Have you ever noticed that you are losing more hair at a time when you get  a stressfully experience? You may wonder if the stress is the cause of your hair loss, and you are not the only one who thinks that way. Some researches have proved that it may happen.

Although it is true that stress can cause hair loss, still, it depends on what kind of stress you are talking about. Everyday stress such as stress caused by worrying you are late to go to school or what kind of clothes  you are wearing is not going to cause you lose your hair dramatically, although the tension of this stress also can be a problem. But,  in many cases it needs more than that. The kind of stress that may cause hair loss is something that causes you to lose your sleep or changes your appetite and raise the level of stress hormones dramatically, such as giving birth, divorce or losing the beloved one in death . In short, it is very rare for hair to lose if the stress is not in severe level.

The severe stress may cause many conditions that lead to hair loss, some of them are :

• Alopecia Areata

This is a kind of sudden loss of large clumps of hair in areas around the scalp, where the body’s immune attacts the hair follicles and causing hair loss.

• Disruption of the hair phases

Hair has three phases, the first one  is the growth phase or anagen. This phase can last from 2 to 6 years. The second phase is catagen, when the follicles shrink a little bit. That is followed by telogen, when the hair is prepared to fall out. The last one is exogen, the time for hair to fall out. At this phase,  it is normal for a person to lose between 50 to 100 hairs a day from the total hair on a person’s head which is about 90,000 to 150, 000 hairs.  According to Kurt Stenn, a dermatologist also the author of the book “Hair: A Human History”, stress can distrupt this process, prematurely makes the hair out of the growth period. It causes your hair to fall out together in biggers numbers, about 10 times more than usual.

• Trichotillomania

A habitual condition where the person pulls out his hair without realizing it, and he does it every time he is depressed or in stressfully experience that linked with negative feelings caused by stress such as tension, loneliness, boredom or frustration.

• Imbalance Hormones

The hair fall is normal, as a result of the hair cycle. But a person may worry to much about it and it raises the level of stress hormones, consequently, it causes he gets hair loss for sure.

How does the stress work

Generally, the way stress works is simple. Under stress your body system start to work incorrectly or abnormal. For example, capillaries on the scalp become spasmed and do not nourish your hair follicles as normal as usual by giving it an enough amount of blood. Another way is stress causes your hair bulbs become weak and easy to fall out. Even if a new hair will grow to replace it, the replacements will also be weak and unhealthy.

Luckily, the hair loss which is caused by stress is temporary. Our body has an ability to regenerate itself, so in most cases, if a person can reduce the stress, the hair will restore in 6 to 8 months.

So  if you are the one who is wondering about does the stress cause hair loss, the answer is yes, it does. But it depends on how severe the stress is. One thing that is important to be considered is all of this information only help you to know the relation between stress and hair loss or the possibility of stress to cause hair loss. But if you notice a sudden hair loss or more than usual hair loss when combing or washing your hair even if you have reduced the stress, you are highly recommended to seek for the professional help.  Since a sudden hair loss can be a signal for a more serious health problem.