I Blamed Stress, Hormones, and Even My Pillowcase for my Hair Loss, But the Problem Was My Scalp

Last Updated on 2025-07-18 , 10:37 am

You know you’re officially in your 30s when you start searching things like “how much hair loss is too much” at 1am, after seeing all the hair that fell out during your shower.

At first, I thought work stress was the cause of my hair loss. Then I thought perhaps hormones had a part to play in this. I even blamed my pillowcase at some point (yes, I switched to silk pillowcases because the kopitiam aunties told me it would help).

Then, when I had nothing else to blame, I told my partner to stop “airdrop-ing” his hair loss to me.

But as it turns out, the real culprit for my hair loss was my scalp all along.

Like many of us juggling back to back deadlines, meetings that seem to never end, and questionable caffeine habits (two cups of coffee a day is normal, right?), I started to notice my scalp condition worsening together with my hair loss problem. My scalp felt dry, and was itchy at times.

So when I came across TK TrichoKare’s Scalp Purifying Therapy, I figured, why not give it a try? After all, there’s no harm given that it was an affordable  $48.

And I’m so thankful I did. Here’s why.

TK TrichoKare at Ngee Ann City

I decided to pamper myself after work by booking a treatment at TK TrichoKare’s Ngee Ann City outlet, just a short journey from the CBD.

The staff gave me a warm welcome as I entered the outlet. Forget about your meeting minutes or weekly reports: you can leave it all behind once you enter the outlet. From this point on, you’re in the care of the lovely consultants and hair specialists at TrichoKare.

One of the staff ushered me to a consultation room to have a seat, and later brought me a cup of water.

Then, I was given an iPad so I could fill up a questionnaire about my health and diet, hair and scalp condition, as well as my hair care routine.

The questions will help the TrichoKare consultants to better understand your hair and scalp condition, so that the treatment can be tailored to target the real issues with your scalp.

After all, we’re not here to pick the best hair tie to prevent hair loss. We’re here to actually treat the root cause (pun not intended) of your hair loss problems.

Pre-Treatment Scalp and Hair Analysis

Upon completing the questionnaire, I met with Hina, a consultant at TrichoKare’s Ngee Ann City outlet.

She asked me more questions based on my questionnaire responses, so that she could get a 101% understanding of my scalp condition.

But at TrichoKare, they don’t stop even at 101%. The next moment, Hina was scanning my scalp with a Tricho-Scan tool to get an even better and clearer look at my scalp condition.

And when I say that it’s a better and clearer look, I mean it literally. The Tricho-Scan tool uses a digital microscope camera with up to 200 times magnification to examine your scalp condition, so you can see everything that’s going on on your scalp.

This handy little tool you see here is the Tricho-Scan tool:

And in case you don’t believe me when I say you can see everything with the tool, here’s what the Tricho-Scan tool allowed me to see:

All the nasty things that I never thought I had simply because I couldn’t see it—scalp inflammation and flakes in particular—all showed up on the Tricho-Scan tool.

I asked Hina why all of these were showing up on my scalp. Could stress and hormones be responsible for these?

She explained to me that the inflammation might be caused by scratching (since I did tell her that my scalp was sometimes itchy), while the flakes were caused by my dry scalp.

So, while my poor scalp condition was the culprit behind my hair loss, the flakes and inflammation were symptoms of my poor scalp condition. To treat my hair loss issue and get rid of these flakes and inflammation, I’d have to treat my scalp condition.

And to do that, a $3 magical silk pillowcase which supposedly “prevents hair loss” was definitely not going to cut it. It’s time for a real solution.

Customised European Herbal Scalp Masque

So, we headed off to the spacious treatment area.

I then met a hair specialist at the outlet, who would now take me through the actual scalp treatment.

But before my scalp got pampered, my stomach got a treat first. My hair specialist brought me a complimentary cup of tea and a packet of mixed nuts to enjoy.

With the relaxing music playing in the outlet’s speakers, my stress was already melting away. I just wished my Outlook inbox and that 9 am Teams meeting would melt away too (if my boss is reading this, I’m kidding, please don’t fire me).

In the meantime, my hair specialist started preparing a Premium European Herbal Scalp Masque for me. And here’s where the pre-treatment analysis comes in — the scalp masque will be customised based on the issues identified during your pre-treatment analysis!

For me, the masque would mainly target my dry scalp. But even if you’re facing other issues like dandruff or an oily scalp, the masque can be customised to target your scalp condition as well!

I felt a cooling sensation on my scalp as the masque was applied on my hair roots. Turns out, the masque is a cooling masque.

I loved it. It was like the soothing feeling of finally getting into an air-conditioned space after a long day out in the sun, but for your scalp.

Next, my hair specialist massaged the masque into my scalp and left the masque to sit on my scalp for approximately 15 minutes, so that my scalp could absorb all the nutrients in the masque.

The 15 minutes honestly felt like a “15-Minute Try Not to Fall Asleep Challenge”, because that was just how relaxing the treatment was.

Not to be mistaken for the “15-Minute Try Not to Fall Asleep Challenge” at work every Monday…

Hair Bath

My hair specialist soon returned and brought me to the hair wash area for the next step of my treatment.

I said goodbye to the cooling masque as it was rinsed off, and shortly after was greeted by an amazing citrus-y scent — it was from the shampoo which my hair specialist was applying onto my scalp and hair.

As it turns out, she was using the Nourishing Hair Bath on my scalp. It smelled amazing, and also contains ingredients like Wasabia Japonica Root Ferment extract which helps to strengthen your hair and scalp.

My hair specialist then massaged my scalp, making sure that all that gunk I saw during my pre-treatment scalp scan would really get out.

I’ll just say this: once you have your hair washed by the specialists at TrichoKare, you’ll never want to wash your own hair again. TrichoKare makes a simple hair wash feel like a spa day.

Next, my hair specialist rinsed the shampoo off my scalp and applied the CompleteKare Mask conditioner on the ends of my hair.

Unlike the conditioners that you order after seeing your favourite influencer use them once, this conditioner actually works. It’s meant to moisturise and repair dry and damaged hair, and as you run your fingers through your hair afterwards, you can really feel the difference.

Treatment Essence Applied With NanoMist Spray

After the hair wash, I was guided back to my seat at the treatment area and given a shoulder massage.

There’s no need to head out to JB for massages anymore. A scalp treatment at TrichoKare gets you more than enough massages.

Then, from the corner of my eye, I saw my hair specialist wheel a machine out.

As it turns out, this was the machine for the NanoMist spray, the next step in my scalp treatment. The NanoMist Spray would be used to spray a Customised Treatment Essence onto my scalp.

You might be thinking: Why is there a need for a machine to apply treatment essence?

The short answer is that the NanoMist Spray helps your scalp get maximum absorption of the treatment essence. It does so by helping to better deliver the treatment essence into your hair follicles.

Or, in kiasu Singaporean logic, the NanoMist Spray helps you get bang for your buck on the treatment essence.

After each spray, my hair specialist also rubbed the treatment essence into my scalp. Double maximum absorption.

And with all the beneficial ingredients in the treatment essence, you’ll even be hoping that your scalp could get triple maximum absorption of the treatment essence. For one, the essence contained Saw Palmetto and Nettle, which will not only smoothen your hair, but also strengthen your hair.

No prizes for guessing what came next. My hair specialist gave me yet another scalp massage, this time, so that the treatment essence could really be absorbed by my scalp.

We’ve been talking a lot about the scalp so far because, well, it is a scalp treatment. But that doesn’t mean the ends of your hair are forgotten — to wrap up this step of the treatment, my hair specialist also applied a serum to the ends of my hair.

Now, onto the final step of the treatment.

PhotoDynamic Therapy

Up till this point of the treatment, I’ve just been relaxing and leaving my notifications alone. But the final step of the treatment was so cool that I just had to text my friends about it.

My hair specialist told me we were doing photodynamic therapy. Then suddenly, she put a helmet on me.

But it was not just any ordinary helmet. It was a helmet with infra-red light technology built into it:

Why would you need a helmet like this, you might ask. Well, the infra-red technology in the helmet is used for photodynamic therapy, as it detoxifies your scalp, maintains your scalp’s pH balance, and promotes overall hair and scalp health.

I know it sounds a little intense, but all I had to do was to sit there for about 15 minutes while it did its thing.

And don’t worry, it’s not going to burn your head off;  contrary to what the red lights might lead you to expect, the helmet isn’t hot. It feels like an ordinary helmet on your head, except this one’s more impressive than an ordinary helmet.

Post-Treatment Scalp Scan Analysis

After I bid goodbye to the helmet, I met with Hina again at a consultation room for my post-treatment scalp scan analysis, where she scanned my scalp with the Tricho-Scan tool again.

The results after the treatment were clear. All that gunk I saw earlier during the pre-treatment analysis was gone.

Here’s a “before” and “after” picture for comparison, so that you can really see the difference. You can see how dry and flaky my scalp was before the treatment, and how much cleaner my scalp looked after the treatment.

Exclusive Promotion @ $48 Nett

From now till XXX 2025, experience the Award-Winning Scalp Purifying Therapy for just $48 nett.

Additionally, you will receive a FREE travel-sized Haircare Kit which includes a Nourishing Hair Bath (shampoo) and a CompleteKare Mask (conditioner) (total value $556).

WhatsApp our exclusive promo code <GF2025> to 9150 8891 or book here to access this offer now. Limited slots available.

TK TrichoKare has outlets in Velocity @ Novena Square, The Clementi Mall, Jurong Point, NEX, and Ngee Ann City.