All posts by miriam

An auto-immune disorder is one caused by an overactive or excessive response by your body’s immune system to something that is already present in the body. This means that the body mistakes a normal tissue or substance for a pathogen (an infectious agent) and attacks it.

These kinds of diseases can be limited to a particular organ, or it can affect the same tissue in different places of the body. One notable example of this is the hair loss disorder alopecia areata, which can affect hair all over the epidermis (skin).

Although alopecia areata is suspected to have hereditary causes, it is generally considered to be an auto-immune disorder. In people with the condition, the body attacks its own hair follicles, therefore stopping or inhibiting the growth of hair. T-cell lymphocytes are believed to cluster around the affected follicles, which in turn causes inflammation and the loss of hair.

What triggers alopecia?

It is currently thought that a combination of emotional trauma or stress, a pathogen and possibly hereditary factors will trigger the condition. Alopecia areata often starts suddenly, and can be difficult to diagnose due to the many factors that can trigger it.

Women with hair loss generally try anything and everything in the attempt to find a cure for their condition and grow their hair back. However, all the miracle products and revolutionary treatments in the world won’t remedy your hair loss problem if you don’t know what’s causing it in the first place.

This is why the first place to start on the road to hair loss recovery is with a formal diagnosis. Unfortunately, because hair loss can have so many, often complicated causes, this is not always as easy as visiting your family doctor. What your GP can do, however, is some groundwork on your diagnosis, as well as referring you to specialists who can hopefully help you.

Not all female hair loss cases are simple to diagnose, so you need to prepare yourself for a number of medical appointments and plenty of tests. You may need to see dermatologists, trichologists and other specialists before you can pinpoint the exact cause of your hair loss.

Finding the cause of hair loss is so important because it points the way to effective treatment. With the details of your condition in front of them, your doctor or specialist should be able to tell you exactly what to do next.

Losing your hair can make a massive dent in your self-confidence, as well as completely changing your perception of how you look. This can negatively affect your life if you let it.

To boost your confidence and self-esteem, and feel good about yourself again, try these helpful tips:

• Accept yourself and what you look like, as well as what’s happening to your hair. You can’t change it right now, so there’s no point making yourself miserable and wishing the problem would go away

• Stop comparing yourself to other people – even when you have hair, this will never do your self-esteem any good

• Remember: true beauty comes from who you are as a person. It doesn’t matter what physical changes you go through, you will always be you

• Try not to worry what other people think of you and what you look like – it is your own opinion that matters

• Take back control of what is happening to you, by researching your hair loss condition and getting a formal diagnosis from a trichologist (a hair loss specialist)

• If you need an extra confidence boost, consider human hair wigs or other, more advanced hair replacement solutions.

A number of female hair loss conditions are caused by emotional or physiological trauma, stress or hormonal changes in the body. This is why it is important to learn ways to beat stress, to avoid conditions such as alopecia areata and telogen effluvium which can cause considerable hair loss.

The following are a few useful tips to help you avoid or cope with stress:

1. Find out what stress really is. The sooner you are able to understand stress and its effects on the body, the better you will be able to recognise the signs and take positive action to reduce stress.

2. Sort out work problems. If excessive workload or bullying at work is causing your stress, you need to speak to your boss about it right away. Don’t be afraid to explain how you feel – everyone gets stressed sometimes and your health is more important than any deadline.

3. Talk out your problems with a close friend or someone you can trust. This can make you feel a hundred times better, as you work through what’s bothering you and release some tension.

4. Learn how to relax, and do things that help you to release stress. Some people like to read a book to wind down, whilst others prefer exercise to let off some steam and get an adrenaline boost.

Androgenic alopecia, or pattern baldness, doesn’t just happen to men. A considerable number of women throughout the world have the condition, which is mainly caused by genetic factors. This means that you can inherit androgenic alopecia from your mother, father or their parents, and there isn’t much you can do to stop it happening.

What many women with pattern baldness choose to do, however, is to take control of their hair loss through hair replacement systems. Developed as an alternative to human hair wigs, the following hair replacement systems provide bespoke and personally tailored solutions to help you manage your hair loss and take back control of how you look.

• Medi Connections. This is a hair replacement system designed for people who have experienced fine or thinning hair. This can include women in the early stages of androgenic alopecia. The system uses ultra-fine, light hair extensions to cover areas where hair is lost or thinning, and generally improve the volume and thickness of hair.

• The Intralace System. This system again uses light, fine hair extensions to cover and disguise hair loss, but on a larger scale. It can be integrated with your existing hair to create a natural, healthy look.

Female hair loss can have many causes, not all of which you can do anything about (i.e. hereditary conditions). However, some types of hair loss can be caused by something you’re doing or more accurately – what you’re not doing.

The body needs certain vitamins, minerals and nutrients in order to stay healthy and specifically, create red blood cells. If you aren’t eating properly or getting enough of these nutrients as part of your daily diet, you could run the risk of developing anaemia. This condition has a wide range of symptoms, one of the most notable being hair loss.

There are three main types of anaemia that can trigger hair loss. These are:

Iron deficiency anaemia

This is the most common form of anaemia, caused by not getting enough vitamin C and iron in your diet. Symptoms include rapid hair loss, depression, dry hair, weight loss and paleness. Women are more susceptible to the condition than men due to menstruation.

Copper toxicity anaemia

This can be triggered by many things – eating too much meat, smoking, using prescription medications containing copper – and it can cause hair loss, insomnia, headaches and even hypoglycaemia.

Pernicious anaemia

This is a type of anaemia caused by vitamin B12 deficiency and generally affecting people over 40 years old. It can cause weight loss, hair colour change, rapid hair loss and dry hair.