Advice on my routine and recent uptick in shedding...

[velorutionista]

Help me figure this out, please?


A little over a month ago I changed up my routine (which had been a standard S/C with TJ's tea tree shampoo and Avalon Organics Rosemary conditioner for the previous year or so) to CWC (with AO Rosemary on my length + TJs tea tree shampoo, then Nature's Gate Awapuhi conditioner for the final step). I changed it up hoping my hair would be in better condition (i.e. fewer splits, more shine, less breakage/faster growth).


I had been washing my hair every other day, and am now alternating between 2 and 3 days between washes (trying to stretch to 3, but I don't always make it that far.)


I've noticed that since changing up my routine in these two ways, my hair is a LOT softer and shinier, especially at the length/ends. It also seems to be in overall great condition (have taken out maybe a dozen split ends total, and my last trim was in July; normally by this long after a trim I'd be spotting splits constantly and scheduling another chop to get rid of them).


The only thing that's really weird and kind of annoying me is that I seem to be shedding a lot more when I wash my hair. Like probably double what it was before. My hair is semi-fine, but doesn't really look thinner for all the shedding, but it's kind of freaking me out a little. And I don't seem to shed more than before except for washing (i.e. brushing and normal shedding through the day don't seem to produce any more sheds than I was used to before changing things up).


I'm wondering if anyone has input on whether CWC might be the culprit? What tweaks would you recommend trying to combat the shedding? I'm just not sure where to start making changes: should I try different products (I stuck with what I'd been using b/c I like the products and they seem to work, but...) or maybe the method--should I go back to s/c for a while and see if that makes a difference?

I do use henna (last application was early September), but I've been doing that for years with no ill effects, and I used the exact same henna/procedure I've done before, and didn't notice anything different.

So yeah, any ideas, suggestions, thoughts, etc. would be appreciated!! Where would you start?

[Leeloo]

I think there are two reasons for more shed: CWC and stretching washes. I’ve read here that CO and CWC tend to make some people shed more. And for stretching washes, when you wash your hair you pull strands out that are ready to shed, so when you stretch your washes you skip your normal shed and shed more later when washing. Hope that made sense :)

[nobeltonya]

And increased shedding is not necessarily a bad thing also, unless it's thinning as well. It makes room for new, healthy growth. As long as it's not breakage. :disco:

[Panth]

Very, very simple: it's the stretching washes (provided the extra shedding is only happening when you wash).

Think about it - if you washed daily, then you'd lose X amount of hairs per day that had already been shed but had been trapped in the length and were able to get free once you added the slip of conditioner and/or the pressure of the water. If you wash every two days, then there's been two days worth of that shedding, resulting in twice as much hair lost in the shower.

[vindo]

Stretching washes like others said + with a milder shampoo you sometimes don't wash the shed hair out as thoroughly and with hair that is a bit less squeaky clean shed hairs get stuck until the next wash easier.
I always comb/ wash out more hair when oiling.

[velorutionista]

Ah, thank you guys! I was getting a bit freaked out, but that makes sense that the sheds would just keep accumulating! I'm feeling much better now!!

[biogirl87]

velorutionista, I wouldn't blame the shedding on stretching washes. I realize that this may have been the experience/knowledge of Leebo, Panth, and Emichee, but from my experience I would disagree with them about stretching washes leading to more hairs coming out in the shower. I know I have about 1.5 times more hairs coming out in the shower if I wash every three days than if I wash once a week (64 hairs coming out in the shower when I wash my hair every three days and 84 hairs coming out in the shower when I wash my hair once a week and I use sulfate-free shampoo and cone-free conditioner as my routine). Of course, you have to do what's best for your hair but I think you should go back to washing your hair every other day if that's what you were before when you did not have increased shedding. At this point I would that CWC routine is more likely to be the reason why you have more hairs coming in the shower (I know that for my hair, the more conditioner I put in it, the more hairs will come out when I am rinsing the conditioner out, it's likely my hair is wavy but wants to behave and to be treated as if it is straight).

[TiaKitty]

Do you know if you shed seasonally? I would suppose that if you had increased growth in summer it would cause some hairs to "turn over" so to say, in the fall, and maybe induce a little more shedding?

[sarahthegemini]

As others have said, your trapped hairs that would normally be washed out daily, are simply accumulating over the course of the 2-3 days that you don't wash. Unless you see thinning, I wouldn't think you need to worry. Are you wearing your hair up more too by any chance?

[rosiedeam]

I am experiencing a similar problem. I recently switched to CWC method. I've been only washing twice a week for some time so I don't think that time between washes is at fault. But I feel like I am shedding A TON. every time I comb shed at least 40-60 hairs or so (I comb out twice a day) and on wash day, probably trop another 100 or so. Its really freaking me out. I am thinking of stopping CWC, but is there anything else I can do?

[velorutionista]

TiaKitty, I hadn't thought of seasonal shed--I have never really noticed before if I do or not, but that's something to keep in mind! It does sound like a lot of folks have an autumn shed (well there's a thread on it, anyhow, so I don't feel so alone!), and I do tend to have a lot of growth in the winter, so that could be part of it, for sure--hard to say.

biogirl87, does the type of conditioner seem to make any difference for you, or is just the routine itself? I'm wondering if I changed up the products a bit if that might make a difference (both conditioners I use now are pretty thick, maybe a thinner one for the second round where it gets nearer my scalp would be a good thing to try...)

I think I'm going to do some 2-week experiments and see if I can get my shedding to calm down a bit...definitely going back to washing every other day, as that will solve the "maybe the sheds are building up between longer wash days" theory, and stretching washes isn't a must-have for me right now. Once I have fewer variables, I feel like I can start playing around with products and see if those are making any differences for me.

It's awful, because I really like the results of CWC, so I really want it to work, but I also want to keep all the hairs on my head!! Ah, the conundrum!!

[vindo]

velorutionista, I wouldn't blame the shedding on stretching washes. I realize that this may have been the experience/knowledge of Leebo, Panth, and Emichee, but from my experience I would disagree with them about stretching washes leading to more hairs coming out in the shower. I know I have about 1.5 times more hairs coming out in the shower if I wash every three days than if I wash once a week (64 hairs coming out in the shower when I wash my hair every three days and 84 hairs coming out in the shower when I wash my hair once a week.

But that is still an increase...:confused: it can vary for everyone.

[spidermom]

The CWC method isn't that great for hair. I don't understand the science of it, but I do understand that the ionic properties of shampoo and conditioner being on the hair at the same time causes you to form buildup between scales of the cuticle, which leads to damage. It's far better to use one, rinse it out, then use the other, rinse it out.

I doubt that's the cause of increased shedding, though. Washing less frequently can do it for reasons already stated, also wearing your hair up more means shed hairs that would normally just fall away are trapped in the hair until combing/brushing/washing. Plus it's natural to shed when the season changes.

[biogirl87]

TiaKitty, I hadn't thought of seasonal shed--I have never really noticed before if I do or not, but that's something to keep in mind! It does sound like a lot of folks have an autumn shed (well there's a thread on it, anyhow, so I don't feel so alone!), and I do tend to have a lot of growth in the winter, so that could be part of it, for sure--hard to say.

biogirl87, does the type of conditioner seem to make any difference for you, or is just the routine itself? I'm wondering if I changed up the products a bit if that might make a difference (both conditioners I use now are pretty thick, maybe a thinner one for the second round where it gets nearer my scalp would be a good thing to try...)

I think I'm going to do some 2-week experiments and see if I can get my shedding to calm down a bit...definitely going back to washing every other day, as that will solve the "maybe the sheds are building up between longer wash days" theory, and stretching washes isn't a must-have for me right now. Once I have fewer variables, I feel like I can start playing around with products and see if those are making any differences for me.

It's awful, because I really like the results of CWC, so I really want it to work, but I also want to keep all the hairs on my head!! Ah, the conundrum!!velorutionista, I think that for me it is the routine itself. The type of conditioner doesn't seem a difference for me, but I do have more hairs coming out when I rinse out the conditioner than when I rinse out the shampoo (so much so that there have been times I considered using only shampoo on my hair and not using conditioner in the shower). I think there were times when the preseravatives in Suave shampoos and conditioners have caused more hairs to come out in the shower, but that might have been seasonal.

Also, when you're doing experiments I wouldn't do them for two weeks at a time. You may want to count how many hairs you have coming out in the shower when you change to a new routine and if it is more than when you were on your previous/former routine, I would stop the new routine. This is the reason that my CO experiment lasted only one wash: I noticed I had more hairs coming out in shower when I washed my hair with conditioner and didn't want to risk having more hairs come out in the shower if I continued CO routine to see if I would start having less hairs come out in the shower over time so I stopped CO. I don't think I will go back to trying CO again as even though my hair is wavy, it seems to want to be treated like it is straight.

[jacqueline101]

I agree there are a few things that could cause it. Seasonal shed, wash routine changes, besides wash routine changes do you have itching or allergic signs. I had an allergy to a product and it made me shed. I also found out by not combing daily I had trapped hairs so when I combed more came out. If you don't comb daily you could have that issue.

[velorutionista]

hey, just an update in case anyone's wondering...I changed up my shampoos (stopped using TJ's tea tree tingle and switched back to Lush antiphilitron, which had worked well for me in the past, too). The shedding cut down quite a bit pretty much immediately (though still not yet back to previous "normal" amounts), so I think perhaps my hair was not liking the TJ's shampoo. A week later, I nixed CWC in favor of my old S/C routine (with the Lush shampoo instead of TJs still), and that got things back to normal shed-wise. Thus ends my experiment with CWC, I think! Thanks for all the help/tips/opinions!