Is There Anything That I Can Do To Stop My Hair Shedding?
I often write about hair loss (as well as TE, AGA, and CTE), and have a hair loss blog. Probably one of the most common questions that I get is a variation on "is there anything that I can do to stop this shedding, because I don't think that I can put up with this for much longer?" The answer to this question is going to depend upon why you are shedding in the first place and how long this has been going on. I'll explain more in the following article.
Causes Of TE That Can Be Stopped: You probably already know this, but excessive shedding (losing over 100 hairs per day for an extended period of time) is called telogen effluvium. Technically, this means that something has happened to put many of your hairs into a resting or shedding phase. What started the shedding is often referred to as your "trigger."
If you have a trigger that you can immediately fix, this could potentially stop the hair loss. For example, if you've started a new medication that corresponds with the beginning or your hair loss (or as much as three months later), you can try to substitute a suitable alternative which may be more hair friendly.
If your hormones (thyroid, adrenal, estrogen, progesterone, etc) are off or are dwindling because of age or health, replacing these things to optimal levels can help also.
If the shedding is due to scalp issues (ring worm, severe dandruff, excess sebum or DHT, or other dermatological issues, then addressing the inflammation and injuries to your scalp can help with the hair loss as well.
Stopping The Shedding Associated With Or Because Of AGA: I'm sure that your research has taught you that AGA is androgen driven loss. It's commonly called "female patterned baldness" or "genetic hair loss" although these phrases are misleading as countless women have AGA with no family history to speak of. The key to ending this type of loss is getting rid of the excess androgens that is poisoning the follicles and choking them out, causing your hair to shed.
The key to stopping this type of hair loss is to drastically reduce the androgens and the inflammation that goes hand in hand with them. With that said, I see so many people throw hormone changing supplements or drugs at this condition, hoping that they'll get lucky. The problem with this is that women who shed are typically very hormonally vulnerable. So, changing hormones can easily kick off a new TE.
It's so important that you and your doctor are sure that you have documented androgen driven loss and that you start any treatment with a very low dose and very slowly taper up as you have success. I honestly think it's much safer and advisable to start with non invasive things first that you can put on your scalp to see if you can be successful by changing your scalp rather than changing your hormones.
Stopping Shedding In CTE: This is probably the most challenging scenario in the hair loss world. With CTE, the shed keeps going for over six months or longer. Sometimes, things will get better and you'll think that you've recovered, only to find a new shed somewhere down the horizon. Although you may have starts and stops, the shedding seems to always come back.
In these cases, often the trigger either hasn't been addressed or could possibly be being fixed temporarily and then flaring up again. The key to stopping CTE is really stopping the trigger once and for all.
How do I know all of this? Because I lived it. I absolutely knew that 100 hairs per day was not normal for me (although I often shed much more than that.) In my quest to end my hair loss, I looked at my triggers, my iron, my thyroid, my adrenals, my hormones, and my scalp's health in my quest to end the nightmare. It was a long, hard, frustrating journey which all but wrecked my self esteem but I finally found something that helped quite a bit. You can read my very personal story at http://stop-hair-loss-in-women.com/
Causes Of TE That Can Be Stopped: You probably already know this, but excessive shedding (losing over 100 hairs per day for an extended period of time) is called telogen effluvium. Technically, this means that something has happened to put many of your hairs into a resting or shedding phase. What started the shedding is often referred to as your "trigger."
If you have a trigger that you can immediately fix, this could potentially stop the hair loss. For example, if you've started a new medication that corresponds with the beginning or your hair loss (or as much as three months later), you can try to substitute a suitable alternative which may be more hair friendly.
If your hormones (thyroid, adrenal, estrogen, progesterone, etc) are off or are dwindling because of age or health, replacing these things to optimal levels can help also.
If the shedding is due to scalp issues (ring worm, severe dandruff, excess sebum or DHT, or other dermatological issues, then addressing the inflammation and injuries to your scalp can help with the hair loss as well.
Stopping The Shedding Associated With Or Because Of AGA: I'm sure that your research has taught you that AGA is androgen driven loss. It's commonly called "female patterned baldness" or "genetic hair loss" although these phrases are misleading as countless women have AGA with no family history to speak of. The key to ending this type of loss is getting rid of the excess androgens that is poisoning the follicles and choking them out, causing your hair to shed.
The key to stopping this type of hair loss is to drastically reduce the androgens and the inflammation that goes hand in hand with them. With that said, I see so many people throw hormone changing supplements or drugs at this condition, hoping that they'll get lucky. The problem with this is that women who shed are typically very hormonally vulnerable. So, changing hormones can easily kick off a new TE.
It's so important that you and your doctor are sure that you have documented androgen driven loss and that you start any treatment with a very low dose and very slowly taper up as you have success. I honestly think it's much safer and advisable to start with non invasive things first that you can put on your scalp to see if you can be successful by changing your scalp rather than changing your hormones.
Stopping Shedding In CTE: This is probably the most challenging scenario in the hair loss world. With CTE, the shed keeps going for over six months or longer. Sometimes, things will get better and you'll think that you've recovered, only to find a new shed somewhere down the horizon. Although you may have starts and stops, the shedding seems to always come back.
In these cases, often the trigger either hasn't been addressed or could possibly be being fixed temporarily and then flaring up again. The key to stopping CTE is really stopping the trigger once and for all.
How do I know all of this? Because I lived it. I absolutely knew that 100 hairs per day was not normal for me (although I often shed much more than that.) In my quest to end my hair loss, I looked at my triggers, my iron, my thyroid, my adrenals, my hormones, and my scalp's health in my quest to end the nightmare. It was a long, hard, frustrating journey which all but wrecked my self esteem but I finally found something that helped quite a bit. You can read my very personal story at http://stop-hair-loss-in-women.com/
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