How to Lose Your Hair in 10 Days.

You quarantined for 10 days, you felt like shit, and recovered. Yet here you are, having handfuls of hair clog the shower drain. Your part is now as wide as the Columbia River Gorge, and any hair pulling during rough foreplay could end abruptly in shock. In my opinion, the “unexpected” is the ‘new normal,’ given the events of the past couple of years. With Covid-19 came a lot of uncertainty, and put subtly…absolute fucking chaos has taken root. Since the initial outbreak, we have been able to indicate the typical symptoms: fever, shortness of breath, fatigue, Zoom meeting overload, and a lot of isolation, I mean reflection. Never would we think that once we got through quarantine, our hair would become a delayed victim of the virus. 

Hair loss is amongst other lingering symptoms, known as “long haulers.” You think you’ve lost your virus in 10 days, and yet here’s Matthew McConaughey taking you to play a game of bullshit with his mom. The only bullshit I see is that 60% of hair is gone in clients that have ‘long hauler’ symptoms. In all seriousness, here’s what we know: hair loss is not listed by the Centers for Disease and Control (CDC) as a symptom, doctors have addressed it as a long-term effect from the virus. Let’s go over the facts:

According to the American Academy of Dermatology Association (AAD), what you are experiencing is not hair loss, but hair shedding. The medical term for this type of hair shedding is telogen effluvium. The AAD states, “It happens when more hairs than normal enter the shedding (telogen) phase of the hair growth lifecycle at the same time. A fever or illness can force more hairs into the shedding phase.” 

Let it be known, it is common to experience hair shedding two to three months post-fever/illness. While fever/illness may be the root of your problem, stress has also been linked as a strong contender. 

Anything Covid-19 related is stressful in my book.

Stress can take a toll on our bodies and sometimes the effects of it don’t show until they make a grand appearance. Similar to fever/illness, hair shedding can start about two to three months after the stress begins. It is important to remember that hair shedding is normal, with or without surviving Covid-19 or being understandably stressed. The average person loses up to 100 hairs per day. Telogen effluvium can boost that up to around 300 strands daily for up to six months!! (which is a lot of hair) 

Losing our hair can make us feel like we have no control over our own bodies. What is beautiful about our bodies is that with time, healing often comes. Our hair tends to rebound from whatever we put it through, including a bad perm or that time we thought green hair was a necessity. Hair grows slowly, so be easy on yourself as you recover from overcoming sickness or stress. It can take six months (link)to a year for your hair to bounce back. During this time, try leaning into developing a healthy lifestyle(link) and practicing self-care. Taking care of ourselves is not just about the clothes we put on our bodies or ‘making it’ through each, but what we do in terms of a nutritional diet and tools to maintain our mental health. I know that hearing this is still overwhelming, and probably causing more stress. If you want to know a few things you can do today to make sure your basics are covered in the hair department, I’ve got you covered.. (link to next blog) Or you can call it a day and tell hair to go Frost itself!