Hair loss and I am beginning to panic!

[AutumnLeaves]

shudder: I am returning to board after 7 year absence for one big reason: Hair loss! I've always had a thick head of hair but in the past year or so, it has begun falling out. I can run my hands through it and come away with quite a few hairs. After washing and picking out my hair, I get literally a handful and that includes random hairs and small clumps (3+ hairs all together).

What is different? Some life changes, of course, not to mention getting older. But directly hair related is going from au naturel to blonde. Not sure if this is the culprit...but I imagine it cannot be good for the hair. The blonde was a direct response to fast appearing roots when using red previously. And yes, it was all gray prior to going back to coloring (again, life changes that made me feel it was necessary to begin coloring again, dang it!).

Doctor ran labs and all normal. She thinks stress related hair loss (a whole other ball of wax and potentially the real culprit and I am not prepared to figure that one out yet) and says should grow back...but I don't know. I've always been high stress even as a little girl...so not sure this is the reason.

I would love to go back to red or even back to letting it be gray (though not sure how wise that is when I have to work and be marketable)...but the roots thing is icky. I don't know what to do so please consider this a cry for help. HELP!!!!

[lapushka]

Bleach can be the culprit, yes.

If your bloodwork is fine, I wouldn't panic at all.

I don't know what else you could possibly do, but be patient. Is it possible to just let your hair grow out its natural color and quit bleach?

[Beeboo123]

You should collect and count the number of shed hairs, and see how many hairs are attached to the root. As long as it doesn’t exceed 125 hairs with root, it’s nothing to worry about

[lapushka]

Another note, now that Beeboo mentioned root bulbs. Maybe it's breaking off due to the bleach?

[AutumnLeaves]

I will double check but I think the root bulb is indeed coming out with it. I have to confess that I am quite scared about this.

[Zalicat]

Try not to think about it too much if it is stress, worrying more will just cause more stress which will lead to more hair loss :(

[renia22]

Always a pain to figure out, hair loss is. One other thing to rule out is medications, including over the counter ones. Sometimes even the ones that seem benign (like ibuprofen) can cause hair loss. Maybe not relevant for you, but thought I'd mention it just in case.

[Arciela]

Mine did the same thing when I was bleaching. Anytime I slightly ran my fingers through my hair, a bunch came out. Since I stopped bleaching in May, my thickness is slowly returning and my hair stopped falling out like that :)

[lucid]

Could it be age or hormone related?

[Stray_mind]

It can easilly be bleach. I didn't bleach my hair, but i used hair dye that contained hydrogen peroxide. My hair was falling out for weeks, just like that, i ran my hand trough it after a wash and it came out in strands.... I quit the dye and things are getting back to normal now. Does your hair overall feels thinner now?

[LeonineMane]

I had the same thing happen with all my blood tests coming back normal and no hormonal issues yet still a lot of hair loss. The only thing that stopped it for me was completely cutting gluten from my diet. My hair loss completely stopped after about a week but even a day or 2 after cutting it out the hair fall was noticeably less! It may be worth trying and see if it improves.

[erebus]

In my experience stress takes a toll over time. You say you've always been stressed, but that doesn't mean your body always reacts the same to it. That said, maybe bleach is the more likely culprit.

[Norcalhiker]

We are the same age. I started losing hair about 10 yrs ago. Diet played a key role in controlling hair loss.

In July 2015, my hair was cut in a chin length bob. It’s now waist length even after cutting is at least twice during the past 18 months. Each cut took off 1 1/2” - 2” in length.

I find I get nearly an inch of growth per month if I eat right and take supplements. This also keeps my hair from falling out.

Protein: at least 80 grams protein per day. A mix of animal and vegetable proteins. Examples of animal proteins I eat are: chicken, ground turkey, eggs, salmon, kefir, yogurt, and whole milk. Vegetable protein includes tofu, quinoa, peas, chickpeas, and lentils.

I use a food tracker similar to My Fitness Pal to track my protein intake.

Supplements:

Biotin: 10 mg per day

Folic acid: 800 mcg per day

Marine collagen: 2000 mg per day

Vitamin D3: 20,000 mg per day ( I take high dose to treat psoriasis, but my doctor tells me a standard dose should be at least 1000 mg per day)

Active B12: 3000 mcg per day

Vitamin B6: 400 mcg per day

[spidermom]

I'm not so quick to blame your blonde color. I wonder if there's a lot of bleaching involved since you're starting with a base of gray hair.

I go through cycles of intense shedding and have accepted it as normal for me, although it's a little startling at times. I was losing buckets of hair when I was in Ohio around the death of my father, and my hair is still not as thick as it was before that, but it's thick enough.

Whatever is going on, I hope you either find a solution or come to a state of peace about it.

[lapushka]

I'm not so quick to blame your blonde color. I wonder if there's a lot of bleaching involved since you're starting with a base of gray hair.

I go through cycles of intense shedding and have accepted it as normal for me, although it's a little startling at times. I was losing buckets of hair when I was in Ohio around the death of my father, and my hair is still not as thick as it was before that, but it's thick enough.

Whatever is going on, I hope you either find a solution or come to a state of peace about it.

It depends all on whether it is actual hair coming out or breakage - that's the thing you need to find out, OP.

I always write down how much I shed (small, normal, large amount) in my weekly blog post - I know what that is and whether or not it's alarming for me. My blog posts are almost all the same (save for products used) so it's quite boring, but I can track a lot from it; my usage of product mostly. And some things sometimes do change, like using the wet brush for the first time to detangle last week (bit of an experiment).

But anyway...

OP, I'd try and determine that first!

[melikai]

shudder: I am returning to board after 7 year absence for one big reason: Hair loss! I've always had a thick head of hair but in the past year or so, it has begun falling out. I can run my hands through it and come away with quite a few hairs. After washing and picking out my hair, I get literally a handful and that includes random hairs and small clumps (3+ hairs all together).

What is different? Some life changes, of course, not to mention getting older. But directly hair related is going from au naturel to blonde. Not sure if this is the culprit...but I imagine it cannot be good for the hair. The blonde was a direct response to fast appearing roots when using red previously. And yes, it was all gray prior to going back to coloring (again, life changes that made me feel it was necessary to begin coloring again, dang it!).

Doctor ran labs and all normal. She thinks stress related hair loss (a whole other ball of wax and potentially the real culprit and I am not prepared to figure that one out yet) and says should grow back...but I don't know. I've always been high stress even as a little girl...so not sure this is the reason.

I would love to go back to red or even back to letting it be gray (though not sure how wise that is when I have to work and be marketable)...but the roots thing is icky. I don't know what to do so please consider this a cry for help. HELP!!!!

Hey I remember you :)

Some things that I don't think I've seen mentioned yet:
~Have you recently moved, or has there been a change in your water source?
~Have you been using any new products or techniques on your hair?
~Has your diet changed at all?

Best wishes! :flower:

[Reservechic]

What you may possibly be experiencing could be associated with any number of factors honestly. Such possible factors are: female pattern baldness, medications, stress, improper hair management, excessive hair manipulation, illness, a scalp disorder, etc.

With the hair thinning that I started experiencing in certain areas on my head, it is due to severe scalp eczema that had gone birth undiagnosed and untreated for many years. I have started having yearly physicals, as in the past I used to skip getting them at all. However, through grieving older, I became much wiser. I have not had anything major that was found that I had wrong with me. Now, the females in my family, as they got much older, their hair started to get thinner, due to their age, but of course that happens to most females. However, it is not something that happens to all females, because there are women that are of older age that happen to have full heads of hair. Which is why, it is always best not to stop until you actually are able to get to the root cause of your problem, because diagnosing scalp issues is definitely not a very easy thing to do over the Internet at all, to be completely honest with you. It's best to deal with a true expert, face-to-face. Therefore, in my opinion, if you can afford to go see a dermatologist, then that would probably be the best route for you to go just so that he or she can do a thorough check of your scalp (and further blood work if needed), and have them provide you with their diagnosis (to see if what you're really dealing with is truly related to stress or if there's something else possibly going on instead). So, that way, your mind can be put at better ease.

[Rhoward]

I lost a lot of hair a few years back and it was sooo stressful so I understand how you feel. In my case it turned out to be a side effect of medication that i was on, stopped taking it and my hair slowly came back. Try not to panic, be nice to your hair and hopefully it will sort itself out soon.