Women with PCOS are more than twice as likely to experience hair thinning compared to women without PCOS of the same age, and the cause runs deeper than stress or diet alone. PCOS Causes Hair Loss Due to Excess Androgens PCOS-related hair loss, clinically called female pattern hair loss (FPHL) or androgenic alopecia, is driven primarily by excess androgens – particularly dihydrotestosterone (DHT). In PCOS (now called PMOS or polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome), elevated androgens shrink hair follicles and shorten the growth phase of the hair cycle, leading to progressively finer, thinner hair, especially across the crown and top of…