My shedding has gone extremely weird- Please help

[Dreamkitty]

My normal shedding has gone weird and its is freaking me out. When I use normal shampoo and conditioner, Coconut or Amla oil, I shed at the average rate a person would. There was a few hairs on the comb, I washed my hair 3 times a week.

This week my wash was Tuesday and I used Amla Oil then Aritha and Shikakai powder to cleanse my hair, The day after that my hair felt greasy, unclean yet I was shedding very little hair, there was a difference then when I used normal shampoo. My shedding cycle has gone weird after using the herbal powders.

This Sunday I washed my hair properly and went back to using shampoo & conditioner along with lemon to rinse my hair. My hair felt very clean, it felt soft because of CO but when I came out of the bath tub, there was a small ball of hair which looked like all the days hair which I should have shed but I didn't, it just came out in the second wash.

So now today I combed my hair, still the same thing. Very little hair on the comb.

But I don't understand it, why did all the hair which I should have shed for that day come out in the wash? when I combed my hair lots of time, it wouldn't shed. Is it because the hair got trapped in the grease? and so all the hair that should have been shed got released from the grease/hair oil when I washed?:confused:

One thing I will add is that despite all of this, the herbal powders make my hair feel very strong and since my first use, Im shedding very little in general compared to what it was couple of months ago when I was not a member at LHC. :)

[Purdy Bear]

Im not quite sure but the following maybe a factor:

. Which season your in as you supposedly shed less in Winter.

. What your eatting.

. It may have been the hair was there but not in an area you reached with the comb/brush.

. The change in washing product may have caused it.


Personally I wouldnt worry to much, as low shedding is usually a much wished for thing here. LOL!

[Dreamkitty]

^^ Hmm thanks for the info. Im not sure exactly what has brought about this change, I do want low shedding but its like most of the shedding comes out in my was rather then fall out during the day lol. But I think you might be right, prehaps there is some area's im not brushing, my hair is thick and I comb it and then sometimes just put uo a plait for the whole day and just comb it again at night.:p

[bumblebums]

I used to shed more when I was on shampoo+conditioner. I shed less on herbs and WO. I also shed most of my hair when I wash my hair, as opposed to during the days when it stays dry.

[nytquill]

It can be a difference in how you handle your hair using a different wash routine. I find that overall my shed rate is about the same but depending on how much rubbing my wash method requires, more of it will come out in the shower sometimes and less on the brush, or vice versa. In other words if a hair is going to shed then it will, the difference is in where I'm standing when I work the shed hair free from the rest.

So if the herb powders for example require more rubbing and scrubbing than shampoo, then it will get out more shed hairs as you do it. Or if it's the other way round and you rub your hair more with shampoo and conditioner. You aren't making more hairs shed, you're just making the hairs that have already shed come out faster and at this certain time that you're washing.

For this reason I often brush my hair before I shower so that I have fewer shed hairs to deal with while I'm washing, and less hair that goes down the drain.

I think that maybe because your hair was more greasy/sticky after the herb wash, perhaps the shed hairs sort of stuck to the rest of your hair because of the greasiness, so that then when you washed your hair with shampoo and made it soft and slippery again, all the day's shed hairs came "unstuck" at once. They were probably already loose from your head but hadn't yet fallen to the ground, and then you washed them out in the shower.

It's also true that if you put your hair in a braid or bun or other "contained" style it often seems like you shed more once you take it down. You aren't actually shedding more but rather all the hairs that should have fallen out during the day don't, because they are held in by the braid, so when you unbraid your hair and brush it, then you get all the day's loose hairs coming off at once and it seems like more.

[Dreamkitty]

nytquill- Thanks for sharing your theory, the way you put it makes perfect sense, I was thinking along similar lines too. Because my hair was greasy after the herbal rinse, the days hair got stuck, clumped up all together and it became all released during the wash. My hair is in a braid everyday so I guess all the shed hairs are trapped in a way lol.

Im going to try brushing/combing my hair, like you said before I shower. My mum is always telling me to clean the bath tub and its more messy, scooping up the wet shedded hairs and flushing it in the toilet. I would much rather, shed all my days hair on a comb or brush and then just gather it up in a ball and simply throw it in the bin. :eek:

[Dreams_in_Pink]

I noticed that the cleaner my hair is and the more i massage my scalp, more hair falls out. I guess the difference is how you handle your hair. There's always an amount of hair ready to fall off. After shedding lots of hair, it's natural that you don't shed so much next time you comb. If you always shed a lot, then there's a problem.

Besides, greasy hair seems to stick to each other, preventing hair from falling.

[nytquill]

Haha I also have the habit, some might think this is gross but it doesn't bother me, of sticking my shed hairs in the shower to the tile wall. Even when I brush first, I still get some hairs every time I run my fingers through as I'm washing. With the humidity of the shower it sticks really well to the tile, gets the loose hairs off of me and keeps them from clogging the drain too. I just have to remember to gather them up and throw them out when I'm done.

The only time I really find it gross is when I clean out the hair trap in the drain...but my husband has very short hair so whatever is in there is all from me and it's only fair that I be the one to clean it out so the shower drains properly...still, ew! But in any case I just throw it all in the trash, I don't want to flush it down the toilet and have the toilet get clogged, plus that's a lot of water to flush the toilet just to get rid of some shed hairs. When it's hair from the drain and it's really gross to look at, I cover the top of the trash can with some tissue or toilet paper so nobody has to see it until I can take out the trash. :)

[spidermom]

I understand being new and obsessing about your hair all the time, truly I do, but I'm getting the impression from all these threads you have started in recent weeks that you are obsessing WAY too much. Try some benign neglect. Put your hair up, and forget about it. There's life to be lived, and hair seems to grow best when you're not looking at it.