Constant hairloss

[Konstifik]

Hello! My first post on this forum, I think. :)

It's like this; I got constant hairloss. I just need to drag my fingers through the hair once and it feels like I got half of my hair in the hand afterwards. It has been like this for years, and my hair never gets longer. It is also very thin.

I take good care of it. Wash 2 - 4 times a week with sensitive schampoos without chemicals, about once a week a treatment with nutritions, and I comb/brush it carefully. I dye it with henna, which thickens my hair some - love it!
I think I eat right, I got normal blood - no defiency or anything (checked just a week ago), I take long walks almost daily... But still I lose hair like crazy.

Any ideas what might be wrong, and/or how to treat it? Thanks. :)

[Katze]

it could be hormonal, stress-related, or illness-related. Do you have low thyroid? Did you just have a baby? Are you otherwise stressed? Do you notice more, or less shedding, at different times or in different situations? Have you had blood tests for anemia and other deficiencies?

I used to shed a lot and when I started getting acupuncture and changed my diet (away from sugar and refined flours) as well as changed my lifestyle, it helped a LOT.

Currently my BF's hair is a lot like you describe - every time I finger comb it, handfuls of hair fall out. His hair is fine but thick and grows like a weed, so he's not worried, but I'd still like to find out what causes it.

One final thing that's helped me nutrition-wise is fish oil. It's good for hair, skin, and moods, and is particularly nice for those of us living in a place that gets very dark in the winter.

hth, and welcome here!

Katze

[Konstifik]

Thank you for your answer! =)

No I got no defiences of any kind, and I eat extra vitamins/minerals/nutrition just for the hair (including fishoil), no pregnancy, and I don't consider myself stressed. Apart from the hairloss and thinness, my hair is in a very good quality. And as I said, this problem has been going on for years, and it's starting to drive me crazy. =/

[Shanarana]

You didn't put down a gender, so not knowing if your female, or male makes it harder to help.

[girlcat36]

Scalp fungus?

[Konstifik]

Strange, I just did add gender... well, I'm female. :)

[Konstifik]

Scalp fungus or other problem with the scalp is very probable. I am however not knowledgeable in this subject. :( I do have itchy scalp quite often, and sometimes even these pesky flakes. I try to use as sensitive hairproducts as possible. Never spray or anything like that, but the troublesome scalp remains.

[Shanarana]

Perhaps seeing a dermatologist to find out if you have any skin problems. It appears that you are doing everything right so it has to be something else.

[aisling]

And as I said, this problem has been going on for years, and it's starting to drive me crazy. =/

If this actually has been going on for years, is your hair actually thinning? If you have excess hairloss, your hair should appear thinner by now. I don't see you mentioning anything like that. If not, I'd guess it's our normal daily shed you see, we all lose some hairs, up to 100 is completely normal, every day. The longer your hair gets, the more visible those shed hairs are and it can feel like a lot.

[Konstifik]

If this actually has been going on for years, is your hair actually thinning? If you have excess hairloss, your hair should appear thinner by now. I don't see you mentioning anything like that. If not, I'd guess it's our normal daily shed you see, we all lose some hairs, up to 100 is completely normal, every day. The longer your hair gets, the more visible those shed hairs are and it can feel like a lot.

It has been notable thinner recently. And I'm definatley sure I lose way more than 100 a day. And the thing is that my hair doesn't get longer. I dyed my hair a month ago and no growth has been visible yet, which is normal for me, it usually takes about two months for my original haircolour to show just a little if you look carefully. And as far as I've noted on other people I know who dye their hair, this is slow. :doh:

[Konstifik]

Perhaps seeing a dermatologist to find out if you have any skin problems. It appears that you are doing everything right so it has to be something else.

Thanks, I might try that. :)

[ChloeDharma]

If your scalp itches and flakes then that could be the cause of your shedding. I would also recommend seeing a dermatologist to be sure, but good things for scalp fungus are coconut or jojoba oil, or neem, and essential oils like lavender and tea tree. I'd oil my scalp each night before i wash with some combination of those, and do a diluted vinegar rinse with essential oils like the ones i mentioned plus rosemary essential oil which is said to stimulate growth but also is great for scalp problems.
Daily massage of the scalp also helps with my shedding when done consistantly. I also found switching to herb washing dramatically reduced my shedding....there's lots of information on that on the recipes and natural products board.

[sapphire-o]

I've been fighting this, too. I know it must be health related as the excessive shedding didn't start until a few months ago. I got very sick, then my shedding increased to 3 times the normal amount, and I haven't been able to get it down yet. :( My blood works are all normal, too, but I know I haven't got my health back yet. I can feel it that I have some hormone imbalance, probably not bad enough to fall into "abnormal" range, but bad enough to make me feel crappy. If I get this figured out I'll post back.

[frizzinator]

I agree with ChloeDharma's daily massage suggestion, although a few people have said massage makes more hair fall out. A number of us also think the brush pulls out too many hairs, although it would be difficult to give up the brush when scalp flakes are present.


Another solution is not combing wet or damp hair after washing. It's really difficult to train yourself to wait until your hair is completely dry before fingercombing; it's a good solution for some folks but other folks say they cannot remove the tangles if they wait until their hair is dry.

[Konstifik]

I agree with ChloeDharma's daily massage suggestion, although a few people have said massage makes more hair fall out. A number of us also think the brush pulls out too many hairs, although it would be difficult to give up the brush when scalp flakes are present.


Another solution is not combing wet or damp hair after washing. It's really difficult to train yourself to wait until your hair is completely dry before fingercombing; it's a good solution for some folks but other folks say they cannot remove the tangles if they wait until their hair is dry.

I have managed to gain the discipline of waiting until the hair is dry until brushing/combing, sometimes I wait 24+ hours, just to gain some sebum first to prevent too much damage. It's not really a problem for me since my hair rarely get any bigger tangles.

I might give massage a try. :)

[Konstifik]

I've been fighting this, too. I know it must be health related as the excessive shedding didn't start until a few months ago. I got very sick, then my shedding increased to 3 times the normal amount, and I haven't been able to get it down yet. :( My blood works are all normal, too, but I know I haven't got my health back yet. I can feel it that I have some hormone imbalance, probably not bad enough to fall into "abnormal" range, but bad enough to make me feel crappy. If I get this figured out I'll post back.

Yay, I'm not alone. =)
Will post back here too if I find a good solution.

[sahiba]

Oh I can understand your problem very well. Try using wide toothed comb only for hair, with oil massages twice a week. How are your diet and sleep ... 8-10 hrs. of good sleep and a high protine diet should help you.Lets see the progress in a couple of days. Best of luck:)

[TambourineDream]

I'm going through the exact same thing at the moment, I know how frustrating and upsetting it can be to see handfuls of hair come out from just barely touching it! I wish I could give you more helpful advice but I'm still shedding at scary proportions and nothing I do seems to make much difference :/

However, I know that my thinning hair is health-related whereas it does sound like you're doing everything right!! I recently lost a lot of weight very quickly and my diet was pretty appalling, so my hair loss is probably a result of this. Have you lost weight recently or started a diet? Hair can take as long as 3 months to respond to a nutrient deficit (or so I've heard), so think back a few months maybe..

I'll be keeping an eye on this thread if you don't mind, there's lots of good advice I think I may try as well! Good luck, I really hope you get this figured out soon!

[Konstifik]

I'm going through the exact same thing at the moment, I know how frustrating and upsetting it can be to see handfuls of hair come out from just barely touching it! I wish I could give you more helpful advice but I'm still shedding at scary proportions and nothing I do seems to make much difference :/

However, I know that my thinning hair is health-related whereas it does sound like you're doing everything right!! I recently lost a lot of weight very quickly and my diet was pretty appalling, so my hair loss is probably a result of this. Have you lost weight recently or started a diet? Hair can take as long as 3 months to respond to a nutrient deficit (or so I've heard), so think back a few months maybe..

I'll be keeping an eye on this thread if you don't mind, there's lots of good advice I think I may try as well! Good luck, I really hope you get this figured out soon!

I sort of wish that the problem was my diet since then I would know what it was, but I'm almost convinced that it isn't. Back when I lived home with my family, I ate everything my body needed since my mother was very aware of what the body needed and hence cooked us that food. I still had the hairproblem back then.
No major weightchanges has occured either, so it puzzles me what the problem is.
Especially since the hair is in very good condition.

Maybe it is as some here says, skinproblem on the scalp.

Will keep the progress of my hair updated here, if I find anything that helps maybe it will work for some of you who got the same problem too.

[Konstifik]

Oh I can understand your problem very well. Try using wide toothed comb only for hair, with oil massages twice a week. How are your diet and sleep ... 8-10 hrs. of good sleep and a high protine diet should help you.Lets see the progress in a couple of days. Best of luck:)

I mainly fingercomb my hair, and get good hours of sleep and food. I will try to massage it though. Even if it eventually will not help, it sounds nice ;)

[Anje]

When you look at the ends of the hairs that come out, do most of them have little bulbs/roots on the end? Because your hair isn't growing any longer, I want to rule out breakage.

Do any of your hair products contain sodium laurel sulfate or ammonium laurel sulfate? Some people are quite sensitive to these chemicals, while others are not, and it's another culprit to consider if you're losing hair.

Do you use any conditioner, and do you apply it to your scalp? Some people find they lose more hair if they get conditioner on their scalp, and so only condition the hair below their ears.

[Konstifik]

When you look at the ends of the hairs that come out, do most of them have little bulbs/roots on the end? Because your hair isn't growing any longer, I want to rule out breakage.

Do any of your hair products contain sodium laurel sulfate or ammonium laurel sulfate? Some people are quite sensitive to these chemicals, while others are not, and it's another culprit to consider if you're losing hair.

Do you use any conditioner, and do you apply it to your scalp? Some people find they lose more hair if they get conditioner on their scalp, and so only condition the hair below their ears.

Yes, the roots are there, so it's not breakage.
And I don't use any conditioner. I've tried with several different ones before, but no apparent change in hair.

This is the ingredientslist of the schampoo I currently use:

Aqua, hectorite, aloe barbadensis gel, cocoamidopropyl betaine, coco-glucoside, sodium coco-sulfate, glycerin, lawsonia inermis extract (henna), citric acid, amyris balsamifera oil.

[pdy2kn6]

hey, i have been constantly worried about losing my hair for years, especially when i wash my hair, sooo much comes out, and everyone of my friends who i speak to proclaim to me that they do not have that problem which makes me very paranoid, especially when my dad lost his hair at a young age, but i think it is honestly just natural. I seem to find that my hair particularly comes out after i have massaged it. do you find this? i suggest try counting how many hairs come out perday, i tried once and it was about 100, i would probly just suggest keep being healthy, and keep cheking key spots of your head to make sure its not gettin more thin in certain places. if you see any areas getting thinned i just suggest going to the doctors and asking him recomendations. best of luck.dont worry about it cos that may make u stressed out and then that could be a very big problem for your hair

[danacc]

What you are describing is not normal. I second (third?) the recommendation to have a dermatologist take a look at your scalp.

[Konstifik]

I've been looking for a dermatologist. Unfortunatley, I've only found 3(!) clinics in the entire country I live in, and none of them is even remotely close to me. =/
Oh well, I'll try oiling my hair. Found some jojobaoil I will test.

[Phalaenopsis]

Try adding some ylang-ylang EO to your shampoo. It helps to keep your scalp healthy and it reduces hairloss.
It also smells great :D

[susiemw]

how is your thyroid level?
Have you been checked for anemia?
it sounds like it's time for a work up.

Susan

[Kirin]

Here are some things that could be happening:

Not enough protein in diet. Hair needs protein in sufficient amounts to grow.. we aren't talking a protein pack for the hair. Eating meats, or nuts may help somewhat with the shed. Even if you are eatin "some" meat, if your diet is primarily grains, fruits and vegetables you may have a weak protein source. If you do not like meat, there are plenty of protein alternatives at health food stores to help make up the difference.

Gelatine. Trying gelatine in your diet may work wonders as well. Gelatine (even flavored yummy gelatine desserts) have been proven time and time again for strong nail and hair
growth.

You may be sensitive to chemicals in commercial shampoos. This is the one I think is the problem, mainly because you have said you have always had this problem. Instead of using your shampoo, get a conditioner and try conditioner only washing for a week and see it it improves.