Do you have to have long hair to shed?

[Shona]

my hair is APL, pretty much BLS very soon, and I've never been through a "shed", ever! In my whole life I could never recall a time where my hair just kept falling out. Do you need to have passed BLS hair to shed?! Or am I just quite lucky?


Thanks :)

[Amber_Maiden]

No, hair sheds whenever it's cycle is up, it can shed when it is short.

[DancingQueen]

I would say you are probably rather lucky :) I don't think hair have to be long to shed, but the shedding may seem more extreme when it is long?

[spidermom]

Nope. I think pretty much everybody alive sheds 1-100 hairs every single day. It doesn't matter how long they are, it only matters how long they've been growing out of the follicle. A hair can be lopped off at the scalp every few weeks, and it will still grow for however long it's supposed to grow, then it will shed out, even if it's only 1/4 inch long.

You probably just aren't noticing the shed hairs. If you brush through with a boar bristle brush, you will probably see some hairs in the bristles afterward.

[Shona]

I know everyone loses hair daily, but I've read about people haivng crazy sheds and worrying about it (which only makes things worse, right?). i've just never had this happen to me though. Maybe it will as my hair grows *fingers crossed it doesnt*

[Anje]

As evidenced by my bald father, no, you don't need long hair to shed.

However, shed hairs get to be more obvious when they're each 3 feet long. Even a change of a dozen more hairs per day is suddenly very noticable.

[heidi w.]

my hair is APL, pretty much BLS very soon, and I've never been through a "shed", ever! In my whole life I could never recall a time where my hair just kept falling out. Do you need to have passed BLS hair to shed?! Or am I just quite lucky?



Thanks :)

Hair sheds, no matter the length, regularly and daily. Examine detangling tools for bits of hair. I promise it's there.

The cycle of hair growth ensures that no one goes bald, really. So it's possible to have some shedding and not really notice it, particularly if at shorter lengths.

A major shed is often in response to some kind of particular trigger, such as in the wake of birthing a child. Shedding slows down greatly during gestation, and approximately 2-3 months after gestation OR breast feeding is done, many women endure a noticeable shed because the hair is going back to "normal" state. If it persists for overly long, you probably have a hormonal problem that needs to be discovered.

Sometimes medical illnesses trigger a shed, such as a heart condition or some such incident.

Sometimes it happens in droves in response to a thyroid or anemic condition. Too low of iron in the blood, anemia, can increase shedding on a chronic level.

Stress can cause an increase in shedding, as well. Stress is something we all deal with, and some don't deal well in the wake of some things, such as the loss of a loved one, the loss of a job. I had a big shed about 4 years ago in response to moving here and in with someone I didn't know. It was very, very hard, and it took almost two years for the shedding to slow down and eventually stop.

The hair care books tell of replacement in the process of how hair grows. Some describe shedding occurring at a higher rate perhaps about every 4 years or so, replacing effectively.

One can also, conversely, experience a peak in growth rate. For about a year or so for me I experienced magnificent monthly growth rates, as high as three inches in a given month, for example.

I wouldn't worry overly about shedding. Just if it happens, deal with it then. If it's gonna happen, there isn't a whole lot you can do, other than take hair vitamins which have a boatload of Vitamin A, and work via stunting somehow the shedding rate. They do not increase the length rapidly, necessarily, however. I'm unable to take Hair Vitamins as I have too much Vitamin A and excesses store in my fat cells, eventually causing me to itch from the inside outwardly. A very odd experience that my then dermatologist discovered and helped me with by instructing me to stop taking the hair vitamins.

heidi w.

[heidi w.]

As evidenced by my bald father, no, you don't need long hair to shed.

However, shed hairs get to be more obvious when they're each 3 feet long. Even a change of a dozen more hairs per day is suddenly very noticable.

Baldness, most often, is hereditary and in response to shifts in testosterone levels, as I understand it.

heidi w.

[jojo]

You don't really notice hair shedding until it reaches longer lengths. I am a seasonal shedder September being the month I tend to loose a lot of hairs, I honestly hardly ever shed anything the other months maybe 20-30 hairs tops. considering i have hypothyroidism I am very lucky.

[Anje]

Baldness, most often, is hereditary and in response to shifts in testosterone levels, as I understand it.

heidi w.
Yes, and when it happens, the hairs shed.

[ericthegreat]

EVERYONE who is able to grow their hair sheds their hair. That goes for both short-haired people and long-haired people. All the hair on our bodies goes through a natural cycle where they grow out to a certain length, then the growth stops and it enters a resting phase, and then it finally sheds out.

[redmj]

I have a question and have yet to ask it because there are so many threads about shedding and this seems like as good of one as any to ask it in. I have pretty thick hair and I shed ALOT all the time. I have never worried about it but then I hear y'all talking about how you only shed 1-100 a day. I couldn't even begin to count all the hair I shed. It is in the shower, in my chair at work, in my brushes. I wear it up all the time and it still is everywhere. After all that shedding you would think my hair would thin out but I have never noticed it to. What is up with that?

[jeanniet]

Some people shed more than others, and often will go through heavier seasonal sheds as well. I'd say I shed about 100 hairs a day, give or take, but in the early summer I go through a heavy shed and probably lose more like 150-200; sometimes I have a fall shed, too. I don't worry about it because it's normal for me. If I started losing a lot more than what I do, or if I had a heavy shed in the middle of winter, then I'd be worried. If this has been your usual pattern, and you're not seeing any real thinning, I wouldn't be too concerned.

[Anje]

I have a question and have yet to ask it because there are so many threads about shedding and this seems like as good of one as any to ask it in. I have pretty thick hair and I shed ALOT all the time. I have never worried about it but then I hear y'all talking about how you only shed 1-100 a day. I couldn't even begin to count all the hair I shed. It is in the shower, in my chair at work, in my brushes. I wear it up all the time and it still is everywhere. After all that shedding you would think my hair would thin out but I have never noticed it to. What is up with that?
My guess (and it is a guess) is that people with a large number of hairs on their heads can and probably do shed more than people with fewer hairs. Someone who is F/iii could lose many times the numbers of hairs that a C/i person could lose without having noticeable thinning. I do suspect that how much a person sheds has a lot to do with how much their hair tapers.

[ericthegreat]

I have a question and have yet to ask it because there are so many threads about shedding and this seems like as good of one as any to ask it in. I have pretty thick hair and I shed ALOT all the time. I have never worried about it but then I hear y'all talking about how you only shed 1-100 a day. I couldn't even begin to count all the hair I shed. It is in the shower, in my chair at work, in my brushes. I wear it up all the time and it still is everywhere. After all that shedding you would think my hair would thin out but I have never noticed it to. What is up with that?

The "1 to 100 strands a day" quote is only a rough estimate. Its the textbook example of how much hair the average human being sheds in a day. It is in no way representative of the normal shed rate of every single person on this planet. I mean if you read that same textbook, then it would also tell you that the life cycle of human hair is no longer than 6 years. Now if that were true, then no one would be able to grow their hair longer than 3 ft! And we can see from being on LHC that plenty of people including myself :) can grow their hair much longer than 3 ft.

As long as you do see any bald spots redmj, then you should be just fine. I think you just might naturally shed a bit more hair than the average person.

[redmj]

Ok. That was kinda what I thought, which would also explain the permanant halo of new growth I have.

[BrightEyes]

I've been shedding a lot more than normal recently and my hair is short. I've been a little concerned, but have tried not to worry too much about it. I'm hoping it's a seasonal thing.

But yeah, everybody sheds.

[spidermom]

I know everyone loses hair daily, but I've read about people haivng crazy sheds and worrying about it (which only makes things worse, right?). i've just never had this happen to me though. Maybe it will as my hair grows *fingers crossed it doesnt*

Oh; I see what you mean. It's mostly like that for me, too, although twice in the 6 years that I've been an LHC member, I was suddenly seeing so much shed hair that it made me go :shocked: I wasn't worried, though. My fur-kids shed buckets of hair at least twice a year, and they're all right, so I figured I was all right, too.

[KwaveT]

At your length even a more minor rate of shed should be quite noticable. My hairs are about a finger's length and yours are about half a foot longer than mine if your profile is right. You are quite lucky if you don't shed that much. I get much more shed when I conditioner my hair. They slid out in bunches then.

[supbanana]

my hair is APL, pretty much BLS very soon, and I've never been through a "shed", ever! In my whole life I could never recall a time where my hair just kept falling out. Do you need to have passed BLS hair to shed?! Or am I just quite lucky?


Thanks :)

It sounds like you don't mean normal daily shedding, but more like a seasonal shed where you would lose more hair than usual?

Like someone else in the thread mentioned, I shed a LOT more than usual in September. I don't know why, but it's been noticeable no matter my hair length (8-33 inches). I had my wisdom teeth out last Friday and yesterday I noticed that I combed out around a 100 or so strands in one sitting (normal for me is ~20). I freaked out, but it's back to normal today. I think if you had an unusual heavy shed, you'd know it. :)