I am losing too much hair and I don't know where to start?

[Leslieslsa]

I have hair that is about an inch from tailbone. Despite the fact it is still thick, I feel like I am losing a lot of it. It is clogging the drain repeatedly, clogging the vacuum, all over the shower wall as I try to not let it get down the drain. It is even showing up in hairballs. Like it all gangs together against me lol. I am finding hairballs in my bed, etc. I know this hair loss is nothing compared to after I had anorexia. I don't even know if it is unusual or not. It just seems like I am finding it EVERYWHERE. I am just afraid it will all fall out. I do have a thyroid disorder which I try to take medication for and I have eating problems. I am going to be making an appointment with a medical doctor to see just what I need to have. How can I even tell if I am losing too much? Is there any way?

[Johannah]

You said you had anorexia. Sorry if this is getting too personal: but when was this exactly? Something like this can take a long time before it's out of your system, your hair can still shed from eating less after 6 months. Normal shed rate is about 100 hairs a day. You also need to consider that your hair is quite long. So when you see a hair ball, it might look like you loose a lot of hairs, but you actually don't because all those hairs are so long! If you still think you loose to much hair, I'd make an appointment with a doctor though. It can't hurt.

[woolyleprechaun]

Personally, I try not to look at the shed- I look at my head. If scalp is showing in places where it wasn't before, my plait or bun is looking a little puny, I know the shed is baaaaaad. Don't worry- as your health improves, your hair should eventually. It takes a long time to improve, but it happens.
I remember my post partum shed. It took at least a year (after shedding stopped) to even start thickening noticeably *weeps*. I also had a recent heavy shed due to BC pills, so I'm almost back to square one.
Weirdly enough, I've noticed an improvement while trying the inversion method (don't judge me :)). My growth sped up (my fringe is a lot longer than last week) and despite daily oiling and CO washing, I barely shed at all. Obviously I wouldn't recommend it if you are still currently shedding badly, but it may help with the regrowth phase.

[Kate199023]

I know how you feel with the hair loss. I'm shedding like crazy . Are you under a lot of stress? cause that can do a lot. Hope it stops soon for you.

[tigereye]

You have a very similar hair type to me. I'd second looking at your hair, not the hair balls - my hair has been destroying vacuum cleaners since I was a child. My last vacuum in the flat lasted 6 months, and this was when I was shedding normally - my flatmate used it 3 times in a row but didn't realise that hair turns into rope inside vacuum cleaners and that they needed cleaned out. When I vacuum, I brush the carpets with a stiff outdoor brush beforehand to pick up most of the hair, then clean out the vacuum brush and check the belt after. I have a hair-catcher in the drain of the shower that gets cleaned out every time I wash my hair, and I have to clean the hair-balls off the shower walls. I only brush my hair in my room (though on second thoughts, it would be less of a clean-up operation in the bathroom) but my hair still gets everywhere.
I had these issues with shedding when I was shedding normally. When I'm shedding badly, the hair-catcher gets too clogged to let water run, and I need to be doubly sure to brush up the stray hairs before vacuum cleaning. I was shedding bad from a combination of the pill and exam stress this last few months - I lost an inch in ponytail circumference, and that was how I knew. I felt it getting thinner when I went to do buns - buns that hadn't worked due to my thickness very suddenly did, so I got out the measuring tape and kept track. It's too early to say, but I think the shed has finally bottomed out, but I think it'll be a while before I see the thickness growing back down.

[Panth]

I'd measure my ponytail circumference monthly. (No more than that - it's fairly pointless and will only make you fret.) If you like, you can measure two or three times when you are measuring and then get the average (less important if you're not wavy/curly). This will give you a way to monitor the hairloss, plus if necessary give you some serious stats to use in case it does end up being serious hair loss and your doctor won't take you seriously (members have had this happen). Also, remember than the amount lost (i.e. % lost) is proportional to the AREA of the ponytail, not the circumference (i.e. to give an extreme example, if your circumference halves, you've lost more than half of your hair).

That said, the first thing I'd do is see your doctor. If you have known thyroid and eating problems - well, those are both common causes of hairloss. An easy initial investigation would include checking your blood levels of all vitamins and minerals (particularly, iron, B12 and folate), plus thyroid hormones and maybe sex hormones (oestrogen, etc.). When that comes back, ask for the actual numbers you had, plus the exact range that is considered normal (don't just let them say 'oh, it all came back fine'). All of these numbers are averages for populations, so (to completely make up an example) if e.g. you are a 6 and the normal range is 5-100 then you probably need supplementation as you have symptoms and are borderline. Some doctors would try to fob you off with 'oh you're fine' in that sort of situation, though. Also, remember that things like iron, folate and thyroid hormones need to be within a certain range - too much iron or thyroid hormones can cause hairloss just as too little can.

In the meantime, (and I know this is likely to be difficult) try to eat as well as you can, exercise moderately and don't fret too much. :flower:

[tigereye]

I'd measure my ponytail circumference monthly. (No more than that - it's fairly pointless and will only make you fret.) If you like, you can measure two or three times when you are measuring and then get the average (less important if you're not wavy/curly). This will give you a way to monitor the hairloss, plus if necessary give you some serious stats to use in case it does end up being serious hair loss and your doctor won't take you seriously (members have had this happen). Also, remember than the amount lost (i.e. % lost) is proportional to the AREA of the ponytail, not the circumference (i.e. to give an extreme example, if your circumference halves, you've lost more than half of your hair).

That said, the first thing I'd do is see your doctor. If you have known thyroid and eating problems - well, those are both common causes of hairloss. An easy initial investigation would include checking your blood levels of all vitamins and minerals (particularly, iron, B12 and folate), plus thyroid hormones and maybe sex hormones (oestrogen, etc.). When that comes back, ask for the actual numbers you had, plus the exact range that is considered normal (don't just let them say 'oh, it all came back fine'). All of these numbers are averages for populations, so (to completely make up an example) if e.g. you are a 6 and the normal range is 5-100 then you probably need supplementation as you have symptoms and are borderline. Some doctors would try to fob you off with 'oh you're fine' in that sort of situation, though. Also, remember that things like iron, folate and thyroid hormones need to be within a certain range - too much iron or thyroid hormones can cause hairloss just as too little can.

In the meantime, (and I know this is likely to be difficult) try to eat as well as you can, exercise moderately and don't fret too much. :flower:

I agree with panth above. Losing an inch for me was losing less than 1/4 of my circumference, but it meant losing close to 40% of the area of my ponytail, meaning that I'd in actual fact lost a lot more than the 25% my circumference would suggest.
Wasn't much the docs could do but monitor (birth control is for other medical reasons - no chance I'm getting pregnant at this point in my life anyway, and the pills I can take are restricted because of issues I had with combined pills), but it finally seems to be bottoming out, and it's thankfully pretty even loss over my whole head.