Seasonal Shedding

[Lindseyh]

So here we are heading into fall and just like the leaves are falling so are my shed hairs. I mean like shedding clumps of hair. It's more than I've ever seen and it's kinda gross. Now my hair is long enough pulling shed hairs out is a two handed project. I think I've gotten more mechanical damage than usual in the past few wks. I was feeling very frumpy and was doing huge messy buns. I need more stylish styles that are less harmful!
Do we think this is caused by the mechanical damage or seasonal?

[luxurioushair]

In my experience I have never had anything like seasonal shedding. However you may be interested to know, that when I was in school, several girlfriends who were Indian, always used to talk about shedding. They would say, "Oh, my hair is falling again", and they always accepted it as a normal thing. They seemed to talk about it every year, if I remember correctly, and they also trimmed their hair about once a year.

That's pretty much all I know about seasonal shedding or anything similar to it! I'm not saying it applies to you, but I thought you might find it useful.

[Martician]

I think I have seasonal shedding too, but I always thought of that as normal/natural since many of my family have it too... But since I'm facing it again I wouldn't mind some tips too :)

[winship2]

I think I'm experiencing it this fall. I usually shed very little and about twice as much seems to be coming out right now.

[RavenRose]

Season shedding and dryer tangly hair are normal fro me this time of year. Lately been getting clumps too...

[lalepepper]

I tend to shed more in the fall and spring. I don't normally notice much difference in the volume of my hair, but there's definitely some difference in the shed rate.

[meteor]

I'm experiencing seasonal shedding at the moment, too... at least, I hope it's seasonal, because it's pretty bad and I hope it will stop soon - because we are talking never-ending clumps coming out every time I detangle...

[Pearly~91]

Yep, seasonal shedding is completely normal! Just like your hair grows faster or slower throughout the year, you shed at differing rates too, although sometimes the variation isn't big enough for people to notice.
If you're worried that its not shedding (hair coming out from the roots) and that it's breakage (hair breaking off midway down the shaft,) you can look at the hairs themselves to see. Shed hairs usually have some kind of remnant from being in your scalp at that end of the hair. Kind of a bulge at the end, if that makes any sense. Also, you may be able to see that the color is faded (less pigmented) on up to about a half inch of the last hair that grew in that strand. This isn't always the case, but it happens sometimes when a follicle is getting ready to shed a hair. Also, when a hair is broken off you can sometimes see that there is some kind of damage to the strand at the end instead of the bump.
You don't have to look at every hair, but you could collect all the hairs from one full session of brushing/combing/finger detangling and check out the ends.
Hope this helps!

[Lindseyh]

I guess the cat and I will chalk this up to what my mom calls the cats seasonal shed. A "shedding burst"....

[rowie]

Yay I'm not alone this season for shedding. Hello fellow fall autumn "shedders.!" I know for me the fall season during September to mid November is when I have the most sheds. The pattern for me every year (it's been consistent and in tune) is by late September I shed big time, October it gradually decreases and by early November it will get back to my own normal amount I shed daily. This season I'm practicing with being extra gentle in how I take care of my hair. What I'm trying new this time is

1) I force myself to have the habit of wearing a silk sleep cap every night for bed.
2) for my shedding season I strictly only use my wide tooth wooden comb from the body shop. I already miss my bbb brush and tangle teaser.
3) castor oil treatments before the day I will wash my hair. I usually apply castor oil (along with castor oil scalp massage) the evening and sleep with it under my silk sleep cap. The next day I will wash normally.
4) I use organic almond oil whenever my ends feel dry. If it's a really dry day I'll apply the oil to the entire length and then do my usual updos.
5) finally, this is the most difficult for me but during my shed season I'll make my buns a lot looser than I usually do. That means for me I don't use my sticks and forks just because my buns are too loose that they'd just slip out. This is the time I use "clampy" type hair accessories.

On another note, anytime my scalp feels sensitive I'll just wear my hair in braided pig tails and sometimes I'd convert those braided pigtails into an oval bun.

Glad to check in. What is everyone's practice if you shed seasonally?

[spidermom]

Late summer/early fall every year, but some years worse than others. I was vacuuming last week and a hair ball completely clogged the brush. Ewwwww!

[Shepherdess]

Right now I am not having much shedding (maybe about 5-10 small hairs a day). I think I recall having a little bit more shedding in the springtime each year, though not sure. The past few years have been different than usual for me, since I did have random and very heavy sheds, though I attributed those to stress and hormones at the time since I was under a lot of pressure with school and other things. I really do think that some people are more affected by seasons when it comes to hair growth and shedding. I just was reading through an old thread with a very interesting post on it a few days ago. I should find it again.

[Mimha]

Hello shedding fellows ! :)

Yes, some seasonal shedding is perfectly natural, and everybody has their own shedding pattern, going from almost no difference over the year to an almost molting period ! :D

I am presently making a personal study on shed rate over a full year, and in a few weeks I will be able to show you the results. My figures are totally personal, but they will be useful to help you not to panic when you undergo a shedding day of more than 100 or 200 hairs. (I even experienced a wash day of over 400 !!)

A remark I would like to make is that seasonal shedding can vary depending in which hemisphere you leave, and under which climate. It's more noticeable if you leave in a place with a big difference between summer and winter. It may also be more noticeable if you have an outdoor professional activity than if you leave indoors most of the time. Usually, the shedding is linked to the decrease of sunlight and cold weather. When I lived in the Middle East and Africa, my shedding was much more stable over the year. (I could hardly notice any variation the first years). And here in Switzerland, I really have a molting period ! :D For me, the shedding slowly starts to increase in September and I experience a heavy shed in November-December (I call them "the dark days"). The peak of the curve lasts about 6 weeks. I don't bother trying to avoid manipulating my hair anymore because I know that a hair that has reached the end of its life cycle has to shed anyway. So if you are super gentle, it will just extend the shedding period until all the hair that have to shed will have shed.

I started my counting last year around end of October. I mainly did it because I had suffered heavy shedding linked to health problems, but also in order to have a better estimation of my terminal length. I am a curious person and I like to experiment. :) So I'm anxious to be able to analyse the figures of one complete year. (I still have to count until the end of October. Quite happy to see the end of this boring task !!).

Looking forward to showing you the results of my statistics which are already showing some interesting things ! :) :)

[lapushka]

I'm experiencing seasonal shedding at the moment, too... at least, I hope it's seasonal, because it's pretty bad and I hope it will stop soon - because we are talking never-ending clumps coming out every time I detangle...

Yes, I had the worst hair loss in a while yet today. I almost freaked out, but hey... 't is the season. :shrug:

[DollyDagger]

T`is the season to be shedding...falallalala...I was really enjoying not having to sweep so many hairs, that was short-lived :p