Does stress make you want to pull out your hair in frustration? Worse, could stress actually cause your hair to fall out? The good news is that simple emotional stress will not likely cause gobs of hair to fall out unless you physically yank it out or your emotional stress causes a significant physiological stress in your body. 

 

 

Physiological, or physical, stresses like a major illness, surgery or infection can cause the hair to go into a resting stage where it stops growing and then significant amounts fall out three to six months later. This resting stage is natural and about 10% of your 120,000 - 150,000 hair follicles are going through a resting stage at any time. This results in an average loss of 100 hairs/day. The problem is that certain physical stresses can case your body to send a much larger percentage of follicles into the resting stage, and large amounts of hair suddenly fall out at once, which can be frightening. 

 

 

Confusing the situation is the fact that the actual hair loss occurs months after the physical stress occurred. If you are losing gobs of hair today, it was definitely not caused by that stress at work yesterday, that fight with your spouse, or your kids. It was caused by something that happened months ago--that surgery, the 30 pounds you lost suddenly, the nasty virus that spiked your temperature sky-high, or the birth of your child.

 

 

If a temporary physiological stress does cause hair loss, it will be temporary. Once the hair falls out, the follicles will start the natural cycle again and start to grow new hair. By the time you have noticed the problem, your hair is probably already growing back. Your beautiful new hair may have just pushed out the hair that was in the resting stage. 

 

 

While emotional stress is not directly related to hair loss, an emotionally stressful situation can sometimes cause people to lose weight, not eat properly, or become severely ill. This may then result in hair loss months later. If this has happened to you, then you can limit this problem in the future by paying closer attention to your physical health in times of stress. Again, hair loss caused by temporary physiological stress will be temporary and there is little reason to worry.

 

 

Any hair loss--no matter the cause--can cause a lot of emotional stress. There is no need to suffer. If you are experiencing hair loss, our staff is always ready to answer your questions and help you find the best solution. You are not alone. We have everything from topical treatments to the latest in laser therapy. We'll help you determine the cause and get you started with an effective solution.