Shedding help! Could it be the oil?

[skeletonous]

So I just finished washing out my pre-poo coconut oil treatment, and I'm honestly kinda terrified to do another one again.

I probably shed about 300 hairs...3 full day's worth of hair. This happened as I was shampooing it out, I was bent at the waist massaging my scalp as usual (though I didn't put coconut oil on it this time, just the length) and then after I came back up and started running my hands down my hair to work the shampoo down, it happened.

By the time it was time for conditioner, however, it stopped. I was kinda surprised to be honest because conditioner has just as much slip, but as soon as I had fully rinsed the shampoo out and put the conditioner on my ends, I maybe got one hair on my hands. By the way I've been using this shampoo for a while now with great results so it's probably not that.

Here's what I'm thinking now:

1. I probably haven't brushed my hair in at least 4 days. I finger comb it out and sometimes use my wide toothed comb to part it and make sure it's smooth, but I don't notice but maybe a hair or two coming out of that. In fact, I haven't noticed any stray shed hairs lying about at all. So perhaps it's just the hair that was "supposed" to be shedding off all this time? The only thing that stops me from completely believing that is that I try and massage my hair briefly in the shower inbetween wash days when I do WO (plus maybe conditioner on my ends), so it's not like my scalp hasn't gotten any stimulation at all.

ETA: Also my hair doesn't seem to tangle much at all *knock on wood* I only seem to have to fingercomb it when its a little messy looking from sleeping (I use a satin pillowcase). Otherwise I tend to just let it be.

2. I just recently started stretching my washes so that on the 3rd night after my last wash (is that considered stretching for 3 days since I wash at night?) I wash my hair again. I've noticed that the more I stretch my washes the more I shed on wash/pre-poo day. Could it be this as well?

ETA2: When I say recently I mean this is maybe only the 2nd week I've done this, and the first time stretching washes that far and trying my oiling.

Even though I have those possibilities I'm still scared to do another pre-poo treatment :lol: maybe I'll just stick to using it as a leave in now (which seems to work wonderfully).

Any ideas?

[Doreen]

I find that I have large sheds when I do any kind of treatment before washing, but especially with oils. I don't have any technical explanations for this but I just thought I'd let you know that this has happened to at least one other person. Over time I have just come to realize that my hair only likes oils very sparingly. If you used a large amount of oil this first time, you could try it again a second time with just barely enough oil to coat your hair lightly, like just a little bit more than if it were just a leave-in. I've found that this has reduced the excess shedding a lot. If you were already using the sparing amount of oil, I'm not really sure! I hope you find something that works!

[skeletonous]

^Doreen that is very reassuring :) I used a lot of oil, which I usually do because I want to make sure that it's coated :blushing: when I use it as a leave-in on damp hair I barely use any and it works out great. Like I posted earlier I may just stick with that because I hate having to shampoo twice to get the amount I use for pre-poo out anyway (I use a gentle shampoo but still).

Also I should mention that none of this seems to ever happen on dry hair *knock on wood* I still see barely any sheds from brushing my hair on wash day morning after not brushing it for days and not shampooing it for days. Only when I shampoo after stretching and oiling in that manner.

Thank you! :flower:

[Hotrox]

Any amount of oil on or near my scalp causes my hair to shed more than normal. You will also see a few more hairs shed on wash day if you have started to stretch washes, these are just ones you.would have lost anyway, but my vote is on the oil. I've seen other people here experience it from this too.

[MissMoppet]

Just curious - this is totally unscientific and just based on my pondering, but as the oil sits on your scale and sinks in, could it possibly cause the roots of hair that is already ready to shed to loosen and fall out? I know when I wash my pets hair, and then brush them afterwards that a LOT more hair comes out of the brush than usual. Infact, I use a special tool that gently pulls out hair ready to shed on them, and I only use it right after their fur has dried from their bath, as this is when the manufacturer says that it is most effective. (I use a gentle oatmeal based conditioner/shampoo on them too.)

Not brushing your hair for several days also causes a lot more shed hair to end up in your brush. It just kind of sits there in your hair until you brush and remove it. I have kept my hair in a braid for several days and aside from finger combing it, did not bother to brush my hair. I have been trying to give my hair a break from brushing, as after using oils for several weeks, my hair got really stiff and was starting to snap. When I DO brush my hair, there is obviously more hairs in the brush.

[wilderwein]

I also noticed when I was applying oil on my scapl HUGE shedding, so I stopped... It may not occure, but I believe that when I try to massage my scalp with oil I actually pull some of the healthy hair out! becouse the oily strands kinda sticks on my fingers and it's easier for them to fall out....
What I do now is I oil my hair and leave about 3 inches of hair near the scalp oil free, then I put my hair on a top knot, and the oil of the rest of the hair kinda runs on the next 3 inches of hair after some amount of time! So this way I dont really have to manipulate my scalp to distribute the oil, and I have noticed MUCH less shedding. As about the massage on the scalp i choose to not do it anymore with my fingers but with my wooden wide tooth comb. I dont massage my scalp, I just "brush" it gently in the morning and in the evening, wich also helps with the blood circulation without tangle the hair (as my fingers do) therefore without any more unnecesary shedding wich I may couse by some rough movements.

[Ambrielle]

i use to lose twice as much hair than my average when i oiled my hair/scalp prior to washing it. I noticed this happening the first few weeks, after a month or so of regular oiling i had the opposite happen, i now lose much less hair in the shower than i used to.

Now one thing i recommend is to avoid soaking your scalp with the oil and leaving it on overnight especially heavier oils such as coconut oil, a few drops is more than enough. I believe saturating the scalp with oils clogs the follicles over time and can lead to unnecessary shedding even when one is careful not to manipulate the scalp too much (this may also be why some experience a lot of shedding when they co wash their scalp).

I massage my scalp very, very gently and don't overload it with oil (my fave mix at the moment is camellia oil with rosemary EO, i swear the rosemary is responsible for the reduction in my shedding but i won't use it alone because it's an EO and highly concentrated oils may cause the reverse effect), when i do oil over night i only do my lengths most of the times, then the day after, an hour or two before i shower i will apply a very small quantity of that mix to my scalp.

if you are not brushing every day and used oil then i am not surprised about the shedding :) it could be hair that was ready to be shed. I do brush my hair every day after combing it, usually twice (morning and before bed) and i lose hair when i brush but barely any when i comb.

[Mearwynna]

oil or monistat on my scalp causes extreme shedding so I don't do either anymore. I do use argon pil or coconut oil on my ends about the last 4 inches on the hair. This seems to be ok for me.

[furnival]

If you haven't brushed your hair for four days then you only shed three days' worth, I'd say that's an improvement!
I don't know if you've tried this but a lot of folk here have better results removing oil with conditioner than with shampoo.