Calling all hair detectives: Why am I shedding?

[Coolcombination]

I joined here in November last year at apl, I'm now at bsl which is longer than ever before for me. Lately I've noticed that when I wake up in the morning my pillow is full of hair, they look full length but they have no follicle thingy at the top soo I don't know whether they are breakage or not.
In the bath I massage my hair before I get in which brings out my shed hairs, but doesn't break any because I'm careful when I do it (I think). I then scritch with my bbb which only pulls out one or two hairs.
Then I get in the bath and dunk my head under which releases loads of hair! By the end of a bath,(doing everything gently) I'm left with around 30 hairs! :rolleyes:
I'm braiding at every opportunity to try and protect it but even braiding coats my hands in hair :( I don't have many tangles anyway just lots of sheds.
I'm taking biotin (only since this week), multivitamins and hair skin nails vits too. I'm minimising brushing and I may start wearing my hair up when I go out too, whereas now it's down every time I leave the house. I frequently change the position of bobbles to avoid breakage there. In the past I used heat daily but have been heat free since November.:rolleyes:
I also just went through my A level exams, that's the only cause I can think of. I'm not losing length, more like thickness. I don't know whether I'm shedding more or just noticing it more, I seem to remember growing my hair to a little less than where I am now and noticing extra sheds too, but apart from shedding and growing out semi-permanent dye its completely healthy.
Help me out guys :confused:

[Bagginslover]

I have read somepeople say that hair is affected 3 months after an event. Can you think of anything 3 months before your shed began that could be a trigger?

[CJCHair-stylist]

Its perfectly normal to lose a bit more hair during stress, but more commonly during changes in weather. I cannot tell you how many clients come in just as we go into winter or summer complaining that their hair is falling out. I then ask them if their hair is blocking the drain that the water can`t pass through? If their hair is coming out in hands full? Finally I ask them if they are losing more than 100 hairs when they wash their hair. The answer is always no. We naturally lose between 50-100 hairs a day, its just so much more noticeable on long hair. Luckily we have 90 000 plus hairs where those came from -lol. Hope this helps - :-)

[jacqueline101]

Could you changed products or they've changed ingredients.

[renia22]

Providing that you don't have any underlying medical issues, my first thought would be to stop all vitamins/ supplements for a month or two (unless you know for sure you are deficient in something) and see if your condition improves. When people think of vitamins & hair loss I know the common conclusion is that one must be deficient in something, but a lot of supplements (including hair vitamins) really pack in the punch with certain fat soluble vitamins and minerals, and an excessive amount of certain ones (zinc, selenium, vitamin A off the top of my head) can cause hair loss.

[chen bao jun]

Its perfectly normal to lose a bit more hair during stress, but more commonly during changes in weather. I cannot tell you how many clients come in just as we go into winter or summer complaining that their hair is falling out. I then ask them if their hair is blocking the drain that the water can`t pass through? If their hair is coming out in hands full? Finally I ask them if they are losing more than 100 hairs when they wash their hair. The answer is always no. We naturally lose between 50-100 hairs a day, its just so much more noticeable on long hair. Luckily we have 90 000 plus hairs where those came from -lol. Hope this helps - :-)
Yeah, I'm thinking 30 hairs sounds like nothing much. You should be in this house--with all the drains blocked (I started using those wire catcher things) and hair all over the place all the time. And my hair is short! And I'm FAR from bald, though this goes on all the time. Do you have very thick hair? I think sometimes that those of us with very thick hair shed more than other people because we have more to shed--yet still have hair. Also, do you detangle every day? If you lose 50 hairs a day and don't detangle for four days, that would be 200 at a time, and still be quite normal.
You could also switch to a satin or silk pillowcase and braid and wrap your hair up everynight.

[Kiwiwi]

Maybe it's just your natural shed time. I believe we all have them. Some in fall, some in winter, some in spring, some in summer.
You're just really getting to know your hair so maybe it's normal for you.

I joined here in august 2011, that's when I first started to take real care of my hair. I started shedding in I believe early summer 2012 and shedded for months. I was SO afraid I would lose all my thickness. But guess what, my taking better care of my hair actually thickened my hair which led me to believe that big shed is normal for me. I'll know for sure this early summer if it happens again.
I measured in januari 2012 and had 9cm thickness. Then I didn't measure for moooooonths. Had the shed, still didn't measure (guess I was afraid, haha). And then I measured again in I think November 2012 and I had 10cm :)

So, that -could- be it.
Are you actually losing cm's? Did you measure?