All posts by miriam

As an adult, losing your hair can be very distressing. As an image-conscious, insecure teenager, however, a hair loss condition can be devastating.

Going to school or college every day and facing the often harsh and insensitive judgement of your peers can be very damaging to the self-esteem of an adolescent with hair loss, which is why it’s important to get a formal diagnosis from the doctor and find out what exactly is causing the hair to fall out.

Hair loss in teens can be caused by a number of factors and conditions, such as:

• A medical condition or illness – i.e. thyroid disease, polycystic ovary syndrome or other hormonal conditions

• Medication – Hair loss can often be a side effect of acne medications or diet pills, both of which are taken by some teens

• Alopecia areata – An autoimmune disease causing patchy hair loss, the onset of which is often linked to stress

• Androgenetic alopecia (pattern baldness) – A hereditary hair loss condition

• Trichotillomania – This is a psychological disorder in which the person feels a compulsive urge to pull their own hair out.

• Poor nutrition – People who have eating disorders such as bulimia or anorexia may be at risk from hair loss

One of the side-effects of cancer that a lot of people find it difficult to deal with is hair loss, partly because it is an outward sign of illness. Hair loss in women, in particular, also has the effect of making the sufferer feel less feminine and less confident about their appearance.

This is why it’s so important for cancer patients to have support from friends and family. One inspiring example of this kind of unconditional support is Adele Marshall and her two friends Rachel and Karen.

According to the Huddersfield Daily Examiner, Adele was diagnosed with lymphoma in October 2010. She lost her hair during treatment, so her two close friends Rachel Newall and Karen Thompson decided to shave their heads in a show of support.

Speaking of the motivation behind their bold decision, Rachel said:

“It struck us because we also have another friend who has been battling cancer for two years. I wanted to do something for Lymphoma Research, something longer lasting than a jump out of a plane or a fun run.

“I rang my girlfriends and said this is what I’m going to do, does anyone want to join me?”

Kayla Martell, who is a Miss America contestant and the current Miss Delaware, suffers from alopecia areata and says she is entering the competition to raise awareness about the condition.

“People always assume when they see a girl like me who is bald, that she is either very, very sick, or just ageing. I am neither.”

The modern version of the Miss America competition demands that contestants champion an issue as part of their bid for the title. Martell’s choice was fairly obvious.

She first started losing hair when she was just 10 years old and was taunted about it while at school. She says that at first the hair came away at her parting and the bald patch then began to spread.

From the age of four, Martell wanted to enter beauty pageants and she believes that persisting in her efforts despite suffering from the auto-immune disorder has developed her resilience. She even wonders whether she would have achieved what she has without it.

Martell entered Miss Delaware three times, only emerging victorious after getting a hairpiece, which she has brought along to the Miss World final, along with four others which she will wear at various stages of the competition.

If you have recently developed a female hair loss condition, you are likely to have come across a lot of confusing new terms, abbreviations and acronyms for things relating to your condition.

DHT is one of these new acronyms, one you may hear a lot in online discussions or during visits to your doctor or hair loss specialist. It stands for Dihydrotestosterone, an androgenic hormone found in the hair follicles and other parts of the body (i.e. the prostate and adrenal glands).

The reason you may hear about DHT so much is because it is known to be a major factor in the cause of pattern baldness, also known as telogenic effluvium. It is the primary contributor for the condition in men and it occasionally causes female hair loss. However, female pattern baldness is a little more complicated and can have a number of causes.

What role does DHT play in pattern baldness?

DHT is made from testosterone, the male hormone. If there is too much of this hormone in the body, it affects the hair follicles and causes the hair to thin and grow for less than the usual time. This causes gradual hair loss as the follicles are all affected by DHT at different times, so the balding process takes a longer time.

Women who develop the hair loss disease alopecia often experience feelings of isolation and depression, often because their perception of themselves and their relationship with the world has changed. Along with a drop in self-esteem and confidence, these feelings can also stem from the misconception that no one else understands what they are going through; that they are alone with their female hair loss condition.

As an alopecia sufferer, you must know that you are absolutely not alone. Approximately 1.7 per cent of this country’s population has alopecia or has experienced it in the past, with both men and women being equally affected. The condition has also affected around 4.7 million people in the United States, along with millions more in the rest of the world.

These people will doubtless be experiencing the same kinds of feelings as you. By reaching out to others with alopecia via the Internet or local support groups, you can share these feelings and start to process what is happening to you. Just talking to someone else with the condition can help to alleviate worry and depression and banish negative thoughts. Together, you can support each other through to the day when your hair may grow back again.

In the same way that the cause of hair loss varies from person to person, the management of the condition is a personal decision. It’s all up to you – everything from how the condition will be treated, who you tell about it and whether or not you want to cover your hair loss.

Some people choose to disguise patchy hair loss or total baldness with bandannas, headscarves, hats and human hair wigs. This last option, in particular, is effective at restoring some sense of ‘normalcy’ to your day-to-day life.

However, others feel that by hiding or disguising your hair loss, you are in some way ashamed of it or apologising for it. These people prefer to be bald and proud when they face the world, letting their inner beauty shine through.

There is no right or wrong way to deal with female hair loss, so you shouldn’t feel in any way judged for covering or not covering your head. You are the one going through this often debilitating and overwhelming experience, so you should be the one to make all the decisions. You need to find your own style and your own method of coping, choosing something that makes you feel both comfortable and self-confident.