Enormous stress shed, huge drain block.

[JenniferNoel]

Well, the stress is inevitable during this time and I'm doing my absolute best to minimize what I can, but my hair is not sitting well with everything.
Every time I touch my hair about three strands fall out, in the shower a couple days ago, there was a colossal and gross drain clog of hair, lots of it. And it was covered in this strange (TMI warning) pink vomit-like substance which I believe may have been scalp skin? I'd have taken a picture but it was just too gross to handle.
The stress shed concerns me not in the least, but this gross substance in my hair, and not to mention the size of the hairball, is completely foreign to me.
What is it? Why is it? It is just another stress-related scalp problem? I've changed nothing. Nothing in my diet, lifestyle, haircare routine, nothing. Zilch.
There's also this odd little spot on my scalp that when touched very lightly, it feels like a little electric shock.
What could this be?

[jasper]

I don't think the pink stuff came from you. Pink is not an unusual color for a tub-drain-related bacteria-biofilm substance. I don't think you should add to your stress level worrying about it.

[princessp]

When I was writing my thesis I had a huge amount of hair loss. Clumps. I'm not going to lie, it stressed me out. But I told myself that I was under a lot of stress with my academic obligations and that I would worry about this hair loss after my degree. Naturally, things got much better after graduation and the mindset of not adding to my worries by piling on hair loss concerns really helped me get through those years.

It sounds like you are going through something stressful. It is very typical to lose hair during those times. If you can see an end to the stress maybe telling yourself the same thing might help? I have a good friend who lost so much hair due to stress that she had small bald spots. She grew her hair back fine after she focussed on de-stressing. So my advice is to focus on de-stressing (exercise, petting animals, taking deep breaths etc.) and know this is only temporary and most likely 100% caused by stress.

[JenniferNoel]

Thanks girls for the relatively fast replies - I know it's 100% stress for sure, however the shower was just built which was the factor that contributed to the concern. Perhaps is is some kind of bacteria, it had spots of blood red in it though.
And as far as the spot on my scalp goes, could it be a bad reaction to something? There is sulfur in the water here, and maybe something else...

[HairColoredHair]

If you think it's the water, perhaps try rinsing with distilled water for a bit and see if that helps? Clumps of stuff that come out of the drain always have odd colors to them, stuff that comes of the drain and strainer and pipes...

[Honey39]

The stuff on the hair will be all the shower gel, conditioner, soap, shampoo etc that gets washed down the drain - that always happens to me too, I get big balls of hair that are coated with 'stuff' as well. Don't worry about that.

It could just be a massive summer shed - I've had PLENTY of those, and my hair always recovers without anyone else noticing.

[Merkaba]

You may have ringworm. I got it once and started losing like HANDFULS of hair all the time. I had to find a round ring on the back of my head- once I found that it was treatable. Ringworm- YUCK

[JenniferNoel]

Hmm, my conditioner/poo isn't pink colored but it is a possibility that the pink stuff could be just that and/or the water.
I'll try rinsing with distilled water and wee what happens.
The hair loss isn't quite handfulls so much as 3 or four per touching it, and nobody I asked (whom dared inspect) and not even me could see anything on my scalp that looked red or irritated, but the sharp little shock in the one area still has no explanation. I'll inspect it myself again. Could be a bug bite.

[spidermom]

Pink is a common color to find in areas that get wet a lot. I'm not sure if it's bacterial or what, but I see it around my shower area, too.