How can you tell if you are losing too much hair?

[Leslieslsa]

So I have pretty thick hair but I am kinda having a freak out moment because when I put my fingers through it altogether it seemed like I lost like 50 strands. All at once. But I also had it braided in two braids for the last 24 hours, so maybe that is why? It just seemed like a lot of hair.

[redtuss]

When it has been braided that long it's just normal shed, strands need to come off and a braid catches them from falling off your head.
So that all that has happened; instead of them falling off you head un-noticed it came off when you unbraided.

So, no worries :)

[Thinthondiel]

Yeah, what redtuss said - those are just the hairs that you have shed over the 24 hours that your hair has been braided. There's no way for shed hairs to fall completely off when they're in a braid, like they would otherwise, they just kind of detach at the scalp and then remain - loose - in the braid. :)

[Naiadryade]

I agree that it's just normal shed hairs.

However, the way to tell if you are regularly shedding more than "usual" for a while, would be to take measurements of your ponytail thickness regularly. Tiny variations are normal. Steady or sudden significant decease could indicate a health problem.

[meteor]

Check out the Hair Pull Test that dermatologists perform:

http://www.dermnet.com/videos/alopecia/alopecia-introduction/hair-loss-and-alopecia-physical-examination-and-testing/


http://www.americanhairloss.org/women_hair_loss/diagnosis.asp
Hair pull
The hair pull test is a simple diagnostic test in which the physician lightly pulls a small amount of hair (approx 100 simultaneously) in order to determine if there is excessive loss. Normal range is one to three hairs per pull.