Stress and Hair Loss

Dear Doctor

I would like to ask some questions about stress and hair loss. I know from reading your blog that stress can contribute to hair loss, well what kind of stress do you mean here? is it the normal daily stress that a person may suffer? or is the a kind of heavy or emotional stress? does it have to last for a couple of weeks or months in order to accelerate hair loss? i mean what if a person gets heavy stress that lasts only for 2 or 3 days, would it still contribute to hair loss??

I wish you can answer my questions soon. Thank you

We all have normal stress in our lives. The stress I generally mean with respect to hair loss is major stress — physical or emotional — such as a major illness where you are in the hospital for several weeks/months or major stress of extreme depression for several months where it starts to impact your physical health. Some people do not handle stress well, so many college age men lose their hair from the stresses of college. Also keep in mind heavy stress will also manifest with other health issues aside from just hair loss. Knowing that you are balding can cause more stress, which will accelerate the balding process. Sometime, it seems some men can’t win.

Heavy stress for a few days or few weeks should not cause hair loss. Remember, the most common cause of hair loss in men is genetic balding.