COVID-19 led to many of us to stay at home and isolate to prevent the spread of the virus. During this time, you faced fears of many types. You worried about what would happen if you became ill. You missed your family. You worried about work and paying the bills. All of these factors build up the stress levels in your body. As that happens, hair loss or hair shedding may occur. Stress is a contributing factor when it comes to hair loss, especially in people who routinely do not have any type of problems with hair growth.
The Impact of Stress
COVID-19 created a new type of stress, one that most people have not had to deal with before. You were faced with various levels of uncertainty. Your body was constantly pumping cortisol – the stress hormone – into your bloodstream. This hormone is designed to get your body focused and ready to act in the right way. It is a type of fight or flight situation. To do this, the body turns off or reduces the nonessential functions taking place. The goal is to ensure that all of your body’s resources are going toward whatever action you need to take.
Cortisol is supposed to remain in your bloodstream for a short amount of time. Yet, in these situations, where you are on lockdown for months, that does not happen. Instead, you find yourself constantly in a state of stress. That is bad for your health overall. It is particularly bad for your hair as well. High stress tends to mean hair loss because your body is not putting energy towards those areas. Cortisol itself is one of the worst hormones for preserving health and wellbeing overall.
What Happens with Hair Loss
You may have noticed a significant increase in the amount of hair falling out as a result of this during the COVID-19 lockdown. Hair loss like this happens in most stressful situations. When the hair follicles are not growing hair – because of the high stress levels – this causes hair to fall out before it should. Remember, hair goes through a three phase cycle. It enters the growth phase, falls out, and enters a resting phase. What the COVID-19 lockdown did was to speed up this process.
In short, many people saw an increase in the amount of hair being lost in the growth phase. This was more hair that would be considered a normal amount of hair shed in this given period. That means it feels like you are losing a lot more of your hair. You may even worry about it thinning out so much so that you may have a problem on your hands.
When hair falls out during the growth phase, in this situation, due to the increase in the stress levels present, it will enter into the rest phase. That is the time when the follicles do not grow hair. They rest for several months, in fact. The hair growth cycle has not stopped during this time. Rather, it has just slowed down significantly.
That doesn’t help you, though. You are worried about your lack of hair growth and the fact that you are losing far more than 100 strands each day.
What Can You Expect?
When you have hair loss from the COVID-19 lockdown and stress in general, the best thing you can do is to reduce the stress levels present to reduce the amount of additional hair you will lose. At the same time, you also want to give it some time. Most people will see their hair start to regrow as the hair growth cycle continues to progress. It can take some time. Often, this is about a three month process, but it may be longer due to stress levels.
If you do not see your hair bouncing back, it may be time to talk to your doctor about what may be happening. You may have a nutrient deficiency. You may be dealing with other health factors that can lead to hair loss. Most importantly, do not wait. If you are worried about hair thinning, be sure to reach out to your doctor for help as soon as possible. For more information on the hair loss prevention and treatment options available, contact the team at Unique Hair Concepts for a complimentary hair and scalp analysis.
