Can heartbreak lead to hair loss?
Love may be in the air as Valentine’s Day approaches, but for many who are unlucky in love, it can be a painful day.
Heartbreak, breakups and reminders of what could’ve been are hard enough to cope with on a normal day, let alone Valentine’s Day. Having a broken heart can also result in physical symptoms - including hair loss.
Recent research from Vitality Health Insurance found that 23% of Britons experienced physical health effects after a broken heart, including heart palpitations, chest pain and digestive problems.
Hair expert and senior surgeon at Harley Street Hair Clinic Dr Greg Vida adds that hair loss can also be a symptom of heartbreak.
He explains that, due to the emotional stress and trauma that takes place during a heartbreak, hormonal imbalances can lead to hair falling out.
"When you’re heartbroken, you can experience deep stress, hurt and upset, which causes changes in mood,” he says. “This can trigger hormonal imbalances that disrupt the hair follicle growth cycle."
According to Dr Vida, emotional stress can cause the hair follicle to shift prematurely into the "resting stage" of the hair growth cycle.
"This means the hairs lie dormant for around 90 days, preventing them from growing. The hairs then move into a shedding phase, causing hair thinning and loss on the scalp."
In medical terms, this type of hair loss is called telogen effluvium.
But heartbreak can also lead to a specific type of alopecia - hair loss that occurs when the immune system attacks hair follicles. Dr vida says that emotional stress can trigger alopecia areata, which appears as sudden bald patches on the scalp that can spread to cover the entire head.
How long does hair loss from heartbreak last?
As long as you are emotionally stressed from heartbreak, your hair can continue to be affected by loss and thinning.
It is only once you begin to feel better and the stress is reduced that the hair can begin to regrow, Dr Vida says. But it won’t happen right away.
"It can take up to seven to eight months for the hair to grow back properly, as all the hair follicles that were going into the resting phase early need to shed before they can regrow," he warned.
What to do about heartbreak-related hair loss
Dr Vida urges anyone experiencing heartbreak to work on their "emotional restoration and healing your heart" in order to help ensure hair starts to regrow.
To help people move on from a breakup, relationship charity Relate published three tips on its website:
Talk about how you feel: Whether it’s to your friends, family or a relationship counsellor, talking about your feelings is important. A counsellor has the added benefit of being able to help you talk about your thoughts with someone who doesn’t know you or your ex, and won’t judge you.
Let go of anger: While it’s easy to get stuck blaming one another for the downfall of the relationship, it can result in feeling bitter and regretful. Relate recommends trying to “focus objectively on what the relationship was lacking and how it failed to meet you or your partner’s needs”, which may be hard but will make it easier to let go of the past.
Embrace your freedom: Although the end of a relationship can be devastating, it can also come with a newfound sense of freedom. Realising this, and embracing it, can help you make plans for the next stage of your life and look forward to the future.
If your hair loss problems do not resolve after moving on from heartbreak, Dr Vida recommends consulting experts for treatment.
"Some hair loss conditions do not resume normal growth and need some form of treatment," he says.
Watch: Can a 'reset relationship' help cure a broken heart?
Read more about sex and relationships:
The exact amount of time it takes someone to know if they want a 2nd date (Yahoo Life UK, 3-min read)
What is a 'couplepause' and why does it happen to middle-aged couples? (Yahoo Life UK, 3-min read)
'You could find love by becoming a blood donor - our parents did' (Yahoo Life UK, 5-min read)
