Hair loss after illness

[baanoo]

Hello all! I am hoping some of you may have some counsel, or at least commiseration.

My hair is almost to my waist, completely natural color, fine, a mix of the 2s in texture. With the exception of this one tin little problem, it’s super healthy.

Last winter, when I joined the LHC, I was recovering from a very, very serious case of pneumonia – the very week I got the “your lungs have finally cleared!” from my dr covid hit nyc and everything shut down. A while later, I would say maybe around late April(?) I started to have major hair fall. Just incredible. My hair was always fine but thick! Now it’s much thinner and tbh ...makes me pretty sad. I already survived a brutal respiratory illness right before the coronavirus came and changed everything!

I read that it’s common after illnesses with prolonged high fevers (which I had) to experience hair fall a few months later. It eventually grows back in, but still - you have to wait. I started taking prenatal vitamins in February as well as a hair/skin/nails focused supplement with the hopes that they would help but I can’t really tell with my hair.

Have any of you experienced this or have any advice as to how to help best support my poor hair as it grows back? Thank you all ❤️❤️

[CuteCrow]

We recently had a very similar thread from dagny https://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=152611. I also suffered from something similar and recently my hair stopped falling so much and returned to its normal shedding amount.

[hennalonghair]

Yes. Many time’s. Last month I lost a huge amount of hair. Hair can also bounce back unexpectedly. Worrying about hair loss certainly isn’t going to help any. We all go through it.
Note: I hope that didn’t come across as dismissive.
It’s just that worrying about hair loss can cause hair loss.
I find eating good proteins and daily massages helped me a lot as well as hair and nail supplements.
Beat of luck to you.

[baanoo]

Oh thank you! I hadn’t seen that thread yet. I’m glad yours has returned to normal!

[baanoo]

Hi henna, yes, you’re right - worrying generally doesn’t tend to be productive & no you’re not dismissive!

Do you give yourself fingertip scalp massages to help stimulate growth? I’ve been focusing on my diet and supplement game & am glad to hear it’s just part of the cycle.

[lapushka]

It can do that to you. It can.

Good for you for recovering! :flower: I hope you stay well & safe! :)

I would definitely check that thread out. I suffered hormonal hair loss at the start of puberty. I know how it feels (I had about 3 big coin size bald spots) and major thinning going on. It is absolutely terrible to go through. I was clutching at straws at the time. My mom bought me vitamins and a lotion, none of it did anything, but it made me feel better. After about a year my hormones settled naturally and I was through it. During that time, I just let it grow, and it went from a grown out pixie to about APL'ish, with of course thinner bits in there.

I would at least give it a year. It is (and I am not going to lie) going to take time. I would not cut the hair, but maybe maintaining it would not be a bad idea. After all it is waist already, and it can only thicken back up. I think you're probably through the worst of it. Usually 3 months after a major stressful event your hair starts to fall out.

Good luck with recovery! :)

[baanoo]

Thank you so much, lapushka! I’m considering getting a trim at the end of the summer to even up some layers and hopefully that will, at least, make me feel better while my hair recovers and regrows. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️