Does anyone else grow an undercoat in the fall?

[CurlyCap]

In the fall, just when the weather starts to cool, I grow an entire layer of fine, dense hair, very similar to a dog's winter undercoat. I get it from my dad, whose hair will literally double in thickness (due to a sprouting of fine hair) at the first cold snap. He doesn't care because, as a guy, he just goes and gets his head buzzed. It used to not bother me, because I tended to get new layers cut in the fall and it made things more breathable.

Now, trying to gain length and not cut layers in, it's DRIVING ME CRAZY.

For one, I already have thick hair with a ponytail diameter between 3.5"-4" when my hair is wet...and then that curls and makes a giant cloud of hair. Now I have another crop of ~2" fine hairs that feel like a down blanket on my head. Worse yet, the fine hairs are curling into their own tiny sub'fro underneath the rest of my curls. I want to comb them into the longer lengths and promote more clumping, but that breaks up the long curls too much. So I've just settled for some very determined fingercombing from the scalp out.

I don't know what to do. I know I'll shed a lot of these fine hairs in the spring, but until then it's maddening.

Just wanted to know if anyone else has something like this, especially if you are a curly, and how you deal with it.

[Hollyfire3]

I do get something like this, but it just keeps growing and doesn't really shed out....lol. And, btw, just came by to say, I always knew you had thicker hair then ii, ;)

[CurlyCap]

And, btw, just came by to say, I always knew you had thicker hair then ii, ;)

I've always been told it was thin! And the way it deflates when it's wet, it feels thin. That's why I can't stand my hair flat ironed. I wish I could show you some of my cousin's ponytails. They are literally thicker than your forearm...and their hair is straight. Ahhhh, the joys of perspective. :D

I only remeasured a few weeks ago after I posted the "My head is hot!" thread. I think I got used to my hair layered and just forgot what it was like full strength. I was shocked that the measurement came back 4". I tried tugging hard and got smaller measurements....but still. If I'm a two, than it's barely.

If your fall growth doesn't shed, does that mean your hair gets thicker every year? Or do you shed later in the year to even it all out? My hair doesn't shed much (5-10 hairs a day), so I'm not used to accounting for hair fall.

ETA: Waaaaaaaiiiit. ^^^ Even in the spring when it gets warmer my hair doesn't shed more. And when it does shed, it's mostly the fine hairs. Sigh. I think I just figured something out...

[spirals]

I did notice baby hairs around my temple, but I don't remember ever really getting those. My hair was in pretty good shape before I found LHC, but now it's even better and I think it's reacting like "I can grow now!"

[Rufflebutt]

I don't. But I would love to. XD

[TeaEarlGreyHot]

Last summer I had a MASSIVE shed. Then all fall/winter I had no less than a million-bazillion super fine hairs grow in. I had that halo of floaty hairs all over my head and they were super wavy. I'm interested to see what happens this year since for a whole year I've been super nice to my hair.

[skaempfer]

I do get massive sheds this time of year.
Makes sense, I guess. A shorter, fluffy layer is going to do a lot more towards insulating. I know what you mean about the replacement hairs. Mine are mostly gray so I call it my graylo :D

[akilina]

I wish that I grew more hair on my head in the fall/winter!! I actually seem to SHED very badly around this time ;(
This is a new year though...the last 3 years around this time I was in Nevada in really cold winters and very nasty hard water. I am very curious to see what it will be like now that I am back in CA, with very nice moisture in the air..and no crazy harsh winter. My water here is amazing too and I am not nearly as stressed.

[MORE]

I get this too!

Mine also just keeps growing. This is a pretty new thing too me as I used to bleach and kill my hair (:brainbleach:), but since I've been bleach- and heat free this has happened both last year and now.

First it feels like stubble (if that makes sense, looked a bit more weird written than in my head lol), then it feels like goose-down:smile:

[longhairedleah]

interesting... I've never noticed, but maybe I do?? Generally I am bad at noticing things like this until someone points it out

(like my acne problem in high school that I didn't realize I had til my doctor mentioned it...)

[Hollyfire3]

I've always been told it was thin! And the way it deflates when it's wet, it feels thin. That's why I can't stand my hair flat ironed. I wish I could show you some of my cousin's ponytails. They are literally thicker than your forearm...and their hair is straight. Ahhhh, the joys of perspective. :D

I only remeasured a few weeks ago after I posted the "My head is hot!" thread. I think I got used to my hair layered and just forgot what it was like full strength. I was shocked that the measurement came back 4". I tried tugging hard and got smaller measurements....but still. If I'm a two, than it's barely.

If your fall growth doesn't shed, does that mean your hair gets thicker every year? Or do you shed later in the year to even it all out? My hair doesn't shed much (5-10 hairs a day), so I'm not used to accounting for hair fall.

ETA: Waaaaaaaiiiit. ^^^ Even in the spring when it gets warmer my hair doesn't shed more. And when it does shed, it's mostly the fine hairs. Sigh. I think I just figured something out...

Oh no, lol I mistyped...I have an undercoat just in my hair, its mostly due to old damage growing out (my hair has went from 3.5-4-nearly 5 inches because of new growth, its insane....) so yes, as of now, my hair is just growing in thicker this year then last year, I know it'll stop getting thicker at soem point but...yeah. My hair just always has a bit f finer textured fuzz in the winter, but I never really notice it shedding off....intresting.

Your hair isn't thin! I don't know who told you that but...yeah its not. Also, my hair just gets heavy and straight when wet, so no deflating here, but my really curly (like your hair) friends have hair that feels like it deflates when wet, but, I've measured one of their's hair when wet (bad, I know, but it was only once!) and it was the same thickness. I think that us curlies just get used to "big" hair that when it gets wet and straight, we think its thin, even though its the same thickness lol! And yes, layers will steal thickness from hair like no one's buisness, I;m glad you realized your hair is much thicker without them, that is your true measurment, not the layered measurement.

[cooklaezo13]

I have the opposite. I shed a lot in the fall. I go through a shed in the fall (starting now, sigh) and another one in the spring. The rest of the year, I hardly shed at all. I think it does have something to do with the seasons changing.

[hermosamendoza]

I wish that I grew more hair on my head in the fall/winter!! I actually seem to SHED very badly around this time ;(
This is a new year though...the last 3 years around this time I was in Nevada in really cold winters and very nasty hard water. I am very curious to see what it will be like now that I am back in CA, with very nice moisture in the air..and no crazy harsh winter. My water here is amazing too and I am not nearly as stressed.

I shed hair in the winter and grow slower because there is less moisture and sweat on my scalp. And strangely enough I was in Las Vegas 3 years ago during the winter and I notice my hair was nicer because it wasn't so stinking hot. Literally the sun burns your hair if you aren't careful!

Strangley enough my latino hubby gets thicker hair in teh summer as if his body wants to protect him from the sun and in the winter his hair gets thinner and his eyes get visibly shades lighter

[CurlyCap]

Strangley enough my latino hubby gets thicker hair in teh summer as if his body wants to protect him from the sun and in the winter his hair gets thinner and his eyes get visibly shades lighter

My dad always tells me I have it easier. His response to temperature changes is really obvious. His hair seems to double in thickness. It's bizarre because he's actually going bald but in the winter you can see his scalp start to disappear as it gets covered with hair again. He also sheds his skin in the fall. It's really weird, but I've seen it all my life.

I just get the undercoat with cooler temperatures and my skin gets a little dry in the fall. I tried one year to see if I could get my skin to shed too, but it freaked me out so bad that I went all girly on it and moisturized like there wasn't a tomorrow. :D I didn't care if it fell off. I just didn't want it to fall off in sheets!