Starting to lose my hair.

[Edwin Castle]

Hi all.

I had no idea were to put this so I figured it should go here.

I have lived my entire life with a thick, full head of sandy blond hair. This last summer I was informed by my lovely wife during a covid cut, that my hair was starting to thin and she no longer had to use the thinning shears on me. This as you can imagine was very upsetting as I feel that at 67 I am far to young to be loosing my hair. Now my research tells me that the BCG  treatments of this past summer should not have been a factor, so I am inclined to rule that out.

I have just been fully retired this past year and have spent a lot of  time fishing and eating my catch, cutting the grass, actually anyone’s grass, I have joined a group of retired men that have nothing better to do than sit and drink and talk about their ailments. I have not mentioned to them  about my thinning hair yet. They all have a full head of hair and I am afraid they may kick me out of the group if they knew. So apart from eating too much Bass and maybe drinking a little too much I don’t think any of this has caused me to loose my hair.

Now it would not be out of the question for my wife to use her shears on me while I am sleeping as she has a strange sense of humor, but I am going to rule that possibility out for now.  So assuming it wasn’t the BCG, or my new life style, or my wife, and we have established that I am far to young to have thinning hair, I was hoping someone would be able to tell me what it could be. As you can see This has me very concerned.

Thanks in advance for your concern.

Tongue in cheek.  Ted.

[marysue]

Hi Edwin:

There are lots of factors that can affect whether we experience hair loss or not.  The ones that I’m aware of are:

1) Age – many people start to lose their hair as they get older.  This varies from person to person and can be gradual or not. Many people especially men develop a receding hairline.

2) Hormones – Thyroid or female/male hormones shift with the aging process.  It doesn’t hurt to get your hormone levels checked to see if there is an issue.

3) Genetics – In some cases a person takes after a parent.  If one parent had grey hair or hair loss at a certain age, there is a good chance you may follow suit.

4) Diet – If a person is deficient in certain vitamins it can affect the hair.  B Vitamins and iron are two of the main ones.  Before considering on embarking on any supplementation I suggest consulting a health care provider.

5) Aleopecia – hair loss of unknown cause; often temporary.  It can be all over but often occurs in patches.

 

I’m only 62 and have had grey hair since I was in my late 30’s.  I believe in my case it is genetic because both my parents greyed early. My mother also teased me that raising 4 boys is enough to give anyone grey hair.  Given the stress that they caused she could be right. My hair has thinned out in the past 3-4 years mainly due to the fact that the grey hair is thinner in diameter than my original dark brown hair.  I was also nutrient deficient in B Vitamins and iron for many years which caused me to lose a lot of hair and it was brittle and broke easily. I too, was concerned that I could lose my hair when undergoing BCG treatments but the nurses told me no, that it was not like chemo and shouldn’t have any effect on my hair.  I didn’t notice any substantial changes at that time.

My suggestion would be to have a consult with your GP and ask about what the potential causes could be and if any of the above apply. Hope this helps. ((((HUGS))))

[coliver52]

Hi Ted I enjoyed your hair loss post! My hair has thinned quite a bit since my diagnosis a year ago and my various rounds of not so successful BCG treatments. I have scoured every medical journal I can think of seeking some causation between hair loss and this dang bladder cancer. Results? Nada! Then I came across studies on “telegenic effluvium” which is the fancy shmancy term for “temporary hair loss” which indicated that a very potent source is extreme stress. Hmm… that seems to apply to us all on this forum at different points on this journey.
Interestingly, one symptom of stress-based telegenic effluvium ( I feel smarter just using that term 🙂) is that the loss starts at the very, very top of one’s head. Wow, that is so true for me. I have developed large tufts of extremely attractive (not!) short hair on the very top of my head now trying to re-grow and re-thicken and which usually sticks straight up – a most fetching look, because it is so short, and, hand to god, I have bangs so thinned out and unable to grow long enough that I kinda look like I singed my hair during overzealous barbecuing. And to think I used to complain that my hair was too thick. So good news Ted is that your curls will eventually thicken. As we wait in relative agony about what the future holds it is good to know your curls will eventually turn you back into a babe magnet once again and I will once again look less like a commercial for the dangers of playing with matches. This illness is extremely hard on us emotionally. Thank heaven for a touch of humor in the meantime. Hey, this all about how we look, not how we feel, right? Big hugs to all as we support each other on this forum.

[Nightingale]

Hi Ted,

Thanks for your humorous post, we need one of these every now and then.  As for your hair loss, I am at a loss for words.  I have never seen any post from anyone suggesting that BCG has caused hair loss.

There is a post from a Cheryl9 that list some of the side effects of BCG and she indicates that hair loss is not one of them.  To find her post type ‘hair loss’ in the search field ad a bunch of post will pop up.  Her’s is about half way down.

My best,

[Edwin Castle]

Hi all.

Thanks for all the info. on why I might be loosing my hair. marysue and coliver52 you must be smart and stuff I had to give up googling all those fancy words. It made by brain hurt; but thanks for the info. Anyway I think  figured it out. It is not the BCG at all. I never really thought it was.

I found scissors on my wife’s dresser along with tweezers, and although she will not confess, I strongly believe she is pulling my hair out at night while I am sleeping. Just a few hairs every night so I  will not notice. I think this strange behavior is a thought pattern left over from her pulling out a chest hair every time we had sex. ( by the way I have lots of chest hair left), it does not seem to be thinning in the same way. Any way I plan to catch her in the act one night soon so I can confront her about her behavior.

Thank you all for your concern and  everyone stay safe and have a Merry Christmas.

Tongue in cheek Ted.

[Tana]

Don’t know how I missed this;

Thanks for the chuckle Edwin!

[Author]

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