Let’s talk about post Covid hair loss. It’s one of the many side effects which can show up after the Covid-19 infection has long gone. I had a mild case of Covid over Christmas 2020 literally testing positive on Christmas Eve… and I’ve had a couple of lingering side effects: loss of smell and hair loss (I do see the irony of this).

My sense of smell eventually returned. It took a while the best way that I can describe it is by comparing it to sight when you can’t fully see something. You can just make out a vague outline, but none of the details. That’s what my sense of smell was like five months after the infection. I will say that it had advantages as anyone who has dogs and sporty teenage sons can attest.

And, hair loss, well if you’re on this website you might have concerns about your hair. So I probably don’t need to tell you about the stomach dropping feeling of washing your hair and seeing what looks like much too much hair in your hands. Or constantly removing excess hair from your brush, and using Mr Muscle unclogger in the shower drain each week. Or inspecting your scalp in minute detail from different angles to see if it looks worse today. You already know all about this.

I’ll just add as well that even though my case of Covid was mild I didn’t return to the gym to do the sprint cardio that I used to do a couple of times a week without thinking twice about it. I know that I’m just not up to it. I did try after a couple of months. It wasn’t worth it!

To make things worse I also have a few clients who are bedridden with long COVID which makes me feel a bit pathetic even bringing up my symptoms. However I’ve always maintained hair loss is not just about hair. It has an impact on your self-confidence which impacts how you are in every single part of your life.

What’s the good news?

Unlike the majority of my hair loss clients we actually know what’s caused the loss which makes it much easier to address. In fact viral infections are actually a fairly common cause of hair loss it’s just that a lot of us have recently had the same virus and we tested at the time so we know with 99.9% certainty that we have our root cause. There’s a lot that you can do to ‘encourage’ your hair to regrow. Post Covid hair loss ultimately can become post Covid regrowth.

We’re dealing with telogen effluvium which by its nature is temporary. Typically it’s your body’s response to a stressful event (like a viral infection).  It appears between two to three months after the event itself. It’s not a permanent condition, however if your environment continues to create stress for your body the hair loss will also continue. This is where it can get tricky as losing your hair can be a huge cause of stress.

How can I help you to manage post Covid hair loss?

Let’s start with helping you to reach your natural equilibrium again and then rebuild from there. A health scare can be reframed as a wake-up call about what’s actually important. Without our health, we have nothing.