Is there such thing as shedding too little?

[Larki]

I only lose about 5-10 hair strands when I brush or wash my hair. I heard that healthy hair loses about 100 strands per day. Is this a problem? I brush once or twice a day (once if, like today, I'm trying to keep overnight braid waves or heatless curls), and I wash my hair either every day or every other day. So I probably lose like 15-30 strands per day.

[Night_Kitten]

I don't think its a problem, as the 100 strands a day is like 0.5"growth per month kind of thing - a sort of accepted value, but not necessarily "one fits all"...
There are members here that shed very little amounts and that's just their shedding rate, while others shed more...
As long as the amount you shed stays constant and your hair is not thinning I'd say everything is OK :)

[Madora]

I wish I had your hair shed "problem"! Sounds very healthy to me!

[meteor]

If my hair literally shed 100 hair strands a day, I would be worried, even though I am a very heavy shedder.
I think most of the shed hair stays "stuck" in the hair (unless you are washing it), especially as it grows longer.


Did anybody else notice that the longer hair gets, the fewer hair strands come out of your mane? The hairball should get bigger of course, but it appears as if fewer individual strands come out?

[Madora]

Yes, the longer my hair got, the fewer strands it shed. That's what Mr. Michael said in his book also.

[Weewah]

Is there a reason why long hair sheds less? That's so awesome if it's true

[Larki]

Its good to know it's not a bad thing, thank you! I was wondering if it might be some kind of build-up problem, since I use silicones.

And very cool that long hair sheds less! Mine isn't particularly long, just BSL, at the very bottom of my bra.

[meteor]

Is there a reason why long hair sheds less? That's so awesome if it's true
I'm really curious about this, too!

[duchess67]

Lucky you! Wish I had the same problem, shedding less that is ;)

[spidermom]

You might be shedding more than you think. I used to think the hair that I peeled off my fingers while washing and conditioning was all the hair I shed while washing, for example, then I got one of those hair catcher things for the drain. Holey moley! True - I used to pull major hair balls out of the drain from time to time, but they were a combination of everybody's hair, not just mine.

[Larki]

You might be shedding more than you think. I used to think the hair that I peeled off my fingers while washing and conditioning was all the hair I shed while washing, for example, then I got one of those hair catcher things for the drain. Holey moley! True - I used to pull major hair balls out of the drain from time to time, but they were a combination of everybody's hair, not just mine.

Could be! And I'd love to get one of those, we have them back home, but unfortunately those + dorm showers wouldn't work. :p

[hypersensitive]

I only shed 5-10 hairs a day. The shed hairs are very long so it seems like there is more. I definitely shed more when my hair was shorter.

[FallingDarkness]

OMG I never knew that if my hair was long (it's short and only a little past APL right now... Grr grow faster hair!) it would shed less. Because I shed all the time, everywhere. Now even another reason to grow my hair long!!! :)

[Sarahlabyrinth]

Why does longer hair shed less, does anyone know?

[meteor]

Why does longer hair shed less, does anyone know?

I'm hoping Madora will add more about this - maybe what George Michael wrote in his book, as this book is out of print and extremely hard to find. Or if anybody else knows where we could find some answers?
My hypothesis is that hair continues shedding at your normal rate but if it's long, it's harder for it to fall on the ground as it gets caught/stuck/tangled in the mane. So I suspect it could be an illusion of reduced shedding. But this is just my uneducated guess.

[Larki]

I'm hoping Madora will add more about this - maybe what George Michael wrote in his book, as this book is out of print and extremely hard to find. Or if anybody else knows where we could find some answers?
My hypothesis is that hair continues shedding at your normal rate but if it's long, it's harder for it to fall on the ground as it gets caught/stuck/tangled in the mane. So I suspect it could be an illusion of reduced shedding. But this is just my uneducated guess.
I would think brushing would pull those caught hairs out, though...

[cathair]

Why does longer hair shed less, does anyone know?

The George Michael book says it's because the longer the hair is, the stronger the root is.


..waist length hair could lose sixteen hairs a day, and the extremely rare floor length hair might only loose two hairs a day. Although this strange phenomenon seems curious and contradictory, the explanation is actually very logical when one examines the hair under the microscope. In so many instances, the longer the hair the stronger the root will be, because the longer hair root is wider in diameter and can take more stress in terms of topical scalp problems.

EdG has written and made a graph about longer hair and shedding too:

www.edgrochowski.com/articles/haircare.html (http://www.edgrochowski.com/articles/haircare.html)

[meteor]

The George Michael book says it's because the longer the hair is, the stronger the root is.



EdG has written and made a graph about longer hair and shedding too:

www.edgrochowski.com/articles/haircare.html (http://www.edgrochowski.com/articles/haircare.html)

Excellent news! Thanks so much! I really hope it's so.
So basically the idea is that the weight of the hair is "training" the hair follicle?
I'm thinking things like oiling hair (since oil just sticks to hair and makes it heavier) and dreadlocks (since shed hair stays in the mane and add weight) might help too then?

[cathair]

Excellent news! Thanks so much! I really hope it's so.
So basically the idea is that the weight of the hair is "training" the hair follicle?
I'm thinking things like oiling hair (since oil just sticks to hair and makes it heavier) and dreadlocks (since shed hair stays in the mane and add weight) might help too then?

I have to admit, I am not 100% clear. In the book (I haven't finished the book yet, still have a way to go), he doesn't say why the roots are larger, just that they are. I did assume like you that would be because they are being trained, but I am not sure.

Whereas EdG's page says 'The length of one's hair does not affect the rate of shedding' in the second paragraph. I thought they were making the same point, but I am not sure about that now. I am getting a little bit hazy about what the graphs represent now, you'll have to excuse me please, it's 3:30 am over here ;) Perhaps you can make more sense of it?

[ladylowtide]

This shedding info is really neat, thanks for posting it. I have been going crazy these past couple of years because I am a heavy shedder I think probably 80+ hairs a day and it gets to be a pain cleaning up after myself. Nice to know it might decrease a little.

[mysticmanic]

This is really interesting. I never knew this, but it makes so much sense because I'm shedding WAY less than I used to when my hair was collarbone length. I was shedding more than I ever had with short hair.

[Dessi]

Same here. I lose 15-30 strands per day. But for me it doesn't matter what is the length of my hair. I always lose 15-30 strands per day. (Even though it have never been shorter than Mid-Back)

[Rio040113]

I have the same 'problem' as well, I shed 10 - 15 hairs a day at the most and that's on a wash day :lol: My shower drain hair catcher thingy made me realise how little I'm shedding, I'd assumed before getting it that my shed hair was all going down the drain :shrug: I think for me, my lack of shedding is due to my lack of hair lol, I lost a full 1/3 of my ponytail circ. and a lot of that is now growing back, so maybe that's the cause for me? Who knows, as long as I don't see any more thinning then I'm not too concerned about my shedding :)

[Mizumi]

I had the same thing, I used to lose literally few strands while washing and even less while brushing, I sometimes had a feel like I don't lose any hair :confused: I had a shed last time (though it's slowly going back to normal) and some LHCers told me it's impossible to lose that little hair.. I was super confused :( I thought I was the only one that have this ,,problem", lol. But I think it's very individual to other's hair. It's actually good to lose very little I think, so you should be happy