Stress and Women’s Hair Loss

OVERVIEW If you tend to lose your hair, beware of stress! Our hair’s health is very sensitive to our mind’s, and stress can trigger or strongly accelerate the hair loss process. Progressive and diffuse hair loss is thus often submitted to the interaction of 3 indistinguishable factors: a natural predisposition - a hormone - and stress.

CONTENTS
1• The three factors
2• The hair’s memory
3•The different types of stress and their impact on the hair
4• How to treat it?

3 factors : natural predisposition, a hormone, and stress

Natural predisposition. Natural predisposition. Most stressed women who lose their hair are naturally predisposed to alopecia.

Family history: will a child whose genetic capital inherits from this predisposition necessarily lose his or her hair later? Not necessarily, because nothing is simple in terms of genetics… A child can carry the predisposition without it ever being enacted: it will depend on the individual’s whole set of unique characteristics, accumulated throughout life, which will determine whether or not the condition develops.

A hormone. when the predisposition is enacted, it affects the hair’s reproduction cells, making their roots abnormally receptive to the androgen hormones’ negative action. 

Stress. Stress is a means for the mind to evacuate onto the body an external aggression it cannot manage on its own. It causes a chain of reactions, via hormonal messages. The stress alert is initially transmitted by the brain to the hypophyse gland, which, in turn, sends the message to the suprarenal glands. They then release several hormones: adrenaline, cortisol and suprarenal androgen.

For most women, this androgen stimulation does not have an impact on the hair. But for those that are predisposed to losing their hair, stress is a major triggering factor. Also, each moment of stress triggers a contraction of the blood vessels in the hair roots, which contributes to thinning the hair. Stress-induced alopecia thus depends for many people on the periods of nervous tensions that occur throughout their life.

WORTH NOTING
1) In predisposed women, stress also favours seborrhoea, dandruff and scalp itchiness.
2) Stress is an important factor in the development of alopecia areata.

The hair’s memory

This narrow interaction between the androgen hormones and the mind is something we witness everyday at Centre Clauderer. The hair ‘remembers’ all the successive moments of stress, and we can see, under the microscope, the impact of our emotional life on the hair’s keratin and root. A true ‘black box’ of our body, our hair does not lie: it is the witness of all its owner’s psychological problems.

And if the hair has a certain length, we are able to retrace the difficult moments the person has been through. Some then think we have clairvoyance talents, whereas all we are doing is ‘reading’ what the hair remembers.

The different types of hair and their impact on the scalp

Three different types of stress can have impact on the hair’s life:

Daily stress
There is first the stress triggered by daily life problems: professional or family problems, overwork, problems managing the pace of life in today’s world, loneliness, unemployment, etc. Whether it is punctual or chronic, that type of stress always reinforces the androgen’s negative impact on scalps that are receptive to its action. 

Major Stress
A major psychological shock, such as the loss of a loved one, a divorce, major surgery, an accident… can cause a major hair loss (telogen effluvium), two to four months after the event. On healthy hair, this loss is totally reversible and the regrowing hair is as numerous and strong as the fallen hair. On a hair that is sensitive to androgen, however, the regrowing is often less frequent and thinner, and must necessarily be boosted by a special treatment.

Stress caused by the loss
It is the stress caused by the loss itself, and should never be minimised. By sending the woman an image of herself that she will see as altered, the hair’s loss in itself can cause major psychological damage. Few women indeed accept this progressive modification of their morphology. In our culture, the hair is considered as a major seduction tool, and its deterioration is often difficult for women, sometimes even leading to truly depressive states.

The generated stress then acts as an accelerator of the mechanism, making a naturally fragile scalp even more receptive to androgens. 

How to treat it?

There is no one-size-fits all solution, because each case of hair loss caused by stress is complex and must receive a tailored treatment and follow-up. That is why we insist so much on the hair’s preliminary diagnosis. It takes into consideration our client’s past and the impact of stress on the deterioration of her hair. The Clauderer treatment is thus prescribed according to a triple objective: boosting the hair’s vital functions (local treatment), stress-management and results follow-up. 

Boosting the vital functions of the hair makes up for the androgen’s negative effect on stress, the roots and the hair’s life:

- Detoxicating action, in order to eliminate from the scalp the toxins caused by stress,
- Vasodilatation action, in order to favour the blood’s circulation towards the roots,
- Hair mineralising action, in order to optimize the regrowing process.  

Stress management includes precise recommendations on:
- our client’s lifestyle
- her diet
- an oral treatment of natural vitamin complements
- antri-stress scalp massages (exclusive, and very effective)

Results follow-up. Follow-Up system enables us, through a set of regular evaluations, to take control of our clients’ problem and check, with her, step by step, the progress made. A true relation of trust then settles in: it is the best remedy against the stress caused by the loss itself.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:
Women's Hair Loss: How to Identify Your Type of Hair Loss (Alopecia)?
Thinner and Fewer Regrowing Hair (with sketches). What to Do
Lifestyle: Six Anti-Hair Loss Tips
Greasy Hair and Sebum
Dandruff and Itchiness
Alopecia Areata and Hair Loss
Hair Loss Treatments FAQ
Daily Hair Loss: What Is the Norm? 

POUR TREATMENT:
CLAUDERER Anti-Hair Loss Treatments
Vitamins by Oral Intake and Hair Loss
Exercise of the Hair: Three Massages to Stimulate Regrowing Hair
Clauderer in-Depth Hair Diagnosis

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