Stress can bring about temporary hair loss

If you are experiencing or recovering from a stressful period in your life then you may become aware of excessive hair shedding. 

To understand what is happening it may be helpful to consider how hair is formed.

Hair is made from the formation of dead body cells which form at the base of the hair follicles, initially in a soft form.  As the cells accumulate and are forced along the follicle to the neck opening on the surface of the skin these harden into keratinised hair fibres, It is this growth which may be affected by extreme and/or prolonged periods of emotional stress or illness.

There are three main growth phases for hair: -

Anogen is the active growth phase and normally last for approximately 5 – 7 years. There are approximately 100,000 hair follicles on an average head.

Catogen is when the hair is getting ready to detach from the base of the hair follicle. It is not obvious when hairs are at this stage.

Telogen is when the hair becomes detached, is shed and falls away, leaving the hair follicle to rest before a new hair is formed.  Normal daily hair shedding can vary from approximately 50 to100 hairs.

If you have been or are suffering with stress this can trigger the hairs to move from the growth (Anogen) phase directly into the resting (telogen) phase with no prior sensation or irritation. The sudden shedding can understandably itself lead to stress which in turn can trigger a new phase of shedding.  This higher amount of shedding can be quite alarming as significant amounts of hair are then seen on clothing, bedding or in the shower.  This is more produced for people with long hair

You can make the hair shedding much worse by over-examination or excessive massaging of the scalp as this will loosen hairs before their normal time to be naturally shed.  Or it may be that you have stopped shampooing because you think that this will reduce your hair shedding but this has no effect on hair shedding as the telogen hairs still become detached from the base of the hair follicles, remain loose on the scalp and the larger numbers appear to fall out once the hair is washed or handled.

Next Monday we will be talking about how to keep your scalp healthy while your hair is shredding. 

If you require more information or advice please click here or call the Birmingham Trichology Centre on 01543 670717.