(Image courtesy: Reuters)
Physical stress
Any kind of physical trauma – surgery, car accident, a severe case of the flu – can trigger telogen effluvium, a type of hair loss. Hair has a programmed life cycle: growth, rest and shed. “When you have a really stressful event, it can shock the hair cycle, [pushing] more hair into the shedding phase,” says Marc Glashofer, MD, a dermatologist in New York City. The loss often becomes noticeable three-to-six months after the trauma.
What to do: Nothing. Hair will start growing back as your body recovers.