Skin care

Is Stress Making You Ugly?

Understand what tension can do to your hair, skin and nails -- and skin care tips on what you can do to help prevent it

by Audrey Fine

5 of 11

Can stress make your hair fall out? When you're stressed out you may feel like "pulling your hair out," but did you ever realize that it can actually cause your hair to fall out?

It's true. "Stress can lead to extra hair [falling out] but it can take a while to manifest," says Kingsley. In fact, "telogen effluvium" is a common hair loss problem that can occur up to three months after a stressful event.

The tricky part is that little can be done to help the situation. "[The hair loss] cannot be curtailed but needs to run its course," says Kingsley who's the first to note that it's a vicious cycle of sorts.

"It's easy to say 'don't be stressed' but this is more difficult than it sounds and the more you worry about [losing your hair], the more stressed you get and the more [that] falls out." The good news is that after the initial loss, hair usually grows back in six to nine months.

But is there NOTHING we can do in the meantime?

Next: What you can do to help keep hair on your head.

SEE NEXT PAGE: Keep hair from falling out

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Older comments

Nice.

by Mollysunshine Friday, April 12, 2013 at 07:29AM Report as inappropriate

interesting article!

by Chris213 Sunday, January 20, 2013 at 06:01PM Report as inappropriate

Yep stress at times!

by EricaC123 Friday, December 28, 2012 at 05:20PM Report as inappropriate

I had no idea more sleep could help your hair not fall out!

by sportimonki13 Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 01:51PM Report as inappropriate

I have a lot of stress in my life but im really young so hopefully I can get that under control before I start seeing the effects! :P This article was interesting and helpful!

by cheydy15 Friday, January 6, 2012 at 09:32PM Report as inappropriate

the scalp mask looks interesting

by krycekov Monday, December 12, 2011 at 11:14AM Report as inappropriate

i really get acne when i'm stress

by LadyLC26 Wednesday, September 21, 2011 at 08:04PM Report as inappropriate

wish I could avoid stress!

by Bon_Bon Monday, August 15, 2011 at 09:06PM Report as inappropriate

Thats going to be my excuse from now on...the stress is making me ugly, lol.

by MissPurple Monday, July 18, 2011 at 11:36AM Report as inappropriate

Psh. Explains why my nails break so easily :/

by brown_eyes23 Thursday, July 7, 2011 at 04:57PM Report as inappropriate