How Chinese Medicine Explains and Treats Hair Loss - Part 2

Continuing the series on hair restoration through a Chinese medicine lens

In Part 1, I talked about the modalities I've added to my practice — Microneedling, Red Light Therapy, and Venn’s topical Chinese herb-based Exosomes + PTT-6® growth factors, cytokines, and peptides — and shared my enthusiasm about the results! See Part 1 before and after pics.

This time I want to dive into pattern differentiation, or the “why” hair loss happens in the first place through a Chinese Medicine framework. 

How Chinese Medicine Views Hormonal Hair Loss

We view hair health as one indicator of your body’s internal resources. If you are running on fumes

then the body is going to stop sending energy to tasks it deems non-essential, like luscious locks. 

Hair depends on the amount of the Kidney essence, Liver blood, and Spleen Qi in the body, also the balance of Heat. When these systems are deficient or out of balance, hair growth slows or stops.

• Kidney essence nourishes the bones and marrow, which includes hair follicles.

• Liver blood fuels the growth of both our hair, nails and keeps vision sharp.

• Spleen Qi supports digestion and the production of nutrients essential for hair.

• Pathological Heat Rising can fry the follicles and cause hair to shed at a rapid pace

Common TCM Patterns Linked to Hormonal Hair Loss

In a clinical setting, I'm identifying a pattern — or often a combination of patterns — behind each person's hair loss. These are the ones I see most commonly:

I love drawing parallels between nature and our bodies. This was a "just for fun" comparing what soil needs to grow plants alongside what our body needs to grow hair!

• Kidney Yin deficiency: Dry scalp, brittle hair, and night sweats. Often relates to menopause or aging.

• Liver Qi stagnation: Stress and emotional tension cause poor blood flow to the scalp, resulting in hair thinning. This can be linked to excessive cortisol production.

• Spleen Qi deficiency: Poor digestion and nutrient absorption weaken hair follicles, causing hair to fall out easily.

• Blood deficiency: Pale complexion, dizziness, and dry hair indicate insufficient blood to nourish the scalp. Usually a secondary pattern to Liver Qi stagnation and Spleen weakness.

• Heat Rising: Red face, hypertension, frequent headaches, irritability, and heat aversion can all disrupt the hair follicles and their growth. I see this a lot in patients that have chronic immune system activation (EBV, Chronic Fatigue, mold exposure) as well as the peri/menopausal ladies where lack of Kidney Yin and Liver Blood causes heat to rage.  For patterns like this we use Acupuncture to “vent” off heat from the upper body, Microneedling has this same effect.

If you really want to dive in and treat a pattern at the root it calls for an individualized plan

including Acupuncture, herbs, diet and lifestyle. But there's also a physical, local piece of the puzzle or as we say branch treatment: getting nourishment to actually reach the follicle. That's where Microneedling comes in.

How Microneedling Fits Into This Picture

Microneedling uses fine needles to create controlled, superficial micro-channels in the scalp, it works on a similar principle to Acupuncture. It is a way of talking to the body via micro-injury, like “hey you have work to do here”, only this is directly on the scalp vs. a more gentle nudge at Acupuncture points. 

• It stimulates local circulation. The micro-channels trigger a mild healing response that draws blood flow to the area — directly relevant if Liver Qi stagnation or Blood deficiency is limiting what reaches the scalp.

• It activates growth signaling. The healing cascade releases growth factors and cytokines that support follicle activity.

• It increases absorption. Those same micro-channels let topical treatments penetrate far more

  deeply than they could on unbroken skin, which is why I layer in the topical Exosome and PTT-6® growth factor serums during a treatment.

None of this replaces the internal work. It's not a shortcut around a Kidney or Blood deficiency that needs to be addressed from the inside. But it does address the local, physical half of the equation: making sure the scalp can actually receive and use what the rest of the treatment plan is building.

What Treatment Looks Like

As I mentioned in Part 1, a standard course is three sessions, scheduled every two weeks, each combining acupuncture, Microneedling with serum, and red light therapy, plus a take-home topical. After a series, we wait 90 days to let new growth mature before deciding whether another round is needed. Internal herbal medicine is often recommended alongside this to support the terrain long-term.

What changes from person to person isn't the structure — it's the emphasis. Someone presenting with Liver Qi stagnation and someone presenting with Kidney Yin deficiency are getting the same modalities, but with different Acupuncture points being needled, and unique herbal support if a patient wants you to include that in the treatment plan.

As always, hair restoration isn't a quick fix — we're restoring the conditions that allow growth, not forcing it. If you're curious what your own pattern might be, you're welcome to reach out to schedule a consultation.

Schedule Your First Session

In Part 3, I'll explore the science side of the topicals I use, maybe some internal herbal or dietary strategies, and whatever else gets me motivated to write in the moment.