If you’re a Football fan then you’ve probabaly seen Instagram accounts such as Bewarmers and Sportsbible posting about Manchester City player Kyle Walkers sudden hair loss.

The England fullback has been repeatably mocked for what appears to be an overnight hair loss struggle. Many have said that he’s trying to morph into Man City Manager Pep Guardiola.

If we look at pictures of Kyle Walker from last season, we can clearly see that not only did he have hair, but he was showing zero signs of balding and in fact had thick hair.

Kyle Walkers hair loss

Image credit: www.skysports.com

At a quick glance it may seem as though Kyle simply shaved his hair shorter for summer. However we can clearly see from closer inspection that Kyles hair is not only thinner, but patchy and a large bald patch seems to have originated on the crown of his head.

So what’s going on?

Telogen Effluvium

Telogen effluvium is a stress induced condition that occurs around 2 to 3 months after a life changing event. This could be a death, a divorce or break-up and even financial woes.

Telogen effluvium is when the hairs in the anagen phase, which is hair growth, are forced into the telogen phase which is hair shedding. At any given time there are around 90% of your overall head hairs that are in the growth phase. Therefore when forced into the telogen phases anywhere from 50% to 100% of your head hairs can shed. In the majority of cases it’s around 60% which appears to be true with Kyle also.

Strangely there’s no real set pattern with telogen effluvium. Hair seems to shed all over the scalp even on the sides in certain occasions. This is when a patchy and somewhat bleak thin head of hair remains with the hairline still in tack.

How did Kyle get this?

It’s speculation, however if we were to date it back, the stress Kyle has been experiencing from his broken relationship would be perfectly timed. Reports claim, Kyle cheated on his long term partner with a reality TV star, then went through hell to correct his mistake and get his partner back. Some may say the resulting hair issue is karma, but it occurs quite often during break-ups especially for women. In extreme cases people’s hearts have stopped due to break-ups adding new meaning to the term “heartbroken”.

Can it be reversed?

Yes. That’s the short answer, once the stress and resulting cortisol levels subside the hair should grow back. However if the stress trigger remains telogen effluvium turns into chronic telogen effluvium which means hair shedding for a lot longer or in repeat cycles. This form of telogen effluvium tends to come from financial issues as they are not quickly resolved.