What is shedding hair

Not only unique to dying your hair, using other chemical processes for straightening your hair or even perming your hair are also damaging and can lead to hair shedding. Similar to how your beloved furry friends shed during the winter, seasonal changes also affect how much hair shedding happens to humans as well. Many believe it is for evolutionary reasons that our hair experiences more shedding at different times of the year. Have you noticed more hair shedding in the Fall? Research shows that humans tend to experience the most hair shedding in the Fall November, December, and the first half of January.

This is because the colder temperatures leave hair dry and scalp conditions like dandruff can act up leading to hair shedding. Unlike the winter, during the summer your follicles holds onto the hair in order to protect your scalp from the harsh heat and therefore your hair is thickest in the summer. A culprit of hair shedding is over-styling with heat styling tools like hairdryers, curling wands and straighteners. Using these tools often will cause your hair shaft to become dry and damaged to the point of breakage.

Doing this will inevitably cause hair shedding. Another way you can over-style your hair is by using tight hair ties to tie it up. Instead, try a loose, low ponytail or bun to give you hair and scalp a break. A dermatologist can tell you whether you have hair loss or hair shedding. Then with your thumb and forefinger, pull the hair hard enough to pull up your scalp and slide your fingers along the shaft to the end. Once you do this, count the number of hairs that fall out.

But guess what? Getting stressed will just make hair shedding happen even more. If you are getting frustrated by your hair shedding, try to find some calming activities. Turn on some Netflix, run a hot bath, and try to reduce any sources of stress in your life. Stress has been shown to kick your hair follicle into the lifecycle phase that makes it shed. Typically there is a delay between when your hair stops growing and when it actually sheds and falls out.

Usually you can trace the stressful event back to about three months before the hair shedding started happening. Experience a job loss, a fight with a friend, a bad breakup? These life changes can exhaust you and your hair, causing the hair follicle to be undernourished and weak.

Increased stress can also trigger scalp problems which cause the follicle to not hold onto hair strands. The way to be proactive to stop large amounts of hair shedding is by taking hair vitamins to strengthen your hair. Biotin for example can be bought at any drug store and is incredibly effective in helping to strengthen your hair and help it grow.

Another vitamin that can help with hair shedding is Vitamin A. This vitamin has retinoids which increases hair growth and even assists with sebum production which coats your hair its natural oils from the scalp, keeping your scalp and hair moisturized. A multivitamin is also important to provide all of the nutrients you will need to help your hair grow long and strong.

Keep your scalp healthy by using conditioner to keep it moisturized and scalp scrubs to exfoliate it. When your scalp is healthy, your follicles will hold onto strands of hair and this will lead to less hair shedding.

If you have dandruff or other scalp conditions this may also cause hair shedding, a quick fix is using a dandruff shampoo to keep the scalp moisturized. Keeping your hair moisturized during the wintertime especially is important because of the seasonal changes in hair shedding. Try using a deep conditioning hair mask or even hair oils to give your hair some extra love during the cooler temperatures. Generally, you should avoid chemical processes to straighten, bleach or colour hair.

Bleaching and other chemical processes strip the hair of natural oils and can create thin, brittle, frizzy hair. Also, opt to get your hair coloured at a salon versus using low-quality box dyes. As mentioned above, another option is trying hair extensions to get the hair colour you want without the damage.

Firstly, start by reducing the use of heat styling tools. Also, if your heat tools have settings, lower the temperatures on your tools. When you wear your hair in tight updos these can also cause hair shedding. The catagen phase follows, and for a few weeks, your hair remains in a transitional state before passing on to the next phase known as the telogen stage. In this third phase, the hair stops growing and slips into a resting stage while it is at its full length.

The telogen phase is important to note. Excessive hair shedding is usually the result of a condition known as telogen effluvium. Here, the scalp sheds upwards of 50 to hairs a day due to a stressful event. This event causes the hairs to move from the growing or anagen phase into the telogen or resting phase prematurely. Eventually, when the hairs re-enter the anagen phase, it results in hair shedding because telogen hairs have been moved out of the hair follicle to make way for new growth.

This could include drugs like androgens which support hormonal deficiencies, retinoids known for managing acne, beta-blockers that manage high-blood pressure, antidepressants and anticonvulsants. Emotional stress has also been linked to hair shedding, but the link between the conditions has been difficult to establish with certainty.

In addition to a number of factors, your hair is a reflection of what you eat. Severe deficiencies in nutrients such as protein, fatty acids and zinc can cause some hair shedding. Likewise, severely restricting your calorie intake might also increase the chances of shedding.

While science is still giving this a once-over, there is a chance that the ultraviolet rays produced by the sun can lead to hair shedding during the telogen phase of growth. This is likely due to the fact that sunlight can cause some alterations in hair structure which can affect the growth cycle. While hair shedding can result from a stressful event that causes hair strands to fall out, hair loss is the direct result of a factor that prevents the hair from growing.

This may be caused by your genes, immune system, a tight hairstyle or harsh hair care products. For more on this, read our guide about anagen effluvium which is hair loss that occurs during the hair growth phase. This is because hair shedding is usually self-correcting after a period of six to nine months. However, there are times when hair shedding can be long lasting, especially when whatever caused the stressful event that led to the loss of hair remains with you.

Hair loss occurs when something stops the hair from growing. The medical term for this condition is anagen effluvium. The most common causes of hair loss include:. If you have hair loss, your hair will not grow until the cause stops. For example, people who undergo chemotherapy or radiation treatments often lose a lot of hair.

When the treatment stops, their hair tends to regrow. If you suspect that a treatment or drug is causing your hair loss, talk with your doctor. Serious side effects can occur if you immediately stop a treatment or drug. Other causes of hair loss may require treatment. Many people who have hereditary hair loss continue to lose hair without treatment.

A woman who inherits the genes for hereditary hair loss may notice gradual thinning. Men who have hereditary hair loss tend to develop a receding hairline or bald patch that begins in the center of the scalp. Treatment helps many people who have hair loss, but not everyone.

A dermatologist can tell you what to expect. You can turn to a dermatologist for help. These doctors specialize in diagnosing and treating the skin, hair, and nails.

A dermatologist can tell you whether you have hair loss or excessive hair shedding. Some people have both. A dermatologist also can find the cause or causes and tell you what you can expect.