Snippet from the article:

Can stress really cause hair loss?

Yes. Studies on both laboratory mice and disembodied human hair follicles have shown that external stresses can cause hair loss. Researchers have exposed otherwise healthy mice to mouse-repelling sounds at 15-second intervals for 24 hours. The follicles of the stressed mice went dormant significantly faster than their more relaxed cousins. No such experiment has been conducted on people, but scientists do know that if you expose human hair follicles to substance P, a stress-related neurochemical, they will also become dormant.

Read the rest — Slate: Can Stress Really Make Your Hair Fall Out?

The article references a recent tabloid-style story (in the New York Times) about soon-to-be-former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s mystery hair thinning, and wonders if it is due to stress (telogen effluvium), alopecia areata, or genetic hair loss. I haven’t seen the hair loss they’re talking about, but if I had to guess, I’d put my money on it being stress-related.

I had a 1500+ transplant about 2 months ago. It was a phenomenal experience, and I haven’t had any issues, aside from some minor itching. My question is I have been using Xandrox with 15% minoxidil at night. Is there anyway the concentration of minox in this product or amount of alcohol (80%) damaged the newly transplanted follicles? Any information is appreciated.

Fantastic blog btw.

I don’t believe that minoxidil will cause damage to the new hair grafts. I also do not believe it will help cause more rapid hair growth on the newly transplanted hair either. I tried applying minoxidil to half of the head on a number of patients some years ago to see if it made any difference and it did not.

I have a question about the number of hairs a race typically has. Since Caucasians typically have 100K as opposed to Africans who have 60K, is African hair, strand per stand, literally thicker, or something? Because at least I usually see Africans and notice Caucasians have almost twice as much density on their head.

Hair thickness has nothing to do with hair density. You find fine, medium, and coarse hair in all races. African hair mats together and gives the illusion of more fullness.

I’ve read in many instances here that sebum does not cause hair loss. While I believe this, a small part of me has some doubts. Is there any definitive proof you can convey to us here?

What sort of proof are you looking for? Sebum is an oily substance secreted by the sebaceous glands. We all have sebaceous glands and we all secrete sebum. Sebaceous glands secrete the oil to give your hair the healthy shine, coating and protecting it from the environment so your hair does not get brittle and break off. Sometimes excess sebum can cause oily skin/hair. You can treat this by washing your hair with shampoos that address oily hair. If you do not wash your hair and let sebum build up you can have bacteria growth that causes a foul smell or even clogs up the pores to cause pimples and cysts. But this will still not cause hair loss, just poor hygiene. If sebum caused hair loss, there would be many more balding women out there.

Hair loss in men is caused by genetics 99% of the time. It occurs in specific patterns, thus the term “male pattern baldness”. Its not called sebum-baldness.

I have been on Propecia for 11 months now and on rogaine for about a 6 months. I have found that it is harder to style my hair after using the rogaine foam due to it making my hair stiff. Due to this, I started using the rogaine foam only at night. I have recently gone back to using the rogaine twice a day and just putting up with the difficult styling. The problem is that I have seen more and more hairs on my hands after applying the rogaine foam after a shower then before. Is this due to the change in using the foam once a day to twice a day? Also, do you have any recommendations for a doctor in Washington D.C./Northern Virginia area?

Thanks!

Some people report not liking the Rogaine Foam for the same reasons. Having never used it, I can not comment on your complaint. It should be the same when comparing liquid and the foam with regard to results. Twice a day use should be better than once a day use, but you may have accelerated the cycling, which in the long term should be fine for you.

I don’t have any specific recommendations in the DC area, but Dr. Robert Bernstein is in New York and does work that I have seen, approved, and I therefore can recommend him. It is worth the trip to NY. Or better yet, come visit me in Los Angeles and you can see Disneyland or Universal Studios as part of the trip.

this is my first post and i really appreciate the community you’ve made here. Thanks to the internet and specially all you contributors.

I am 28 years old (29 in september) healthy male. Been losing hairs since i was 17 (its in the genes). I had a hair transplant (FUT) 12 days ago with 2024 grafts. Yesterday i went to get my stitches out but since my overall hairs are very very thin and weak my doctor has advised me to take: 1 tablet GENESIS (Finasteride 1mg) daily. The whole medication has been advised for 2 years

I really have doubts about this ”Finasteride” thing. I would really appreciate answers from doctors and professionals whether i should take Finasteride’ 1mg daily or should i take it alternate days..

What is the time frame in which the sexual side effects can be detected and it is possible, for example if am not having any side effects for the first 2 months of taking finasteride I wont get any side effects in future.

Finasteride will help prevent further loss and should be taken daily. Side effects are rare, but vary for each person. If you take the medication for just 2 years and stop, any benefits you saw will disappear… so I’m not sure why you were told to just take it for a limited time. It is a medication that must be taken forever (or until something better comes along that works in a similar fashion). Stopping the finasteride will produce catch-up hair loss.

Hi I have recently been experiencing sudden hair loss. I am a 23yr. old male, and have always had thick brown hair. This past march I took some pro-hormone supplements (oxyguno) to help my workout program. At the end of May, I noticed my hair was alot more blonde in areas, and noticeable thinning in the front hairline. I immediately went to a physician, and he said it was probably the supplements I took. I also had two tough last semesters (both 18hr loads). My doc prescribed me some propecia & told me to take Rogaine. My hair began to shed really bad after starting the two medications. After about a month I decided to stop the Rogaine, because my scalp was itching and I was continuing to shed alot of hair.

My question is, do you think this was caused by the supplements? Also is I got back on the Rogaine do the shed hairs grow back? Also there is some MPB in the family, although this hair loss just seems too sudden.

I would doubt that supplements caused your hair loss. The stress you are apparently experiencing will accelerate the genetic process and it can happen in a relatively show time frame. I can’t say what Rogaine will do for you — not everyone reacts the same.

I recently had a FUE procedure (about 200 grafts) for a revision on some old scars (traction alopecia scars from a hairpiece system with clips)on the back and side of my head (about two weeks ago). When will the little holes turn white and how soon can I buzz my head down to a 1 blade without disturbing the grafts in the scars? I’m 49, bald most of my life, I just wanted to improve the scars a little bit for the buzzing…

For FUE, healing for the recipient area is easily complete in 2 weeks provided that the scabs are gone. You can do what you want as soon as the scabs comes off.

I asked a question about my hair loss a couple of months ago, and I said that I thought my hair loss was too aggressive to be male pattern baldness. I think my hair is following the general pattern of MPB (so i’m guessing it is MPB).

How much of an effect can stress have on people with MPB? My hairline is very thin, but I am not quite a NW2 yet on the scale. I still have a reasonable amount of hair on the top of my head, I believe it just might be miniaturized.

I found a picture of myself in February of this year, and I was still a NW2 (I think it’s just a mature hairline), but my hair was really thick. A full month later my hair on top was completely thin. Maybe I had very early miniaturization in the first picture, but it looked very thick. I don’t understand how my hair could get so thin so quickly. It hasn’t progressed much since then, but it is probably still thinning.

I have been struggling with bills and dealing with unemployment. I’ve been so depressed (thoughts of suicide, etc) because we have been struggling to keep the bills paid. We went a few months without running water, electricity. Without oxygen my father will die, and his oxygen machine runs on electricity. So this adds to the stress. Meanwhile my father’s health deteriorates and I’m only 19 so it’s very hard for me to step up and support our family. (And now on top of this my hair starts falling out)

Will this kind of stress accelerate MPB? And will hair loss from stress (even though I probably have MPB) grow back?

Last question, sorry for the long life story message:
There is no way I can see a doctor, I do not have health insurance, what can I do about my hair loss? It’s possible I could get finpecia or propecia. I’ve read that finasteride works best for people who are still in the miniaturized state. How well do you think propecia could work for someone my age with early hair loss (advanced miniaturization).

Hair loss from stress could shift your natural MPB timeline forward (basically kick starting hair loss that wouldn’t otherwise happen until later). Although each person will handle stress differently, your situation does sound extremely stressful and very well could accelerate your MPB.

I’d try to find a local hair transplant clinic with a free exam. Some offer a free 1st time consultation. I’m not suggesting to rush out for surgery, but these docs will know more about diagnosing hair loss than many other doctors will. Try to find one in your area by using the physician search at ISHRS.org — but find out pricing for the consultation beforehand, of course. Not all of them are free. If you can not find a local doctor offering a free consultation, send good digital pictures to me here along with a phone number to reach you and I will try to help you over the phone. My probable solution will be finasteride, but let me see those photos first… or let a doctor decide that after an in-person exam.

Hello. I recently visited a very well known transplant surgeon. He’s all over the internet and on many of the blogs etc. I think you may have referred to his practice in some of your recent postings. The photos and testimonials on his website are almost too good to be true, I mean the results are consistently the best I have seen anywhere internet. I am a forty year old white male, with receding hairline at the temples, I’m currently a NW3. I’m mainly just concerned with filling in the temples.

Here’s the issue. This doctor recommended 2500 FUE’s to fill in the hairline, this sounds a bit high to me, but he assured me that I wouldn’t be happy with any fewer. Is it wise in your opinion to do 2500 in the frontal zone based on what I’ve stated, I’m surely bound to keep loosing hair. And, can this doctor’s results be REAL? Even if he was cherry picking his best patients, he has probably 75 patients on his website, most with unbelievable results. I’m wondering if it’s marketing hype or is it real? Maybe he’s only doing very young patients with results that look great today, but not in the future? In addition, since this clinic only offers the FUE procedure, it is extremely expensive and would require a loan for me to complete the transplant. Thanks for your time.

Getting a second opinion is a reasonable next step. Some doctors produce a terrific marketing image showing what patients they want you to see. We offer our Open House events every month where you can see patients up close, ask them about their surgery, and get comfortable with the physicians and staff. For example, in our Los Angeles open houses, we often have a dozen patients to show off, and many just show up to help educate our prospective patients. Maybe you should listen to your instincts and get another opinion.

I can not comment on the 2500 graft recommendation with FUE (in one session? hmmmm) for a frontal hairline without at least seeing a photo of your hairline. Send me a good picture or three and point out the area where the surgeon said he would move the hair to. Reference this post when sending.