Unexpected Hair Loss

February 12, 2026

Here’s something interesting I haven’t shared: I’ve been losing my hair, lately. Like, a significant amount of it.

So there are a few things I know and acknowledge. I’m getting older. I’m in my 50’s. And yes, I’m gradually losing my hair in the way that all men who get older lose their hair.

But this is something different.

Liz noticed things a while back, where the overall thickness of my hair has decreased. Significantly. I’ve been seeing more hair come out during showers (moreso than usual)… and the overall volume of my hair is less.

My hair used to be much thicker, compared to Liz. And now, it’s less thick – markedly so.

My visit to the dermatologist yesterday was for this reason. And I learned a few surprising things. Which – overall, were all positive things.

Apparently, hair follicles have a certain cycle – they grow, and then fall out, and then regrow. We all actually lose something like 100 hairs each day (I vaguely recall this fact from childhood science books)… but we just don’t notice, because it happens gradually.

But there’s a thing called telogen effluvium, where the shedding of hair follicles increase due to a kind of synchronization. So this results in a larger amount of hair loss, due to more follicles shedding at the same time.

The good news – my hair is growing back, but it’s slower (due to typical male pattern baldness and age stuff).

I was concerned the hair loss was a sign of some other medical issue. And was surprised, when my doctor suggested I see a dermatologist for this (which, hair is apparently their relevant field – which makes sense, but took me a while to process).

There are a series of possible causes for telogen effluvium – including things like stress, hormonal changes, etc. I did have some blood work recently, which I’m thinking rules out some of these issues.

Another concern – I was on some medication last year, after my back injury. I had a concern that these medications were a potential cause, since the hair loss seemed to coincide with that time frame (the meds were the only other a-typical thing from last year).

Talking with the dermatologist yesterday, his belief is that the accident itself was the triggering event, not the medication. Which kind of blew me away. He told me that physiological stressors are also a cause – with there being sometimes a delay. Looking over my notes from the visit, I see this entry:

Hair loss typically begins 3-6 months after physiologic stressor and resolves spontaneously within 3-6 months.

An interesting turn of events, all from a fairly worrying symptom. It’s fascinating to think that my back injury, the actual injury itself, set off a slow chain of events that could impact my hair growth some months later.

For now, I’m glad there’s an explanation – and doubly glad it’s a fairly benign one at that. And triply glad, I suppose, that this is a temporary condition.

[CC Photo via Tanner Marquis]