Hair yesterday, gone today :(

[hennared]

Hi there -

I'm experiencing a pretty serious hair fallout, and I was wondering if anyone had a similar experience. (I searched the board, but it seems most women who have posted about hair loss have been experiencing it in the aftermath of childbirth).


Long story short, I had, not too long ago, fairly thick, full, strong hair. Damaged ends, but nothing too terrible. In the beginning of June, I lost my 'dream job' with zero warning, 2 months after having relocating myself across country and starting my whole life over. Shortly after losing my job, my hair started to fallout.. and at this point, a month and a half later, I've lost about 50% of the volume of my hair :( It is extremely depressing! I can't STAND to look at it, touch it, pull it back.. my ponytail is a LOT thinner , now.

I have had a life full of change and stressful times, but I have never, ever experienced anything like this. I am 41, so, I wonder if this is also some menopausal precursor sort of thing instead of/along with the stress factor of recent events. I've never historically had any 'female troubles' hormonally, but now I am beginning to wonder :/

Anyway... what I really want to know, is, has anyone else experienced this AND later experienced a re-growth - even at my 'advanced' age? I know I can't 'know' for sure, but I am trying to assess the odds that my formerly full head of hair can and will return. And how long it might take. And what I can do to help it along.

Anyone?

Hennared

[Kittee]

I just went through the same thing, heck, still going through it but my cause is medical in nature. *hugs*

[ChloeDharma]

You really are not alone in this....i even started a hairloss support thread and if you read that you will see lots of us here have gone through something similar for a variety of reasons.
First thing i'd advise though is to go see your doctor and get some tests done, just to make sure your thyroid is ok, no diabetes, lupus, nutrient deficiencies etc. Also maybe get your hormones checked as you are in that perimenopause kinda time.
But it sounds like stress is a very likely cause, so i'd tackle that......it doesn't matter what you put on your hair, the underlying cause has to be fixed first. Do some research into stress management and do whatever you can to manage it and also compensate for it's physical effects....ie eat complex carbs, foods rich in B vitamins, etc.

Things that i have found help me are regular scalp massage, preferably at least nightly, brushing my scalp (i often do that after a scalp massage if i've not heavily oiled).
I also found switching to herb washing reduced my shedding. I also find scalp oiling helps...might just be the massage but i think the oils do something too.

[Darkhorse1]

This happened to me in my twenties. I was going through a LOT of stress (homeless, family relations severed, no money) and I noticed I was shedding a LOT of hair. I mean, when I realized it wasn't just regular shedding, and I'd found a place to live--the flooring was old--70s style tiles, so my hair color blended. When I was cleaning up one day, I just picked up PILES of hair. I then went to the bathroom and noticed my hair was thinner at the scalp. I also had severe dandruff to the point of scales on my scalp--itchy, large flakes that were painful when I scratched and would bleed.

The good news? My hair is long, thick and shiny now! Almost 10 years later, but I noticed new growth immediatly when things started to settle down. My hair grows very fast, and I have a lot of it, so I am very lucky, but it really freaked me out.

See if you can do scalp massages--this worked for a friend of my mom's who was losing hair by the handfulls before her wedding.

Hair that sheds due to major stress grows back.

[FrannyG]

Like Darkhorse1, I had an experience with this in my twenties. There was no medical reason for it at all, but I was definitely going through a lot of stress.

Now, I've been through stressful times before and since, but for whatever reason, the stress reaction that particular time resulted in a massive shed.

My hair all came back very quickly, but it was very sobering, indeed.

Please do however, check into the possible health problems that ChloeDharma suggested. It's much better to rule out any serious medical problems as quickly as possible, as your worry over your health could contribute to even more stress.

I wish you well, and you take care of yourself. Everything is going to be okay. :flowers:

[hennared]

Thanks, guys -

Yes, I would really like to get any serious medical stuff ruled out, but I will to wait a month, yet. I just started working again, and the health insurance won't kick in until September 1!

If nothing else, this sure has me babying the Hell out of my hair, and going full tilt on helpful supplements and herbs. (nothing too crazy, and my diet is generally very full of good veggies and stuff. But I've added a more serious multivitamin, a serious dose of biotin, and lots of mineralizing herbal infusions).

Scalp massage is intriguing.. I guess I'm so paranoid about my hair, now, I don't seem to want my head and hair touched at all! But I can see the sense in it, stimulating the circulation.

-Hennared

[ChloeDharma]

Thanks, guys -

Yes, I would really like to get any serious medical stuff ruled out, but I will to wait a month, yet. I just started working again, and the health insurance won't kick in until September 1!

If nothing else, this sure has me babying the Hell out of my hair, and going full tilt on helpful supplements and herbs. (nothing too crazy, and my diet is generally very full of good veggies and stuff. But I've added a more serious multivitamin, a serious dose of biotin, and lots of mineralizing herbal infusions).

Scalp massage is intriguing.. I guess I'm so paranoid about my hair, now, I don't seem to want my head and hair touched at all! But I can see the sense in it, stimulating the circulation.

-Hennared

You can massage your scalp without rubbing your hair much....just hold the pads of your fingers on your scalp starting at the hairline and move the scalp in circular movements...so you are moving the skin itself not rubbing it. You can obviously add in stuff afterwards that that's a very gentle way of doing it.