Losing your hair? It could be stress

Sep 17 2005
Western Mail

The hectic pace of modern life and stressful working hours could be to blame for premature hair loss and even greying.

Experts say they are seeing more people suffering hair loss as a result of stress.

The comments come as Scottish television presenter Gail Porter unveiled her shaved head and red mohican after suffering from stress-related alopecia.

Her blond hair, as seen in the picture, right, had been falling out for weeks until she decided to take drastic action, following a turbulent year which had seen her going through a divorce from husband Dan Hipgrave, caring for her three-year-old daughter Honey and travelling to America every two weeks. She has also struggled with post-natal depression and in March took an overdose of pain-killers in a cry for help.

She said, "In a way shaving my head feels like a new beginning for me. It's me saying goodbye to everything that's been going on. I have had my share of stress this year and I just want to start looking forward now. I'm not on the edge of a nervous breakdown or anything like that."

The Institute of Trichologists, experts in the science of the structure, function and diseases of the human hair, said the type of alopecia Ms Porter suffers from - alopecia areata - affects about one in 100 people and has been linked to stress.

The condition typically causes one or more small bald patches, which are about the size of a 50p piece, to appear on the scalp. The hair may start to re-grow at one site, while another bald patch develops. But the hair may also thin all over.

Alopecia occurs when the body's immune system begins to attack its own hair follicles, and special white blood cells in the body cause the hair to stop growing. The hair then enters into the resting phase before falling out. But the follicles remain active and can start to produce new hair shafts.

Suzanne Tantrum, of the Cardiff Clinic of Trichology, said, "Stress can do all sorts of things to people - shock, worry and illness can inadvertently put stress on the body without us even knowing it.

"Stress can certainly accelerate hair loss problems and it can be something which happens two to four months after the event of extreme stress."

Normal genetic hair loss, or male pattern baldness, usually happens at a certain point in a person's life and is generally inherited, although it can skip generations. She said the old wives' tale that hair literally turning white overnight after a shock was untrue, but people can lose their darker hairs, leaving grey hair. Stress is thought to accelerate the normal balding processes or trigger temporary hair loss, or alopecia.

Miss Tantrum added, "If you are stressed at Christmas time, be it financial worries or emotional worries, you wouldn't notice any hair loss until February, March or even April, because it can take so many months.

"Generally such hair loss is temporary but if you don't know what is going on and you worry about your hair falling out, it can create a vicious cycle of stress and hair loss. If a person's diet is really poor and they aren't getting enough protein or iron, particularly at stressful times, then the body does not have the right fuel to cope."