People feel shame or guilt about losing hair especially women. Hair is so connected to self esteem, value and confidence. Hair loss symptoms can cause psychological stress for women, especially because society places such an emphasis on beautiful hair and skin as a source of women’s femininity. Male pattern baldness seems to be more of the normal hair loss talk so women are embarrassed to speak up about it. The difference between this hair loss is that male hair loss is permanent while female hair loss is mostly temporary.
By the time someone notices you’ve lost hair- you’ve probably already lost 40% of it, so you need to stay ahead of it as soon as you notice shedding that isn’t your normal day to day shedding pattern. If you think you’re losing an abnormal amount of hair- run to your dermatologist. A lot people will think they’re having a hair issue but really density and volume of your hair changes as you age, and we don’t take that change well.
Telogen effluvium: temporary thinning of the hair. STRESS pushes large numbers of hair follicles into a resting phase. Within a few months, those hairs can fall out all at once!! Types of stress can include surgery (and anesthesia), childbirth, hormonal changes, serious illness, medication, poor nutrition, age, heredity, as well as damage caused by the environment, heat-styling and over-styling can impact the health of the hair, a traumatic event and current events stress: COVID related, stress of home schooling your child, frontline workers thinking about their risk, business and home owners and possibly the stress of the 2 week long 2020 election!? Lol no,but really!
Any given time 90% of hair is in its growing stage 10% is in testing a resting stage. When you go through physiological stress- a state of shock, that can force 30-40% of hair to move out of the anagen phase (growing stage) into the resting stage, where it’s there for a couple of months then forces it all to fall out at once (catagen stage) where it will stay that way for a few weeks. Once you go into that stress cycle it’s chronic Telegen effluvium. Going through a stressful event can cause you can lose up to 40% in a shedding cycle! This hair loss cycle can last up to 6 months.
TREATMENT:
Manage life event differently-(easier said than done, right!?) Make daily choices about how you’re handling stress and the connection of hair loss. Your body already let you know it’s not handling that stress well, listen to your body! Sleep and find a healthy way to release stress. Stress is the silent killer, remember that!
Eat high protein and a clean diet- Pretty simple version: hair is made up of keratin (protein) a vitamin and protein packed diet will reflect in your hair. Complex version: top foods for hair growth, including nuts (which contain omega-3 fatty acids, biotin, vitamin E and copper), oysters (rich in zinc), sweet potatoes (omega-3 fatty acids, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, zinc, and vitamins A, B, C, K and E), eggs (a good source of protein, plus biotin, other B vitamins, zinc, selenium, sulfur and iron), and spinach (iron, beta-carotene, folate, vitamin A and vitamin C).
Vitamins- I HIGHLY suggest Viviscal or Nutrafol. These are highly effective after taking CONSISTENTLY for 3 months. These two vitamins are what your dermatologist will recommend. Viviacal has a Pro version that you can get from your stylist or derm. Nutrofol also has a post menopausal version that is targeted for woman in that category. Vitamin C, Biotin, Niacin, Iron and Zinc are all great vitamins to promote healthy hair but if you’re really concerned than I suggest taking the hair supplements I recommended. A hair supplement is different than Biotin. Biotin is a generalized hair, skin and nails vitamin, where a hair supplement is specific for the hair on your scalp. Think of this pill like birth control. It’s not going to be effective if you’re taking it every 2 days or every other day. It MUST be taken with the suggested dosage for it to be effective. After a year, you will thank me!!
Go in for blood work- you could be lacking on important nutrients and vitamins. The most common is Iron. When people are lacking in iron, it will contribute to unhealthy or thin hair.
Topical treatments- Thinning shampoos& scalp serums. While these shampoos can help the stimulation of blood flow and create a healthy scalp environment these will not help the actual hair bulb (under the scalp). A healthy scalp however is a big component if you want the healthiest hair possible. A healthy hair CANNOT sprout from a scalp covered in buildup, like layers of dry shampoo. Generally that’s where products like Nioxin come into place- they help create a healthy scalp environment by shampooing daily, keeping the hair you do have on your head, not stimulating more hair growth. Topical syrums can make the actual hair strand thicker or if you get one from a dermatologist it can actually strengthen the hair follicle for less shedding and give the actual hair a longer growth period.
Scalp massagers- this helps create blood flow stimulation, which is what we NEED for healthy and dense hair. Where does hair continue to grow on the scalp? Around the edges — closest to the blood supply (think of how dense we are in our nape area where there’s a mane blood vessel compared to our front hairline where there is significantly less stimulation. The scalp area of the body is very poorly served by the circulatory system. Give your self a scalp massage every night and include it to your nightly routine. I have a claw scalp massager and I use it while watching tv.
Monoxidyl (Rogain)- Only fda approved drug for women for hair growth. In a study, 80% report hair that was thicker. Apply the foam EVERY DAY. As long as you keep doing it, it will keep working, just like your skin care routine! Use the men’s version, there’s a larger dosage and the women’s version costs more because it’s pink. 😒. Rogain is VERY effective.
COVID-19 RELATED HAIR LOSS
An article from The NY Times states that doctors say they too are seeing many more patients with hair loss, a phenomenon they believe is indeed related to the coronavirus pandemic, affecting both people who had the virus and those who never became sick.
“Now, doctors say, many patients recovering from Covid-19 are experiencing hair loss — not from the virus itself, but from the physiological stress of fighting it off. Many people who never contracted the virus are also losing hair, because of emotional stress from job loss, financial strain, deaths of family members or other devastating developments stemming from the pandemic.”
Dr. Khetarpal reports seeing more patients who are experiencing telogen effluvium since the beginning of the pandemic, including patients who have not tested positive for COVID-19. This form of stress-related hair loss can be the result of external stressors in addition to illness.
“There are so many pandemic-related stresses. There’s financial stress, concern for ill family members, anxiety about contracting the virus, social isolation and changes related to working and schooling from home. We are absolutely seeing hair loss in non-COVID patients that seems related to pandemic stress.”
There is no evidence yet that coronavirus causes hair loss, but doctors believe the emotional and physical stress of the the virus lead to the reversible, telegen effluvium. patients are experiencing hair loss 3 to 6 months after their illness or a family members illness. Don’t freak out! Like I mentions TE is a temporary shed. Its very emotional losing your hair, but will grow back! I’m average hair grows half an inch per month, in SOME cases 0.2 to 0.7 inches, so by the time you’ll notice some density and fullness rather than length it will be around 1 year. The most hair you will have in your lifetime is before the age of 30. But I promise the hair vitamins will help with growing resilient hair.
Hair vitamins:
Viviscal. $40. Ulta, amazon
$79, find a code online for $20 off! This brand has a version for post Menopausal women too.
Rogain, minoxidil (what a dermatologist will prescribe) $25.99. Target, Amazon
Colorproof shampoo & treatment for thinning hair. I haven’t personally used the entire kit consistently but I did try out the shampoo. The reviews are great and it might be a good option to use a couple of times a week if the hair is a concern. Amazon or colorproof. $133
If you’re experiencing thinning on your ends from hot tools, bleaching or brushing- you need a haircut, then use this shampoo and heat protector treatment!! It’s actual keratin and amazing!!
Basic scalp massager stimulates blood flow for circulation and healthy scalp. $5 amazon.