Losing Your Hair Through Stress
Tagged: balding, hair loss, hair loss causes, hair loss preventionStress is something everyone deals with at some point of their lives, some more often than others. In the wake of the third quarter financial tsunami in 2008, lay offs and retrenchment have started, so it’s no surprise that the stress levels of many have sky rocketed.
I’ve mentioned that stress induced hair loss is not a hair loss myth but in fact a reality. So the question now is, how do you lose your hair through stress and more importantly, what can you do to prevent stress induced hair loss through these tough times?
Stress doesn’t directly contribute to one’s hair loss, however. Rather, a person under stress actually falls into certain personal habits that might lead to hair loss. The most common type of stress-induced hair loss is telogen effluvium. This condition may take six to twelve months to reverse.
Types of emotional or physical stress can include a death in the family, pregnancy, severe weight loss or surgery, pressure from retrenchment, termination of pregnancy and severe emotional stress, to name a few.
Here are some of the personal habits that people frequently fall into during periods of stress.
Poor Diet
When people are overstressed, they tend to neglect their eating habits. When this happens, your hair growth can be drastically affected. For example, a normal person will shed about 100 follicles a day. This amount is
automatically replenished by your body. A person with bad eating habits however, will shed 200 - 300 follicles a day, much more than what your body can replenish. This, causes significant hair loss.
Thankfully, all is not lost. To reverse the effect, one should get a balanced diet rich in protein, with low fats and carbohydrate content. The added nutrients will bring the rate at which you shed your hair to normal levels, and eventually your scalp will replenish your hair naturally.
Alcohol And Cigarettes
When people are stressed, they sometimes fall into vices to cope with the stress. Alchohol and cigarettes are relaxants, and being readily available and legal, are sometimes overindulged in by people going through periods of high stress.
It’s been shown in studies that hair loss is also one fo the effects of over indulgence in alcohol or cigarettes, so at least cut down on your alcohol and nicotine intake to prevent all your luscious locks from falling out.
A little piece of advice for those who are currently stressed at work or feeling the pressure of retrenchment. The remedies given here will not permenantly fix your problems, they are simply patch jobs to stall the problem. The economy will not change just because you stress and worry abt it everyday. Hence, do youtself a favour, learn to laugh at your problems more, keep healthy and a positive outlook in life.
Related Links:
- Stress Induced Hair Loss: The Bald Truth
- Stress and hair loss: Are they related?
- Stress And Hair Loss
Naturally Regrow Lost Hair Within Weeks
No chemicals, drugs, Rogaine® or transplants!
- Hair Loss Myths - True or False?, July 31, 2008
- Common Hair Loss Causes, September 22, 2008
- Salt & Copper Will Affect Your Hair, December 9, 2008
- Does Finasteride Make You Gain Weight?, August 1, 2009
- Top 10 Hair Loss FAQs, November 7, 2008

I started losing a lot of hair last year through stress. I didnt know it was stress related at first,eventually after changing my diet and starting yoga to relax my hair started growing back.
Hi Helen,
Prolonged stress does all sorts of terrible things to you body
A little of it is supposed to be good for you.
I am so glad you are doing yoga and eating healthier. And that your hair is growing back!
Cherry