What has stress done to your hair?

[rena]

As of now my arch-nemesis is constant stress as I am a student who's academic integrity has been compromised a few too many times.

The stress causes my hair growth to slow down and my hairs begin to snap off more easily it seems. I have gone eight years without a hair cut yet my hair stayed in the same place because of this. What new hair that comes in doesn't look or feel that nice either.

What happened to you?

Edit:

Maybe we should call this "the shed thread"

[tinywife]

Straw. That soon fell out.

[caadam]

I've got silver hairs from stress... ugh.

[Dreams_in_Pink]

Shedding. :(

[jojo]

I had extreme stress last year and it affected my growth plus I grew a lot of greys, which dont really bother me plus I henna but the slow growth got me down. My stress levels are quite good now and I am back to normal growth.

[GoddesJourney]

Aside from the temporary grey hairs that turned back to brown later on, it just stopped growing. I put on a lot of weight (unexplainable with my genes) and then my hair growth just came to a screeching halt for months (also unexplainable with my genes). It was so amazing. The stress more or less went away with some adjusting of lifestyle and then the weight fell off and my hair started growing again. This was a beautiful thing. Can't wait 'til everything is all back to normal. Almost. Getting there.

[Eolan]

Shedding, big time. I still suffer from the effects, since my hair still isn't back to it's normal thickness.

[Juneii]

Excess sebum. Probably from running my fingers through my hair in frustration too often.

[HintOfMint]

Massive shedding. But it's not just stress as it is stressful conditions. Little sleep and poor eating habits probably contributed as well.

[Ludde]

Going bald with long term stress.

[Tabitha]

A couple of times, I developed a little hole in my hair, both times in the same place; once was after having my handbag stolen, the second time was following a bereavement. It began to grow back and fill in after a few months.

[Shanazel]

Stress definitely causes it to get thinner.

[Avital88]

Well i used to have a lot of stress when i dumped the father of my baby because he was cheating on me:s and i think i lost 2/3 of my hair by shedding.
It was terrible.
Make sure you eat good nutritions and try maybe meditation,even if its 15min a day it can actually work!
Good luck
xx

[2peasinapod]

Stress is awful. My last job was so stressful that I developed horrible GERD (Gastroesophageal reflux disease - throwing up after eating). My hair was lackluster and started to fall out, too. :(

I agree with the suggestion to get good nutrition. I don't know your situation, but make sure you take time out for you. Meditating always helped me, but some nice relaxing music, a warm bubble bath or hot shower, and/or a cup of tea or hot chocolate is nice, too.

Good luck to you, and I hope you get some relief from the stress soon. :grouphug:

[rena]

Wow...I'm sorry to hear these things happened to you all. I do hope everything is going much better for you guys now. Thanks for sharing your experiences and the reccomendations! Good luck to you all as well! :love:

[MandaMom2Three]

I've had a LOT of stress this year, now I'm wondering if the fact that I've shed MUCH more than usual this past year is actually related to that! :hmm: Hopefully 2011 will be a little less insane and I can get some thickness back to my too thin to begin with hair!

[pepperminttea]

Increased shedding, and more oil production. It wasn't pretty.

[spidermom]

As far as I can tell - nothing whatsoever.

[rena]

As far as I can tell - nothing whatsoever.

Lucky thing you!

[ChatNoir]

Shed, shed, shed... I've been diagnosed with strong periodical anxiety. Whenever I'm having a bad period, I shed like crazy!

[Becky Safari]

Shedding
Sugar binges
Lack of sleep
Stress

[Amraann]

Shedding worse then my golden retriever!

There is just long red hair all over the house. It is just really bad.
I am very upset about it which I am sure only stresses me and makes it worse.

[Mexibeach]

Shedding.... and I must say that the stress was a result of my last haircut!!!!!!

[Alvrodul]

I am going through a rather stressful time right now, and seem to be shedding more than usual. But it might also be seasonal.

[ravenreed]

I have gone through several periods of severe stress in my life and my hair sheds like crazy. The first time it happened, I was eight years old and my grandmother had taken me to get a hair cut. The girl at the salon was so unhappy because she couldn't comb my hair without it coming out in handfuls. She refused to cut it and told my grandmother to take me to the doctor.

[Vorvolaka]

I shed. A lot. Although, id doesn't seem to stop growing, which is interesting.

I have a lovely band of new growth right now because I was ill and stessed for a long time this year. Final year of university and hormone imbalances are not good for hair!

[Juneii]

Hmm I am reading through everyone's responses... It seems like the majority shed when stressed. Why is that?

[Vorvolaka]

Hmm I am reading through everyone's responses... It seems like the majority shed when stressed. Why is that?

Well, I'd say mine was far more likely to be hormone related than stress. But hair is pretty non-essential to your body so I think it 'switches off' the hair follicle to focus on other things.

*shrugs* I don't know, I'm speculating.

[Emerald88]

Absolutely horrific shedding! I have lost between 1/4 and 1/2 inch of my hair circumference so far in the past 2 months. Over the past week there have been a couple of days when it seems to be slowing down, but then it's bad again the next day. I am praying & keeping my fingers crossed that it is close to stopping. Also it has been really unmanageable & tangle prone.

[Feng-Shui]

I had very much stress since July.

If I much stress have then I get lack of iron.

Last times before I was gotten this diagnosis before 1 1/2 years and I had some more hair shedding.

Two weeks ago I was as a check iron and had lack of iron.

I get now 3 injections iron.

Received I 1 injection so far and it go to me already much better.

So far I did not have fortunately hair shedding again.

I think I have it still promptly notices.

But I had only very little new growth of November up to now.:justy:

It is really important if you notices to changes in the hair the blood for lack check to let.

[lilravendark]

When I was finishing up yr 12 which was 5 years ago (geez time flys) I was stressed worried about exams and what to do , then worried about uni fees and money just not coping well and my hair was falling out it was waist to classic back then. I went to the hair dressers and she was washing it and called over her assistant to show her how much hair was falling out and said it was a lot more than normal. She said is was most likely stress also it was quite thin near my hair line back then. Now I'm not stressed these days and its grown back thicker and doesnt come out in clumps I also attribute this to my BB brush must stimulate the scalp hehe

[~BoHemiAngel~]

I can totally relate. I lost about 1/3 of my hair thickness from shedding due to stress and poor nutrition. I moved about 3,000 miles away from home to start a new school, and then my apartment was broken into within 2 weeks of moving into my new place, and all my stuff was stolen. Welcome to the neighborhood!

Anyway, after adding some supplements to my diet and getting good protein and fats in, my hair is finally starting to grow back. Oh, and moving to a different apartment complex helped a lot! ;)

If you suffer from ongoing stress, I would highly recommend an adrenal supplement, such as a product with Rhodiola, Ashwaghanda, or Ginseng in it. Gaia Herbs makes a good one: http://www.amazon.com/Gaia-Herbs-Adrenal-Health-120-capsule/dp/B0036THML2

I hope your hair (and your adrenals) recover soon from all the stress! :flower:

[fairy_ends_girl]

stress has caused me to get silver hairs, thinning hair, dry hair and hair that never seems to grow. :(

[Rapunzelwannabe]

I shed when I'm under prolonged stress, and my scalp gets ridiculously itchy and built-up feeling between washes. I have a feeling my growth stalls too but when I'm real stressed I don't tend to look at my growth rates too carefully. Interestingly though the quality of the hairs the survive the stress shed are pretty wonderful in terms of smoothness and shine!

[ingvild]

When I'm stressed I tend to pull out my hair. XD And I think I've shed more this past semester (which was extremely stressful!) as well, or at least, now that I'm home at my parent's on a very lazy holiday, I seem to shed less. :)

[BeatlesFanGirl]

Nothing. I'm someone who doesnt stress too much, but if I do for some reasons, it doesnt affect my hair BUT my skin, I get awful acne. Products and nutrition affects my hair a lot, when I used conventional products (Joico) I used to shed like crazy, since I use organic ones I don't shed much. Same with chemicals (even temporary hair colour, I've never used permanent one), they cause shed too. Good nutrition results in very healthy hair and fast growth.

[castano]

I guess it's stress that brought me silver or rather white hair whereas I'm just 23

[jasper]

Yeah, I am one of those people who, when stress has me pulling my hair out, will, if I don't catch myself, be pulling my hair out.

[EmiliaF]

Shedding. Whenever I am under a lot of stress I start losing ridiculous amounts of hair... and because my hair is so long I then always start to wonder how on earth the new growth is supposed to catch up... and if the shedding goes on for some time I won't have much long hair left at all at some point... and that causes more stress ^^

[Uni&Corn]

College this semester has definitely given me a lot of stress...but I didn't notice any effects on my hair. As I am usually hair-obsessive, I think I would have noticed if it did. I guess it's different for everybody?

[Kallenie]

Well I shed, but I also don't eat correctly. Which means that I go super low on iron and then shed even more. -__-

Then I stress because I'm stressed and worried about eating correctly.

[mellie89]

For me, being stressed usually goes hand in hand with poor eating, exercising, and sleeping habits. The combination gives me really lackluster hair that sheds more than usual. I have noticed some thinning around my temples in the last year or so.

I'm under stress constantly at school because I have to achieve a certain GPA each semester to keep my scholarship, without which I would not be able to pay for school. I never noticed any detrimental effects from short-term stress, just the chronic stress in the last two years.

My hair is noticeably thinner than it was in high school, although it is quite healthy.

[TheBluffs]

Thined it. :/

[SummerSkye]

It made lots of it fall out. I had an accident about three years ago and six months later I noticed I has lost a considerable amount of hair, I was told that this was due to the shock at the time of the accident! It seemed to set a pattern that unfortunately whenever I got stressed I would lose hair, the bigger the stress the more hair I would lose, very very stressful and horrible within itself. After trying many different supplements and vitamins I went to see a herbalist who diagnosed adrenal fatugue and I was put on a curse of herbal remedy. This was three months ago and I no longer seem to be losing hair and it is overall looking way thicker and healthier now, Im being cautiously opptimist!

[anodyne_ame]

Mine sheds a lot, my scalp gets greasier faster and the ends dry out. There's a massive slowing down in growth too (but I've noticed the dark winter also has an effect, I'm like a plant that way).
But in my case all of the above are also very closely linked to what I eat, how much I excercise and sleep.

[Dark Queen]

I'm sure it had a lot to do with my increased shedding. I also had nutrition problems, but that's a whole other story. I also started getting grays at 21.

[Cailie]

I actually have a small bald patch on my head (close to my ear, about 1 cm x 1cm), and I am pretty sure it it stressed related ... and it doesn't seem to be growing back :(



"The condition of a person's hair can tell you a lot about stress levels in their lives. Happiness and serenity in a person's life will be reflected by healthy looking, shiny hair. However, those with dry, lifeless, poor hair are likely encountering a depressing situation and are struggling to adapt.

Hair loss induced by stress usually occurs after severe stress, such as surgery or illness. This is referred to telogen effluvium and may take as long as six to twelve months to reverse."


Source : http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/72021.php
See also : http://www.aocd.org/skin/dermatologic_diseases/telogen_effluvium.html

[dernhelm]

Major shedding/thinning, straw texture, and a depressing growth stall.