An adventurous woman from Hereford is planning to celebrate her upcoming 40th birthday in unique style; by jumping out of a plane to raise money for an inspirational children’s hair loss charity.

Michelle Joinson from Whitecross Road in Hereford is planning to do a parachute jump this Saturday 5th February in Cirencester, and is calling for sponsors in her local area to come forward and donate to a worthy cause.

The money raised from the jump will be donated to the Little Princess Trust, a children’s hair loss charity in Hereford. The Trust aims to provide children who have lost their hair through alopecia or cancer treatment with human hair wigs. The hope is that these wigs and hair pieces will help to boost their confidence and help them cope with their hair loss better.

Michelle’s fundraising money will hopefully cut waiting times for children hoping to receive a wig from the Little Princess Trust.

Michelle, who works for a refrigeration equipment company in Rotherwas, said of her upcoming adventure:

“My 40th birthday is approaching and I wanted to do something to start my 40s off,”

Most people know the hair loss condition telogen effluvium by another name – pattern baldness. However, not a lot of people properly understand what causes male or female pattern baldness or how the condition makes the hair fall out. As a starting point, read the following explanation…

There are two phases affecting hair growth cycles – anagen (the growing phase) and telogen (the resting phase). Telogen effluvium involves the hair follicles prematurely entering the resting phase. This causes massive hair loss, staring with generalised thinning hair.

What causes telogen effluvium?

The condition is believed to be caused by emotional or physiological stress on the body, triggering an interruption to the normal hair cycle. This sort of stress can be caused by a number of factors or conditions, such as:

• Chronic illness
• Childbirth
• Eating disorders
• Hyperthyroidism
• Drugs and medication
• Major surgery
• Anaemia
• Severe emotional disorders
• Crash diets or poor nutrition

Is there a cure?

In most cases of telogen effluvium, the condition improves and the hair will grow back on its own over time. Although most people find that the condition clears up within six months or so, some find that it recurs or becomes chronic.

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.