Hair Thinning

[drifter316]

On Friday night after i took a shower i noticed that my hair felt like it had a lot less volume than it normally does. I pulled my hair a bit to see if it was shedding but nothing really came out. I then proceeded to notice it seemed to be thinning all around my entire head.

I must admit that the last 3 weeks for me have been very stressful but I'm wondering if it really is just stress. There isn't one particular area that is thinning more than an other.

My father is bald but i have more my mother's hair, and there isn't a single bald person on her side of the family. Infact my mother's father had hair until he died at 99. (additionally my father is the only bald person on his side too). I have always had a huge thick amount of hair, but what does it mean if it suddenly thins like it is right now? Is it stress or should i be worried its something else. And if it is stress how soon can i expect this to return to its normal volume?

 

[freakout]

How many are they on your father's side?

 

[drifter316]

my father only has a brother who has all his hair, his father had all his hair, never met my great grandparents, dunno about them. but is hair thinning at such a fast rate normal of natural balding? or is it more of a stress thing?

 

[freakout]

It's not stress itself that causes it and a lot of factors can come into play. there's a lot of debate on this and you can get caught up in crossfire You'll probably get a different response from the others.

Your post is fine and it might help furhter if you can state you age, school, work and anything youre' doing recently that changed your daily routine.

Eathing habits, physical activity,, how much you spend time studying or working, what type of work. Pictures will help too.

 

[drifter316]

just turned 23.

3 weeks ago i went to visit my girlfriend and family only to be dumped the first day there, ive been able to get over it but the first week or so was really stressful. Work used to help but lately its been more and more stressful. i work at a camp with kids with a really uptight hands on boss. i walk a mile and a half to work then back home every day, though I don't think my eating habits help all to much, i just started taking vitamins again. along with that im applying for jobs for the coming year, and planning to move, but im having a hard time finding a job/place to live.

ill take pictures now.

 

[drifter316]

http://i55.tinypic.com/2s1vj0i.jpg
http://i53.tinypic.com/35b9pb7.jpg
http://i52.tinypic.com/el34v7.jpg
http://i54.tinypic.com/33leb6f.jpg
until this past week my hair has never looked like the last picture, normally hair would be over it, but now suddenly when i run my fingers through i can do it with much more ease than usual. usually it takes some force to run my fingers through my hair.

 

[drunkmonkey425]

I don't see anything, looks pretty thick to me. If it really worries you just keep an eye on it.

 

[freakout]

The series of events seem to be related assuming that there was no sign of thinning prior. Vitamin supplements don't help in any way. Are you taking multi-vitamins? Do you do paper works for hours in a day?

 

[drifter316]

Currently i supervise, work with kids from 730am to 6pm straight through. its been a lot more tiring the last 2 weeks and the week before that didn't help with the other situation that happened. and i take multi vitamins

 

[freakout]

Let's see what the others have to say.

 

[Lloyd Braun]

You could be taking after your father. That is somewhat common from what I have observed. With that said, you probably have a better chance of not taking after him. It just wouldn't be odd if you did. My maternal grandfather was outdone with hair greatness only by Ronald Reagan and my mom would always tell me I would keep my hair even as an old man because he did. The truth is, you just don't know what the hair gods are going to throw at you.

 

[ukmale24]

I'm not as experienced as some of the posters here but eating well is the basis of good health of any kind.

Make sure you're eating fairly healthy but more importantly make sure you eat regularly!

 

[s.a.f]

I'm not as experienced as some of the posters here but eating well is the basis of good health of any kind.

Make sure you're eating fairly healthy but more importantly make sure you eat regularly!

People are not going bald because they are'nt eating well. :smack:

 

[ukmale24]

I'm not as experienced as some of the posters here but eating well is the basis of good health of any kind.

Make sure you're eating fairly healthy but more importantly make sure you eat regularly!

People are not going bald because they are'nt eating well. :smack:

It could be a factor. Not eating properly and having a bad metabolism leads to depression, anxiety, stress = can all lead to losing hair.

 

[Lloyd Braun]

I'm not as experienced as some of the posters here but eating well is the basis of good health of any kind.

Make sure you're eating fairly healthy but more importantly make sure you eat regularly!

People are not going bald because they are'nt eating well. :smack:

It could be a factor. Not eating properly and having a bad metabolism leads to depression, anxiety, stress = can all lead to losing hair.

Dude, not a receding hairline though! It's not like I'm going to grow back my hairline if I eat healthier and stop stressing. Your hair can be negatively affected by malnutrition but since hair isn't very demanding you would have to be pretty starved. You would then also notice thinning of facial hair and other non-scalp hair. How good a head of hair and/or hairline a man has is about 95% genetic and 5% lifestyle in my opinion.

 

[s.a.f]

You know something guys I remember a couple of years back I watched a programme on eating disorders it featured 2 people 1 was a man who was in his 20's and had eaten nothing but jam sandwiches since he was a toddler. Thats Jam ( about 90% sugar/presevatives) on white highly refined bread.

[attachment=1:36s7xzep]stock-photo-bread-and-jam-with-knife-34847884.jpg[/attachment:36s7xzep]

The other was a woman in her 30's who had eaten nothing but monster munch (thats a starchy maize snack) also since she was a teenager.

[attachment=0:36s7xzep]monstermunch2-225x300.jpg[/attachment:36s7xzep]

Now according to some of you guys these people would'nt have survived on these unhealthy nutritionless diets and yet both managed to grow to full adulthood and neither had any major health issues. The woman even had a kid.

Its strange that this forum of people going bald is inhabited by people who are 'health freaks' and yet when I look around at my work colleagues most of whom are NW1's its clear that they give no thought at all to what they eat and just choose whatever tastes the best. Many of them practicly leave their diet up to the works canteen vending machines which serve nothing but crisps, chocolate and soft drinks.

 

[ukmale24]

I merely suggested it, as he said he he was "thinning all around" which suggested it wasn't male pattern baldness. Stress can come from a bad metabolism, which comes from not eating regularly.

 

[Thom]

ukmale does have a point. He was only stating a possible theory.

Truth is we don't know if the op just stopped eating when he was depressed or not and malnutrition does cause hair loss due to the shock it produces on your body. I'm only speaking from experience, when I get terribly depressed or stressed out I stop eating hardly anything and do not realize it. This rarely happens because I'm a happy guy for the most part but we all hit rough patches.

To the op, also consider that your shampoo may make your hair feel thinner. Some shampoos and conditioners cause my hair to feel flatter or wispier than others.

 

[freakout]

something is wrong with the analysis. There are two types of what appears and may feel like 'thinning'.

Real thinning of the hair shafts can occur over months and without much hair fall. Diffusion, otoh, can appear and feel like thinning which can also occur over months.

But if this occurred over a period of a couple of weeks, then he should see a lot of hair fall. This would be what we call shedding.

Also, both thinning and diffusion can occur in the same case. One or the other can be more gradual or aggressive.

drifter316, you still there?

 

[drifter316]

still here.

i haven't noticed any real huge amounts of shed. i started using some shampoos that were given to me, one that has rosemary i believe and the other had a tuna plant.

Its just strange to think it be the gradual because the actual volume and feel of my hair has been the same up until last week. now theres just less volume and it feels as though there is less. it hasn't continued this week. it looks just about the same as it did. I tried to make an appointment with a dermatologist but they're backed up for new patients until November.. not sure what else i can do. I'm starting to look into diets as well.