The Mail on Sunday August 17 201472 health

Seaweed turned the tide on my hair loss S

HE is known to millions of Coronation Street and Loose Women viewers for having a Bollywood-worthy bouffant. But today Shobna Gulati

reveals the truth: she has waged a life-long battle with thinning hair.

Although afflicted since her teens, her most severe bout began two years ago when she noticed visible patches of scalp and found clumps of hair on brushes and her pillow, and clogging up the shower plughole.

Shobna, 47, says: An inch fell out from all around my hairline, and I had bald patches in my parting all over the top of my head that were up to a centimetre wide.

I felt dreadful and unattractive, and panicked that it was all going to come out. Id leave my hair down to try to disguise it or use brown eye shadow to cover up the bald patches. I was miserable and hated looking at pictures of myself.

About 40 per cent of women will experience some degree of hair loss by the age of 50 due to hormonal changes. But female pattern bald-ness remains a taboo subject, and Shobna hopes that by speaking out she will reassure others.

She also wants to offer hope as, using supplements made from sea algae, she is regaining her locks.

Shobna first discovered her hair was thinning after her father died and she moved out of her family home in Oldham, Greater Man-chester, aged 19. Both the trauma of my father dying and the change of diet had an impact on my hair, she recalls. I skipped meals and didnt eat as well as I could have done.

Temporary hair loss can be accel-erated by stress, poor diet and weight loss. While it generally lasts only six months, Shobnas continued until, at 27, pregnancy caused a rise in oestrogen. It stopped her hair fall-ing out and it looked fuller again.

But three months after the birth of son Akshay, her hair started falling out again and Shobna who split up with her babys father while she was pregnant struggled to cope. It was something else to deal with in addi-tion to the upheaval of single mother-hood, she says. It was a mess.

WHEN Shobna found fame in 1998 playing Anita in sitcom Dinnerladies, her thinning hair

wasnt initially a concern it was neatly tucked away under a hat. But things changed when she joined Coronation Street in 2001.

On screen, with it all blow-dried, it looked fine, she says. But I secretly hated what I looked like. As a shop girl Id be asked to wear my hair up. As I got more comfortable with the make-up girls, Id ask them to leave some curly bits at the front to make it look fuller.

Being subjected to the paparazzi forced Shobna to fake a full head of hair. Clip-in extensions became my favourite accessory, she says.

In 2006, on a three-year break from the soap, she cut her hair short and bleached it. But it ended up even more brittle. The peroxide killed it.

As my hair grew I had weaves put in [in which hair extensions are sewn on to the hair], but my hair was so weak it broke. She returned

to the cobbles and the role of Sunita in 2009, dyeing her hair brown to make it look fuller. The Only Way Is Essex was popular and everyone wanted big hair, she says. I bought into the trend with clip-in extensions I looked like a Barbie doll.

By 2012, as she left the Street, her hair had really started to fall out. During my last year I was under a lot of stress over the change in my career and my relationship, says Shobna, who split with boyfriend Anthony Brown, 31, last July.

Adrenal stress glands secrete

male hormones into the body, caus-ing hair loss. She was also approach-ing the menopause, which affects levels of oestrogen too.

Low iron levels and thyroid disor-ders can also contribute, but the most common form of female hair loss a condition called androgenetic alo-pecia happens when the follicles become sensitive to normal levels of male hormones in the body. The main treatment is minoxidil, which is applied to the scalp and stimulates blood supply to encourage regrowth. Steroid injections can also help by

suppressing the immune system, which is thought to damage follicles.

But Shobna says: I didnt feel ill and didnt want to waste my doctors time. I didnt see my hair loss as an illness. I was embarrassed and would have found it too difficult to talk about. It was like saying the word balding would make it worse.

After finishing filming last March, Shobna had extensions to boost her self-esteem. They were marvellous but they werent good for my hair, she says. It grew dry and horrible, and every time the extensions came out I felt worse.

In January she turned to supple-ments those on the market include Nourkrin, Nanogen, Hairfollic and Viviscal containing vitamins, min-erals and marine extracts that can make hair grow stronger.

I was sceptical, admits Shobna. I worried it would be a waste of money. But, in conjunction with a healthy diet, she believes they have made a difference, and two months ago she took out her extensions.

Im not saying this is the solution for everyone but it feels as if I have more hair, she says. It feels health-ier and more invigorated. I feel like I have taken action and not let the beginnings of the menopause take control of who I am.

By Antonia Hoyle Loose Women star Shobna Gulati was devastated by the disappearance of her beautifulmane. But she is fighting back... with algae supplements

RECEDING: Shobna found that she had bald patches in her hair

Health COMMENTBy Dr Ellie Cannon

THE hair loss Shobna suffers is a surprisingly common problem and very distressing.

Nutritional deficiency can be the cause, particularly with iron store levels, which need to be at a certain level for good hair growth. If a diet is lacking in nutrients, supplements can help.

Commonly hair loss will be caused by thyroid problems or fungal scalp infections or will start post-pregnancy, and in these situations supplements would be unlikely to help. In many patients with female alopecia, there seems to be no obvious underlying

cause, but often the hair loss spontaneously improves whether or not a supplement is taken, usually after six months.

These pills are unlikely to completely reverse hair loss in most women, but for the chance of some improvement they are worth a try.

RECOvERy!THE OPERATION

OPEN MYOMECTOMY FOR FIBROIDSFIBROIDS are non- cancerous tumours made up of muscle that grow around the womb. Myomectomy is a surgical procedure to remove them from the wall of the uterus, carried out under general anaesthetic.

Many women do not have symptoms but others have heavy, painful periods, stomach and lower back pain, a frequent need to urinate, constipation and pain during sex. Depending on their size and position, several small incisions may be made in the abdomen in keyhole surgery, or a single larger incision in open myomectomy.

THE SURGEON SAySCLIVE Spence-Jones, consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at The London Clinic and the Whittington Hospital in North London, says: Myomectomy is a big operation, and youll need four weeks off work.

Post-op pain can be controlled with a local nerve block given during the operation and paracetamol, ibuprofen and opiates. After two nights in hospital, youll go home and should try to get up and around the house, with rest and sleep after lunch. After a week, start getting out and about gently, using paracetamol and anti-inflammatories with occasional opiates near the end of the day.

Diet before and after surgery should be high in protein and iron as anaemia after surgery is not uncommon. By four weeks you would hope to be driving and living normally but only lifting a few kilos.

Your physiotherapist will give more detailed individualised advice about returning to a normal routine.

THE PATIENT SAyS LOUISE Parks, 41, had the operation after suffering symptoms of several large fibroids. She says: I found it hard to imagine being incapacitated for four weeks but in the first week just being up, dressed and on the sofa in time for Homes Under The Hammer was an enormous effort. I was surprised not to make progress each day so had to limit my expectations and not have more than one visitor every couple of days.

Before the operation I booked a yoga holiday, ate plenty of protein such as chicken, and took Spatone, a liquid iron formula, to prevent anaemia.

I was discharged after 48 hours and found the biggest problem was with the strong painkillers. In order not to feel nauseous and faint after taking them, I had to eat a certain amount, but found it difficult as my appetite had vanished.

My mother came to stay for a week. While I could shuffle to the bathroom, I felt extremely weak and did not feel confident taking a shower without knowing she was close.

The pain in my abdomen felt tight, as if my stomach muscles were strained, so I walked with a stoop.

With plenty of daytime naps and little outings to local shops, I slowly began to feel stronger. By the end of the month I was ready to return to work.

I have never felt better and would recommend myomectomy to anyone who is advised they need it.

INVIGORATED: Ex-Coronation Street actress

Shobna has taken action

to beat the hair loss

shes been battling with

since her teenage years

ca

me

ra

pr

es

s /

ra

ch

el

jos

ep

h