It is very common to see men of all ages losing their hair and it has become an accepted part of society that in some stage in life, men are going to lose their hair. However, it is not common to see women who are suffering with hair loss. However, you might be surprised to hear that there are more women suffering with hair loss than you first thought.
More and more women are suffering with hair loss as a result of cancer treatment, conditions such as alopecia and telogen effluvium. In order to find out why they are losing their hair, women do tend to seek medical help in order to ensure that there isn’t anything more seriously wrong that could have resulted in their hair loss.
A woman that you might have seen recently in the press is Heather Fisher. Fisher, who plays on the England women’s rugby union team, has suffered from a severe form of alopecia for a number of years however she has continued to perform at her best for her country in defiance of her condition. Heather has been told that her condition relates to stress, however this has not affected her game and continue to go from strength to strength.
Celebrities at the end of the day are exactly like us and they experience everything that we go through. This includes hair loss and there have been many celebrities which have publically announced that they have lost their hair for various women. However, when we see celebrity women who have lost their hair, it is unusual, as it isn’t something a large amount of women go through, although it is not necessarily uncommon.
Celebrities such as Gail Porter, Bernie Nolan and Sally Dynevor who plays Sally Webster in Coronation Street have all sorted with some form of hair loss and have come out about it in order to put women at ease about their hair loss.
There are many reasons why women lose their hair, the most common and possibly the most talked about hair loss condition in alopecia and hair loss as a result of cancer treatment. Cancer treatment in particular is particularly invasive which results in the hair follicles becoming dormant and as a result your hair falls out. However, this is a temporary condition and over time the hair does come back. With alopecia, there are many causes for alopecia and it affects people in different ways. Some only experience minor hair loss, whereas others lose their hair completely.
Bernie Nolan, most famous for singing in the 80s pop band The Nolans with her sisters, has been pictured out in public this week for the first time since losing her hair.
Nolan, 49, is about halfway through a course of chemotherapy treatment for a particularly aggressive form of breast cancer she has been diagnosed with. As is common with chemotherapy and radiotherapy, her hair started to fall out. In what she has described as a “liberating” experience, Nolan took the bold step of shaving all of her hair off.
After initially saying she was comfortable with her hair loss, Nolan felt it was about time she stepped out in public and proved the fact. Appearing – and looking radiant – at the TV Choice Awards in London this week, Nolan was in a positive mood. She said:
“I might look like something out of Star Trek but I’m winning the fight of my life!”
“My hair was hanging off in patches. I thought sod this and got the clippers.
“It felt like I was taking control, saying, “Screw this. I’m in charge.” It was liberating.”
Bernie’s sisters Anne and Linda have both fought and beaten breast cancer in the last few years.
Dr Larry Shapiro, who has released a new book regarding hair loss, says that Tiger Woods’ wife, Elin Nordegren, is far from being the only one suffering hair loss as a result of stress. He says that hair loss has many causes and heightened stress is one of the most common.
The hair transplant surgeon said:
“Over the last few decades of observing and talking to thousands of patients, I became increasingly suspicious of certain supplements, lifestyle factors and hormones that contributed to their hair loss.”
Shapiro has carried out his own studies to try and identify some of the causes of hair loss. He believes that many supplements create hormonal imbalances that can lead to it happening. He has also looked at the impact of stress.
Talking of Nordegren, Shapiro says:
“Here you have a perfectly healthy, young woman who has been under a great deal of stress. Her body reacted by creating a hormonal imbalance that triggered insomnia, weight loss and hair loss. The good news is that anyone experiencing this type of hair loss can reverse their situation rather quickly if they provide the nutrients the body needs to stimulate the follicles to grow new hair and balance the body’s hormonal levels out.”
There has been a lot of publicity recently over the news that Tiger Woods soon to be ex wife has been losing her hair. Elin Nordegren is apparently losing her hair as a result of the stress that her divorce process of putting her through and that she is struggle to keep on top of everything that is going on around us.
Like many women around the world, we go through periods in our lives when we are very stressed and it can affect us in many different ways. Unfortunately for some people, this means that they start to lose some or all of their hair. It can be a difficult time for a woman because we aren’t used to our hair falling out and it can be a difficult thing to even start to understand.
Elin Nordegren has been under an immense amount of stress since the revelations of her former husband’s affairs came out last year and she has been struggle to cope with the situation as well as look after the couple’s two children. In addition to losing some of her hair, Elin has also lost a significant amount of weight which is a tell tale sign of stress.
However, you don’t have to be going through a stressful time in your life for your hair to fall out, it can often occur for absolutely not reason whatsoever which can be even harder to understand.
One of the most devastating side effects of chemotherapy for women is hair loss, as it can negatively impact self-esteem and confidence. Whilst the sufferer will be relieved to be free of cancer, the treatment can have more long-lasting effects.
Speaking to Wales Online this week was Cathy Fisher, a breast cancer survivor who lost all of her hair during chemotherapy treatment. She has explained her battle with hair loss – marking it as the worst part of her illness – and the effect it has had on her life.
Cathy, now 45, started to lose her hair during her third course of chemotherapy. She describes what happened:
“I woke up one morning feeling like death and I looked at the pillow and there was my hair. It was devastating.”
Cathy took the bold step of cutting all of her hair, but this upsetting experience made her feel even worse. She says that she no longer felt attractive in her partner’s eyes.
Describing how she felt when the hair started to grow back, Cathy says:
“I couldn’t wear a scarf over my head or a wig because it was too hot so I was walking around with this awful hair until it grew to a certain length and I became socially acceptable again.”
For women like Cathy who lost their hair during chemotherapy, there are now more advanced solutions available to help. You could try hair replacement treatment, or one of the increasingly realistic human hair wigs now being made.
Stress can cause all sorts of changes in the body, both mental and physical. The stress of a messy divorce –or other difficult emotional times such as a death in the family – can cause everything from weight loss and insomnia to hair loss.
This is what happened to former model Elin Nordegren, who this week officially finalised her divorced from famous golfing husband Tiger Woods. Speaking to People Magazine in her one and only interview, Nordegren spoke of the emotional turmoil caused by the revelations of Woods’ nineteen suspected affairs, and of the stresses of the divorce proceedings.
Speaking of her experiences, Nordegren said:
“It’s hard to think you have this life, and then all of a sudden — was it a lie? You’re struggling because it wasn’t real. But I survived. It was hard, but it didn’t kill me.”
In the days before the divorce was finalised, however, Nordegren says that her trademark long, blonde hair began to fall out due to the stress of it all. Not only was her marriage shattered, but her self-esteem and confidence in her appearance was under threat as well.
For women, the loss of hair can be a devastating experience. It undermines confidence, self-esteem and can interfere with the way you live your life. There are solutions available though – such as hair replacement treatment or human hair wigs – so that you don’t have to live under the shadow of hair loss.
Three million people in Britain are currently affected by alopecia but for some reason, the condition still has a stigma attached to it. This is especially the case for women and children, as hair loss is more commonly seen in men.
This is why the Bebold Support Group and Alopecia Awareness teamed up to open the UK’s first alopecia camp, which has now been heralded a success after its July 30th open day. Alopecia sufferers from all over the country were invited to visit the camp for a week and spend time with others who have the same condition.
The psychological effects of sudden hair loss can be devastating, which is why alopecia sufferers need the kind of support and understanding offered at the Scarborough camp.
Michelle Chapman, a childhood alopecia sufferer and member of Alopecia Awareness, has spoken of her own experiences and what the camp means to alopecia sufferers and their families. She said:
“If I’d had the chance to meet others living with hair loss, it would have made a huge positive difference to me and my family. Instead, I felt as if I was the only bald girl in the world.
“These children and adults will have the chance to spend time with people who truly understand and never feel as alone and embarrassed as I did.”
The singer and Strictly Come Dancing judge Alesha Dixon, 31, has recently been photographed with what some believe is a case of traction alopecia. These latest pictures bear a resemblance to the photographs of supermodel Naomi Campbell released a few weeks ago, in which she has noticeable bald patches.
Ms Dixon is the picture of health, but some have speculated that her exceptionally tight hairstyles have caused her to suffer female hair loss. The former Mis-Teeq singer was photographed sporting her signature hairstyle, a very tight, high ponytail, but her hairline seems to be either naturally very high at the temples or she is suffering from thinning hair. Through the thin hair, her scalp can clearly be seen.
Tightly pulled-back hair styles such as Ms Dixon’s can cause the hair roots excessive stress and pulling. This can lead to traction alopecia, where the hair starts to shed.
Women in the entertainment industry are particularly vulnerable to traction alopecia – a condition where repeated pulling on the scalp causes the hair to fall out – as they are expected to sport a number of different hairstyles on photo shoots and in music videos.
In the case of Naomi Campbell, trichologists suspect that years of getting tight weaves and extensions fitted has caused her hair to fall out.
Gail Porter was recently in central London helping to promote a cycling safety campaign. While there, she spoke of how happy she was with her new hair, having seemingly fully recovered from the alopecia that first affected her in 2005.
Porter suffered for five years and is only now back to having a full head of hair. She experienced growth in patches at points over the years, but the progress of alopecia is unpredictable.
Porter said:
“I’m very proud of it. People come up to me all the time to talk. It’s really lovely. People feel like they know me and they have been amazing. I have had such a good reaction.”
Porter married Dan Hipgrave, the guitarist from Toploader, in 2001. The couple had a daughter two years later, but Porter believes the development of alopecia could have been related to the breakdown of her marriage, which ended in 2005, the same year she developed the auto-immune disorder.
