According to recent statistics, around 30 million women in the US suffer or have suffered from thinning hair, with a further 1.6 million UK women admitting some degree of female hair loss too.

Hair loss is a common problem, more common than you may think, and sufferers can go through a whole range of psychological traumas because of it. London trichologist Dr Philip Kingsley sheds light on why losing hair can have such a devastating impact of self-esteem, confidence and emotional well-being:

“You don’t need it to keep you either warm or cool, so its primary function is to increase attractiveness.”

In modern times, hair is a sign of beauty. You only need to switch on the TV and see a shampoo advert featuring a glamorous supermodel to see that. If a woman loses her hair, it causes her to reassess everything about her physical appearance, and can make her feel a loss of youth, sexuality and femininity.

This doesn’t have to be the case. The fact that there are many other sufferers of thinning hair out there means that there is a lot of support for female hair loss, in the form of specialist clinics and trichology professionals. These experts can help you find ways of managing your thinning hair – through solutions such as human hair wigs or the intralace hair system – so that daily life becomes easier.

There are a number of methods for managing hair loss and many cases a wig is not the best solution. Even in cases where someone has experienced total hair loss, there are alternatives. For example, the Intralace system.

What are the advantages of the Intralace system?
First of all, the Intralace system offers greater flexibility than a wig. For people suffering only partial hair loss, the Intralace system can be integrated with your natural hair.

It is also the case that, unlike with wigs, you only need one Intralace system. No spare is required because it is possible to attend the hair loss clinic when necessary if anything needs to be done. It lasts for two to three years and offers much greater freedom than a wig. It also offers a natural hairline, which means greater realism.

If you use the Intralace system, you can highlight and colour your hair when you visit the clinic and treat your hair completely as normal. You can do activities and play sports and can even swim with it in place. Maintenance is only required about once every six weeks.

Losing your hair to any degree can have quite profound psychological effects. It can reduce your self confidence and give rise to anxiety and depression. Different people will respond in different ways and a lot will depend on the extent to which that person is losing hair.

Different degrees of hair loss also require different management options. Slight, patchy hair loss can often be camouflaged using scalp make-up for example or even by styling the hair in a certain way. However, when hair loss becomes greater, you need to look to other treatments. There are several options and what you choose will probably depend on how much hair you have lost.

A consultation is advisable to discuss different hair management options. Here are three recommendations:

• Medi Connections – this treatment is ideal for hair that is thinning or for milder cases of alopecia areata. Medi Connections are essentially an ultra fine version of hair extensions.
• Intralace System – this can be used for greater hair loss, such as that resulting from trichotillomania. It can be integrated with existing hair.
• Intralace Freewear – this is used for alopecia totalis (total hair loss).

When undergoing chemotherapy treatment, your hair enters its resting phase. This is a natural part of the growth cycle, but ordinarily only a small proportion of your hair is in the resting phase. When undergoing chemotherapy, it may all enter this phase simultaneously and this is why hair is lost.

The hair will remain dormant until the chemotherapy is completed. At this point, hair will once again begin to grow. Initially, it will be very fine ‘vellous’ hair, but within 4-6 weeks you will usually see thicker hair of your normal colour starting to develop. However, it will take around 12 months for hair to reach about six inches in length, so it may be necessary to use certain management techniques in the meantime.

Choosing a wig can take time as you will want to get your choice right. It is advisable to see a wig supplier before you have actually lost your hair, so that you are ready when the time comes. The NHS will provide wigs, but you can also have bespoke wigs made and this will often include a programme of fitting and cleaning each month.

Chemotherapy has a great impact on the body and one particularly noticeable effect is that people will often lose some or all of their hair.

When this occurs and the severity of the condition varies from patient to patient, depending on the drugs used and the person being treated. It is ordinarily diffuse hair loss, which is general, fairly even hair loss, not in patches or clumps. People may think that brushing their hair or handling it can exacerbate the problem, but this is not the case.

When hair is being shed, it is important to keep the scalp clean and this is done by shampooing as normal. As with brushing, shampooing does not increase hair loss, it is just more apparent at this time. Shampooing will also comfort the scalp and when hair regrows, it will be in the best condition. Shampooing is particularly important if you choose to wear a hat or wig to disguise your hair thinning or hair loss as your head will naturally perspire more.

In some cases, shed hairs can become entangled with hairs still in the follicles. This can occur when hair is not looked after properly and it can lead to pain. In this situation it is better to cut the hair and have a wig fitted.

A well-known effect of undergoing chemotherapy is that a person loses hair. It may be that they only experience a thinning of their hair, or it could be that they experience alopecia totalis, which is total hair loss.

In the majority of cases, the hair will regrow after the course of treatment, but it will take a while to do so and in the meantime the person in question may want to manage their condition. It may also be the case that hair transplantation is required to fully restore hair, although full regrowth will normally occur.

Different treatments affect a person in different ways. Some drugs lead to hair loss more frequently than others and it also depends on the person being treated.

If you have undergone chemotherapy and lost some or all of your hair, you have a number of options in terms of how you deal with this. The Intralace system is popular as a full head of hair can be created using only an inch and a half of regrowth. Intralace is integrated with a person’s hair and can be looked after as if it is the person’s actual hair.