Whenever a hair loss problem develops, the first thing to do is to go and see your GP. They will help you get to the root cause of your hair loss and only then will you be able to treat the condition correctly.

As part of the process, you are likely to have to see an NHS dermatologist. While dermatologists are commonly thought of as dealing with the skin, they also deal with hair, as hair follicles reside in the skin. However, there may well be a wait to see an NHS dermatologist. If you cannot wait, you do have another option. You can an appointment with a trichologist privately.

Trichologists deal with the hair and scalp and a typical consultation is an hour long. As with any medical position, there are qualifications for trichologists, so make sure you are being seen by a professional.

During you hour-long session, the trichologist attempt to diagnose your problem and should be able to recommend a subsequent course of treatment. If your condition is likely to result in substantial loss of hair, there are various hair replacement options that you can take a look at to help you manage the problem.

Telogen effluvium is a common cause of hair loss in both men and women. It leads to hairs being shed from across the scalp, rather than in patches and can also affect the body.

Causes of telogen effluvium

Frequently, the cause is physical or hormonal stress or a reaction to medicine that is being taken. It can come about quite suddenly and afflicts people of all ages. In most cases it will tend to resolve in around six months.

How does telogen effluvium affect the hair?

The condition occurs when there is a disruption to the hair’s natural growth cycle. The normal cycle for each hair is a long period of growth that lasts around three years and then a rest period, which is typically around three months.

Ordinarily around 15 per cent of hairs are in the rest phase at any one time. However, stress can cause a far greater percentage to enter that state. Around three months after this, these hairs will be shed as new hairs grow in those follicles. At this point, the hair will once again begin to thicken.

There are many conditions that can lead to hair loss. As well as requiring different forms of treatment, different conditions will also have different causes. Your GP or dermatologist should be able to determine the cause of any hair loss you may be experiencing and will be able to advise you accordingly.

In androgenetic alopecia, the cause of hair loss is dihydrotestosterone, also known as DHT. People who have a lot of the enzyme 5-alpha reductase make more DHT and this in turn causes hair follicles to produce thinner hairs. Ultimately, follicles can cease to produce hairs altogether.

Alopecia areata works rather differently. It is an autoimmune disorder where they body itself attacks the hair follicles with white blood cells. Hair production will slow considerably and there can be no hair grown for months or even years. As the hair follicle is still alive, it is possible that the hair will eventually grow back.

As was mentioned at the start of the article, the important thing to do is to first consult your GP in order that any hair loss condition can be properly diagnosed.

Ordinarily, we lose somewhere between 50 and 100 hairs a day, but if the rate of hair loss goes beyond this, it can be quite distressing and there may be a problem.

Female hair loss is caused for a number of reasons, including as a result of diet, hormones, medication and illness. Furthermore, hair tends to thin as women age as older women have less oestrogen.

Marilyn Sherlock from the Institute of Trichologists says:

“There is always a cause for hair loss, but occasionally it can be something as innocuous as having had a fever. The high temperature kills the hair, but it won’t fall out for about three months.”

“Healthy hair requires all vitamins and minerals and being low in certain ones, especially iron, can lead to thinning because iron is vital for new hair cells. A crash diet can lead to quite dramatic hair loss too.”

Hair can also be lost following pregnancy. While hair loss slows considerably during pregnancy itself, afterwards, the hair which would have been lost during that time is shed all at once. Typically, the hair will recover within a couple of months, although it could take longer.

Sue Holderness, who plays Marlene in the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses has told of how she has suffered varying degrees of hair loss over the last 20 years.

Well known for her distinctive hair in the hit sitcom and its spin-off, The Green Green Grass, Holderness in fact relied upon wigs and make-up as her hair was at times coming out in handfuls.

Holderness tells of how she relied on make-up artists and how she would sometimes use eye-liner to colour her scalp to hide the thinness of her hair after she started suffering hair loss in her thirties.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, Holderness said:

“I have lost hair ever since I had my children in my thirties. Initially, I thought it was maybe part of being an exhausted new mum and didn’t do anything about it. But as I got older, it got worse and, one day, after I turned 40, I woke up and saw a carpet of hair left on my pillow.”

Holderness goes on to describe how frightening this experience was and how she was reluctant to look in the mirror in case she was bald. When she did look, she saw there was a chunk of hair missing and that the rest was unusually thin.

She then took the right decision by going to see her GP. If you are suffering hair loss, this is always the first step that you should take.

Eight genes that play a part in the development of alopecia areata have been identified by scientists. The same genes are also implicated in other autoimmune conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and type 1 diabetes.

The fact that there are already drugs in development which target these genes is great news. As Angela Christiano, the professor of dermatology and genetics and development at Columbia University Medical Centre in New York, says:

“This greatly accelerated our ability to think about new drugs for patients with alopecia areata because so much work has already been done in these other diseases. It is a huge advantage.”

Alopecia areata is one of the most common forms of autoimmune disease. It causes hair to fall out, normally in patches, but occasionally over the entire scalp or even the whole body.

The research showed that the number of genes a person had that were associated with alopecia corresponded with the severity of the condition. If a person had more than 16 alopecia-associated genes, they were more likely to experience total hair loss, for example.

One gene in particular seemed to have a big impact. Chistiano said:

“In people with alopecia areata, we see a huge expression of the ULBP3 gene in the outermost layer of the follicle. ULBP3 is a danger signal that signals to T cells to come in and attack the follicle. It’s like putting nectar on the hair follicle, then the ‘bees’ come in and do their damage.”