Hair Color and Treatments
Why is more hair lost when the seasons change?
09/07/2021
Hair loss is a main concern for thousands of men and women who notice that the problem gets worse in spring and fall. Why does this happen? We reveal all.
Did you know that one of the main worries of 3 out of 10 women is hair loss? We understand why. We all dream of showing off incredible flowing locks that are shiny, strong and soft, but sometimes reality is a far cry from fantasy. It’s a drama every time you brush your hair and even worse when you wash it. And as if that wasn’t enough, these panic-provoking situations are accentuated even more during the change of seasons, especially spring and fall, times which we call “seasonal effluvium”.
You should remember that every day we lose an average of 100 hair during the telogen phase (hair loss) and 100 hairs in the anagen phase (growth phase) are renewed. To understand why we lose more hair in the spring we should bear in mind the photo-exposure factor. This regulates our hair’s lifecycle. In spring, as the days become longer, photo-exposure increases and has a direct effect on our hair cycle, causing increased shedding. This seasonal effluvium of course won’t cause baldness, it it reduced to limited shedding during a determined period. This hair will be replaced naturally, recovering normal volume and density (unless there in another associated problem present, such as androgenic alopecia), so you’ve no need to worry.
We should also be aware that the new hairs just starting to grow are thicker and fuller. Why? In spring, oestrogen levels increase which gives the hair renewal process a boost. Our organism perceives an increase in sun radiation (due to the fact our eyes are aware of the presence of daylight for longer) and prepares to defend our hair. In short, our hair is shed and new, stronger hair grows as a defence mechanism against sun radiation.
