This year are started a section for the "Follically Challenged".  There are so many conversations and articles on the topic and I want make sure you are getting good information. 
​
This month I have an article for you from
Professional Beauty - the bible of the beauty industry

When two of Australia’s leading hair-loss surgeons got fed up with the false information regarding hair loss and its treatment, they decided to tackle the issue head-on. Doctors Russell Knudsen and Vikram Jayaprakash figured the best way to counter the misleading information online was to fight it where it mattered –  they launched a new hair loss show on YouTube. And in a matter of a few months, the Hair Loss Show has gained almost 200,000 of YouTube views.

Dr Russell Knudsen is a world-leading expert in the field of hair loss treatments and the founder of the highly respected Knudsen Clinic. He has over 35 years of experience and has performed more than 8,000 hair transplants. Dr Vikram Jayaprakash is a Board Diplomate Hair Restoration Surgeon who trained under Dr Knudsen and has been performing Hair Transplant procedures for nine years.

The Hair Loss Show already has 27 episodes and in just a few months, has attracted over 4000 subscribers and four million impressions. The Hair Loss Show’s most popular episode so far is titled ‘Side Effects of Finasteride’, which currently has over 42,000 views on YouTube.
​
“Unfortunately, Australian education about hair health is sorely lacking. Most Australians don’t understand how to maintain healthy hair or know what to do when they start losing it. It’s only when people start having hair problems that they suddenly start doing their research,” Dr Knudsen said. “We wanted to create a forum where people can learn about hair loss from the comfort of their own home. Most Australians don’t have the time and money to speak to a hair expert directly, but almost every Australian has an internet connection. We made the show online so it’s as accessible as possible.”

According to Dr Jayaprakash, so much time during consultations is spent correcting the false information that patients have consumed. “There is a lot of scaremongering and false information that is prevalent on the internet.” 

The Hair Loss Show covers a range of topics related to hair loss and hair health, for both men and women. So far, Drs Knudsen and Jayaprakash have covered topics like the causes of hair loss in both men and women. Treatment options including Finasteride, Minoxidil, Laser Therapy and Derma-rolling. And of course being Hair Transplant Surgeons, they also discuss various topics involving hair restoration surgery.

“The response to the show has been outstanding. We get a lot of questions on the comments section of our videos. A lot more than we expected! We’re planning on filming more Q&A episodes so we can give some in-depth answers to people’s questions,” Dr Knudsen said.

“We’re doing something no one else has tried and we’re finding that a lot of people are extremely grateful. There’s probably been the demand for a hair loss show for quite some time, and we just happened to be the first people to notice.”
​
Since launching, the show has attracted viewers from all over Australia and a significant following from the US, UK and Canada.
​

This year are started a section for the "Follically Challenged".  There are so many conversations and articles on the topic and I want make sure you are getting good information. 

This month I have an article for you from the New York Times.

​She Was Losing Fistfuls of Hair.
​What Was Causing It?

Sudden hair loss may seem alarming, but it may be caused by a temporary stress and grow back.

A woman in my knitting group recently asked if any of us knew where she could buy a gray wig. Though she seemed to have an ample head of hair, she reported that she’d been losing fistfuls every time she brushed or washed it. Obviously very upset about what was happening, she said she didn’t want to wait until she was bald to find a substitute for her naturally gray hair.

She also wondered why, suddenly, this was happening and how it could be stopped. The dermatologist she consulted asked some telling questions and suggested the likely cause. Three months earlier, my friend had undergone surgery for colon cancer and, as if that weren’t enough of a stress, she had developed a serious postoperative infection.

The delayed result, a form of diffuse hair loss called telogen effluvium, was causing her hair to fall out in frightening clumps. The good news was that absent another physical or psychological insult, within a year she most likely will have regained her normal head of hair and can donate the wig she bought to a gray-haired woman about to undergo chemotherapy.

In a book about symptoms called “Am I Dying?!” by Drs. Christopher Kelly and Marc Eisenberg, both affiliated with the Columbia University Irving Medical Center, the chapter on hair loss offers a simple description of the three stages of normal hair growth and how they might be disrupted. Under typical circumstances, people have about 100,000 to 150,000 hairs on their heads, with each hair follicle going through its growth cycle independently.

Spared an underlying insult, about 90 percent of your hair is in the anagen, or growth, stage, which can last for years and result in long tresses unless cut. The remaining 10 percent is either in the catagen stage, lasting four to six weeks and during which the hairs start to loosen in their follicles, or the resting telogen stage of two to three months, when the hairs are ready to fall out and end up in the brush, on your clothes or in the shower drain.

It’s normal to shed about 100 to 150 telogen phase hairs a day. But the loss of 100 or more hairs in one washing or brushing is not normal and, as with my friend, likely to cause alarm. This can happen when hair follicles in the anagen phase prematurely progress to the telogen phase and result in abnormal hair loss two to three months later.

In the hair loss chapter of the symptoms book, edited by Dr. Lindsey Bordone, assistant professor of dermatology at Columbia, the authors note that “the intense stress associated with surgery, weight loss, childbirth and any other emotional experience can force most of your hairs into the telogen stage. Since this stage lasts an average of three months, most of your hairs start to fall out after you’ve moved on from the stressor,” prompting you to wonder why it is happening and what can be done to reverse course.

Happily, there is a simple answer to the latter question. Assuming the stressful event has ended, consider getting a wig, head scarf, turban, cap or hat and wait until your hair grows back. Rest assured, if the hair loss was caused by a temporary stress, it will grow back, but patience is highly recommended. Regrowth is usually not apparent for four to six months and may take 12 to 18 months before it is cosmetically acceptable. There’s really nothing that can speed up the process, the doctors write, so don’t waste your money on supplements and other nonmedical hair loss remedies.

Other possible causes of diffuse telogen hair loss include an overactive or underactive thyroid, with normal hair growth restored once the hormonal abnormality is corrected. Various chronic or inflammatory disorders, autoimmune diseases or chronic infections may also cause diffuse telogen hair loss.

Nutritional deficiencies, especially of iron or zinc, protein, fatty acids or vitamin D, are other possible causes, as well as extreme caloric restriction and crash diets. Regardless of what you may suspect, getting a thorough medical checkup is highly recommended to determine a specific and often correctable cause of diffuse hair loss, Dr. Bordone urged.

Loss of hair in the anagen phase is never normal and most commonly results from a toxic exposure like treatment with anticancer drugs. Abnormal hair loss is usually noticed a week or two after the start of chemotherapy and is most apparent by two months. Scalp hair is most likely to be affected, but all facial and body hair may also be lost. However, hair will start to grow back within weeks after chemotherapy ends.

Other causes of anagen hair loss that can be permanent include radiation and heavy metal poisoning. In addition to chemotherapeutic drugs, medications that can sometimes cause hair loss include warfarin, steroids, birth control pills, lithium, amphetamines and vitamin A supplements, though hair will most often grow back when the offending medication is stopped.

The most common form of hair loss is age-related and is not associated with any underlying disease, deficiency or distressing situation. It is androgenetic alopecia, most commonly called male-pattern baldness, or female-pattern baldness when it affects women. This type of hair loss is most common in white men, affecting about half of them by age 50. White women tend to keep their hair longer, though about a third of them experience hair loss marked by a general thinning out of their hair by age 70, the Columbia doctors report.

Several medications are available that can help to counter androgenetic alopecia, at least to some extent. One is minoxidil, a scalp cream sold as Rogaine, among other brands; another is a pill called finasteride, sold as Propecia. The latter can help to shrink an enlarged prostate and improve urination, but in 1 percent of men it can cause sexual dysfunction.

Women can also use minoxidil to counter hair-thinning caused by androgenetic alopecia. However, some women contribute to their hair loss by adopting tight hairstyles like a ponytail or cornrows that tug on the hair, practices that prompted the Columbia doctors to recommend letting your hair down.

The most mystifying form of hair loss, called alopecia areata, results from an attack on hair follicles by the body’s own immune system. It usually results in smooth, coin-size bald patches on the head, although the autoimmune attack on hair follicles can also affect a man’s beard, all the hair on a person’s head, or all the hair on the entire body. Hair regrows within a year in about half of patients, although hair loss can sometimes recur, the doctors said.

Jane Brody is the Personal Health columnist, a position she has held since 1976. She has written more than a dozen books including the best sellers “Jane Brody’s Nutrition Book” and “Jane Brody’s Good Food Book.”

A version of this article appears in print on Feb. 4, 2020, Section D, Page 7 of the New York edition with the headline: She Was Losing Fistfuls of Hair. But Why?