22, Stress and hairloss

[dw99]

Hello everyone, I'm 22 and just realized that my hair has been thinning out on my right temple/fontal-to-mid-anterior area (I would say that it's not a normal hair loss pattern, as it is only on the right side and it's all around the right, front area and not just at the temple) within the last couple of months. This has completely caught me off guard as my father at age 58 still has ALL of his dark brown, thick hair. Also, both my grandfathers kept ALL of their hair well into their late 50s, early 60s. Their hair only thinned with old age, which I would say is normal.

Also, over the last 10 months I have had periods of INTENSE stress related to a number of pregnancy scares (pretty much for about 15 days or more each month... I know, I'm an idiot for continuing to put myself under such stress). Many, many nights I would lie awake not being able to sleep (or having nightmares), only thinking about the horrors of a possible pregnancy with my girlfriend. Whenever I would be thinking about these fears the frontal, right part of my head would get REALLY hot from the stress. I would also get these heat sensations often during the day when these thoughts would enter my mind. This was prior to my hair loss and looking back the hot stress sensations on my head always occurred where I have now noticed the thinning. Also, when hairs fall out in the frontal/mid right area I notice that the roots are larger than my regular hairs that fall out naturally from the rest of my head that is not thinning. It seems that these larger roots have a white sort of casing around them that might be subum, skin, etc. If I lightly pinch the hair and run my fingers over the root, the "casing" slips right off and exposes a normal looking, healthy root.

Has anyone had a similar experience like this? Do you guys think that the stress is the reason for my hair loss? Is it possible that the hot stress sensations I was getting caused an excess creation of oil on/underneath my scalp, which might have "suffocated" these hairs? If so, is it likely that this hair will grow back? Thanks for all your help.

 

[hairschmair]

I think there is no way to tell whether hair loss is stress-related, but from my readings throughout the web, 90% of the time, extended hair loss is the result of the predisposition to male pattern baldness. It is possible that is Telogen Effluvium, but it is more likely that the stress has just accelerated male pattern baldness. It could slow down again when your stress goes away. Only time would tell I think, but you should prepare yourself for the possibility that the hair loss will not COMPLETELY stop.

This is just my opionion. Perhaps a visit to the dermatologist is due.

Jay

 

[dtb]

yo

I'm 23 and have recently experienced similar hairloss - so maybe you can relate with my story. There was a period of 3-4 months where I was extremely stressed out. I'm talking serious insomnia coupled with a number of other factors. Anyway, over the course of only a couple months my hair began to thin profusely. Of course, I researched the hell out of hair loss. I thought that maybe it was caused by stress because of how the hair was falling out. At first there were only spots that were thinning. One was on the right front side and there was another on a different location on the left side. It was strange. It happened really fast, which I'm told is unusual if you are going bald because of male pattern baldness. I was also experiencing an obscene amount of shedding; and yes, the hairs that were falling out still had the white oil glands attached. These also seemed to be symptons of stress, not male pattern baldness. At any rate, my hair has not thinned out over the entire top of my head. So there are no longer spots. What does this mean? I'm not sure. The bottom line is that my hair thinned ridiculously fast and in what I thought was a very strange manner - not indicative of male pattern baldness.


Here is what I have come to conclude. There is no simple answer to this. I'm young, had a full head of thick hair, and was not expecting to go bald, at least not anytime soon. The stresses in my life definitely contributed partially if not completely to my hair loss. The first thing is to straighten up your life. I have made significant changes in mine over the past month. I have been eating healthier, I work out on a regular basis, etc. Also, I am sleeping again, which is crucial. The shedding has definitely stopped, but I've been left with a head of thin hair. I'm too scared to see if my hair will grow back - which is what most ppl suggest with stress related hairloss. So I have gotten a prescription for proscar (finasteride) - I actually got it from my university health service. so if you're in school, you can probably get a prescription from them. Anyway, I'm told that it takes 3-6 months to see results. The medicine is supposed to thwart additional hair loss and it also, for some people, promotes hair regrowth. Since I'm so young and have caught this relatively early, the medicine should work effectively and quickly. I've only been on it for two weeks though - so I have a long way to go to see results.


Final thoughts: I believe that what caused my hair to thin rapidly and in a strange manner was stress; however, it seems that the hair loss is begining to resemble male pattern baldness, as the hair on my head has become evenly thin. Basically, I think stress may have just sped up the process of male pattern baldness. Who knows - I could be way off, but I'm not taking any chances and I'm not going to sit around let my hair grow back by itself, even though after I fixed the stressful stuff in my life, my hair ceased to shed and by all appearances, is no longer thinning. So for now I'm taking a precautionary measure and going with the medicine. It cost me 100 bucks for what will last 150 days. I think I'll see if my hair grows back - and then maybe go off the medicine. If it starts to bald again, I'll simply start taking it again.

I hope this helps. The bottom line is that you need to alleviate the stress in your life. You'll be happier and it will probably reduce hair loss, but there are no guarantees.

Good luck.

Also, if you haven't already, start documenting your balding with pictures. There are probably ppl in this forum with legitimate stress-related balding. If you share your picture with them, maybe you'll get a better answer.