Sudden Hair Loss and Curl Pattern Change

I'm a 41 years old female. I have always had thick hair with beautiful natural spiral curls from the scalp to the ends. Over the past year I have shed massive amounts of my hair and my curls have relaxed to more of a wave. My scalp also itches almost constantly and burns. I don't wash my hair very often with shampoo's. I usually just use conditioner and I do not rinse it out until I shower each morning. Is this a normal part of the aging process or are there medical/hormonal issues I should be concerned about?

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The first thing I would suspect is an autoimmune disorder. If you're losing that much hair, have you checked for bald spots throughout your scalp. They usually appear more on one side than the other.

The reason I am suggesting this is because the same thing happened to me last year. I was under a lot of stress and suddenly developed an autoimmune disorder. I started losing tons of my hair too and didn't know I had bald spots until I started examining my scalp.

Please look at your scalp.

The texture of my hair also started to change. It used to be medium texture but now seems to be more 'fine' texture and I've lost a lot of my natural spiral curls too.

That being said, I don't know if you have an autoimmune disorder but anytime there's a sudden change in your hair growth, something in your body is not functioning properly.

There are lots of autoimmune disorders like arthritis and fibromyalgia, but stress by itself can also negatively affect hair growth.

Please read these pages to get more information about hair loss and alopecia areata.


Hair Loss – What You Need to Know!

Bald Spots, Thinning Hair, and Hair Loss

The good news is that over 50% of all people who lose hair, grow it back. It will take time though, possibly a year for you to actually start seeing hair growth. I noticed my hair coming back in a few months after I lost it but it can take longer.

Be sure that you're getting all your vitamins! For hair to grow properly, your body has to be working properly. Eat healthy foods and take vitamin supplements to ensure that your hair grows back.

Yes, it could be a hormone deficiency or possibly hypothyroidism too. Will you ever have spiral curls again? Probably not as much as you did before but there is hair hope if you start taking supplements now. One that really helps hair growth is Super Biotin.

I suspect one of the reasons your spiral curls are now more of a wave is because you simply don't have as much hair to form them.

As per your scalp itching and burning.... This is not normal, even for hair loss or alopecia. You may want to see a dermatologist about your scalp, if the symptoms persist.

In the meantime, stop leaving your conditioner in your hair for long periods of time. This maybe the culprit for your scalp symptoms. You might also think about switching over to an organic hair conditioner, which does not contain SLS ingredients. Many people can develop an allergy to bad hair products ingredients, so going organic should help, if SLS is the culprit.