The science of Hair Loss

Quarantine day 200001, or at least that's the way it feels. My hair is getting long. Easy enough to pop it into a ponytail; it will be long enough to donate when all of this is over. Sandy’s hair was driving him crazy and a ponytail was not an option. We actually looked online to see if we could procure a Flowbee. Remember those? It was a hair-cutting tool attached to a vacuum cleaner, a strange but brilliant concept from decades ago. Evidently we weren’t the only one with that idea and they are all sold out. With little option, Sandy trusted me with the scissors and for the first time in 44 year relationship, I gave him a haircut. It came out surprisingly well, but I will stick to writing and giving advice. The scissors will be turned over to more able hands as soon as we move into that phase of looser restrictions. In the meanwhile, health and safety are more important than lovely haircuts. Since hair was on my mind and I have also recently gotten some questions about it from my Juno chat groups, I thought I would address this topic in a post.

This week's topic The science of hair loss

When I was the advice nurse at Noe, I would get the occasional call from a parent who was worried that their kid's hair seemed to be falling out at an alarming rate. They seemed otherwise well. The parents were always surprised when I asked them to think back and see if there had been any stress or illness several months ago. Here is a little hair science to explain why. People typically lose about 100 hairs a day. This usually doesn't cause noticeable thinning of scalp hair because new hair is growing in at the same time. Hair has a growth stage and a resting stage. The growth stage usually lasts about three years. The resting phase ranges from one to six months, but three months is the most typical. During the resting phase, the hair remains in the follicle until the new hair starts to grow in. Roughly 5 to 15 percent of the hair on the scalp is in the resting phase at any one time.It starts to shed when the new growth stage starts. If you want to get technical and impress folks at your next Zoom happy hour, growing hairs are called anagen hair and resting hairs are referred to as telogen hair. If there is some hormonal changes or stress to the system, as many as 70% of the growing hairs become resting hairs which are poised to fall out. Those resting hairs don’t shed until the new hair coming in pushes them out. This happens a full 2 to 4 months after the triggering event. It is usually not something that has long term consequences and most of the time the hair grows back fully. I mentioned stress or illness. Hormones are another common cause. Mommies who recently gave birth, I am talking to you. Even in the throes of exhaustion with all of your shirts covered with spit up, it is hard not to notice all of those hairs on your pillow when you wake up. This is very very normal. Your hair will grow back. Pregnancy isn’t the only culprit. Hormonal changes from getting on or off various birth control methods can also trigger this reactive hair loss. Other common causes could be thyroid issues, certain medications, jet lag, nutritional deficiencies, eating disorders, excessive sun exposure. This list goes on and on. So, if you or your child are experiencing excessive hair shedding, see if you can figure out a cause, relax and give yourself some time for it to grow back. If it remains a mystery and doesn’t show signs of slowing down, it is time to check in with the dermatologist. Let's talk about your baby’s hair. Babies are born with their complete set of hair follicles. They just have wide variations in when the hair will actually grow in. Remember that babies are exposed to huge hormone fluctuations, so even those who are born with a full head of thick hair are likely to lose it within a few months. Interestingly, often the hair that grows back can be an entirely different color and texture. This is all normal. If there is only one area that seems to be thinning, that is often positional. Little ones who get plunked down on their backs (following the guidelines) often have a patch that has less hair. Aside from infants, if you or your older child has a distinct patch of hair loss, rather than general shedding, make sure it isn’t from something as obvious as tight ponytails or barrettes. If that isn’t the cause, it is worth checking with your doctor or dermatologist to make sure there isn’t an underlying issue. If the patch is scaly and circular, that could be ringworm.Dr Lawrence Cheung, my 'go to' dermatologist says that there is lots of clinical research going on that will hopefully help with future treatment for more serious hair loss conditions. If your child is pulling their hair out this might be because they are itchy! Check the scalp to make sure you don’t see any irritation. While you are there, check for nits. ( I know you hate me now and many of you are scratching your heads) If the head looks clean, hair pulling can be a simple habit ( blog post) . It could also be a condition called Trichotillomania (pronounced trik-o-till-o-MAY-nee-uh), or something that is stress related. It is worth talking to your doctor if this persists. Interesting Hair trivia Your hair can grow up to 0.5mm per day – that’s 6 inches per year!  When wet, a healthy strand of hair can stretch an additional 30% of its original length. Goosebumps from cold or fear are the result of hair follicles contracting, causing the hair and surrounding skin to bunch up. Balding only begins to become visible once you’ve lost over 50 percent of the hairs from your scalp. Anything that’s been in your bloodstream, including drugs, alcohol and minerals can be detected in your hair, which is why hair is most commonly used as forensic evidence. The only thing that cannot be identified by your hair is your gender – both men’s and women’s hair is identical in structure. Stress diagnostics can measure cortisol levels in hair. There are fascinating future implications for this that I will discuss in a future post.