how a result is read.

How it works

• Order online. Either upload the request your own doctor has signed, or a KnowLuna women's health doctor reviews your short questionnaire and requests the panel.
• Collect at an accredited centre near you, in the morning, with no fasting needed. Or choose a home kit or a nurse visit (options below).
• Results are usually ready within a few business days, explained in plain English in your account, with a 20-minute doctor consult if you chose that option. Abnormal results are always followed up by a doctor.

Choose how you collect

Every option is the same accredited test and the same report. Pick what suits you at checkout; the fee, if any, is added to either pathway price.

Common questions

Sources and further reading

• Pathology Tests Explained (RCPA): ferritin
• Pathology Tests Explained (RCPA): thyroid function tests
• Pathology Tests Explained (RCPA): testosterone
• Pathology Tests Explained (RCPA): sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG)
• Healthdirect: female pattern hair loss
• Better Health Channel: patterned hair loss

General information only, not medical advice. A test result is one input to a doctor's assessment, not a diagnosis on its own, and every abnormal result is followed up by a KnowLuna doctor. If your symptoms are severe or sudden, see a doctor promptly. Read our medical disclaimer.

Related

• All symptom-led checks
• Iron studies
• Thyroid panel
• Hair loss in women: the blood tests worth doing first
• Ferritin and iron studies explained
• Testosterone, SHBG and DHEA-S in women