How much hair is normal to lose in the shower? strands keep falling out?

[stephy190]

Loads of strands keep falling out in the shower .. And even out of the shower they keep falling.. How many is normal to lose in the shower ?

[Arien]

It varies quite a lot. Different people, different seasons, different diet, health etc. I think it's more what is the norm for you as an individual :). I've noticed I am shedding a little more then usual at the moment. I put it down to the change in the seasons.

[Firefox7275]

Loads of strands keep falling out in the shower .. And even out of the shower they keep falling.. How many is normal to lose in the shower ?

Depends how often you wash your hair, how much hair you have in the first place .... either this is normal for you or it is not. If it is not normal for you for this time of year see your family doctor or a dermatologist.

[Coolcombination]

I wash every two days and lose 20-30 hairs every time

[FuzzyBlackWaves]

I'm pretty healthy in general and tend to lose what looks like a lot of hair in the shower; yet when my hair dries there doesn't seem to be any difference in volume. Wet hair tends to clump together and look like more.

[Becky9679]

Though it varies from person to person it's normal to lose somewhere around 80-100 hairs every day. You may seem to lose more in the shower because the process of washing 'loosens' hairs which are just about ready to shed.

It will also appear to be more if you wear your hair up a lot and stretch washes as doing these things will mean a lot of shed hairs will stay stuck in amongst the hairs which are still on your head and then it'll seem like you have a really big shed when you come to wash or brush it.

And of course as it gets longer it'll seem like you're losing even more, as the longer length of sheds will make bigger 'clumps' on your brush and in your shower.

It seems like everyone who joins up here gets a morbid fear of shedding for a while, I certainly went through it not long after I joined, but honestly unless your hair is coming out in massive chunks and it's noticeably thinner you probably don't have much to worry about. What you're experiencing is more than likely normal for you ;)

[jacqueline101]

I shed a lot during treatments rest of the time none.

[embee]

I always brush my hair well before my shower because I do not like clogged drains. I have a little screen thing that fits over the drain and usually I'll lose a couple of hairs that get caught in that. My brush, however, has lots of shed hairs in it! ;)

Some people shed more - just like some dogs or some cats. It must be an individual thing. DD sheds like crazy!

[minxe]

I wash my hair every three to four days, and I never lose more than twenty.

[Hiriel]

To try to ease your fears a bit, I'll just assure you that I shed LOADS of hairs in the shower. My hair is getting long now, so each hair looks like more as well. I wear my hair up, and only wash once a week, so when I do shower, I shed a hairball the size of a medium kitten... And that's completely normal for me, my hair isn't changing in thickness.

[hafattack]

It varies quite a lot. Different people, different seasons, different diet, health etc. I think it's more what is the norm for you as an individual :). I've noticed I am shedding a little more then usual at the moment. I put it down to the change in the seasons.

Same here. I have noticed that in eary autumn to about December I shed a lot more, but it is not at all visible so I am not too worried about it. I also second the comment that said as it gets longer it looks like more.. It is sometimes scary but I remember that one hair now is equivelant to about three of my hairs two years ago, so I am not too worried.

[melusine963]

I wash my hair once a week and I lose more hair in the shower than during the rest of the week combined. This is normal for me. I guess scrubbing my scalp loosens up all the hair that would have shed earlier if I washed it more frequently.

When I started stretching my washes I noticed I seemed to be shedding more and more in the shower. I got worried so I monitored the thickness of my ponytail, and I was reassured to see no change.

[sarahthegemini]

As other have said, it varies. How often do you wash? If you wash once a week, you're very likely to lose more in that wash then if you were to wash every day for example. And if you wear your hair up, your shed hair doesn't necessarily have the chance to free fall throughout the day, so again, this will all come out at once when you wash.

[jrmviola]

I wouldnt worry unless you get any visual clues like balding spots or thinning patches on one side, etc. Until then dont worry, it could be any number of natural things. Including but not limited to: weather changes, the cycle of your hair, an unknown allergy to an ingredient, psoriosis (but you'd know it if it was that one), loss of artificial protective coating around hair due to a specific product, etc. Measure circumfrence once a month or so and give it a little time. dont worry till you have a reason to worry...

[PolarCathy]

I can only say that more than one third, rather 40% of my hair has gone in the last 2 months. I've gone from over 4" to "meh", but that took 5-700 hairs a day, every.single.day. This just what I combed out; there was more on the floor, on my clothes etc. IDK how much more. I don't want to know. But to illustrate, I vacuum on a Monday and by Wednesday the apartment is full of hair.

I assume you're nowhere close to 700. I remember I started to worry when I hit 200 (my normal shed rate is 20-35).

[Saeth]

I agree with everything said here. If it seems unusually high for your personal rate look into products you're using first, or treatments. In hindsight the coconut oil in my shampoo caused me to shed. Same for anything besides water or diluted shampoo on my scalp. I'd shed an insane amount. Since going back to "normal" shampoo my shed rate is so much improved! If none of this helps, consider how stressed you are, hormone pills, other medications and make sure you're healthy :)

[Silverbrumby]

I can only say that more than one third, rather 40% of my hair has gone in the last 2 months. I've gone from over 4" to "meh", but that took 5-700 hairs a day, every.single.day. This just what I combed out; there was more on the floor, on my clothes etc. IDK how much more. I don't want to know. But to illustrate, I vacuum on a Monday and by Wednesday the apartment is full of hair.

I assume you're nowhere close to 700. I remember I started to worry when I hit 200 (my normal shed rate is 20-35).

My Goodness. I hope you're seen a Doctor. I had that with my thyroid
Condition. Back down to 150+ a day shed and 75 duRing showering.

[jeanniet]

Check the hairs themselves to see if there's a root (tiny bulb) on the ends, which would indicate shed hairs. Because your hair is damaged, you may be experiencing breakage as well as shedding, which may make it look as though you're shedding more than usual. People with significantly damaged hair may go through a period where their hair is quite thin from about shoulders down until they can get healthy growth again.

I shed a lot and always have. The higher your hair's density, the more likely you will shed quite a bit. I don't worry about it because it's my natural pattern. But an ongoing heavy shed that isn't within your normal range may be cause for concern.

[Panth]

Everyone has given you very sensible advice. I just wanted to add one thing: if you are concerned about hair loss, a much, much more effective way to monitor it is to measure ponytail circumference monthly. This is a lot less effort (and therefore easier to keep up) but it is also more accurate as it averages out the daily/weekly variation that occurs for all the reasons mentioned above.

Just: make a ponytail somewhere you can place it consistently, including all of your hair. Wrap a dressmakers tape around just above the band or, if you don't have one, wrap a piece of string around and then measure the string.

[rileykathleen]

This makes me feel so much better! Thank you all! I always feel like I'm losing gobs of hair, but I've never noticed an difference in thickness, so I guess it's just that it seemed like a lot.

[BlazingHeart]

If you haven't had hair this long in the past, it really is startling how much more hair you appear to be losing than you did when your hair was short. If I compact mine down, I shed a super-ball sized wad when I shower, and in addition to that the floor has to be swept weekly because my hair just goes everywhere. My long shed hairs tangle with the wavy/curly shed hairs from my service dog and we end up with these big black rafts of hair if we don't keep up - my long hairs keep them together and make it look a whole lot worse.

[stephy190]

I lose a lot but havent noticed a difference in the thickness of my braid or anything.. at least not yet. Im gonna go for blood tests and to the docs just to make sure its not anything underlying as I don't want to leave it incase it starts affecting my hair thickness!

[stephy190]

thanks everyone for all your answers :D x

[juliemarieeg]

I too feel like I am losing more strands of hair than I ever have before in the past. Even my hairdresser has taken note of it, but there is nothing visible like patches missing or bald spots. I recently cut my hair to shoulder length on the sides, slightly longer in the back and am trying to grow it out (prior to this, I had had a horrible, terrible, nightmare of a haircut!!) I've cut down to using shampoo from almost every other day to twice a week and now once every week. I use coconut oil and/or castor oil on my hair the night before I wash my hair, and I've been trying to eat more protein and biotin-rich foods as well as an overall healthy diet. Maybe it's nothing but to me, it seems very noticeable the number of strands I am losing despite trying to keep my hair healthier in the growing out process.

[Anje]

It seems like I shed more in the shower if I push how long I go between washes by an extra day or two. Apparently, right now my scalp wants to be clean (which wasn't the case several years ago, when I barely shed at all while doing a water-only routine). Obviously, how much you shed is going to depend partly on how many hairs you have, but for my fine-ish hair that's about 3 inches in circumference, I think I'm shedding maybe 20-30 hairs in the shower every 2-3 days. It varies pretty wildly, though, and since the longest bits are down to my fingertips, even a few shed hairs make a decent ball and stop the tub from draining well. I shed a few more (10-20?) when I'm getting the hairs all aligned after I get out, too.

It's important to remember that as your hair gets longer, shedding the same number of hairs results in a bigger and bigger hairball. Consider numbers more than the size of that shed hair wad.