Divorce can be a stressful undertaking. Now there is new research that indicates that in the most stressful of splits, the risk of a woman losing her hair increases too. Perhaps this is another good argument for the type of simple, uncontested, no-fault divorce that's available here in Pennsylvania.

According to the findings out of Case Western Reserve School of Medicine, discounting genetic predisposition, the loss of a spouse, whether through death or divorce, increases the chance of several types of balding. Drinking and smoking seem to increase or decrease risk, depending on a number of factors.

These are only some of the conclusions from what was actually a pair of studies through the school's department of plastic surgery. One looked at women. The other looked at men.

The first study compared data from 84 sets of female identical twins. What it found was that those who had gone through the stress of losing a spouse by death or divorce saw an increase in hair loss along the midline part of the head. Smoking women tended to lose more hair at the temples, while those who had a couple of drinks a week seemed to reduce the risk of temple hair loss. The study's author says other factors that may contribute to female hair loss may be excessive sleeping patterns, and other stressors such as having multiple children and getting married.

Smoking and heavy drinking contributed to male baldness, the second study showed. That one compared data from sets of identical twin men.

Source: USAToday, "Divorce, smoking may trigger hair loss in women," Alan Mozes, Sept. 26, 2011