Category Archives: Hair Loss General

Although nothing can be quite as devastating as cancer, some of the side effects of cancer treatment can be fairly traumatic. For women, this means hair loss.

Chemotherapy treatment attacks all rapidly-dividing cells, regardless of whether they are healthy or not. As hair follicles grow so fast, these are amongst the first to be depleted. This results in rapid shedding of the hair, at a rate that can be alarming and upsetting to the patient.

Losing all your hair at once can be a frightening and debilitating experience, especially for women living in a world that sees thick, healthy hair as a sign of youth and beauty. Breast cancer charity founder and radiation oncologist Marisa Weiss elaborates on this, saying:

“There are studies that show that for many women, losing their hair is worse than losing a breast. That’s because you can conceal the loss of a breast, but hair loss is so obvious and apparent,”

Preparing for hair loss caused by chemotherapy

The best defence against the rapid hair loss caused by chemotherapy is to prepare for it ahead of time. It generally happens to everyone who undergoes the aggressive treatment, but you needn’t let it come as a shock.

But what are your options? Some women choose to take back control of the situation and shave their heads before their hair can fall out, whilst others prepare to use headscarves and other head coverings. One of the best options, however, is human hair wigs, which can now be made to look as realistic as your original hair. Consult a hair loss clinic or human hair wig specialist to find out more.

Three million people in Britain are currently affected by alopecia but for some reason, the condition still has a stigma attached to it. This is especially the case for women and children, as hair loss is more commonly seen in men.

This is why the Bebold Support Group and Alopecia Awareness teamed up to open the UK’s first alopecia camp, which has now been heralded a success after its July 30th open day. Alopecia sufferers from all over the country were invited to visit the camp for a week and spend time with others who have the same condition.

The psychological effects of sudden hair loss can be devastating, which is why alopecia sufferers need the kind of support and understanding offered at the Scarborough camp.

Michelle Chapman, a childhood alopecia sufferer and member of Alopecia Awareness, has spoken of her own experiences and what the camp means to alopecia sufferers and their families. She said:

“If I’d had the chance to meet others living with hair loss, it would have made a huge positive difference to me and my family. Instead, I felt as if I was the only bald girl in the world.

“These children and adults will have the chance to spend time with people who truly understand and never feel as alone and embarrassed as I did.”

It fits with what you might expect, but studies have shown that women experience greater distress at losing hair than men. Our hair is a fundamental part of our appearance so unwanted changes can leave a person shaken and even traumatised. The nature of our society means that women experience this more acutely.

Loss of hair can have a great impact on a woman’s self confidence. Good hair is closely associated with beauty, so it is obvious that its loss will be keenly felt. For a woman who is already insecure about her appearance, the effects can be truly devastating.

The other major problem facing women is that hair loss is not seen as a female condition. As male pattern baldness is so common, loss of hair is closely associated with men. This means additional stigma can be perceived for women as it is seen as being in some way abnormal, even though female hair loss is far more common than many realise.

Fortunately, with increased awareness has come a greater range of treatments and hair management options. Women suffering from hair loss are now more likely to get correctly diagnosed and can make use of better hair management options while being treated.

Hair loss is a concern for both men and women and if you see a few hairs coming out, it’s easy to get carried away, envisaging a declining condition where you end up totally bald.

However, we shed hair all the time. It is a perfectly natural part of the growth process. Only when the rate of hair loss becomes excessive does it become a problem as the hair will not be replaced at the same rate as it is lost.

Most of us lose between 50 and 100 hairs a day. This sounds a lot, but your hair is constantly growing and at this rate, you will maintain a full head of hair. Certain things can cause you to lose hair more rapidly than this.

We tend to lose more hair at the end of summer, for example, while pregnancy will often see women’s hair thinning slightly. Some diseases will cause loss of hair, such as anaemia or lupus and low thyroid levels will have the same effect.

If you go to see your GP or a dermatologist, these are the kinds of things they will try and rule out when diagnosing you. There are many possible causes for hair loss, but this is also why it is so important to identify the right one.

According to the American Hair Loss Association, around 85 per cent of men will have significantly thinning hair by the time they’re 50 and for many the process will have begun even before they were 21.

Male pattern baldness is incredibly common and generally has a genetic cause. The gene in question can be inherited from either parent. There are also many other causes for losing hair and medication can treat some.

However, there is no wonder cure. There is no one treatment that is guaranteed to restore your hair and any product that makes such a claim should be viewed sceptically. There are some good products out there, like Rogaine and Minoxidil, which have been proven to address hair loss in many cases, but even these don’t come with guarantees and you will have to continue using them to see lasting effects.

The best thing to do is consult your GP or a dermatologist who will be better placed to identify the cause of your hair loss. Only then can an appropriate treatment be recommended.

Alopecia areata is actually relatively common, affecting around one per cent of people, primarily young women and children. It is an auto immune disorder, which means the body’s own immune system attacks the follicles, which then leads to loss of hair.

However, as the attacked follicles merely enter the rest phase of the growth cycle, they are not actually damaged, which means that hair regrowth is possible. The follicle remains and may eventually return to a growth phase if conditions are right.

The downside of this is that alopecia areata sufferers are occasionally given false dawns, where hair starts to grow only to fall out again. The condition is unpredictable and this can be the most challenging part for some people.

If you think that you have alopecia areata, you should first make an appointment with your GP or with a dermatologist. They are better placed to diagnose you and you can then try and decide how to treat the condition. As part of the diagnosis, they may take a small biopsy and there are a number of other tests which may be carried out.