Sudden Hair Loss - The Top 3 Common Causes and Treatments

I will never forget when my hair loss started.  It was a normal morning and I went to read the paper.  As I bent my head down and began scanning the words, strands of my fallen hair began to fall onto the paper like rain drops.  Of course, this completely freaked me out.  I went to the bathroom, turned my head over the garbage can, and shook.  Immediately, tons of hair fell out forming a little heal of hair in the garbage can.  I grabbed the trash can and thrust it at my husband (who is a medical professional.)  Even he looked at me a bit baffled and we started racking our brains about the possible cause.

Since that day, I've done tons and tons of research on sudden hair loss. Below, I'll share with you the top three common causes of sudden hair loss and their corresponding treatments.

Telogen Effluvium (TE): Probably the most common cause of sudden hair loss is telogen effluvium or shedding.  Although some people have seasonal shedding (in the spring and fall), typical TE is most commonly very pronounced shedding that is well outside of what is normal for you.  Hair will suddenly be all over the house and all over your clothes.  It's very hard to ignore or miss.

Often there's a change in your body that causes this shedding. This may be starting or stopping medications (birth control pills are a common culprit), recently giving birth, menopause or peri menopause, thyroid or adrenal issues, being ill, having surgery, physical or mental stress, etc. 

The treatment for TE depends on the trigger.  Some triggers you can't do anything about. If you just had a baby, you'll just need to wait it out and support a healthy scalp and regrowth.  You may need to address hormone fluctuations or find a medication that agrees with you more.  You may need to restore you health. What ever the cause of your trigger, you'll need to identify, address, and fix it (if it's a fixable issue.)

Alopecia Areata (AA): Often times, AA is quite sudden, occurring in only a matter of days.  This is autoimmune related loss that will sometimes appear in smooth bald, patches.  Sometimes though, the patches progress or the patient gets diffuse or all over shedding - which sometimes results in total baldness (called alopecia totalis.)

Sometimes, hair on other parts of the body are also affected or thin out and / or become bald.  You may have hair loss in areas like your eye brows, lashes, pubic hair, beard, etc (this is called alopecia universalis.)

Needless to say, this type of hair loss is hard to miss. The patches often end up being quite smooth and pain free. Sometimes, regrowth will grow in white.  There are many theories as to the cause of this.  It used to be thought that is was stressed induced.  But, now the medical community is pursuing other causes like allergies, hormones, viruses, or exposure to toxins.

Treatment for this is often corticosteroids. Sometimes this is applied in cream form to the scalp and sometimes it is injected.  There has been some promising research on herbal mixes as treatments.  Some study respondents had a good deal of regrowth from a combination of herbs like rosemary, lavender and cedar wood, among other things.

Issues That Start In The Body And End Up On The Scalp:  Another cause of hair loss that seems to come out of nowhere is problems in your body that eventually make their way onto your scalp.  Examples are yeast, inflammation, bacteria, or ringworm.  This can inflame, damage and choke out the nourishment that the follicles are receiving and in turn they die off.

Treatment for this type of loss depends on the exact cause.  Sometimes, medications are needed and sometimes, you can alleviate the inflammation and yeast with topical treatments that you can make on your own using ingredients like tea tree oil, emu oil or horsetail among others, in combination, as part of a rotation, or alone.