Stress & Hair Loss — Should You Be Concerned?!
Have you been noticing a ton of extra hair falling out in the shower? Or when you brush your hair? This could be directly correlated to your stress levels. If you’ve been experiencing an extreme state of stress, whether it be from work, school, kids, or basic day to day life, there could be a specific type of hair loss causing your stress. The good news in all of this? Knowing which type of hair loss you are suffering from may give you more hope that it will soon be growing back! There are two different types of stress hair loss that you can be experiencing — Telogen Effluvium or Alopecia Areata.
Telogen Effluvium occurs when you are experiencing overwhelming stress. Significantly elevated stress levels can cause this to come very suddenly. You may notice your drain backing up in the shower or extra hair in your comb while you are detangling your hair (and we could be talking about a overwhelming amount of hair) and it will probably cause you to panic at first. Stress has caused your hair follicles to enter an early resting phase, which results in extra shedding at one period of time. Luckily, this should resolve within a few months of resolving your initial stressor or weight loss (as this is also common in those who are dieting successfully) and begin to grow back like normal. Thank goodness!
Alopecia Areata will present similarly to Telogen Effluvium and is thought to be cause by several different things — one of them being severe stress. This condition occurs when your body’s immune system starts attacking your hair follicles in an almost auto-immune type of reaction. Luckily, this condition is also reversible is the underlying stressor or condition is treated.
Now, this is not to say that a sudden rapid increase in shedding should be ignored. Hair loss can be the first sign or symptom in many underlying conditions, so even if you know you are stressed, it never hurts to follow up on any hair loss with your primary hair doctor or dermatologist to assure there is nothing more serious going on before assuming it is stress. Better to be safe than sorry!
We hope this helped ease your hair loss worries as much as it did for us!
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