CLEVELAND — Clients have been coming to salon owner and stylist Alissa Geyer with the same problems during the pandemic: hair loss.

What You Need To Know

  • Stress from COVID-19 and the pandemic is creating problems with hair loss

  • It is called telogen effluvium

  • Doctors said it is reversible

She has even experienced it herself, saying, “when I had COVID, I lost two inches just in breakage when I was sick with it, and then I had to cut off another four inches after.”

Hair loss like this is called telogen effluvium.

Ohio State University Dermatologist Dr. Susan Massick has been seeing it a lot in patients lately, too.

“One of the main reasons that we are seeing hair loss recently is hair loss related to stress," said Massick. "It can be stress that is a physical stressor, like a medical condition such as a COVID-19 infection, or psychosocial stressors like the [mental] stress related to the pandemic.”

While Massick said there is no way of stopping this once it is in motion, it is reversible. Patience and stress management are important. 

“One, it’s going to be reversible; two, it’s going to end and get better; and three, most of the time patients will get back to where they were," said Massick. "It’ll just take a little bit longer not only for the telogen effluvium itself to resolve, but also for the hair to grow back.”

Massick said it can take up to a year to notice hair regrowth.

Geyer has some solutions for you while you wait.

“With the hair shedding, there’s nothing you can do to help grow it back," said Geyer. "You just have to be patient with that phase, but you can try and strengthen the hair that you do have left so it stops breaking from the ends up.”

She uses intense treatments, such as Opalex, to keep the hair she does have strong and healthy. However, for a faster fix, she uses temporary extensions, like HaloCouture, on herself and her clients.

“If you don’t feel like yourself and you want to feel a little more like your old self, you have options of getting extensions which will give you length and fullness, or if you notice a lot of scalp showing and you want to cover that up, you can go more the route of a wig or hair toppers and wear that for about a year before your hair gets back to normal.”

Both Massick and Geyer agree that it's normal to lose around 100 strands of hair a day, but if you are noticing drastic changes, you can consult with your doctor or stylist to help find the right solutions for you.

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