Hello everyone,
As part of Alopecia Awareness Month here at Black Venus Beauty, we are raising awareness of the different forms of alopecia. We believe that more awareness should be raised so anyone suffering from alopecia does not feel ashamed and knows that help and various solutions are available. As we mentioned before, we are not professional experts, so we advise you to contact a GP or professional expert if you are experiencing any of the symptoms mentioned below.
In our previous blog post, we covered Alopecia Areata, which you can read here. In this post, we will continue with Telogen Effluvium.
Telogen Effluvium
On average, we shed anywhere between 30 and 150 hairs a day. If that number significantly increases and shedding becomes apparent all over the scalp, this is known as telogen effluvium.
How does it look like?
If you are experiencing telogen effluvium, the thickness of your individual hair will decrease resulting in overall loss of volume.
Telogen effluvium happens when there is an increased proportion of hairs shift from the growing phase (anagen) to the shedding phase (telogen). Normally, only 10% of the scalp is in the telogen phase, but in telogen effluvium this increases to 30% more. This usually happens suddenly and can occur approximately three months after a trigger.
Source: HairFinder.com
What are the causes?
Some common triggers for telogen effluvium include:
- Childbirth
- Severe trauma
- Illness
- Stress or major life events
- Marked weight loss and extreme dieting
- A severe skin problem affecting the scalp
- New medications
- Withdrawal of a hormone treatment
How is it diagnosed?
Diagnosis is usually based on the appearance and history of the hair shedding.
How is it treated?
There is no treatment required as the trigger needs to be identified and removed. Once the trigger has been removed the hair typically starts to grow back. A blood test may be suggested to rule out other causes of hair loss such as an over or underactive thyroid or iron deficiency.
Alopecia Story : V.’s experience with Telogen Effluvium
V., mother of 1, experienced hair loss in July 2009, four months after giving birth to her daughter.She noticed the sides of her temples started disappearing.
“It was as bald as my palms”
She was saddened by this as she wanted to embrace her natural beauty as she was moving away from weaves and wigs.
She tried to tackle her hair loss herself, using products from high street stores promoting hair growth, castor oil from Jamaica but nothing seemed to work.
One day, out of frustration, she sat on her dining table and remembered how her grandmother loved mixing things, She then got the idea to start blending oils until she found the perfect natural solution which worked for her.
When she did, her edges grew back within a month. Her hair growth oil helped to put back a smile on her face but most importantly it boosted her confidence.
V. decided to offer her hair growth oil to women facing the same experience and created VTESSIA.
Her mission is to “change how women perceive beauty and turn fearless queens into champions”
You can found out more here.
If you are experiencing any of the symptoms mentioned above, we recommend contacting your GP straight away. Please note we are not professional experts so there may be additional symptoms which are not listed above.
Here at Black Venus Beauty we pride ourselves on providing the best quality products for curly and afro hair. We want to unlock the potential of your hair and provide products specific to the needs of your hair, including preventing types of alopecia.
If you are interested in learning more about forms of alopecia check our previous posts.