For both men and women experiencing hair loss, it often doesn’t just appear out of nowhere. Hair loss can happen slowly and subtly, often growing in prominence during seasons of heightened stress or emotional pressure. If you’ve ever noticed more shedding in the shower during a difficult life period, for example, you’re not imagining it. Science can clearly demonstrate that chronic stress and long-term anxiety can significantly impact the scalp, the hair growth cycle and overall hair health.
While that news may only add to your stress, it’s a good reminder of just how important it is to lower our stress levels in order to protect our body’s ability to function at its best. By taking a closer look at how anxiety leads to hair loss, we can understand how to protect our hair by better managing our stress.
How Anxiety Affects the Body
Stress may feel like an emotional experience, but it’s also biochemical, with elevated levels of cortisol triggering a wide range of inflammatory responses. When this kind of stress and anxiety lasts over the long-term, these changes can have a direct impact on hair growth and quality.
Research demonstrates that chronic anxiety can:
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Shorten the hair growth phase
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Worsen shedding conditions
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Reduce blood flow to the scalp, as well as the nutrients that blood flow delivers
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Increase inflammatory responses around the hair follicle
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Worsen underlying genetic or hormonal hair loss
The Three Biggest Challenges When It Comes to Anxiety and Hair Loss
Amongst the multiple ways long-term anxiety can impact hair less, there are three common culprits that can cause the greatest issues. These are:
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Stress-induced Telogen Effluvium (TE) - as one of the most widespread forms of stress-related hair loss, stress-induced Telogen Effluvium occurs when cortisol levels push a large number of hair follicles prematurely from the growth phase into the resting (telogen) phase. This can often occur 6-12 weeks after a major stressful moment. Key signs of TE include increased shedding, hair that feels thinner overall and a general reduction in hair volume. Thankfully, TE can often be reversed if the underlying stress is managed.
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Inflammation around the hair follicle. Chronic anxiety can increase systemic inflammation throughout our whole bodies, with research pointing to the rise of inflammatory chemicals (called cytokines) that rise when stress continues unabated. Unfortunately, these can directly affect the scalp environment, leading to disrupted hair growth cycles, excessive shedding, and an acceleration of genetic hair loss. If you’re already predisposed genetically to hair loss, chronic stress can also increase the rate of loss or thinning.
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Reduced blood flow and poor nutrient delivery. When your body is experiencing chronic stress, it responds by diverting blood away from the ‘less essential’ areas (like the scalp) so it can pump into vital organs. As time continues, this can result in limited delivery of oxygen and nutrients to follicles, slowing healthy growth and creating a weaker scalp environment overall.
Can Anxiety Alone Cause Permanent Hair Loss?
For the most part, anxiety isn’t a direct cause of hair loss that’s permanent and irreversible. What it can do is worsen existing triggers or trigger temporary hair shedding that sets off the internal alarms.
Anxiety can:
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Reveal underlying genetic hair loss earlier in life
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Intensify the impact hormonal imbalances have on hair growth
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Create scalp conditions that make regrowth harder
Even though anxiety alone isn’t necessarily the root cause of long-term, sustained hair loss, it’s certainly an amplifying factor. Paying attention to its presence and doing what you can to reduce its impact is a positive step forward in protecting not just your hair health, but your overall health and wellbeing.
What To Do If Chronic Anxiety Is Affecting Your Hair Health
If you’re noticing more shedding during a stressful life season, there are tools and solutions you can reach for. These include:
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Creating a healthier scalp environment - consider adding in professional scalp treatments or targeted products to give the scalp more support during this high-intensity time
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Support your body through nutrition - a nutrient-rich diet can help to replenish many of the nutrients that chronic stress may have reduced
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Reduce the body’s stress response - opt for gentle movement, breathwork practices, mindfulness, meditation, and improved sleep quality to give your body more support throughout this high-stress season
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Therapeutic support for ongoing anxiety
There are also a number of innovative non-surgical hair restoration solutions that can help to restore hair health, density and confidence. At Transitions Hair, our personalised solutions are designed to support men and women through all life stages where their hair may need professional, expert input.
Conclusion
While long-term anxiety isn’t often the root cause of permanent hair loss, it can often contribute to worsening hair concerns, such as accelerated shedding, revealing genetic thinning and creating a poor growth environment for new hair follicles. By understanding the connection between chronic stress and hair loss, you can find the tools you need to reduce the impact of anxiety on your hair’s health.
For personalised advice or to explore a non-surgical hair restoration solution that suits your needs, the Transitions Hair team is here to guide you. Book your free consultation today.
