Hello folks. My name is Sam, I am a 27 year old grad student and I have just experienced a bout of what they call "telogen effluvium", and I am utterly puzzled as to why so few men with no past history of hair loss/male pattern baldness and a bout of Telogen Effluvium have not posted their own "success stories" on internet forums such as these.
First let me tell you a little about myself and my situation: I have absoltuely no male pattern baldness in my family, my maternal grandfather was part Native American and both my mother and I (although we look and consider ourselves Caucasian) both inherited the characteristic dark, thick hair. I guess you could say I have a "George Clooney" type hairline. I have no chest hair and I can barely grow a beard.
Last semester, I went through one of the most stressful periods of my life, with the following problems occuring AT THE SAME TIME within a brief period:
1. break-up with girlfriend
2. I found out my mom had cancer
3. final exams
3. a one-month battle with a severe cold/headache/cough (don't know really what it was, to tell you the truth. flu?)
4. A winter break internship in DC that I had to get up every morning at 5am for, despite my illness, my worrying about my mother, and my general depression.
After about 2 weeks into the internship, I noticed I started to shed massive amounts of hair in the shower, easily about 150-200 each morning. Almost overnight, my hair went from black to brown, I was thinning all over, and I noticed the front area was limp and I could not style it "up" in a quasi-pampodour fashoin like I used to, even with hair gel. I noticed my part was getting bigger, and I could actually SEE MY SCALP in the mirror when my hair was wet, something which I could not do before.
By the time I finished my internship, I was exhausted, I felt spent and fatigued. Even though I got over my ex-girlfriend, my mom survived her cancer, my mild illness went away, and I aced my finals, I was still worried about my hair, which seemed to be getting progressively worse.
I read all the literature on the net and I told myself I had telogen effluvium. I relaxed a little bit, since my hair loss was all over and not in the classic male pattern baldness pattern. I cut my hair shorter, started taking multivitamins, and relaxed.
Within the 3rd or 4th week into my hair loss (which was mid-january), I also started to notice something else: a fine fringe of hair started appearing on my hairline and strangely enough, my part appeared to be getting better and I could no longer see my scalp, although my hair was still extremely thin all over and I was still shedding massive amounts.
I was worried that the hair growing back appeared thinner than usual, but within a week or so, that fine fringe of new hair on my hairline turned thicker, and my hair stays up without hair gel like it used to and it is getting progressively darker and thicker all over (even though paradoxically, I was still shedding MASSIVE AMOUNTS).
Just 2 days ago, after purchasing a chlorine water filter, I took the dreaded shower after 3 days of not washing my hair, and I only lost around 70 hairs MAX! Needless to say I was pretty psyched and I have noticed that my hair on the hairline and temples is "filling in" and turning into a jungle as the new growth is thickening.
Thats all for now, I just wanted to post my story because I know someone on this site is lurking around, wondering if they will ever grow their hair back after Telogen Effluvium, and in my case it did.
PS: I stopped worrying about my hair in January because all the literatre I read suggested that it took anywhere from 6 moths to a year to see new growth, but in my case it took only 2 months. I guess thats because my hair is thick and grows very fast
First let me tell you a little about myself and my situation: I have absoltuely no male pattern baldness in my family, my maternal grandfather was part Native American and both my mother and I (although we look and consider ourselves Caucasian) both inherited the characteristic dark, thick hair. I guess you could say I have a "George Clooney" type hairline. I have no chest hair and I can barely grow a beard.
Last semester, I went through one of the most stressful periods of my life, with the following problems occuring AT THE SAME TIME within a brief period:
1. break-up with girlfriend
2. I found out my mom had cancer
3. final exams
3. a one-month battle with a severe cold/headache/cough (don't know really what it was, to tell you the truth. flu?)
4. A winter break internship in DC that I had to get up every morning at 5am for, despite my illness, my worrying about my mother, and my general depression.
After about 2 weeks into the internship, I noticed I started to shed massive amounts of hair in the shower, easily about 150-200 each morning. Almost overnight, my hair went from black to brown, I was thinning all over, and I noticed the front area was limp and I could not style it "up" in a quasi-pampodour fashoin like I used to, even with hair gel. I noticed my part was getting bigger, and I could actually SEE MY SCALP in the mirror when my hair was wet, something which I could not do before.
By the time I finished my internship, I was exhausted, I felt spent and fatigued. Even though I got over my ex-girlfriend, my mom survived her cancer, my mild illness went away, and I aced my finals, I was still worried about my hair, which seemed to be getting progressively worse.
I read all the literature on the net and I told myself I had telogen effluvium. I relaxed a little bit, since my hair loss was all over and not in the classic male pattern baldness pattern. I cut my hair shorter, started taking multivitamins, and relaxed.
Within the 3rd or 4th week into my hair loss (which was mid-january), I also started to notice something else: a fine fringe of hair started appearing on my hairline and strangely enough, my part appeared to be getting better and I could no longer see my scalp, although my hair was still extremely thin all over and I was still shedding massive amounts.
I was worried that the hair growing back appeared thinner than usual, but within a week or so, that fine fringe of new hair on my hairline turned thicker, and my hair stays up without hair gel like it used to and it is getting progressively darker and thicker all over (even though paradoxically, I was still shedding MASSIVE AMOUNTS).
Just 2 days ago, after purchasing a chlorine water filter, I took the dreaded shower after 3 days of not washing my hair, and I only lost around 70 hairs MAX! Needless to say I was pretty psyched and I have noticed that my hair on the hairline and temples is "filling in" and turning into a jungle as the new growth is thickening.
Thats all for now, I just wanted to post my story because I know someone on this site is lurking around, wondering if they will ever grow their hair back after Telogen Effluvium, and in my case it did.
PS: I stopped worrying about my hair in January because all the literatre I read suggested that it took anywhere from 6 moths to a year to see new growth, but in my case it took only 2 months. I guess thats because my hair is thick and grows very fast