In today’s issue, Trichologist Dr Shahid Shamsher will talk about the combination of stress and change of water affecting hair loss.

Q1. How much of a role do stress and water play in hair fall?

As far as water is concerned, it is not a question of good water or bad water or hard water or soft water, but the change of water, that affects hair loss. Similarly stress is also a very subjective quality. What maybe stressful for one person, may not be so for another. Both these factors can cause a condition called Telogen Effluvium, where there is sudden onset of hair loss in bunches and can be in acute and chronic forms. In acute form it is short lived and becomes normal within 2-3 months, but in the chronic form it continues even beyond that period. In order to deal with the Telogen Effluvium, its better to get hair loss treatment from the clinic near you.

Q2. If both these factors affect the person together, how would the hair fall then be?

This phenomena is typically seen in executives and others 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.

Q3. But one cannot stop traveling nor control one’s stress. So what is solution then?

It is very true that we cannot decrease the stress or ask the person to stop traveling and stay home. The solution lies in defining and limiting the damage to the hair roots preferably in the early stages. For example when these factors affect hair, they cause a lowering of the growth to fall ratio. The normal ratio should be 9:1, but in these conditions the ratio often becomes 7:3, or even 5:5 in worse cases. The solution then is to repair the damage to the hair roots, so that the ratio is reversed back to 9:1 or as close to it as possible. Thereafter following a certain maintenance therapy helps to prevent this condition relapsing again and again.

Dr Shahid Shamsher is a leading Trichologist certified from UK, Australia & India. Practicing since 27 years in the field of Trichology, even today he consults every patient personally himself rather than leave it to assistants. He can be reached on 080 42067474 / 75.