Why is my hair falling out?

Why is my hair falling out?

 

We naturally lose around 75-150 hairs a day depending on how many hairs you have on your head, we don’t really notice this as all of our hairs each have their own hair growth cycle. What is the hair growth cycle you ask?

 

That’s why I love trichology because one question tends to lead you on to another one..

 

What is The Hair Growth Cycle?

 

The hair growth cycle consists of three distinct phases.

 

There’s the Anagen, the Catagen and the Telogen phase. There are also some other phases, but these are really the main ones.

 

The anagen phase is the growing phase where the hair grows out of our scalp. This process typically lasts between 2 -7 years or roughly 1000 days and can go up to 11 years.

 

The catagen phase is only short and lasts around 2 weeks or around 10 days this is where the hair disconnects from the blood supply.

 

The telogen phase aka The Resting phase which typically lasts around 2 – 4 months or 100 days. During this process the hair is still growing but has stopped receiving melanin but continues to keratinise.

Then the individual hair sheds and a new anagen hair is usually growing underneath with a tapered end. 

The hair leaves the scalp in the exogen phase where it exits the hair follicle.

 

 

Various types of trauma can interrupt the hair growth cycle and can cause up to four times as much shedding as normal 2 to 4 months later.

 

 

More hairs than normal go into the catagen phase at once, then subsequently, the telogen phase, causing excessive shedding.

 

This kind of hair loss is called telogen effluvium where your hair sheds more than normal.

 

 

This is a very common kind of hair loss (alopecia) in women but can also affect men. Once it has been going on for 6 months plus it then becomes chronic telogen effluvium (CTE).

 

CTE signs - Hair shedding relentlessly for 6 months plus.

Hair loss can cause stress and in turn stress can cause hair loss. Even if the causative factor has been eliminated, this kind of hair loss can continue sometimes for years due to this viscous circle.

 

We usually notice hair shedding when we are brushing or washing our hair. As we lose 75-150 hairs normally, if you haven’t washed your hair for a few days then this will build up. If you are experiencing more shedding than normal, then the hair loss will be even more drastic.

 

From working as a trichologist, I have found that people tend to not wash their hair as often if they have telogen effluvium, as they think it’s washing their hair that’s making it shed, but not washing as often actually means you will ‘lose’ more when you do wash.

This could cause your hair to be oilier which could cause you to feel worse about your hair, so I advise patients to wash their hair more often.

 

In general, Trichologists do encourage patients to wash their hair more often as this helps to keep your scalp clean and healthy.

 

I also find that people stop colouring their hair or styling it/blow-drying it like they normally do also as they think this might be causing it to shed more or fall out, however, this kind of hair loss is called reflective hair loss meaning it is reflective of something that is off balance in our body rather than what we are putting on or using on it.

 

 

Causes include:

 

Emotional stress or trauma

Bereavement

Thyroid imbalance

Weight loss

Infection

Diabetes

Anaemia

 

We need to consume a balanced diet for optimal hair. Diet and weight changes are a common cause for telogen effluvium as the weight loss is a big change to the body and our hair can reflect this. Not eating enough or at the right times of the day or the right things can have a big impact on telogen effluvium.

 

Yes, you did read correctly that this is a kind of alopecia as this word just means hair loss in general.

 

This is a diffuse kind of alopecia which could lead on to female or male pattern hair loss or androgenetic alopecia, especially if it is chronic.

 

As alopecia just means hair loss, there are many kinds of alopecia. Telogen effluvium is a type of Alopecia where your hair sheds more than normal.

There are many other conditions which could cause your hair to fall out and we will explore them in future blogs.

 

How to treat hair shedding?

 

Telogen Effluvium can be treated with electrotherapy, massage, stimulating treatments and nutritional supplements. Blood tests may be required to check levels of various markers.

 

 

Many people try to use stimulating products which makes sense if you are suffering with hair shedding, however, another common condition we see in Trichology is Seborrhoeic Dermatitis (SD) which can be pruritic (itchy) causing scaling and redness. Dandruff is a mild form of SD and it involves a yeast we have on our scalp called Malassezia and the stimulating products like caffeine or menthol can also stimulate this Malassezia so it is a good idea to see a professional.