Hair shedding woes...

[LocustSpawning]

Help! :(

My hair sheds much more than average. It has been like this for the past 2 months or so, for no apparent reason. I literally just barely run my fingers through it and then there's 6-10 strands just falling out. & I can keep doing it and doing it, and it just keeps coming out, and there's no end!! (I tried this just to see if it would.)

I eat a relatively healthy diet, get a sufficient amount of exercise, take good care of my hair, supplements, etc. I also get enough sleep.

Why is this happening?! It's driving me mad... any help is appreciated.

[Yozhik]

Have you counted how many hairs are coming out? I think the average shedding is something like approximately 100 hairs per day.

Maybe it just seems like a lot, because when you hair gets longer, the balls of hair you shed out seem much bigger. This at first began to freak me out, but then I realized what was happening. :)

Whatever it is, I'm sure stressing isn't good for it, so please try to relax and not worry about it. :flower: Speaking of stress, though, were you going through an emotionally or physically taxing time about 4-6 months ago? I think this is about how long it takes for effects to be seen on your head.

Also, I'm sure you already know this, but try not to run your fingers through your hair again and again -- less manipulation is better. Maybe you can try to put it up and forget about it for a while?

I hope you can figure out what's going on, and good luck! I'm sending strong hair vibes your way!

[aenflex]

Well it's going into fall/winter in the states...not sure about the UK. But fall/winter seems to be the time when many people are affected by increased shedding. I know I am, and my cats/dogs also are shedding like crazy. Unless you have suddenly had a hormone change, life stressor, allergic reaction, change in product, etc - I think you might be safe to assume that you are just doing your yearly shed?

[Fairlight63]

My hair is also shedding a lot. It sounds like you, when ever I touch my hair it comes out. What I am doing is putting it in a braided bun so that I don't keep pulling out loose strands of hair (bad habit I have picked up) When I take it down I brush it to get all the loose strands at one time & collect them in a zip lock bag from the brush. I am getting quite a collection. Don't know what I am going to do with it yet. I may need it to make me a wig, :p

On the bright side, when my hair sheds more seems like it is growing faster.

[faeflame]

Do you have any baby hairs sprouting up?? I am in the midst of a nasty shed (I think it is seasonal) and like you, I am finding strands coming loose every time I run my fingers through my hair and postwash detangling yeilds a large hairbaby of sheds shudder:. Thankfully, I also seem to have a crop of baby hairs coming in. I wonder if the shedding is just setting up for a lot of new winter growth???

[GrowingGlory]

My hair seems to shed most in Fall.

[aksown]

I've had abnormal shedding for about a year, I've lost nearly half the hair on my head and it doesn't seem to be slowing down at all. I feel your pain. In my case, the shed was caused by the stress of a sudden illness and death of a loved one so I'm expecting to eventually shed every hair that I had then. Fortunately, I'm growing new hairs as fast as I'm shedding so it's filling back in.
Have you changed something in your routine? New stress in your life? If nothing has changed then I'd say it's probably seasonal and... RELAX!!
Also, I second (third?) putting it up and not playing with it.

[jojo]

I normally shed at this time of year, but hardly anything this year since taking msm maybe this is an idea? garlic also is supposed to decrease shed.

[wanderwoot]

Speaking of stress, though, were you going through an emotionally or physically taxing time about 4-6 months ago? I think this is about how long it takes for effects to be seen on your head.

Is this really true?? My hair has been shedding like crazy for the last couple of months -- so much that I think I have lost at least 1/3 of my hair. I hope it has finally slowed down. I thought it might be hormonal -- I'd switched my method of birth control and the shedding started about the same time as some other symptoms, and I couldn't think of anything else. But I did go through an EXTREMELY stressful period about 6 months ago, so maybe that explains it.

Geez, yet another thing I can blame on my former supervisor!!

[angelfell]

I used to lose a decent amount in the shower, enough to clog the drain within the first 3 minutes :p, but since I've been taking biotin it's pretty much stopped. Maybe try that?

[Qwackie]

My hair's been shedding like crazy, and it itches a lot whenever it sheds. Usually sheds during the fall, so I'm not worried.

[sally_neuf]

I was actually thinking the other day about starting a thread with a Visual Shedding Guide You know?
For example, I have had a pixie for some several years, and now that I am almost BSL I think I'm shedding so much more, but It may just be the volume what scares me, because the hair is longer.

So, next time I comb my hair and gather a huge ball of hair, I will take a photograph and will add as caption "APL to BSL 2a hair, ii-iii" So people with hair similar as mine can see if their shedding is standar or what

Who would like to join me? :D

[LocustSpawning]

Sally_Neuf, that's a really good idea!

Also, sorry for taking so long to get back..
I've been going through a pretty stressful time in recent months, but I didn't think it'd be enough to affect my hair :( Oh well. I'm taking biotin now too, and I was taking garlic capsules anyway, I hope to seen an improvement soon :) Thank-you everyone!

[sally_neuf]

Yay! :D
Well, I'll start
I don't know if my shed is "normal" or "standar" or what, I can only say that I do have a lot of breakage due to three older chem dyed pre-LHC :o (and that I have not trimmed in 2 years!)

Behold! My shed ball of hair. It is not wet hair, is just normally, collected hair after I combed my hair and rolled into a ball.
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=6484&pictureid=86250
Every square is 1cm x 1 cm