Hair loss can be a problem for many women and even more so for men, but it is not something that anyone needs just accept as a fact of life.
There may be different causes behind hair loss, from temporary medical effects such as some cancer treatments, or an inherited genetic trait. However, hair loss can also be caused by stress and trauma. This is why practices like mindfulness for stress reduction can help curb hair loss.
A good example of someone suffering hair loss after a time of stress and trauma was TV presenter Gail Porter. Her negative experiences have included anxiety, depression, self-doubt and anorexia. The alopecia that left her bald was one of many consequences, alongside self-harm, divorce and homelessness.
A particularly traumatic incident, which was a major trigger for her alopecia, was the projection of a picture of her naked body onto the Houses of Parliament, a stunt carried out without her consent by a men’s magazine that she was never paid for.
For most people, the idea of being seen naked in the middle of London would be the stuff of bad dreams, but even so, for many the stress of their own lives can still be more than enough to trigger hair loss.
An association between mental health issues and hair loss has long been recognised. A study in 2012 of women seeking hair loss treatment found 38 per cent of the women experiencing hair loss had at least two symptoms of depression. While this did not demonstrate a causal link, it certainly showed that the two correlate.
Stress, of course, is known to lead to hair thinning, so it makes sense to undertake many exercises that can help to reduce it. That is where mindfulness can prove invaluable.
Mindfulness is defined as focusing on what is going on around us and inside us at the very moment. This means your concentration is diverted away from thoughts about the future, or hypothetical scenarios, or things you cannot affect at that very moment. It may be paraphrased as ‘living in the moment’.
The key benefit of mindfulness is to understand that the world we are in at that moment can be very different from the stream of thoughts racing through our heads. By understanding this, we can grow to a realisation of how some of these thoughts are far from helpful in how they impact on our mental and emotional states.
Some may wonder just what therapeutic mental exercises have to do with the modern medical techniques that are involved in trichology and hair restoration.
The fact is that with the connection between mental and physical health being so well established when it comes to hair loss, mindfulness can play a major part in the quest to get a full hair of head again.
Indeed, the two elements can be combined. Mindfulness and other exercises to reduce stress can ensure less hair is lost. The treatment we can offer on top of that at our clinic can then do the rest to get your hair back to the way it was.