Shedding rate?

[mwallingford]

Hello LHCers!
I know this has got to be the most frequently asked question ever, but how many hairs is one supposed to shed on a daily basis? I'm hoping it's nothing to be concerned about but every day when I clean out my brush there is a decent amount of hair in there. And sometimes when I gently grasp the end of my hair or when I am putting it in a cinnabun, there are approximately 6-10 hairs that come out on their own. None of it is yanked out or anything, but it still piques my curiosity. To be honest, I was never bothered with this kind of thing until I had to do a project in my AP chemistry class; we had to pick a ingredient/compound from a product that we used on a regular basis and I chose my shampoo. Well, the one that I picked was Sodium Laureth Sulfate, which is apparently a diluted version of Sodium Lauryl Sulfate which is such a strong cleanser that it is commonly (and effectively used as an engine degreaser!) and can cause hair loss. (sorry, run on sentence). I then of course proceeded to freak out because it is slightly terrifying that my shampoo could be causing additional shedding and everything. But then again, I have been stretching my washes lately and there could be something related to that involved in the equation, and I have just recently switched my shampoo to a gentler option. Anyway, sorry for the rant! It's not exactly an emergency and I'm sure that I'll survive, but advice is greatly appreciated!
Thank You!

[copperlites]

I think I've read on here a few times that it varies greatly from person to person and season to season and I have heard up to 150 a day is still in the normal range. I wondered if it related to thickness. That is, do those with thick go hair shed more as they have more, or do they shed less, increasing their thickness? I only began paying attention to shedding about 9 months ago. We're just at the end of spring and whilst I shed very little over the winter months, I'm shedding loads right now. I have chalked it up as seasonal, so yours may be that too. It may be worth getting a blood test if it continues too long and you don't think it's seasonal though.

[Arctic]

100 is said to be an avarage, but like Copperlites said, it's very individual thing, and you can only know what is normal to you by observing it for a longer time period.

I was recently at a dermatologist about my hair loss, and she did a tugging test, which I have understood is a common test. She took a smallish chunck of hair from 4 or 5 differents areas of my scalp (I read somewhere that the chunck is supposed to be about 50 hairs, but she didn't count them,just eyeballed). Then she proceeded to put a medium, yanking force on those locks of hair, gliding her grip downwards as she pulled. It didn't hurt, but was unpleasant.

Anyway, if 5 or more hairs come out from one chunck of hair, and especially if the same happens with the other test chunks too, that is indicating a more than normal shedding rate.

This test is something one can do by themselves too.

[LoveSnap]

This tugging thing is interesting....

Normal shedding has quite a range--50-150 hairs a day. Also, people may shed more or less in certain seasons. Lastly, if your hair grows fast it may shed fast as well. People who take hair growth suppliments or use topical growth aids often complain of shedding.

[Mimha]

Hello shedding fellows^^

The question of shedding rate throughout the year will soon be the object of an article that I plan to write. It would be too long to explain in detail here, but just for your information : I have been counting my shed hairs every single day during one complete year (yep ! :crazy:^^) in order to figure out my own shedding pattern, so as to have a reference for the future. I had indeed undergone some heavy shed in the recent years, due to health issues, and I didn't want to freak out whenever I'd start shedding more. So I made my own statistics and it was extremely interesting. I filled up an excel sheet, day after day, and drew my own shedding rate chart (that I plan to provide in the articles part soon).

But to sum it up, I shed an average of 5 to 20 hairs in the "low period" and 60 to 150 in the "high period" (with some epic days at 300 to over 350 when I wash !!). When I ponder it over the full year, my figures give me an average of 50 hairs a day, taking into account a little margin due to the fact that it is almost impossible to collect all the shed hair, unless you keep your hair bunned in between two combing/counting sessions. But I think that it's quite accurate for the ii thickness I have, with a 8.5 to 9 cm ponytail. It's also very impressive to realize that I have lost... more than 18'000 hairs !! lol. :scared:

So it's nonsensical to count shed hairs on a few random days only, because the shedding rate can vary extremely from one month to another, as well as from one person to another. It's the average of the full year that can give you a correct estimation.

[mwallingford]

Thanks for the advice! I never even thought about how this might be seasonal, but I seem to remember that this happened at about the same time last year too :scared: I'm not extremely concerned about it, but I might try that test tugging thing just in case. You guys are the best! :flowers:

[meteor]

100 is said to be an avarage, but like Copperlites said, it's very individual thing, and you can only know what is normal to you by observing it for a longer time period.

I was recently at a dermatologist about my hair loss, and she did a tugging test, which I have understood is a common test. She took a smallish chunck of hair from 4 or 5 differents areas of my scalp (I read somewhere that the chunck is supposed to be about 50 hairs, but she didn't count them,just eyeballed). Then she proceeded to put a medium, yanking force on those locks of hair, gliding her grip downwards as she pulled. It didn't hurt, but was unpleasant.

Anyway, if 5 or more hairs come out from one chunck of hair, and especially if the same happens with the other test chunks too, that is indicating a more than normal shedding rate.

This test is something one can do by themselves too.

Oh yes, the pull test. :thumbsup: I'd love to know more about this. :) How did the derm select which sections to test? Also, did they ask to come in at a specific time after a wash or right after a wash? From what I understand, it can be pretty sensitive to whether or not the person washed their hair or combed their hair recently...


Hello shedding fellows^^

The question of shedding rate throughout the year will soon be the object of an article that I plan to write. It would be too long to explain in detail here, but just for your information : I have been counting my shed hairs every single day during one complete year (yep ! :crazy:^^) in order to figure out my own shedding pattern, so as to have a reference for the future. I had indeed undergone some heavy shed in the recent years, due to health issues, and I didn't want to freak out whenever I'd start shedding more. So I made my own statistics and it was extremely interesting. I filled up an excel sheet, day after day, and drew my own shedding rate chart (that I plan to provide in the articles part soon).

But to sum it up, I shed an average of 5 to 20 hairs in the "low period" and 60 to 150 in the "high period" (with some epic days at 300 to over 350 when I wash !!). When I ponder it over the full year, my figures give me an average of 50 hairs a day, taking into account a little margin due to the fact that it is almost impossible to collect all the shed hair, unless you keep your hair bunned in between two combing/counting sessions. But I think that it's quite accurate for the ii thickness I have, with a 8.5 to 9 cm ponytail. It's also very impressive to realize that I have lost... more than 18'000 hairs !! lol. :scared:

So it's nonsensical to count shed hairs on a few random days only, because the shedding rate can vary extremely from one month to another, as well as from one person to another. It's the average of the full year that can give you a correct estimation.

That's very interesting! :D I'd love to see what changing patterns (maybe seasonal, maybe monthly cyclical-hormonal, maybe diet and overall health?) you've noticed. :cheer:
It looks like science doesn't have definitive answers on seasonality of shedding rates, for example, so any observations can be helpful! :thumbsup:

[Mimha]

(...)

That's very interesting! :D I'd love to see what changing patterns (maybe seasonal, maybe monthly cyclical-hormonal, maybe diet and overall health?) you've noticed. :cheer:
It looks like science doesn't have definitive answers on seasonality of shedding rates, for example, so any observations can be helpful! :thumbsup:

I am a very curious person, and I can be very perseverant when I want to understand something !^^

Another interesting thing that my chart reveals is the shedding rate curve in between two washing sessions : washing seems to be quite traumatic for the scalp, actually, as the shedding goes on one or two days before it reaches the lowest point and goes up again until the next wash. I will try to show it on my chart to make it more clear to all the interested ones ! :)

[meteor]

^ Thanks a lot, Mimha! That sounds really awesome! Looking forward to that article! :cheer:

I also always get more shedding on wash day, plus for a couple days after... and then it subsides.

[Silverbrumby]

I shed a lot now. Easily 100 to 150 a day most days. I have a short terminal, waist is the most a few brave hairs grow to. I also have a three inch ponytail so more shedding makes sense. Track it over months, watch for things which trigger increased shedding. Oil, conditioner on scalp do it for me. Not washing frequently as well.

[Arete]

I'm definitely on the high side. But my ponytail circumference stays pretty steady around 4.25" unless your circumference goes down, I wouldn't worry about shed rate. Every October, I go through a seasonal shed and I swear I lose upwards of 200 hairs a day, and a small kitten dies in the shower on those wash days. It freaked me out the first time I really noticed it (when I was around waist), but it was just because my hair is longer now so more noticeable when the sheds are 2+ feet.
On an average day I'm probably 100/150.

[spidermom]

never have and never will count my shed hairs
what would be next - trying to count shed skin cells?

[Mimha]

never have and never will count my shed hairs
what would be next - trying to count shed skin cells?

Why not ? Some people are more curious than others... who by the way would like to have answers to their questions without doing anything (otherwise why are you coming to this thread if you are not interested or concerned by the matter ? :wink:)

If scientists never asked themselves crazy questions and tried crazy experiments, we would still be ignorant of so many things. I have not done my counting out of a mental illness compulsion, but out of curiosity about life and how my own body works. Some people prefer to spend their time at more fruitful tasks, such as watch football on TV or chat their empty lives on Facebook, and some other prefer to count shed hairs. That's life in its diversity ! (And beware : my next crazy experiment will be to know how many hair I have on my head, ha ha ha ! So I will count again, yessss ! I mean, I will count on several different square centimeters and make an estimation after I find a way to calculate my haired surface^^ :laugh:) and you know what ? I'm sure you will come around to look what I have found out ! :wink:

[Arctic]

100 is said to be an avarage, but like Copperlites said, it's very individual thing, and you can only know what is normal to you by observing it for a longer time period.

I was recently at a dermatologist about my hair loss, and she did a tugging test, which I have understood is a common test. She took a smallish chunck of hair from 4 or 5 differents areas of my scalp (I read somewhere that the chunck is supposed to be about 50 hairs, but she didn't count them,just eyeballed). Then she proceeded to put a medium, yanking force on those locks of hair, gliding her grip downwards as she pulled. It didn't hurt, but was unpleasant.

Anyway, if 5 or more hairs come out from one chunck of hair, and especially if the same happens with the other test chunks too, that is indicating a more than normal shedding rate.

This test is something one can do by themselves too.


Oh yes, the pull test. :thumbsup: I'd love to know more about this. :) How did the derm select which sections to test? Also, did they ask to come in at a specific time after a wash or right after a wash? From what I understand, it can be pretty sensitive to whether or not the person washed their hair or combed their hair recently...


I interpret a simple tests like these to be more like a rule of thumb, or a guide line - a quick, easy (and cheap, ha ha) procedure that gives some info for the doctor. It's never done as a stand-alone test, but in combination with different ones (laboratory tests, patient's own narrative, possible photographs, questions asked, viewing the scalp, medical history and medications, and so on). As we know here, normal shedding rates can vary a lot from person to person (and season to season, and so on), and I am sure the doctors know this too.

You'll need to ask from doctors/dermatologists, or do some searches about the test, if you want to know more. What I can tell, is that it seems to be a standard procedure for patients complaining about hairloss.

I didn't see what she was doing, I only have tactile knowledge about what was going on. She took those chuncks from different parts of my scalp, mostly from what we call the canopy hair (the upper layer or hair). The test results were as expected, and I only lost few hairs (IIRC 5-ish) as a sum total from all those different pulling test spots. It was expected because my shedding had returned back to normal some weeks prior, and my normal shedding rate is very low.

I wasn't given any directions about my hygiene or grooming before coming to the appointment, but I was taught as a little girl to always go to the doctor's appointment freshly washed, groomed, and squeaky clean, and I follow that advice even today. It's about respecting the doctor. I also wash my hair almost daily anyway. I am sure the doctors know these things can affect the pull test results, but since they hardly hold the test as one of big importance, no advice about hygiene/grooming is neccessary.

For me wash day doesn't increase shedding. My scalp and hair love being clean.

[meteor]

^ Thank you very much, Arctic! :flowers:

I was wondering about the time of wash, because more hair strands in telogen phase are supposed to come out right around the wash time (http://www.aafp.org/afp/2003/0701/p93.html#afp20030701p93-b1), so it could produce a lower number of strands on the pull test (after one has washed and carefully combed out all the hair right before the appointment) vs. if the wash had happened the day prior, which could potentially skew the results a bit, I would imagine. That's also part of the reason why in the past dermatologists sometimes used the so-called "hair wash" tests (https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=pHrX2-huQCoC&pg=PA132&lpg=PA132&dq=hair+wash+test+hair+growth+and+disorders&source=bl&ots=4xoRlzwMqC&sig=UCe7Dhsj_fFCAfHnTdOnL-INIdg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwivlOjbvqnJAhUFmh4KHeeqDpwQ6AEIMjAA#v=on epage&q=hair%20wash%20test%20hair%20growth%20and%20disor ders&f=false), to completely count up all current sheds from all over the scalp.

(In case people reading this are wondering, the "pull test" is testing the assumption that ~10% (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2938572/) of hair is currently in the telogen phase (e.g. =<5 strands come out of 50-strand chunks), which is considered healthy/normal %.
Of course the results should be viewed in context... For example, "it is possible to have a development of alopecia not from an increase in shedding, but rather a failure of new anagen hairs to grow after telogen hairs have been naturally shed. In this instance, the telogen hair follicle frequency is normal, but the scalp hairs gets gradually, progressively thinner" (http://www.keratin.com/ab/ab017.shtml), in which case the so-called "pluck test" (in which the roots of the plucked hairs are examined under a microscope to determine the phase of growth), scalp biopsy and other methods could give better information.

More on various methods of hair growth evaluation and their advantages and disadvantages: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2938572/)

[Silverbrumby]

On a separate thought how about the advice giv to people shedding excessive amounts to handle their hair gently? I don't get that as I thought hair about to fall out is going to fall out. Pondering




^ Thank you very much, Arctic! :flowers:

I was wondering about the time of wash, because more hair strands in telogen phase are supposed to come out right around the wash time (http://www.aafp.org/afp/2003/0701/p93.html#afp20030701p93-b1), so it could produce a lower number of strands on the pull test (after one has washed and carefully combed out all the hair right before the appointment) vs. if the wash had happened the day prior, which could potentially skew the results a bit, I would imagine. That's also part of the reason why in the past dermatologists sometimes used the so-called "hair wash" tests (https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=pHrX2-huQCoC&pg=PA132&lpg=PA132&dq=hair+wash+test+hair+growth+and+disorders&source=bl&ots=4xoRlzwMqC&sig=UCe7Dhsj_fFCAfHnTdOnL-INIdg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwivlOjbvqnJAhUFmh4KHeeqDpwQ6AEIMjAA#v=on epage&q=hair%20wash%20test%20hair%20growth%20and%20disor ders&f=false), to completely count up all current sheds from all over the scalp.

(In case people reading this are wondering, the "pull test" is testing the assumption that ~10% (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2938572/) of hair is currently in the telogen phase (e.g. =<5 strands come out of 50-strand chunks), which is considered healthy/normal %.
Of course the results should be viewed in context... For example, "it is possible to have a development of alopecia not from an increase in shedding, but rather a failure of new anagen hairs to grow after telogen hairs have been naturally shed. In this instance, the telogen hair follicle frequency is normal, but the scalp hairs gets gradually, progressively thinner" (http://www.keratin.com/ab/ab017.shtml), in which case the so-called "pluck test" (in which the roots of the plucked hairs are examined under a microscope to determine the phase of growth), scalp biopsy and other methods could give better information.

More on various methods of hair growth evaluation and their advantages and disadvantages: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2938572/)

[meteor]

On a separate thought how about the advice giv to people shedding excessive amounts to handle their hair gently? I don't get that as I thought hair about to fall out is going to fall out. Pondering

Definitely, hair that is about to fall out (catagen and then telogen phase), will fall out. :agree:
But it's also important to avoid damage or pulling out hair or causing extra tangling, hence the advice to handle hair gently, I would imagine that's the reason? :hmm:
(I guess they forgo this recommendation just temporarily for the testing purposes, hence the rather rough procedure of the "hair pluck test" (http://www.anvita.info/wiki/Hair_Pluck_Test), for example.)

[Silverbrumby]

Lol. I guess they do meteor. I do handle my hair gently but when it goes through a shed phase I try to not blame my handling.


Definitely, hair that is about to fall out (catagen and then telogen phase), will fall out. :agree:
But it's also important to avoid damage or pulling out hair or causing extra tangling, hence the advice to handle hair gently, I would imagine that's the reason? :hmm:
(I guess they forgo this recommendation just temporarily for the testing purposes, hence the rather rough procedure of the "hair pluck test" (http://www.anvita.info/wiki/Hair_Pluck_Test), for example.)

[lapushka]

OP, I have never seen sheds from using SL(E)S. When I was sulfate-free my hair shed just as much, so... :shrug: And when using CO, it was even more (due to manipulation I'm guessing).

[mwallingford]

I'm definitely on the high side. But my ponytail circumference stays pretty steady around 4.25" unless your circumference goes down, I wouldn't worry about shed rate. Every October, I go through a seasonal shed and I swear I lose upwards of 200 hairs a day, and a small kitten dies in the shower on those wash days. It freaked me out the first time I really noticed it (when I was around waist), but it was just because my hair is longer now so more noticeable when the sheds are 2+ feet.
On an average day I'm probably 100/150.

That's a reassuring number! I never actually sat down and counted all of my hairs just because I didn't really feel like taking the time to do it. LOL! I know just what you mean with "a small kitten dies in the shower on those wash days"! It looks for all the world that my hair collectively jumped off my head and sacrificed themselves to the drain. I wash my hair every four days, so that could have something to do with it as well, and my hair is only at around waist length, but the individual hairs look so long when they are finally pulled out of the cousin it laying on the drain or in the comb