Female Hair Loss: The Who, What & Why’s
It’s estimated that about 30 million women in the U.S. experience female hair loss. It’s a staggering number and not a topic that any woman wants to talk about or deal with. Historically, a woman’s identity and self-confidence were directly connected to her physical appearance so that she could attract a potential partner. Women spend thousands of dollars on skincare products and treatments, plastic surgery, gym memberships, weight loss pills and programs, clothing, and now, their hair. As a young girl, we never thought about our hair because it was always shiny, voluminous and beautiful. As we age, we often run into roadblocks that change the way our hair grows, or doesn’t grow. Whether you develop an autoimmune disease or cancer, battle an eating disorder, change your diet, experience chronic stress, have babies or start peri-menopause, hair loss will most likely be part of your health equation. There are a variety of hair loss patterns and they all require different approaches to healing based on the root cause.
Normally women shed 50-100 hairs a day, but who’s counting? Most of us experience hair shedding while taking a shower and brushing or combing our hair. It can look like clumps and it can look like more hair on your brush. Whatever way you experience it, it’s horrifying and you just want to curl up in bed under the covers and hide. Women don’t like to talk about aging, although, I believe that’s slowly changing. We don’t want to talk about our bodies changing shapes and sizes, our lack of sexual desire, or our hair falling out.
3 Hair Growth Phases
Anagen phase: This stage is the growing stage that can last from 2-8 years and refers to 85%-90% of the hair on your head.
Catagen phase: This is the transition stage and refers to the time that hair follicles shrink and this process takes about 2-3 weeks.
Telogen phase: This is the resting phase and takes 2-4 months and at the end the hair falls out.
While your scalp hair can last up to 6-7 years, your shorter hairs like eyelashes, eyebrows, arm and leg hair have a shorter anagen (growth) phase which is about 1 month long.
The most common type of hair loss for women is called Female Pattern Hair Loss (FPHL) and affects about one-third of susceptible women. However, over 50% of all women will experience noticeable hair loss at some point in their life. Let’s take a look at the different types of hair loss in women.
Types of Female Hair Loss & Root Causes
Anagen Effluvium Hair Loss: This hair loss can be sudden and happen all over your body, not just your head. The causes are a response to medications and toxins such as chemotherapy drugs and radiation which poison the hair follicle. This type occurs in the growth stage and can be permanent.
Telogen Effluvium Hair Loss: This hair loss is a response to stressors like childbirth, losing a lot of weight, surgery, emotional stress like a divorce or death in the family, an abnormal thyroid, certain medications and supplements, and hormonal changes like peri-menopause.
Androgenetic Alopecia/Female Pattern Hair Loss: This type of hair loss is the most common and refers to a thinning of hair on the top and side of the scalp. The root causes for this type are genetics, aging and low-estrogen during menopause.
Alopecia Areata Hair Loss: This type of hair loss is actually an autoimmune disease that causes patchy hair loss and is not permanent.
So, which women are the most susceptible to hair loss?
Women over 40.
Women who’ve just had a baby.
Women who have had chemotherapy or radiation.
Women who wear their hair pulled back tightly or who use harsh chemicals on their hair.
Women going through menopause.
What should you do if you notice a change in your hair growth? Who should you call? The first step is to call your primary care physician. For some that may be your general practitioner or internist, and for some that may be your OBGYN. They will most likely send you to a dermatologist for testing. If you’re new to the world of functional medicine and integrative health care, I suggest also seeking out a medical practitioner in that arena. Why? Traditional medicine is great for acute care but not so great when it comes to finding out the root cause of a health issue. Functional medicine doctors and practitioners have advanced training in nutrition, lifestyle practices, sleep, exercise, stress management and mind-body science. With hair loss, it’s very important to find out why this is happening so that it can be treated correctly with optimal results. You may need to change the way you eat, the way you manage stress, your sleep routine, your movement routine and doctors trained in holistic health are better equipped to support your journey back to homeostasis.
You most likely will require a deeper dive into your bloodwork, checking your complete thyroid function, your sex hormones and to see if you have any vitamin and mineral deficiencies. Traditional doctors may not have access to the labs that are needed to look at certain bio-markers. A dermatologist may be needed for further evaluation and a scalp biopsy; however, I suggest starting with a functional medicine doctor to see if lifestyle changes need to be implemented to support your journey or even reverse symptoms.
Once you and your doctor have discovered the root cause of your hair loss and you’ve made the necessary lifestyle changes suggested you may choose to invest in one of the current modalities to help boost new hair growth.
PRP/Exosome scalp injections: This procedure is invasive and painful and usually requires a few appointments. This is a 3-step process, used since the 1980’s, in which your blood is drawn and placed into a machine called a centrifuge, that spins your blood so that it separates into three layers. The platelet-rich plasma is then placed in syringes and re-injected into your scalp. Exosomes work in a similar way but uses stem cells to be reinjected into the scalp and often sees more robust results.
Red light therapy: This is a non-invasive, pain-free, and natural treatment that uses red light therapy, also known as Photobiomodulation (PBM) therapy, which delivers a therapeutic dose of red and near-infrared to your scalp. When this light is applied with the right wavelength, intensity, and duration, your body’s cells react by producing more energy, which stimulates hair follicles to grow.
Peptide Therapy: The use of peptides is becoming more and more integrated in traditional, functional and integrative medicine approaches to healing. This cutting-edge medical science uses specific amino acids called “peptides” to communicate with different parts of the body to signal very specific repair. Specific peptides are now being used to increase hair growth, slow hair loss and produce thicker pieces of hair.
Always check with your current physician prior to purchasing any new treatments to make sure they are safe for your use. Seeking cutting edge science-backed modalities can be costly and take more than one treatment. Whether or not you decide to incorporate the above modalities to help your hair grow, healthy lifestyle practices are important to support your body going through such changes. What can you do today to start making healthier choices?
Eat ample amounts of protein, preferable animal-based. Animal proteins are complete protein sources, containing all the 20 amino acids, some are essential, meaning that we must obtain them thru diet, and some are non-essential, meaning our body makes them. However, sometimes our body doesn’t make enough non-essential amino acids, and we need to eat more protein to get the proper amount for optimal health.
Get plenty of restorative sleep to help your body restore and repair cells. Your body needs rest to perform its magic at night. Maintaining a healthy sleep routine creates a healthy environment for cellular health.
Use non-toxic shampoos, cleansers and styling products.
Let your hair down and stop pulling your hair back in tight ponytails and buns which pull on the hair follicle.
Manage your stress.
Build a team of health professionals to help guide you on your health journey to heal any health issues. Your relationship with your primary care physician, whether from the traditional or functional medicine arenas should be a safe place to talk about your concerns, be heard, and not feel rushed. A therapist can support during life challenges to help you reduce chronic stress. A health coach can bridge the gap between a diagnosis and lifestyle changes on topics such as nutrition.
Be sure to check out my high protein recipes here on my site for delicious meals to start your health journey.
Be sure to check out episode 15 on my Health Trip podcast.
This blog is not to be used as medical advice or for making any lifestyle changes to treat any medical condition in either yourself or others. Consult your own physician for any medical issues that you may be having.