What Is Hair Loss and Why Does it Happen?

You don’t realize how precious your hair is to you until you start losing it – and then you need to see a hair loss stylist. Have you ever had that moment where you wake up in the morning, go to the bathroom, and notice that your scalp is more visible than you remember? This can be the first warning sign for hair loss, many people do not notice their gradual hair loss until it starts becoming visible. Hair loss can happen for many, many reasons, but the basic idea behind it is the same for all causes: telogen effluvium.

Telogen Effluvium: How Hair Falls Out

Telogen effluvium is just a fancy way to say sudden hair loss. Normally, people lose about 50-100 strands of hair a day. Even that sounds like a lot! But it’s not. On average, people have about 100,000 hairs on their scalp. It is said that on days you wash your hair, you can lose up to 250 hairs normally—though you shouldn’t be worried, as those were going to fall out anyway.

Most of the hair on your scalp is growing. About 10% of the strands on your head are in a transition phase or resting phase. There are three phases that your hair grows through:

1. Anagen Phase – The anagen phase is what the majority of your hairs are in at any given time on a normal scalp. The anagen phase is a growing phase. Hair grows at a pace of about half an inch a month. The growth phase typically lasts somewhere between 3-5 years, some people have a longer anagen phase and as such these individuals can grow their hair longer than most people.
2. Catagen Phase – The catagen phase is the transitional phase that lasts about 10 days.
3. Telogen Phase – This is the phase that people are scared of. The telogen phase is the “resting” phase, hair that enters the telogen phase will fall out and that particular hair follicle will become inactive for 3 months or so and the process begins anew. Remember that on a healthy scalp, only about 10% of your hair is in the telogen phase.

Hair Shedding Woes

That’s what brings us to what telogen effluvium is—it’s significant and sudden hair loss. During telogen effluvium, as much as 70% of the hairs on the scalp can be “shocked” into the telogen phase, which would cause a sudden and massive hair shedding two months from the incident.

This is why hair loss is mysterious for many people because, in the case of telogen, the hair loss is only noticed months after the incident which caused it. For example, if you were involved in a terrible accident or had undergone through a highly stressful ordeal such as a loss in the family or some such thing, you may not link that incident with the hair loss you are experiencing 3 months down the line.

Causes for Telogen Effluvium

If stress was the cause of your hair loss, the good news is that once your hair stops shedding—it will grow back. However, there are other reasons telogen can be initiated. One of the major culprits of hair loss is hormonal issues or nutritional deficiencies. These two are linked as nutritional deficiencies and bad eating habits can cause vitamin deficiency or weight gain which can shift your hormones to an unfavorable state for hair and scalp health.

Hair Loss Stylist

Angel’s’ Eyes of Beauty is a tag-team effort between hair loss stylist Angela Williams and Tangela Graham. Angels is a cosmetologist and certified trichologist in Delray Beach, which is a hair loss and scalp specialist. If you have any burning questions about hair health and getting better results naturally, there’s no one better! Tangela is a senior stylist at Angel’s and she has wide-ranging expertise including but not limited to coloring, waxing, shampooing, and smoothing treatments. Click here to book an appointment or give us a call at (561)-278-0361!