Shed from bumping head?

[noelgirl]

At my workplace, we have lockers to store our personal effects, and the other day, after placing my purse in my locker on the bottom row, I bumped my head on an open locker door above me. I didn't black out or notice any bleeding, but what did freak me out a bit was that when I undid my braid to check for bleeding on the scalp, a clump of about 10-20 strands came out at once right around that spot. I know we lose 100 strands a day, so it's probably not even noticeable in the scheme of things, but I'm wondering if that's common, shedding from just a bump on the head?

[trampledbygeese]

Wow. I hope your head feels better soon.

Did you notice if the hairs that came out had their roots attached? Sometimes when I have my hair in a braid and suffer a sudden impact, I find that some of the hairs have been yanked.

Or is it possible they were broken by the sudden impact? It my hair is feeling dry and brittle, then sometimes they could be broken like that.

By the way, is it true we are only suppose to loose 100 strands a day due to shedding?

[jacqueline101]

I'd say it is coincidence your hairs were probably ready to shed and were broke off or pulled out by the bump.

[DoubleCrowned]

A cat with a wound lost hair around it. The vet said the hair loss was because of the local fever that the injury caused. Could your bump on the head created that much heat? I think it more likely, though, that, because the hair was in a braid, it was restrained enough that certain hairs had no way to bend when hit, so they broke.

[ruffian]

Speaking as someone who has the unfortunate tendency to bang their head on a regular basis, I can tell you that if you hit your head hard enough (like, say, to cause a bump or a cut), then yes, that can cause some hairs to fall out around that spot. (They grow back though).

But that doesn't usually happen until a while after the injury. Since it sounds like you noticed this pretty quickly after it happened, my guess would be that those hairs broke off, like others have said. (Not surprising, if you hit your head off something with sharp or angular edges like a locker door.)

[noelgirl]

Thanks for the responses. It was right after the bump that the clump came out, and I haven't noticed any unusual shedding since (even though the spot is still a bit sore), so it probably was just breakage. As I'm sure people here would understand, though, it did freak me out!

[Miss Maisie]

That sounds like breakage to me. When I was a little girl I had serious head trauma, and while the hair didn't fall out right away, a few weeks later all the hair in that area came out. To this day I have a bald spot on the top of my hair from it. Thing is though, it takes a LOT of trauma for that to happen (mine involved being on a big swing when it collapsed, and a steel bar with the weight of my mom, grandpa, brother, sister, and myself hit me on the top of my skull. The doctors were amazed that I was still alive). I'd be willing to bet that yours is just breakage, and that it should grow back just fine!

[Savahead]

Being six foot five, I am a pro at bumping my head. The only times I have ever notices hairs being broken or torn out of my head is if there is an edge or groove for the hair to get caught on or in.

If the hairs came out of your pony tail from the same place then it was likely breakage, otherwise, probably just good old everyday sheding.

[Seeshami]

The bump could have ripped them out. I think I would notice the pain of the bump more then my hair being pulled out.

I am also a firm believer in when people cry about paper cuts go grab the bone saw and offer to cut off a leg, no one takes me up on the offer, I have no idea why:cheese:. Some pains are bigger then others and you won't notice them when you have a bigger pain to worry about. And survival instinct will tell you to worry about the blow to the head and not the now severed hair.