On or Around Age 40…. Or – Following COVID
You wash your hair – “Hmmm, it feels thinner” “Do I need a different shampoo?” “Is that my hair I see circling the drain?”
Towel hair dry – “There does seem to be less hair”. “Hair is coming out in clumps!” Gasp “My hair is disappearing!”
Closer examination in the mirror – “Agggghhh! My hairline is getting higher! My hair is getting thinner!” “I look like my grandfather!” “Now what’s happening!” “There is skin visible!” “I absolutely can’t deal with this!”
ACTION PLAN:
- Start experimenting with hair loss prevention shampoos. Try one after the other with no significant improvement. Spoiler Alert! Or you can skip the experimentation and go right to https://hairmax.com/products
- Experiment with vitamins and herbal supplements.
- Start noticing a “beard” – Promptly STOP all vitamins and supplements
- Ask friends what shampoo they use as well as any vitamins or supplements they take. Try each of those.
- Appointment with Dr. “Well, you’re getting to be that age. We’ll do some blood work.”
When your hormones decide to run off and leave you, another “natural” consequence is hair loss. Thinner hair – drier hair (it’s dry everywhere else so what did you expect? – dull hair. The most obvious medical culprit could be a thyroid disorder. So a broad array of thyroid blood work is done. All normal. Fortunately your GP was smart enough to order a hormone panel and those levels are low. Hormone Replacement Therapy decision time. Or Up your intake of natural estrogens and see if that works. Or just ride it out. You’ll either look like my second grade teacher who had a bald spot on the back of her head or you’ll get used to thin hair. Or your hormones will settle down, your body will adapt and your hair will be hair. (Except now grey or white or blue!)
For me the hair thinning started around age 50. This of course was accompanied by that matronly look and weight gain. Having thin, fine hair to begin with made this even more depressing. I was getting OLD! I did all of the above actions and it got better. But none of the shampoos lived up to their claims. And I just got older. (But I did take off the weight and became an avid cyclist).Fast forward to age 67!
October 2020 – Costco had a sale on a HairMax LaserBand 82 – ComfortFlex which also included Density Stimul8 Shampoo and Density Exhilar8 conditioner. HTTPS://HAIRMAX.COM/PRODUCTS
It was expensive, but it was Costco – if it didn’t work in 3 months I could take it back. I read the reviews, it sounded good and I went for it. Within 3 weeks even my hairdresser was commenting on how my hair seemed to be thicker. I agreed.
Then December 9, 2020 COVID 19 struck. I ended up critically ill, hospitalized with ARDS, COVID pneumonia, Sepsis and Cytokine Storm, and almost died. It’s pretty bad when the dr. meets you for the first time in the ER, says you need to be intubated, you say No and she says then I don’t know if I can save you. But save me they did.
One of the weirder symptoms of Covid is that at 3 am – throughout the world – women (and men) who have have or had COVID wake up drenched in sweat – entire body, hair, pajamas, all sheets and pillows. And of course the first thought is, “This is just like menopause. Please don’t tell me I’m going through this again!” But it’s just a quirk of COVID. On a bright note, men get it too and the thought actually occurs to them that perhaps this is what menopause feels like. Good time to encourage them read HTTPS://HORMONESONTHERUN.COM
I was still pretty sick when discharged, did not really improve, and became what is known as a Long Hauler – a condition now named Post Acute Sequelae of SARS – Cov-2 Infection. There are millions of people throughout the world who are suffering from PASC. The sad thing about PASC is because most of the “work-ups” come back with normal or negative results, people are written off as suffering from anxiety or depression. (Sounds alot like the response women get when they report their symptoms of “the Change”) Even worse, they’re told it’s nothing that diet and exercise won’t cure.,
As an aside, although grateful to know the test results are normal – the suffering is very real. In my case I have had severe breathing difficulties and for 8 months my life has centered around different types of breathing treatments throughout the day. There were and are also liver issues; swelling of the arms and legs; shortness of breath; right sided heart failure; abdominal distention; blurred vision; exhaustion; tremors; loss of taste or metallic taste; hypersensitive sense of smell and a lingering odor of cigarettes where there are none; shingles; paresthesias in the leg; foot cramps; nightmares; insomnia and night sweats at 3 am. And I’m one of the lucky ones. There are way worse conditions people are dealing with – and no medical treatment known. Fortunately at the point my hair was falling out, I found a couple of Post Covid Support Groups and realized that we all had many of the exact same strange symptoms. What a relief to know I wasn’t crazy and to be able to chat with people all over the world who were as bad, if not worse, than I was.
3 MONTHS POST COVID – The Hair Falls Out
Just as I thought I was getting better, my hair started coming out by the handful. My hair was dead. Handfuls would come out in the shower, when I combed it, when I blew it dry, even if I just touched it. To say I was devastated would be an understatement. I reminded myself I should be grateful I was alive, that this wasn’t from chemo, and I should just deal with it. But this was the “straw that broke the camel’s back”. I just couldn’t believe that after all of this, my hair would fall out. As if what I was going through every single day wasn’t enough, now I was going to be bald? I would look in the mirror and cry.
What a relief it was to learn that tons of women and men were experiencing it. The hair loss occurred 3 months after COVID (no matter how bad or mild your COVID was), lasted 6 weeks, had the same description of coming out by the handful, was dry, brittle and just plain dead. It also created a bond of just how devastating a blow it was to morale.
The condition is known as Telogen Effluvium and lasted 3 months in my case. It’s attributed to stress or a traumatic event which drives the hair follicle into a resting – dead – phase. Nothing happens until it falls out and finally “wakes back up” which can take up to 6 months. I ended up getting a hair piece to supplement what was left of my hair.
BUT I wasn’t giving up!
I had my trusty HairMax LaserBand 82 system and used it faithfully. A few weeks ago I decided to add the Density Acceler8 Hair Booster and Nutrients and then the RSN8 Pro Scalp Infusion. I figured if there were more products to add I’d be remiss not to add them. QWithin a week I was noticing a difference. Fine baby hair was appearing where the bald areas were. My hair feels thicker, looks thicker and is actually getting longer. When I run the scalp infusion serum through my hair I look like Cousin It. My hair is getting that much thicker. I am also taking the HairMax Hair, Skin and Nails vitamins. The best part is that this growth is all occurring post Telogen Effluvium. Normal menopausal hair doesn’t go through that growth stoppage; it just thins.
I can only imagine how fabulous my my hair will look once the HairMax products are working on “normal” menopausal hair and not COVID hair. My hair looks GREAT especially after adding the additional leave in conditioner and night serum.
So Please – Don’t let hormones run off with your hair. You have a new Action Plan. Go with it.
Hormones on the Run 