Women’s Hair Loss: How to Identify Your Type of Alopecia (page 2)

2. Temporary and diffuse hair loss

What triggers it?

• Beginning of the season: autumn and spring
• Child-bearing (post-partum), miscarriage, abortion Child-Bearing and Hair Loss
• Major surgery
• Prolonged general anaesthesia
• Strong fever, over several days
• Strong emotional shock: loss of a loved one, serious accident…
• Interruption of an oestro-progestin contraceptive treatment *

*Interrupting an oestro-progestin pill can sometimes cause a type of hair loss that is comparable to post-partum. It is a logical process: the input of synthesis oestrogen can stimulate the hair’s vitality and prolong the hair cycles, during the contraceptive treatment. Stopping the treatment thus causes a larger portion of the hair to be in its loss phase. The loss is diffuse and reversible: after a few weeks, everything should be back to normal, for as long as the hair in question is not particularly sensitive to androgen.

Its symptoms

•  Non-localised hair loss
• Limited in time: no more than 3 months, 4 at the very most
• Arising 2 to 4 months after the triggering event
• Sometimes abundant (50% more than usual)
• Totally reversible
• Immediate regrowing

Beware: no more than three to four months!

All such hair losses are of the "telogen effluvium" type and are, by definition, temporary: it doesn’t take more than two to four months for all the hair that has stopped living following a one-off event to fall. If the hair loss continues beyond three or four months, or if you notice that the regrowing hair is weaker, that means that the problem’s cause is different. Such a type of hair loss can indeed be the factor revealing androgenetic alopecia/hair loss. Example: a hair loss that begins following child-bearing and lasts longer than 12 weeks. In case of a doubt, best is to consult a specialist.

3.Long-lasting and diffuse hair loss

What triggers it?

• Depressive state or permanent stress t
• Some medicine Drug-Associated Alopecia (Hair Loss)
• Draconian diets, anorexia
• Thyroid problems: hypothyroidia and hyperthyroidia Thyroid/Hair
• Diabetes Diabetes and diffuse hair loss
• Zinc, magnesium or calcium deficiency
• Iron deficiency, often due to abundant menstruations or the use of an intrauterine device.
Iron/Hair

Its symptoms

• Diffuse, throughout the whole of the head, rather than localised to certain zones.
• It occurs 2 to 4 months after the appearance of the factor that has triggered it.
• It lasts for as long as the factor acts.
• It is totally or partially reversible, depending on the nature of the impacting factor.
• Frequent hair refinement.

Accumulation…

 Any negative influence on the hair loss can aggravate a hair loss due to other factors that will have occurred previously. The negative factors can thus accumulate and reinforce each other, especially if you have an androgenetic predisposition. An iron deficiency, for instance, can considerably increase hereditary hair loss. During the hair diagnosis, the specialist must distinguish the triggering factors from the aggravating ones, in order to better adapt the treatment. 

4. Pseudo losses

Poorly executed or too frequent cosmetic action (colouring, perms or straightening) can sometimes lead to serious alterations. The hair can start to break and fall at all levels of its length, including close to the scalp, which proportionally decreases the head of hair’s general volume. In this sense, we can speak of hair loss. But because the products used do not attain the hair follicle, such hair loss is only temporary and the regrowing hair that follows the damaged hair should not carry the marks of its past alterations. If the regrowing hair is weaker, other causes must be investigated.

Women’s Hair Loss: How to Identify Your Type of Alopecia Back to page 1

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:
Thinner and Fewer Regrowing Hair (with sketches). Vhat to Do
Hair Loss Treatments FAQ
DAILY Hair Loss: What is the Norm?

FOR TREATING:
Anti-Hair Loss Treatments in France
Hair Growth and Regrowing: Where Exactly to Act?
CLAUDERER Anti-Hair Loss Treatments
Clauderer in-Depth Hair Diagnosis

Diagnosis In-depth Clauderer Diagnosis: Have a complete hair checkup