The awareness that prolonged stress can lead to hair loss has not been ’stressed’ enough for people to take the necessary precautions. Our lifestyle and circumstances contribute greatly to our health’s well being and hair fall is one of the commonest symptoms. Many are still amazed that stress and hair loss have any correlation.

A certified trichologist, Dr. Lloyd said that there is proof that there definitely is a connection between stress and health issues such as hair loss. He mentioned that he would examine each patient’s medical history thoroughly which could have resulted in hair loss such as genetic predisposition, pregnancy, diet and other evident diseases. If none of these causes are found, then he would begin to look for signs of stress or emotional distress in the patient’s life.

If the patient admits to having been under stressful circumstances, then no treatment is required. Instead, he would recommend the patient to get an appointment with a counselor who would provide a suitable solution. Once the cause for stress is detected and rectified, a reduction in hair fall can be noticed.

That was an expert’s viewpoint. This does not mean that stress is the only factor but there is evidence that it does play a large part in hair loss.

Marsha works part time while in college to meet her expenses. She was a victim of mockery for almost a year where her friends criticized for her shabby appearance and lifestyle. Her boyfriend would abuse her often, adding to her misery. This stressful situation began to take a toll on her health and she began to suffer from hair loss. This was followed by other symptoms, which made her ill and weak, which drastically affected her productivity in college and work.

Finding her hair strands all over her pillow one morning, she rushed to the doctor who diagnosed it as stress related hair loss and not a medical condition. This prompted her to take control of the situation immediately. After breaking up with her tormenting boyfriend, she occupied herself with her studies and started relaxing apart from working. Within a couple of weeks, she noticed an improvement in health and hair growth.

Therefore, when you encounter a similar circumstance and suffer from hair loss, it would be advisable to eliminate any stressful situation in your life before concluding that you require a trichologist!

The humble onion has always held a place of importance in traditional medicine. From hundreds of years ago, it has been used as a curative for so many ills – pain in the ears, an aching head, poisonous bites and of course, even hair loss. The main remedy for hair loss was to take half an onion and rub it in the area of thinning hair or, if the hair loss was from all over, to rub it all over the scalp. What some people did was to extract the juice and then apply it to the scalp.

It would make sense, considering the many qualities of onions – they are antifungal, antibacterial, and anti-inflammatory and they contain antioxidant properties which is why they are used so much in all our cooking. What people way back then did was to also use it externally and we are re-learning the healing powers of onion again.

In Baghdad, Iraq, at the Department of Dermatology and Venereology, there was a study done in 2002 on the efficacy of onion juice in hair loss due to alopecia areata.

What was amazing was that the group that used the onion juice had a 73% success as against the 13% that used plain water. This is probably because of the high sulphur content in onions and sulphur is known to be essential to keep hair, skin and nails looking good because it helps to form collagen. When there is a deficiency of sulphur, the hair becomes brittle, the nails get weak and the skin looks sallow and dry. So the old folk medicine was very good in that it identified that onion was good for the hair. Today, many hair growth formulas too use extracts of onion.

Here are a few recipes for hair loss remedies with onion. You could mix onion juice with honey and massage the scalp with it. Or soak onion in rum and apply to the scalp after 1 whole day. You could also chop it up and together with dried nettles, soak it in vodka for a few days and apply on the scalp. You could also pour boiling water over onion skins and use this after one hour as a first rinse after you have washed your hair. Of course, remember to add a lot of onions to your daily diet as well.