I’ve noticed for the past week or so that I seem to be losing my hair. (I’m a woman.) The hair on my head is about a foot shorter than it was a month ago, and much thinner - enough of a difference that people who haven’t seen me for three weeks are exclaiming that I’ve cut my hair. My legs and arms have never been very hairy, but now there is almost nothing. Underarm and pubic hair is likewise disappearing.
Any ideas why?
I swim a lot - could the chlorine be causing this? I’ve swum more hours per day in the past than I do now without noticing this, by the way.
I cant speak for female hair loss, but for me anyway, if you increase your b vitamin consumption (super multi B) and 2 tablespoons of blackstrap molasses daily, it may help. my hairloss completely stopped and is slowly reversing by doing this. Zinc deficiency in women can also cause this.
Has your diet changed lately? Been eating more greasy/fast foods?
Over my years living in Taiwan, I’ve certainly noticed more hair loss among women here than I ever saw back home in Canada. Lots of older ladies suffer considerable hair loss, not unlike what men go through. I think the pollution has to be part of it.
Female hair loss is common enough most everywhere and it’s a normal part of aging.
here is a good place to start for reliable information: medicinenet.com/hair_loss_pi … rticle.htm
There are lots of different types of hair loss, there are plenty of doctors who specialise in this area, go to at least one major hospital and get a diagnosis.
I vote for his one. Swimming is a major contributor, but not like you describe. I have often had to deal with hair loss, and it always follows, sickness(dengue, jaundice), pregnancies or a big change in life like a moving to a new country. But it has ALWAYS been the hair on my head only :neutral: .
It is DEFINITELY on the rise BIG TIME in Taipei. Lot’s of young (I mean in their twenties) women going noticably REALLY bald!
I have noticed this too and, in fact, I was just mentioning it to a friend the other day! Next time you are on the MRT, bus or busy elevator, just look around and you will see what I’m talking about.
A very large percentage of the women (young and old) in Taipei have pretty serious bald spots.
My friend who came here a few months ago, has been losing hair like crazy. The drain in her shower gets covered with a new glob of her hair each day. In her apartment her hair is all over the place in spite of regular sweeping. For what it’s worth, she doesn’t swim at all so I don’t think that swimming has anything to do with it.
Strangely, since coming here, I have had almost no hair loss. However, I am not a female and so that piece of info is not really relevant. I must say though that grey hair is setting in with me.
Yeh, I don’t think it’s the swimming either. I moved to Taipei about 3 months back and I have been losing hair like crazy. Each time I vacuum the apartment I am astonished of how much of my hair is all over the floors. Very creepy! My shower drain is also covered with hair after each wash. I’m only 23, so I wouldn’t say that it’s cause of age.
I wonder too if it EVER grows back, or if those hair roots are gone or what exactly. I mean I was at a party the other day (all really stressed out types - likley that’s a factor) and there were three women there, all under forty, whose balding problem I was instructed to ignore. That was out of crowd of about thirty, so thats 10%, in that particular crowd anyway.
If I was a woman I’d move the hell out of here if possible. It’s one thing to be a fat fifty year old guy going bald and entirely another to be a slim, cute twenty something going bald.
How this isn’t making the news big time is beyond me.
Same here. I suspect that the majority of people here think that it’s related to stress or genes or something and therefore not newsworthy. But, the few that have moved here from somewhere else notice otherwise. I live in a predominately Chinese/Taiwanese populated part of LA and I can tell you that it is not an epidemic among the Asian women there. Myself being 6 feet tall, walking around in crowds of people who are usually shorter than me, I noticed right away when I got to Taiwan how many women have a 3 inch wide bald spot where they part their hair.
Same here. I suspect that the majority of people here think that it’s related to stress or genes or something and therefore not newsworthy. [/quote]
Could be but the thing is that it is obviously getting worse. I first noticed this about four years ago,and at that time put it down to Chinese women just generally being less hairy perhaps, that combined with the stress and the smog and that most seemed to be a little older probably. It seemed remotely reasonable. Then in the last year or so I noticed younger and younger women with real issues. Twenty five years old and becoming noticably bald! By the time some of them are forty they’ll look like Teli Savalis.
Now that I am looking for it I see it all the time, and in a place where women are so incredibly vain half the time. What a timebomb.
It might just be at the stage where nobody really wants to talk about it, but they better start. The first thing I’d be curious about is whether this is happening so much in other places.
I suspect some of you guys are exaggerating the bald sightings 
but that’s okay. For what it’s worth, Asian women, especially Chinese, do suffer more baldness problems that Caucasian. Not sure about other western areas with large Chinese populations but it’s very common to see this in Vancouver.
I find that my hair thins out often in summer in Taiwan and grows back thicker in winter. Happens every year and my hairdresser notices it too so it is not an aging thing. Also, the year I went back to Vancouver my hair grew back much thicker. I suspect heat and humidity is at play. When I used to jog my hair thinned out much more in summer than it does now.
Then there was the time I was sitting at the beach and saw a bald guy sitting about fifteeen yards away. I said to one of my friends, “Hey that looks like Teli (Telly?) Savalis!” which I guess wouldn’t have been all that funny except that it “was” Teli (Telly?) Savalis.
I would have been funnier if you were like “Check out Kojak over here soaking up rays…Oh shit! It is Kojak!”
With hair loss that dramatic, you really need to have a doctor check you out. That kind of hair loss can be due to lots of things, some of which would need medical attention, such as a thyroid problem, anemia, or a vitamin deficiency. Go see someone, and make sure they do a CBC and a thyroid panel.
I have had to deal with hair loss in the past myself, but it was always caused by something I could pinpoint, such as illness or losing hair after the birth of a child.
I think we can prevent hairloss with healthy and proper diet.
Hi, Kristina. Would you please elaborate about what constitutes a healthy and proper diet? What I mean is, for example, that I don’t consider my diet to be an unhealthy one but I don’t go out of my way to to make sure that I have veggies with every meal. What type of foods for example would you suggest?
Hair loss is caused by many thingsand it is still unknown as to what is the trigger a lot of the time. Many cases of hair loss are related to hormones, stress and immune system reactions…therefore it is unlikely that changing your diet is going to do a whole lot in those cases. My in-law suffered from this due to an immune system reaction, although she eats very very healthily. I suspect stress is a major cause and perhaps pollution or some type of chemical contaminant such as estrogen mimic from plastic or bad quality birth control pills. Just like MM said hair loss tends to go in cycles except for the most severe cases.
bababa, that much hair loss is not right, I’d second (third?) the call to go see a doctor.
I also feel like I’m shedding much more hair than I used to. It’s all over my floor, comes out like crazy when I shower, etc. I’d kind of assumed it was related to heat and humidity. Definitely not swimming, since I’m spending much less time in the pool than I used to.
Ack, now I’m worried that I’d better get out of here before I go bald 