Stress Can Cause Hair loss at 16

Stress can cause hair loss in people as young as 16.

Stress can cause hair loss in people as young as 16 whereas the phenomenon once occurred only after 35, an expert in the field says.

"Nobody can escape stress in modern day life. Stress increases glucocorticoid levels. That acts like a male hormone and causes the thinning of hair," Mumbai-based Sonal Shah said.

"Initially, we used to see this beginning around 35 but now it has come down to as low as 16 and 18," Shah told IANS on the sidelines of a seminar on hair styling and care at the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week here Friday.

Other contributory factors were diet and pollution, she added.

Shah and her husband Apporva are perhaps India's only trained trichologists, a specialist field with dealing with hair and scalp problems, including hair loss, baldness, scaling, itching, hair breakage, dryness and oiliness.

Trichology and trichological referral is an integral part of the services offered by the hairdressing professionals in the West. If hairdressers are the artists who create beautiful hairstyles then trichologists could be seen as the best "art supply store" for those who feel their hair quality is below expectations.

One way of preventing hair loss from stress was through detoxification or hair facials as this also served to rejuvenate the scalp, Shah said.

"The lymphatic system is the secondary circulatory system in our body which carries toxins, oxygen and nutrition supply to the cells. As soon as you detoxify, the toxins are removed away from that particular area so that more oxygen and nutrition is supplied to the cells," she explained.

How does the technique work?
"No instrument is used and neither do we apply anything. Using our hands, we work on the direction the lymphatic system is flowing to ease the toxins out. This also stimulates the hair follicles and helps in hair growth," Shah pointed out.

How was this different from a head massage?
"In a massage, you're agitating the scalp. In detoxification, you're relieving the scalp," Shah explained.