Major hair shedding!!

[BroomHilda]

I cant stop crying every time I wash my hair or run my fingers through it. I ve been losing 150 hairs each day (maybe more) for almost 2 months now.
I am trying to grow out damaged hair cause I had huge fairytales and thin ends and I was at a point where I had some progress.
Now my hair is thinning and thinning all of a sudden. I shed looong healthy thick hairs and my ponytail circumference dropped down to 3" from 3,5" in less than a month.
I see scalp in places I never had before, especially when I put my hair up. My braid became noticeably thinner as well
At first I thought "seasonal shedding, ignore it and it ll pass". But I kept loosing more and more and then I count it. Panic.

I run blood test and it came normal...I m going to a derm to see what else is there to check.......I feel so depressed, I feel like I have to cut my hair AGAIN.

I know some might think "get a life there are worse problems than this" but I cant help it.

[Gertrude]

So sorry this is happening, I would be crying too. It's very distressing. Hope the dermatologist will be able to give you some answers. Has there been a traumatic or very stressful event in your life a while back? A shock to the emotional system? No need to share it on here, but sometimes hair loss like often happens when you've just had a baby follows on from the trauma. Distressing, but it will end those sheds.

[spidermom]

Do the best you can with your health habits, and the shedding will resolve.

[BroomHilda]

There wasn't any really stressful event, emotional or physical. It seems like my sex hormones are a bit imbalanced but nothing outside normal. I m going tomorrow to my doc to show him my blood check results just to be sure.
I really can;t explain what the hell happened so suddently. My nutrition is on track, my iron levels are normal....

Is it really seasonal and I m imagining things? I m trying to think its me overeacting.

[ExpectoPatronum]

I'd get your sex hormones balanced. My bad shedding (I was shedding like you were) improved dramatically after starting birth control to regulate my hormones. I went from losing 100 hairs just during a wash to losing maybe 35-40 at most. I can run my fingers through my hair without pulling out hairs.

Keep positive. You'll find an answer. :flower: In the meantime, keep up with a healthy diet and make sure you're getting enough calories and protein!

[divinedobbie]

I'm sure you already know about the importance of good diet and a healthy lifestyle. Have you changed your routine the past few months? I don't have any advice to offer but I'm going through the same thing and I know how discouraging it is :(. I hope you figure it out :flower:

[lapushka]

I'd get your sex hormones balanced. My bad shedding (I was shedding like you were) improved dramatically after starting birth control to regulate my hormones. I went from losing 100 hairs just during a wash to losing maybe 35-40 at most. I can run my fingers through my hair without pulling out hairs.

Keep positive. You'll find an answer. :flower: In the meantime, keep up with a healthy diet and make sure you're getting enough calories and protein!

This. Get the hormones sorted out! It may be more important than you think. And do let the doctor see the results. He might draw other conclusions.


I'm sure you already know about the importance of good diet and a healthy lifestyle. Have you changed your routine the past few months? I don't have any advice to offer but I'm going through the same thing and I know how discouraging it is :(. I hope you figure it out :flower:

This. ^^ Good food and enough calories = so important! Hope you figure it out!

[skaempfer]

Just wanted to chime in on the hormone thing; it's worth getting it checked out in any case. I had a major shed that was sorted when I got a progesterone spiral several years back.

[Mya]

I ve been losing 150 hairs each day (maybe more) for almost 2 months now.
I am trying to grow out damaged hair cause I had huge fairytales and thin ends and I was at a point where I had some progress.
Now my hair is thinning and thinning all of a sudden. I shed looong healthy thick hairs and my ponytail circumference dropped down to 3" from 3,5" in less than a month.
I see scalp in places I never had before, especially when I put my hair up. My braid became noticeably thinner as well

It really sounds like my situation. Sigh.

Did you change shampoo or anything you put on your scalp? Do you rub/massage your scalp while washing?

My scalp is very delicate and picky. Scalp massages and most shampoos cause my hair to shed. It may be the same for you.

[Theobroma]

Seconding the advice to rethink your routine if you've made any changes -- even if the change was months before the shedding started. In particular, if you've started CO washing, stop immediately and see if that helps. I lost 40% of my thickness to CO washing because my scalp (after being fine with it initially) decided that it hates anything rich getting on it and started letting go of insane amounts of hair every time I washed. Went back to shampoo and the shedding stopped instantly.

[Fufu]

As what others have mentioned.

were there any changes made to your hair washing or even diet?

if not, suggest booking an appointment to check on your hormones.

Hope all is well soon.

[Agnieszka]

Can't offer any help but going through the same now. Everyday 150+ since 5 months, and I have fine, thin hair. I know what is causing my shed and there is nothing I can do :-( I hope it will pass soon for you.

[Panth]

See if you can request the actual report from your blood tests, rather than just an "it was fine". Sometimes doctors/nurses stick too rigidly to then numbers and forget that they're only averages for a population, not numbers that rigidly apply to all individuals. E.g. (to invent an example) say 15-70 for a certain vitamin was normal and you're at 17 and have symptoms (hair shedding), then it's likely that you are deficient compared to what is normal for you and should be treated with supplementation.

I'd definitely look into the hormone issue.

Other ideas: any change in routine? especially things like CO-washing (causes sheds for many people) or leaving oil on the scalp. Scalp conditions (i.e. dandruff, itchiness, scaly patches, red/inflamed patches)? Stress, either physical or mental - e.g. weight loss, dieting, cutting out major food groups, going vegetarian/vegan; moderate or major illness (e.g. fever for roughly a week or more, surgery, hospitalisation); mental stress such as depression, anxiety but also more short-term things like exams, new job, bereavement, etc.

[Jennah]

Sorry about that.

I had the same problem and tried massages, vitamins, exercise, nothing helped.

Then I went to the pharmacy and asked the pharmacist if she could help me with that, and she just gave me some Dove brand shampoo (pic (http://myfashionjuice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/DoveHairFall_Shampoo_Conditioner1.jpg)) for shedding control with some medication in it.

Simple enough. I started using it and I don´t shed half of what I used to.

She also showed me some other brand that was super expensive and then the Dove which seemed like a good middle ground and it worked.

Good luck!!!

[jlw9222]

BroomHilda,

I was shedding like crazy for months for NO apparent reason. I finally figured out I was seriously low on vitamin D. I tried to figure it out for weeks. I finally evaluated what had changed in my life (e.g., vitamins, food). As soon as I took a larger dose of vitamin D (e.g., 8,000 IU), it stopped two days later. I had stopped eating dairy and had accidentally bought a lower vitamin D supplement (400 IU). I live in Alaska and we need to supplement with extra D. This may or may not be what's happening with you. I hope it stops soon for you. I know how I felt when I was losing all that hair and it was horrible.

[dulce]

I think many things can cause temporary shedding throughout our livesI'm 62 so have had this happen several times now in my life.I just cut back to waist again as I had lost so much hair this September my ends looked too straggly.I usually have a seasonal shed every September but this was much more than the usual. I have early breast cancer[diagnosed in late summer with several surgeries and worry ,stress and hot flashes from the immune system as a reaction to the cancer have taken their toll on my once quite thick hair.It's scary to lose hair but for me a trim of several inches
plus some eyebrow pressed powder[to match my hair colour] applied to my scalp with a small or medium makeup brush to help hide the 2 thinning areas at my part have helped a lot.The best advice I can give is don't panic!Sometimes the cause is never known but it usually resolves over time ,especially if all your tests were normal.Mine always resolved eventually.Do the blood tests if you haven't already,look at your nutrition , your meds,check your hair care[dyeing ,hot blowdryers ?etc] to see if anything needs to be tweaked.If not,time will usually resolve it.Try wearing it up,cover any scalp cleavage with pressed powder to match your hair colour[use a makeup brush] to tide you over, till things get back to normal..Hope this helps.

[BroomHilda]

Thank you all and every one of you for your answers.

My hormones are actually pretty balanced doc says. Thyroid and all are pretty good so its impossible to be the reason of this shed. It was a mistaken assumption from my part when I saw the results.

My routine is the same all these years I ve found out how to take care of my curly hair, so no its not that. Plus its veeeeery unlikely a routine to iniciate hair loss form the root (not breakage)

I went to a derm and he prescribed me minoxidil and mometasone for external applications. In the meanwhile my hair continue to fall in handfuls.

I am now quite sure that I ll never be able to reach my hair length goal. All the hair strands I shed are untouched, uncut, naturraly tappered which means their life cycle is pretty short.
And the hem tappering is growing huge again. Damn.

[vega]

I'm sorry to hear this brio Hilda I was going through this 2 years ago, what worked for me was a herbal shampoo called hair assist since using it my hair has become noticeably thicker , you will get through this ,make sure you have a healthy diet and drink plenty of water,also if it continues go and see a doctor

[Panth]

Do you definitely not have any scalp conditions? Seborrheic dermatitis can cause major shedding, as can other scalp conditions.

[Maelyssa]

I cant stop crying every time I wash my hair or run my fingers through it. I ve been losing 150 hairs each day (maybe more) for almost 2 months now.
I am trying to grow out damaged hair cause I had huge fairytales and thin ends and I was at a point where I had some progress.
Now my hair is thinning and thinning all of a sudden. I shed looong healthy thick hairs and my ponytail circumference dropped down to 3" from 3,5" in less than a month.
I see scalp in places I never had before, especially when I put my hair up. My braid became noticeably thinner as well
At first I thought "seasonal shedding, ignore it and it ll pass". But I kept loosing more and more and then I count it. Panic.

I run blood test and it came normal...I m going to a derm to see what else is there to check.......I feel so depressed, I feel like I have to cut my hair AGAIN.

I know some might think "get a life there are worse problems than this" but I cant help it.

Major shedding is traumatic to most of us so don't feel bad for expressing your worry. It's good that your blood work came back fine. Has anything else recently changed in your life, perhaps stress level?

[Peggy E.]

I'd get your sex hormones balanced. My bad shedding (I was shedding like you were) improved dramatically after starting birth control to regulate my hormones. I went from losing 100 hairs just during a wash to losing maybe 35-40 at most. I can run my fingers through my hair without pulling out hairs.

Keep positive. You'll find an answer. :flower: In the meantime, keep up with a healthy diet and make sure you're getting enough calories and protein!


...and mine went from very little shedding to a massive shed when I was taken from bc a couple months ago. it's so frustrating when I know what caused the problem, yet can do nothing to fix it.

I would definitely consider hormones, were I you. good luck - hope you will get it under control very soon.