Longer hair, more shedding???

[Lile]

Do you think that sheddig has something to do with the length(the weight)of the hair???What are your experiences?
When here on LHC I read about scary "big sheds" the stories always belong to very long haired people...

[mira-chan]

I had shedding at waist to hip length when my hair was shorter than now (classic length). Sheds are caused by health reasons, stress, hormones, medications, post pardum, etc. not due to hair weight. If you are having a really big shed a visit to a doctor is in order, not a hair dresser.

I had a big shed, but my hair type changes and sebum production reduced, all due to hormonal change when exiting puberty.

[SimplyViki]

I don't think it has anything to do with the weight of the hair, really. I think part of it is that anyone who joins a site like this inevitably pays a lot of attention to their hair. Also, if hair is longer, any shedding tends to be more noticeable, and lots of shedding would be practically panic-inducing!

[renarok]

I think that shedding is so much more noticeable when each strand is a couple of feet long (or longer!)

When your hair is short and it sheds out it often isn't even noticed because it just floats away.

Long hairs tend to cling to their neighbors and only leave your head when you brush or wash.

Though most of us find plenty of shed hairs snugly wrapped into the rollers of our vacume cleaners.

[Nat242]

No, I don't think they're related; shed hair is just more noticeable when it's long. Sheds are caused by natural cycles and by the things Mira-Chan mentioned.

[mira-chan]

No, I don't think they're related; shed hair is just more noticeable when it's long. Sheds are caused by natural cycles and by the things Mira-Chan mentioned.
Yup. My mother's shoulder length shed hairs are just about invisible next to my one coarse 3 foot dark hair. That one hair when rolled in a clump looks impressive enough.

[Unnamed]

Nope, shedding not related to extra length/weight of hairs

Or, well, not more hairs as in number of shed hairs. Will be more 'hair' in general, though, simply because, say, when someone, say, sheds 20 hairs (random number) a day that are an average of 10" long that's 200" total of 'hair'. But when someone has 20 hairs shed a day that are 15"on average that's 300" total, or 150% the amount of 'hair' of what it was when 5" sorter, even though it was the same number of sheds.

So there's more actual 'hair' being shed when the shed hairs are longer even though the number of hairs that were shed didn't go up. So it's not actually more shedding, it just looks like more because the hairs are longer.

Plus a lot of shorter hairs that are tend to just float off (or, well, mine do). So as they get longer they're more likely to be seen/stay put, too.


Big sheds...well, those you pretty much know when you've got those (or I sure do :rolleyes: ). I lose measurable thickness, and my hair will just shed and shed and shed. I've had two recent major sheds of about half my hair (57% in early 2004; 46% in late 2008 ) due to hypothyroidism.

[Nevermore]

I had the worst shedding of my life when I had short, very layered hair. I've since discovered that I'm allergic to something in shampoo, possibly ALS or one of the other strong sulfates. I had hair that was between three and six inches long, with most of it around four or five inches, and I had to clean my shower drain mid-shower and clean my comb several times while combing.

I switched to CO and stopped shedding that much, I haven't shed anywhere near that much and my hair is roughly 6 times longer than it was then. I normally shed between 20-30 hairs after a shampoo now (I've found one that doesn't cause shedding). Sometimes it looks like alot of hair and I'll count it, but it's never been more than 35 hairs.

[Debra83]

My friend had waist length hair, and shed a ton after she delivered her baby. I gave birth a month before her and I had waist length hair and I did not shed at all. But, I also did not have morning sickness, nor did I have cravings - I was supplementing with vitamins, so I wasn't missing any nutrients.

[shadowclaw]

A few years ago, I did some reading on the web about long hair care. There was one website that I believe does not exist anymore called the Long Hair Site. It had a section devoted to a long hair care expert (I don't remember the name) who suggested that the longer your hair is, the fewer hairs you shed. Don't know if it's true or not.

I should check out the Internet archive and see if I can find that information again. It had a lot of stuff about oiling, brushing, and how to wash long hair.

[enfys]

A few years ago, I did some reading on the web about long hair care. There was one website that I believe does not exist anymore called the Long Hair Site. It had a section devoted to a long hair care expert (I don't remember the name) who suggested that the longer your hair is, the fewer hairs you shed. Don't know if it's true or not.

I should check out the Internet archive and see if I can find that information again. It had a lot of stuff about oiling, brushing, and how to wash long hair.

I heard that was related to te muscles by the follicles being stronger.

If that's the case we should shed less, but maybe that's the daily normal shedding. Any health related, hormonal, or sickness related sheds will still happen.

[Spiffyhink]

A few years ago, I did some reading on the web about long hair care. There was one website that I believe does not exist anymore called the Long Hair Site. It had a section devoted to a long hair care expert (I don't remember the name) who suggested that the longer your hair is, the fewer hairs you shed. Don't know if it's true or not.

I should check out the Internet archive and see if I can find that information again. It had a lot of stuff about oiling, brushing, and how to wash long hair.

I remember that site. I thought that the forums here had replaced the ones that were on that site before it shut down. He had some interesting ideas, but I don't think he had ever backed up any of them with research. I think most of that guy's information was based on speculation and anecdotal evidence.

From what I've heard anyway hair shedding seems to be either cyclical (normal shedding) or caused by health problems (abnormal hair shedding).