by Terri Furman
This week’s Intentional Living is something that is very personal to me. Hair loss from stress and Covid-19 is very real. But it’s not just me. I spoke with three women who are also dealing with it and a Dermatologist who explains what is happening.
Lorena Valencia, Jessicca Cason, and Pam Crosno tell me that the loss of hair is depressing, makes you self conscious, frustrated, and didn’t make them feel pretty as well as some self esteem.
Lorena said she started noticing about four or five days into the Covid diagnosis. “And I think it went on three to four weeks of just when I”m washing my hair noticing that there was a lot of hair in my hands when I’m brushing through it.”
Jessica said hers was falling out in handfuls, “it freaks me out every time I wash my hair and there’s this giant handful.”
Pam told me she has always had great hair but, “I wash it and it was like, lots of hair, it was really concerning and it’s not recovered.”
Dermatologist Dr. Heather Layher says there are new studies coming out saying hair loss can be a side effect of Covid. And the cause, “Telogen Effluvium is in my mind I like to think of it as the hairs are going into hibernation mode. They’ve been through a lot and they basically just push pause. So the hairs typically are in three phases. There’s a growth phase, a resting phase and a shedding phase.” So what is the answer to all of this? Dr. Layher says the number one thing is time. “It really is about a six to nine month process. Six to nine months after it starts so taking all of that into account that preemptive phase before it starts to shed, so you are really looking a nine months to a year.”
The ladies I spoke with all taking vitamins to help get their hair back healthy and growing again. Dr. Layher says, “there are many things out there than can help like multivitamins. There are specific hair supplements so biotin is absolutely a supplement we recommend to strengthen hair.”
Hair loss due to Covid can make women feel even more stress, but remember you aren’t alone. Jessicca Cason told me. “I think it’s important that we open up and talk about what is happening because if we do that we might help someone else.”
