How Much Hair Loss is Normal?
Are you finding clumps of hair in your shower? Left on your brush? All over the house?!
Sometimes you may even wonder how you have any hair left. It can be disheartening and even stressful seeing how much hair leaves your head, especially if you're looking to grow it to lengths it's never reached.
When I was around nine years I experienced hair loss for he first time. I had the responsibility of taking care of my hair and I never washed it or gave it any love.
Because of that my scalp started to experience crazy amounts or dandruff and itchiness. After much more time of neglect I started to get sore spots on my scalp that eventually became about 4 or 5 bald spots scattered throughout my scalp.
I was so embarrassed and tried to hide them the best I could while styling. I learned the har way I had to wash my hair or my hair would fall out… who knew?
But all that to say, I’ve experienced hair loss. it’s much more common than we think. And if you are experiencing some hair loss now unless there’s some biological concern, your hair can grow back! So stop freaking out and let’s figure this thing out.
The Hair Growth Cycle
First things, first we have to acknowledge that hair loss is part of everyday life. On average a person sheds about 80- 100 hairs a day.
Each strand of hair on your head has it’s own journey or stage of development. Deep right?
Some parts of your head is growing while others are resting and shedding. Once a strand has completed it’s cycle, it sheds for a new strand to emerge.
This is known as the hair growth cycle: growing stage (anagen), resting stage (catagen), and shedding stage (telogen).
This means it is perfectly normal to have hair on your brush after passing it through or on your shower floor or on your carpet. This releases the already shed hairs so they don’t tangle and mat onto the hairs that actually want to hang out a little longer on your head.
Hair Breakage v. Hair Shedding
While a bit of daily shedding may be healthy and normal, hair breakage is not. Breakage is common for those who style, heat style, and chemically process their hair without protecting their hair or poorly maintaining it. Breakage is when hair strands have literally broken off at a weak point in the strand before its natural time to shed.
Read below to find out how to test if your hair is shedding or breaking. Once you find the culprit you can start to treat your hair to ensure you keep your hair healthy and growing!
THE BULB TEST
Is your hair is shedding?
- Take a strand of hair from your comb or brush
- Is the strand the length of your hair? Yes
- Is there a white opaque bulb at the end of the strand? Yes
Is your hair is Breaking?
- Is the strand shorter than your hair length? No
- Is there a white opaque bulb at the end of the strand? If there is no bulb, your hair has broken before it was ready.
If you are experiencing hair loss beyond the average amount of shedding, there are a number of potential factors from medical conditions to stress that may be the culprit to hair loss.
According to Anabel Kingsley, a leading trichologist of the Phiip Kingsley Clinic in London,
”Research shows that at least 1 in 3 women will suffer from hair loss or reduced hair volume at some point in their lifetime".
Common Signs of Hair Loss
Overall thinning hair starts gradually on the top of the head is the most common hair loss in women and men.
Bald spots appear in coin sized patches on the scalp. Skin may become painful or itchy before hair falls.
Handfuls of hair loss is usually a reaction to major stress or after a traumatic experience. This is most noticeable while washing or combing hair.
Full hair loss like in some medical situations such as chemotherapy can cause sudden hair loss all over the body.
Types of Hair loss
Depending on the cause hair loss may preset itself in different ways. Hair loss may occur gradually over time or suddenly. You may find it helpful to keep a hair loss journal and/or photo album to track of any changes and patterns.
Note that there are different types of hair loss, genetic and reactive. Gradual hair thinning and loss may run in your family. Dr. Kingsley explains, "In these instances, certain hair follicles are sensitive to male hormones – and this sensitivity causes follicles to gradually shrink and produce slightly finer and shorter hairs with each passing hair growth cycle."
Reactive hair loss is the result of a trigger. “[Reactive hair loss, occurs as the result of of an internal balance or upset such as a nutritional deficiency, severe stress, cashing diet or an illness”, according to Dr. Kingsley.
3 Hair Loss Triggers
Hormone Imbalance
Hormone Imbalances affect the entire body. Hormones play a major role in the hair growth cycle. Female hormones, estrogen encourages hair to grow longer while the male hormone, androgen can shorten the cycle of hair growth.
Stress
Emotional or physical stress can cause the body to shut down processes like hair production, the digestive system and affect hormone levels all which have a negative impact on hair loss.
Unhealthy Diets
Lacking certain vitamins in the diet can cause hair loss as well as sudden weight loss and eating disorders.
How to Treat Hair Loss?
Go See Your Doctor
Due to the hair growth cycle it may take up to 3 months for hair loss to occur after a trigger. Once you notice excessive hair shedding for over 3 months you should see your general practitioner or a trichologist to rule out any underlying causes that may need to be addressed.
Try a Healthier Diet
Hair is made of protein. Feed your hair by upping your healthy protein intake. Vitamin supplements can also send necessary nutrients to the hair follicles to encourage growth.
Better Hairstyling
Be conscious of the stress you put on your hair while styling. yes, you want your ponytail to be snatched but that tension on the strands will snatch your edges right off. Avoid hairstyles that put too much traction on your strands. If you have to wear your hair up everyday try letting our hair down more often to give those strands that are normally tugged on a break.