So...do regular shampoo's cause hair loss?

[Thumper]

I've been back on shampoo bars for a week now...I hadn't used them in a few years. Again, I see that as soon as I use only the shampoo bars, my rate of shedding is next to nil. If I had to guess, I'd say that shampoo washes resulted in about 50-70 hairs and shampoo bars I lose 10-20...yes THAT much of a difference. I'm not washing my hair any differently, but this has me wondering if shampoo with detergents can cause my hair to fall out prematurely?

[littlenvy]

I highly doubt that current shompoos will do that kind of damage.
But I will tell you a story.
When I was a little girl my mother had very nice thick hair. At some point she bought some herbal shampoo (which I doubt had any herbs in it) that was a bad batch and was not chemically or pH balanced. After only one use she developed horrible sores all over her scalp and had to be rushed to emergency. She was given a set of shots for weeks afterwards and most of her hair fell out. Some of her hair grew back in a year or so but it was less then half of what she used to have, it was also much thinner.

As for why your hair sheds more when shampooing ... maybe shampoo bars don't get all the way to your roots and that postpones the shedding? Maybe with shampoo bars you will get one major shed instead of regular sheds on daily basis? I'm sure the bars a bit gentler on your hair and scalp than shampoo so maybe there is less breakage?

[virgo75]

I highly doubt that current shompoos will do that kind of damage.
But I will tell you a story.
When I was a little girl my mother had very nice thick hair. At some point she bought some herbal shampoo (which I doubt had any herbs in it) that was a bad batch and was not chemically or pH balanced. After only one use she developed horrible sores all over her scalp and had to be rushed to emergency. She was given a set of shots for weeks afterwards and most of her hair fell out. Some of her hair grew back in a year or so but it was less then half of what she used to have, it was also much thinner.

As for why your hair sheds more when shampooing ... maybe shampoo bars don't get all the way to your roots and that postpones the shedding? Maybe with shampoo bars you will get one major shed instead of regular sheds on daily basis? I'm sure the bars a bit gentler on your hair and scalp than shampoo so maybe there is less breakage?

Aw, that's such a sad story about your mom's hair. :(

I have to agree that there can be many reasons for an increase or decrease in shedding.

For ex: after much experimenting I've found my scalp HATES anything creamy on it and spits out my hair at an alarming rate when creamy products spend more than 1 second there and aren't immediately rinsed off. This includes creamy moisturizing shampoos and conditioners, so CO washing is out of the question.

I've also tried sulfate free and 'natural' products(shikakai, reetha). I had the least shedding with shikakai, but I wasn't using conditioner so that could have helped. Sulfate free was ok, but I lost more using that than 'regular' clear sulfate shampoos. :shrug:

[DoubleCrowned]

Regular shampoo seemed to either make my hair fall out or cause it to break off. I don't know which it was, but there'd be gobs of hair in the drain. I brush my hair before I wash it, so that should have removed any hairs that were ready to go. I heard once that the conditioners in the shampoo and conditioner, which make the hair soft, might have softened my fine hair to the point that it was dissolving in the weak spots.

Without shampoo, I don't see any fallen hair when I wash it (using herbs, egg, or plain water).

[YesitsReal]

That's funny--I've always noticed WAY more shedding with 'poo bars than with regular shampoo. I always thought it was because the liquid shampoo made my hair have less friction with itself and my fingers.

[christine1989]

From what I have observed myself, yes, some shampoos cause hairs to fall out before their time. There are some shampoos (mostly ones with SLS) that make me shed 20+ hairs in the shower each time I use them even when I only use a dime size amount diluted :(. My current shampoo however (100% natural, no SLS) only results in 5-7 shed hairs per shower (and I use a big handful of it). If shampoo bars result in that much shed difference than your hair is obviously telling you to keep on using them! :)

[torrilin]

It Depends.

For me, it doesn't much matter what I use. Either it's a simple, minimally fragranced product and my hair is happy... or there's a ton of fragrance and my scalp gets *pissed*. Most hair products are pretty heavily fragranced, so I tend to be running around in a state of moderate scalp irritation all the time. That means I fuss with my hair and scalp more, and that leads to more shedding.

If I leave my scalp alone, I shed less.

[Scarlet_Heart]

When I used to use mainstream shampoo I would pull gobs of loose hairs away after my showers. Now that I switched to CO, I hardly shed at all. There has to be something to it. Even using shampoo bars I don't really shed, but as soon as I go back to regular shampoo... gobs. Could be something about our hair type or body chemistry? Not sure, but I just wanted to let you know you're not crazy because I've experienced the same thing.

[vindo]

Keep in mind the detergents could also just cause the hair more breakage.

But to answer your question, commercial brands have many inci that can be classified as harsh, irritants or toxins. So there is the possibility that 1. your scalp can be in a state of stress and shed some hairs before their time (shortened anagen phase), this could also be the case if you develop some sort of allergy or eczema, or if you switch back and forth betweeen harsh and mild products.
2. The scalp is an organ, feeding it too many chemicals can actually cause protein denaturation, which can leave you with a different hair structure.

Generally some chemicals are best avoided, but if you must, you need to see what works for you. Many Long Hairshave no problems whatsoever with commercial products. :)

[Thumper]

You know...this is now reminding me of something interesting that happened about 7 years ago. We used to have this bathtub that was stained badly...I mean that friggen yellow stain on the white WOULD NOT COME OUT. I had tried all kinds of products and nothing got it out. This staining was due to the iron bacteria in our well water. Anyways, our home used to be a bungalow and we decided to raise it to a 2 story. While the house was being lifted, my bottle of conditioner on the edge of the bathtub, fell over. I guess I had left it opened because it spilled out and ran down the side of the tub. Well I didn't bother cleaning it up because due to lifting the house, we had to move out of it for 2 months while the frame was built for the second story. The house was a complete mess by the way, lots of cracked drywall, tiles, and everything in between. Anyways after a couple of weeks I came back to the house to collect a few items and walked around and wouldn't you know it? That stain in the tub was completley gone where the shampoo had spilled. (It was Sauve by the way) I kinda took that event to heart. I realize I don't actually leave product on my hair for anywhere close to this amount of time, but still, it makes you wonder what daily or even a couple of times a week might do after long use.

[beez1717]

I've noticed that I tend to shed the most when I am shampooing. It doesn't matter with what but my hand always comes away with one strand or so. I guess I just don't shed that much. But, no matter how I brush my hair it always pulls out of my scalp. Yuck. Oh well. I can say though that using Johnson's and Johnson's Baby Shampoo just ruins my hair almost immediately. It's almost like it's saying to me "no more tears and no more hair!"