The Hair Loss Experience of a Transgender Woman

I recently spoke to Eve, a transgendered woman who has experience with hair loss. Eve spoke about some personal valid points that are not often talked about on websites like these, and it’s wonderful that Lordhair can shine the light on all people regardless of colour, gender and sexual orientation. I believe it would be valuable if I shared how hair loss affected Eve, who has transitioned from a male to a female. The term trichotillomania was mentioned a few times, and from what I was hearing I wondered if this hair loss condition was more common in a transgender population.

Pulling Hair Out Is Known as Trichotillomania

Trichotillomania is a hair loss condition when a person cannot resist the pulling of their hair (usually from the scalp, eyebrows and eyelashes). As I was hearing Eve’s story of hair pulling, I suddenly remembered when I was at school, I would sit in class and see how many strands of hair would fall onto a white piece of paper. I would be fascinated as at that young age of 11, I thought if my hair falls out then I don’t need to get a haircut. I had no idea then how the hair was going to affect my mental health in my adulthood.

Trichotillomania (also known as trich) is a condition that could have people slipping through the cracks and receiving inadequate care. Hopefully, by shedding light on these trends and sharing transgender hair loss stories, we can help spread awareness at both trans and cisgender levels. It was disturbing to hear Eve describe how (before her transitioning) she was constantly pulling her hair. She explained, at the time, her short, thinning hair was something else for her to distract the way she wanted to look to feel.

I asked if at that time she could have been experiencing alopecia areata (alopecia areata is an autoimmune skin disease that manifests in either patchy hair loss or total baldness) as I know this is a widespread problem nowadays and stresses of modern living play a part. Eve said she didn’t think it was alopecia and can remember pulling hair after hair. She says it was a vicious cycle, she was worried her hair was falling out and so would check the strength of her hair by pulling it, and would repeat the process until there was no hair in her hands and explained at that point I would be satisfied my hair loss had stopped (at least for that particular hair pulling episode).

Learn all about trichotillomania in greater detail

But, many people don't realise how much transgender people suffer from hair loss during their transition. As Eve describes on the other side of the coin, her hair pulling was doing her a favour as she ultimately wanted to have long thick black hair and not the wispy, weak, dry brown hair struggling to sprout. Hair loss has been called an epidemic, by no less an authority than Harvard researchers, and the hair loss rate in the transgender community is said to be as high as 67%. Because of this, many people have written blogs and articles about transgender hair loss.

However, there is a paucity of information on the topic of hair loss among transgendered people who are also ethnic minorities. While there are many videos about hair loss featuring transgender people, their stories are not well spread out across the internet. Yet, most ethnic minority communities can relate to ethnicity and hair loss in much of the same way that transgender people can relate to gender identity and changing sex roles.

Lordhair customer Kelly's battle with trichotillomania resulted in her turning to real hair wigs for women as a hair loss solution

Hair Loss with Transgender People

Throughout history, hair loss has been related to transgendered individuals going through hormone therapy. However, 80% of hair loss is caused by genetic disposition. This suggests that hair loss can be inherited and can come to affect the transgender community as well. It was important for Eve to properly educate herself and the transgender community about male pattern balding and hair loss, so they can take steps to prevent the overwhelming majority of cases, which are preventable by slowing hair loss. Eve admits:

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'Yes, it's fact, at birth I was what society would call a ‘male’, so I now know I was going through male pattern baldness before I transitioned.''

The beauty in all these agonising memories is Lordhair has provided Eve with a simple and effective way for her to feel and look like the woman she deserves to be seen as.

However you identify, know that at Lordhair, we have the hairpiece for you. Short hair or long hair, something to cover an area of your or your whole, our team will be more than happy to assist you with finding the perfect hairpiece so, please just reach out to us by sending an email to support@lordhair.com to get your queries answered.