Losing my head

Or the hair on my head. 


People who knew me knows that when it comes to appearance, I am only vain on two things: my shoes and my hair. Most of my income goes to the upkeep of both. So losing my hair adds more stress to already stressful situation I am in. I've started shedding clumps of hair about two months ago but I attributed it to my scalp getting used to regular shampooing again. However, when it started to come off everytime I brush, or even tug at my hair, I started to worry. Dreading alopecia, I consulted with a dermatologist who diagnosed Telogen Effluvium. 


Telogen effluvium is the name for temporary hair loss due to shedding of resting or telogen hair after some shock to the system. From my research, about 85% of our hair follicles have active growing hair or anagen hair, while the rest are resting hair or telogen hair. It's normal to lose about 100 or so hair when we brush, shower or sleep. However, when there is some shock to the system as many as 70% of the anagen hairs can be pushed into the telogen phase and reverses the process. Which means healthy hair will be pushed out by the resting hair. 


The dermatologist told me that since I had a double whammy, a traumatic accident and major surgery, this precipitated the onset of telogen effluvium. This only became noticeable 2-3 months after the shock. What's more stressful is that there's no cure, you just have to wait it out. She said that shedding is a sign that it's already going back to the old phase. 


In the meantime, thanks to Tita Fanny, I'll try to "encourage" my hair to grow back. PLEASE.