Stress and Hair Loss. Ever feel like stress is the root cause of everything in your body? Insomnia? Weight gain? Acne? Hair Loss?

Your feeling is right. Increased stress can negatively impact the body in a number of ways, including hair loss. In fact, there are three different types of stress-related hair loss you should be aware of.

Alopecia Areata

Alopecia Areata is one of many types of hair loss, a condition in which the body’s own immune system attacks hair follicles, eventually causing hair loss. In such a condition, hair loss can cause hair to fall out in a round shape.

Many factors are thought to be responsible for it, including anxiety and depressive symptoms.

Telogen Effluvium

Telogen Effluvium is a condition characterized by thinning or shedding of hair after the follicle prematurely enters the Telogen phase. This is usually caused by chronic stress, stressful events, medical conditions like a surgery or poor diet. Paul Green, Trichologist and Surgical Director at Evolved Clinics says, “When the system is hit, up to 70% of the scalp hair is shed in large numbers within about 2 months after the ‘shock’. This however is a temporary phenomenon, which gets reversed after several months.

A recent example of this condition is the stress induced by COVID-19 pandemic, where a number of people are losing hair after being tested positive. Want to read more, check out our article, “COVID-19 and Hair Loss”.

Trichotillomania

Trichotillomania or Traction Alopecia is an impulse control disorder characterized by the desire to pluck one’s own hair—whether from the scalp, eyebrows, beard or other parts of the body. Various emotional states, such as feelings of anxiety or depression, can cause its onset.

The good news in all of this is that if you can manage your stress and regain a healthy emotional and physical state, your hair may grow back. For many people, this is only temporary hair loss that can be reversed over time.

What to do with men’s hair loss?

The less good news is that stress does not cause Male Pattern Baldness. Permanent Male hair loss is genetic and has nothing to do with your mental state.

Unlike stress-related hair loss, it is a chronic disease with no permanent cure except a Hair Transplant. That is, if a person does not start treatment on time, eventually he will go bald and at that time, even a hair transplant may not work. While there’s no shame in going bald, there are hair loss prevention treatments also to stop hair loss, if you’re interested.

So how do you know which type of hair loss you are dealing with? You can discuss your situation with Evolved Clinic’s Hair Loss Specialist and better understand your options.