subject: A Lot Of My Hair Sheds And Falls Out After I Brush It [print this page] A Lot Of My Hair Sheds And Falls Out After I Brush It
I often hear from folks who notice a lot of hair coming out after they brush it. I sometimes hear comments like "I brushed my hair and a big clump came out." Or "I noticed a ton of hair on my bathroom floor after I brushed it. Is this normal? Should I worry?" Another example is "I'm noticing a lot more hair coming out than what is normal for me when I brush. Why could this be happening?" I will try to address these types of questions in the following article.
It's Normal For Some Hair To Come Out When You Brush It: Most people do loose hair every day when they wash, brush, or style it. It's said that 5 -10% of their hair on your head is in the "resting" or shedding phase at any given time. So, when you manipulate or gently tug on your hair, this is the most likely time for those hairs that are in that same resting phase to come out.
How many actual hairs that you see each day will depend on how many hairs you naturally have and how much manipulating you do at the time. Some people notice more loss after shampooing and some notice more with combing or styling. And some don't notice the strands coming out until after these two processes. Whenever you see it, know that small amounts of hair are typically considered nothing to be overly concerned about as a small amount of hair loss is a part of the hair's life cycle.
If You're Seeing Excessive Amounts Of Hair When Brushing It: Unfortunately, most of the people that I hear from aren't noticing small or typical amounts of hair in their brush. They are seeing amounts that they feel are excessive for them. Many people tell me that they are seeing clumps or wads of hair. Of course, this is a concern to them because this isn't what they are used to seeing.
There are some hair conditions that cause this accelerated or excessive type of loss. And, some seasonal loss is normal. But this type of loss generally passes quite quickly. If you're seeing this type of shedding and it's lasting for more than a couple of weeks, you might want to evaluate whether it's possible if you have a hair loss issue. For example, telogen effluvium (or TE) is a condition where a larger percentage of your hair strands go into the resting or shedding phase at one time.
AGA (androgenic alopecia) AA, (alopecia areata,) and dermatological issues of the scalp are all things that can cause excessive shedding that can present itself at times when you manipulate your hair. Figuring out what's causing the loss and addressing it is often the most important variable.
In the meantime though, you can be very gentle during the brushing process. If you have long hair, you can grasp it as though you're putting it in a ponytail and comb the ends first so that you're not having to tug or pull. Also, I've found that a wide toothed comb can be a good idea if you're shedding excessively.
How do I know all of this? Because I lived it. I used to live in fear of my brush because using it made tons more hair fall out. But, I came to realize that it wasn't the brush, but the shedding that was the enemy and that this is what I needed to address. In my quest to end my hair loss, I looked at my triggers, my iron, my thyroid, my adrenals, my hormones, and my scalp. It was a long, hard, frustrating journey which all but wrecked my self esteem but I finally found something that helped quite a bit.You can read a very personal story on my blog at http://stop-hair-loss-in-women.com/.
