I am Going Bald

I am going through some major hair loss right now and each time I shower and brush my hair I feel like this lady below, seriously though!

My baby is now almost four months old and I am currently going through a type of hair loss called Telogen Effluvium. I was hoping I would not get it this time around because the delivery and first three months were much less traumatic, but it is here and I hope it is at the peak and will start to slow down.

There are many types of hair loss, but I will be talking about this one since it is pretty common and I am currently experiencing it:) Did you know that it can be normal to lose up to 100 hairs a day due to the normal hair cycle? I don’t know about you, but 100 hairs seemed like a ton to me.

What is a normal hair cycle?

The hair growth cycle can be divided into three cycles:

1. Anagen – actively growing hair
2. Catagen – Transition phase lasting 2-3 weeks where growth stops and follicle shrinks and
3. Telogen – Resting phase for 1-4 months (up to 10% of hairs in a normal scalp).

Now think about this, if there is a shock to your system, such as childbirth, your hair cycle can reverse the ratio and your Anagen (growing) hairs can be triggered into Telogen (resting) phase.

Telogen Effluvium is a non-scarring type of hair loss where over-shedding occurs 2 to 6 months after an inciting event that stops active hair growth.

It is commonly caused by the following stressors:

1. Fever, weight loss, pregnancy/childbirth
2. Illness, psychological stress (Accident, death, divorce, etc..)
3. Surgical operations, medications, and others

You will not go bald with Telogen effluvium, even though you will feel like it! It is self-correcting and rarely influenced by any treatment that can be given. The biggest thing in the treatment of this condition is fixing the inciting event.

Now I want to mention one thing about hair vitamins that seem to be all the rage right now. If you have some sort of social media account I am sure you have seen celebrities and bloggers push Sugar Bear Hair vitamins. These blue gummy candies look cute but they are not going to help your hair grow! They contain vitamin A and C and a couple of different B vitamins and Biotin. Biotin is not the holy grail when it comes to hair loss and there are actually very weak studies to suggest that Biotin improves hair, unless you have a Biotin deficiency which is really rare. I am not saying it won’t help, the power of placebo is real, and it won’t hurt so you can give it a try. However, a deficiency in Iron, Ferritin, vitamin B12, folic acid can slow hair growth. In short, my opinion is eating a healthy diet high in protein, fruits and vegetables is probably better for your hair than blue gummy bears:)