Hair loss - please share your experience

[kayah]

I realised I have to go and talk to my GP.
My hair if failing and not growing back...
Especially in front and to the right of my skull.

It's been happening for over a year now.
I as hoping that once I got a job and am less sressed with finances it will improve (well GP said it should).

I have no idea where it is going but I am very upset, crying here as Irealised that if it's going to carry on like that I will be bald by this time next year.

I am not joking here.

Has anyone heard or experiences hair loss?
Personally or amongst friends or family?

Hi there

Yes, I have. I moved abougt 200 miles away from friends and family due to live with my partner - he already lived in the town I moved to. His family were unfriendly and his friends clearly saw me as an interloper, work was unfriendly. I got really stressed and as a result got several bald patches.

My mum also suffers really badly with stress related alopeaca (SP?) and loses lots of hair when she is under stress - she goes really thin and you can see her patches.

You should ask your hairdresser to cut your hair very short just around the bald patches, this protects the hair near where you are losing it and does seem to work.

And I know it's easy to say, but try to relax and not get too stressed. It's an awful condition which creates stress - I feel for you and hope you can get it under control.

i just wanted to say im sorry what your going through im also going to be losing my hair as i have just started chemotheraphy,at the moment i still have a full head of hair but i have already got myself myself a wig you could get a referal through the nhs you would be amazed at how real they look.

Have you drastically dieted recently?

I did the Cambridge Diet and starting to lose my hair, as have others who did similar diets.

Nobody could actually tell I was losing it but handfuls were coming out in the shower every day and I could tell. It was mainly around the sides and front near my temples.

As soon as I started to eat properly again and take multivitamins, it grew back but has never been as thick since.

Have you seen Regain for men? It's being advertised on tv at the moment - just wondering if they do a similar for women.

Have you had your thyroid and iron levels checked? If they are low they can cause hair loss. If they come back fine then the doctor may suggest minoxidil. It is a lotion that you apply every day (if you stop hair will fall out again) but you can just apply it to the parts of your head you are bothered about. Alot of people get regrowth with this, but it can take a few months and some may experience some side-effects.
Stress, of course, and not eating properly can cause hair-loss but there are lots of good vitamins and specialist hair supplements available.
Please try not to get too upset I have had excess hair shedding for four years now and taking a good multi vit and using a little minoxidil has brought some regrowth. While I see that it is so thin to how it once was I swear nobody else has noticed. People dont look as closely at your scalp as you do. Hair growth happens in patterns so taking some time to really look after yourself might just show up in regrowth in around 3-6 months time.
Good luck.

Minoxidil is the medical name for Regain. Boots do their own brand one ( much cheaper, exactly the same) called Hair loss treatment for men/women. Comes in 2% and 5% solution. If you wanted to try it def start with 2%.

how is it going? i have the same problem

I dont have handfuls coming out. i just realised last june that my fringe felt and looked thin. It still is and i am sure i have lost a milimetre or so at the hairline. The rest of my hair is the same. No big parting or shedding. I pray it doesnt keep receding.

Chipstick, the same happened to my mother about 5 years ago. After the death of both parents within 6 weeks she started to lose her hair. She doesnt have bald spots or thinning of her hair but her hairline has moved back by about 5 cms all around the front of her head. She has tried various hair lotions etc but no luck. She has a fringe cut in now to try and cover the high forehead. She is hoping that over time it grows back.

Oh my goodness kbaby your poor mum. Im quite nervous now, 5cms is a shocking amount. I pray mine stops. Atm it is very little, noone has noticed any difference but i know.

How wierd - I've just been Googling hair loss in children as my 4-year old daughter's har is falling out in clumps. I've come across something called telogen effluvium, which seems basically to be hair loss following a traumatic event.

This is what I found, which describes my daughter to a tee (she had emergency surgery for a collapsed lung following a bacterial infection back in March):

Telogen effluvium is another classic cause of hair loss in children, but this condition is often poorly understood by parents. Children with telogen effluvium have often had a recent illness, typically with a high fever, surgery, sudden weight loss, or even an emotional stress, and then suddenly lose a lot of hair about six weeks to three months later.

Children with telogen effluvium continue to lose hair, often in large clumps for a few weeks or months, to the point that their hair may be noticeably thin. But then their hair begins to grow again in about six months without any treatments. It is thought that this hair loss occurs because the original stressor pushes the child's hair into a resting or dormant phase, instead of its more usual long growth phase. It then falls out until new hair grows and then follows the normal growth phases for hair.

Could this apply to you at all? You did say in your OP that you were stressed.

I hope it proves to be temporary for you.

Hello reading through old posts and wondered what happened with your daughters hair loss ? My daughter is 10 and has been losing hair for 6 months and I'm so worried. She has low iron and has been on tableta for 2 months but no improvement in shedding yet . No bald patches and regrowth on hair line . I'm worried sick and any advice is welcomed