I often hear from people who have noticed sudden and severe hair loss but who have never had hair fall or scalp issues before. I often hear comments like: "I have always had really healthy and pretty hair. My hair is thick and long and I've always been very proud of it. I take good care of my hair and scalp which is why I am stunned that suddenly it is falling out. Every time I wash, brush, or comb it, I see a disturbing number of hair falling out. Why could this be happening. I'm very young and, as far as I know, I'm healthy. I've had some seasonal shedding before, but it's never been anything like this. Why might this be happening?"

Quite often, determining the cause of your hair loss is a matter of ruling things out. You can often do this with the help of your doctor. However in the following article, I'll offer some possibilities for sudden hair loss in otherwise healthy people who have never had prior shedding issues.

Lifestyle Changes Can Sometimes Cause Hair Loss: Sometimes when you are otherwise healthy, you might have changed some medications or even vitamins or supplements. Starting or stopping a medication regimen can cause temporary hair fall or shedding. Dieting can as well. So can illnesses or stress. There is a condition called telogen effluvium that occurs when something in your body changes and causes a larger percentage of your hair follicles to go into the resting phase. Examples of things that can cause telogen effluvium are childbirth, switching birth control pills, surgery, or drastic diets with sudden weight loss, to name only a few.

Scalp Issues Are A Possibility: Sometimes, people who have hair that looks perfectly healthy can also have scalp issues of which they may be unaware. Common culprits are yeast and bacteria infections, psoriasis, or allergic reactions. However, with these conditions, you will often see some changes in your scalp. It might be red or pink. There might be pain or scaling. You may notice some itching or tingling. It's rare to have a scalp condition so severe that it causes hair loss without noticing some changes with your scalp. With that said, sometimes severe telogen effluvium can cause some scalp discomfort because of all of the hair follicles changing cycles.

Autoimmune Disorders: There is a hair disorder called alopecia areata that is autoimmune in nature which also causes sudden and severe hair loss. There are also other autoimmune disorders that can be associated with shedding or hair loss. Some examples are thyroid disorders (like graves disease or hyperthyroidism or hypothyroidism,) lupus, and rheumatoid arthritis. As with the scalp examples above, many of the autoimmune disorders exhibit other symptoms in addition to the hair loss.

Seasonal Shedding: I know that many people discount seasonal shedding, but sometimes it really can be quite severe. The good news is that this type of shedding is often over very quickly, meaning you might shed just a couple days up to a week or two. If you're seeing shedding that is lasting for much longer than this, then the chances of it being seasonal shedding decrease.

Androgenic Alopecia: Most people consider androgenic alopecia or genetic thinning or balding as a slow and gradual form of hair loss. Most think that if you have androgen driven hair fall, you lose much less hair than if you had telogen effluvium, but the little you do lose doesn't grow back properly which leads to permanent and noticeable hair loss. This can be accurate sometimes. Many folks with this form of hair loss don't notice so much hair that it's clogging their shower drain or raining down all over their clothes. But over time, they notice their hair thinning. However, there are some who will see severe hair loss when their androgenic alopecia starts. Since this is by far the most common type of hair issue, it's not uncommon to see it present itself in multiple ways.

I got my first round of hair loss after the birth of my first child and this kicked off a long, painful period of time where the hair loss continued for much longer than it should have. Looking back now, I believe that I had more than one trigger, but I was not aware of that at the time. Once I addressed this, I started seeing more normal hair fall again. But, it was a long, hard, frustrating journey, especially in the beginning. If it helps, you can read the whole story on my blog at http://stop-hair-loss-in-women.com/