Hair Loss Due to Traveling and Change in Water
Frequent travel exposes the hair to frequent changes in water. As far as the water is concerned, it is not the question of good water or bad water or hard water or soft water, but it is the change in water that causes the hair loss. The fact that the new water is different in type and make from the old water is sufficient to trigger hair loss. This type of hair loss is known as Telogen Effluvium. The name is a combination of 2 words: Telogen which refers to the falling phase of the hair and Effluvium which means to evaporate. Thus as the name suggests the hair fall in this condition is so rapid that it simply seems to evaporate from the head which is also referred in American Academy of Dermatology Association.
Telogen Effluvium can have acute and chronic forms. In the acute form the hair fall is short lived. In most cases the hair adapts to the new water and environment over a period of about 2-3 months subsequent to which the hair fall reduces spontaneously and comes back to normal levels. In the chronic form however it continues beyond that period. In the chronic form usually there are other causes involved like – scalp infections, stress, hereditary tendencies, dietary deficiencies, hormonal factors, night shifts etc. So while the initial push to the hair loss is given by change in water and travel, these other factors perpetuate it and keep it going further.
This phenomenon is typically seen in executives and people in corporate life who travel to different parts of the world every few months and have high levels of stress to boot. A very typical thing that occurs in such cases is that not only does the hair fall occur fast, but the hair goes white very quickly as well. In fact the graying often extends to the body hair as well, so you will find the beard hair and the chest hair going white early as well. It’s almost as if these factors combine together to cause a premature ageing of the hair roots.
In such cases the treatment approach should take in to account these underlying factors so that the hair fall can be brought under control in spite of the person staying in the new place with the changed water, as it indicates hair loss due to traveling and change in water.
