Is hair loss the price women are paying for doing too much?
By the daughter of hair guru Philip Kingsley, whose own locks fell out in clumps
EARLIER this year, I started to dread washing my hair. As I massaged shampoo into my scalp, strand upon strand would come away in my hand — leaving my long, blonde hair looking thinner and thinner.
My hair is very fine at the best of times, but suddenly it felt like it was vanishing altogether. I was constantly asking friends and family if they could spot my hair was thinning. They tried to spare my feelings but I only had to run my fingers through it or tie it into an ever-decreasing ponytail to know the truth.
Losing your crowning glory is incredibly distressing for any woman, but as a trichologist (a hair scientist specialising in hair loss) it is doubly galling. Yes, I knew what was causing it, but I also knew there was no quick fix. And in my line of work, the first thing people do is look at my hair as if it’s proof of my credentials.
Here I was visibly affected by the condition I’ve spent my career treating. However much I told myself — as I do my clients — that I was not alone, it felt very isolating. I have always understood the psychological impact of bad hair, but only now can I truly empathise.
A year on, and although greatly improved, my hair is not fully recovered. While I can pinpoint the event that triggered the shedding — the sudden death of my beloved father, the famous trichologist Philip Kingsley — premature female hair loss is very much a modern complaint and incredibly common.
Research shows one in three women will experience some type of hair loss. But in my opinion there’s been an increase in recent years among younger women, and the pressures of modern life, such as juggling work with family, are to blame, as well as the rise of fad diets.
Hair is the have-it-all-sacrifice: the price women are paying for running on empty in pursuit of perfection. Not only must we be accomplished mothers, we must have outstanding careers, boast ‘gym bodies’ with faultless skin and luscious locks.
OF ALL the parts of your body, your hair is the one thing that it can most afford to lose. So it’s the first thing your body sacrifices when you are not getting adequate nutrition, sleep or are suffering shock, bereavement or extreme stress.
In my case, a stroke in September 2016 took Dad from us. Over the coming weeks, overcome with grief, I stopped sleeping, eating and started to drink too much.
All common responses to shock, loss or stress — your interest in your wellbeing diminishes. Four months after Dad’s death, my self-neglect began to take its toll on my hair.
How ironic that he was the one credited with coining the phrase ‘bad hair day’ in the Seventies.
My mother said: ‘You know it’s your dad’s way of letting you know you’re not taking care of yourself.’ She was right: it was like he was looking down on me, giving me a sign he wasn’t happy I had got stuck in this rut.
No one understood more than he did the profound psychological impact that the state of her hair has on a woman, and the effect her general health will have on that. It was this realisation that made Dad a pioneer in the world of hair care.
While many assume it’s only older women who are affected by hair loss or female baldness, we see growing numbers in their 20s, 30s and 40s coming to our clinics with hair loss or loss of hair volume. I am 33, so I know youth is no barrier to depleted hair. Whether at our clinic in London or in New York, the women who come to see me appear to be in peak physical condition. They invest time and money into looking good — they dress well, exercise regularly and take great care not to over-eat. Little wonder they cannot understand why their hair is letting them down.
There are two main types of hair loss. One is reduced hair volume (hair thinning). This occurs when you have a genetic predisposition that causes hair follicles on your scalp to be sensitive to normal levels of circulating androgens (male hormones).
Gradually, your hair follicles get smaller and produce slightly finer and shorter strands with each passing hair
growth by stress, cycle. which But raises androgen levels. it (Polycystic ovarian syndrome is another condition that can speed-up reduced hair volume.) The other type of hair loss is called telogen effluvium and it happens fad telogen effluvium
People normally lose between 70 and 100 hairs each day, but this can increase three-fold. It can be in reaction to shock, stress, poor diet or a general failure to look after yourself. If you do too much, run on empty, don’t give yourself time to eat properly, it’s your hair that will pay the price. The hair is a fantastic barometer of your emotional state as well as your diet. I would need only to run my fingers through your hair and gently tug to get a good idea of what your body is lacking.
For all too many women these days, the answer comes down to what they eat. Or what they don’t eat, as faddy diets and misguidedly cutting out whole food groups in the name of good health become the worrying norm.
When juicing was all the rage my clinics were booked solid. You can set your watch to a woman going on a juicing diet, because six to 12 weeks later she will experience a mass shedding of hair. Crash diets, low-fat regimes and low-carb diets all have similar results.
So, why such a specific timescale? Hair grows at different rates and in distinct phases: anagen, the growth phase, which up to 90 per cent of your hairs are in at any one time; followed by catagen, which lasts around ten days before the resting phase known as telogen, when your hair sits in the follicle before falling out.
Faddy diets that deprive the body of calories and nutrients will send large numbers of healthy hair into the catagen phase within weeks; from there the shedding phase will always follow.
Why does that happen? First you must grasp that if you starve your body of a nutrient, then your body will starve your hair.
A client came to me despairing because she was losing hair at an alarming rate. When I performed a tug test, three times as many hairs came out as should have. Her scalp was dry and irritated. And yet she was super fit and took great care of her appearance. But what did that matter when her hair loss and dry, uncomfortable scalp were making her miserable?
As well as juggling a career with family life, she was running five times a week, which is fine as long as you refuel your body properly afterwards. But she was eating barely half the amount of healthy fats, protein and complex carbohydrates needed to properly sustain the body.
And she was taking loads of health supplements. These, she believed, would counter any ill effects of her restrictive diet — but her body was so nutritionally deprived it was directing the vitamins and minerals they contained to help sustain the vital organs it couldn’t function without. Her hair would always be last in line for any of the goodness they contained, hence its poor condition.
The answer: she needed to eat more, specifically much more protein because hair is predominantly made of this. She also needed to de-stress and take time out just to do nothing.
Another client was similarly distressed. A yoga fanatic who eschewed meat, gluten and ate minimal carbohydrates, her body was lean and toned but her hair was thinning and appeared lifeless. This lady brought in a bag crammed full of nutritional supplements she was taking.
Supplements are great for your hair, but only if you take them alongside a healthy diet. So once again, while they will have supported her body they were doing nothing for her hair — the first part of the body for nutrition to be withheld from and the very last part of it to benefit.
By increasing her intake of protein and calories, and incorporating far more complex carbohydrates — needed to provide the easily accessible energy our hair needs to grow — into her diet in the form of gluten-free breads and crackers, my client’s hair problems were resolved. She also needed an iron supplement, after blood tests showed extremely low levels.
THe answer to healthy, strong hair that stays rooted to the scalp really is simpler than most of us imagine: you need to look after yourself and eat well. And by that I mean eating normal, healthy and nutritious food, covering all the important food groups.
There will always be foods that trigger problems, especially if you have a flaky, itchy scalp. The most common being full fat dairy, white wine and champagne. Brittle hair is generally the result of over-styling, while lank and greasy locks can often be improved with products. Thyroid problems, genetic predisposition and even the Pill can also cause problems. As well as any kind of shock or trauma.
I knew Dad’s death would have an impact upon my health but it was still deeply distressing when my hair starting falling out. It jolted me into paying attention to my diet — now I eat two eggs a day for breakfast and a smoked salmon sandwich for lunch to up my protein levels. I try to ensure I get eight hours’ sleep at night.
My recovery was by no means steady. I used to speak to my dad three times a day; I doubt I’ll ever stop missing the sound of his voice or appreciating the wealth of knowledge he passed on to me. His celebrity clients included Audrey Hepburn, for whom he invented the elasticizer, a conditioner which strengthens the hair shaft.
Christmas was his favourite time of year, so last December we continued with all the family traditions he loved. There were many tears.
We’ve since had his birthday and first anniversary of his death — times when the sadness again blotted out any care for myself. Now, I’m well on the way to a full head of hair. And I’m back at work attempting to fill Dad’s massive shoes. It’s what keeps me going — as well as trying to make him as proud of me as I will always be of him.
It falls to me to take Dad’s legacy forward. So I must keep hammering home his most important message: that to avoid that dreaded bad hair day you really must look after yourself.
PhIlIP KINGSley Trichotherapy, £120, is a three-step holistic regime to use at home for those with fine or thinning hair. It contains a protein detangling spray, scalp drops and vitamin supplement. used in combination with a healthy diet and lifestyle, it creates thicker, fuller hair and encourages healthy hair growth. (philipkingsley.co.uk)