When you are feeling good, your vibrant health is reflected in your shining and radiant hair. But if you are under stress, you may have noticed hair loss.
Hair loss is a sign that stress has pushed your body off balance. When you are under stress, you notice hair loss as well as dull and lifeless hair that has become waxy with the overproduction of traumatised sebaceous glands.
Hair loss experts call sudden and rapid hair loss telogen effluvim, a common condition experienced by people who have had a shock to their system. For example, women after childbirth, people with high fevers, people who go on fasts or rapid weight-loss diets and those recovering from surgery or other stresses may deal with hair loss.
If you have experienced stress, your hair follicles will prematurely stop growing and enter a resting phase. The good news about your hair loss, if it is the result of stress, is your condition is not typically permanent and does not lead to baldness.
Telogen effluvim, which affects more women than men, increases the percentage of hairs in the resting phase from 10 percent to about 30 percent. After a few months, you may notice clumps of hair have fallen from the front of your head.
As soon as your body finds its equilibrium and you recovered from stress, the hair loss should cease. People who have suffered stress due to deaths in the family, abuse or accidents may experience hair loss. Temporary hair loss can also be caused by a number of factors such as therapy, severe emotional stress, pregnancy, dieting, the termination of a pregnancy and change in birth control pills.
Hair loss after the stress associated with terminating a pregnancy also occurs due to sudden changes in hormone levels. The hair enters a resting phase and is usually shed three months after the abortion.
Hair loss from stress may be distressing as you notice thinning throughout the whole scalp. It may be unattractive to find chunks of hair loss while you are braiding your hair or curling it for a night out on the town.
Your hair is one of the first places your body shows distress. Illness, medication and imbalances in nutrition all show up in you hair and scalp. Even aspirins and over the counter allergy pills or cold tablets can have a negative effect on your hair, especially if your hair is chemically treated with colour or a permanent rinse.
While stress hair loss is usually temporary due to sudden and severe stress, some hair loss continues until you resolve the root of the problem.
There are no magic pills we can take or miracle foods we can eat to have healthy hair, but we can feed our hair and scalp by eating the foods that promote physical health and well being.
One must avoid foods that are high in oils and fats - red meats, fried foods, most nuts and nut products - and limit your intake of shellfish and iodised salt because they contain too much iodine. Iodine does help hair growth, but too much can cause acne.
Chocolate and cocoa product, cheese, sugar, coffee and tea, as well as alcohol, should be eliminated or at least restricted, because they can trigger systematic problems that upset the delicate balance between your hair and its environment, the scalp.
For women as well as men, stress hair loss can mean even more stress in your life. But instead of feeling additional stress, look at your hair loss as your body's central nervous system's way of communicating a problem. Your hair is part of an early warning distress system that may be warning you the medication you are taking is not helpful or you need to take a vacation to avoid stress. Reducing stress can stop stress hair loss so consider trying relaxation techniques, yoga and meditation.
By: Michael Douglas