Is my hair going into the resting phase? My hair's shedding like a massacre

[piffyanne]

For the past few months (it's gotten much worse in the past month), I've been losing hair a lot faster, it seems. I brush as usual (gently), and my TT (or comb, or ANYTHING I'm using) comes away with full-length hairs. Lots of them. I've taken to cleaning off the brush HALFWAY through the detangling process, and the resultant hairballs are the same size as what a week's worth of hairloss on a brush USED to be. :( They all have a tiny white ball on one end (I associate that with the root), and not only do I not feel pain when they come out, I don't feel a thing. I look down and there's a sudden and entirely unheralded massacre on my brush! :rip:shudder::shrug: (It's a 3-smiley sentence. What can I say?)

I'm also losing significantly (5 or 6 times) more hair in the shower. I'm worried, because this is all hair I lost AFTER brushing it out before the shower and having a massacre then too. Why was there all this sheddable hair still? Did my brush miss it, or is this all stuff that died DURING the shower? :uhh:

I first noticed this happening when I braided at night (no ponytail first, just the braid) and wore it the next day: I'm getting huge amounts of matting at the base of the scalp near the neck. When I hand-detangled, I realized that it was shed hairs causing the problem. I experimented again and again, same result. I'm scared of sleeping in a ponytail for fear of breakage.

I started taking Biotin in November, but although I noticed a slight increase in shed, and also from the root, this seems different: much, much worse.

Also, in 2003 or so, I had a major shed. MAJOR. I told my doctor, and he thought I was exaggerating, so I took a 1/2 gallon-size juice jar and filled it for a month with hairs I'd shed in the SHOWER alone. He believed me the next time I went in, when he saw what I'd brought him.

It's been more than 6 years (closer to ten) since then, do you think my hair's lifecycle is longer? I started really getting my hair in really late (blonde babies sometimes do), so is it possible my hair sheds on a ten-year cycle?:justy:

I'm getting frantic, and I'm LHC-paranoid, too, since I mourn lost hairs more than I did before I was on LHC. Any ideas?

[Madora]

Not to frighten you further, but you might want to make an appointment with your doctor to check your blood for anemia. Thyroid issues can also affect hair growth.

Good luck!

[Cheveux en péta]

Are you getting enough protein? Have your eating habits changed? What did the doc say?

[Mesmerise]

You may want to consider getting some blood tests done, but also consider whether you went through any major stress, or eating changes in the months prior to your shed starting (or illness, like the flu). I have found that these things can cause major sheds. However, my big sheds have never lasted more than three months (which is good as I don't have that much hair to start with!).

Have you measured your circumference and detected a noticeable change?

It is possible that it's just a regular cycle with your hair, and that the issue will resolve itself in time and your hair will go back to normal. It is a PITA though, if your hair thins significantly, as you end up with silly thick regrowth and thin ends (although you're a ii/iii thickness so this may not end up looking as bad on you as it does for someone with thickness at the lower end of ii!).

[dollyfish]

This happens to me maybe once a year. Though it also has coincided with the periods when I neglected my hair. Perhaps it's just me.

As an aside, I'm definitely going to refer to this as "shedding like a massacre" from now on. A+

[Miss Maisie]

I've been going through a crazy shed lately. I've been mildly alarmed, but I've also noticed two things:

1. There are several other people on the board talking about shedding
2. I've noticed a growth spurt

I'm wondering if this is a seasonal thing (for me at least). My bloodwork is fine. This is the first summer in years that my hair's been long (not to mention that I've actually paid attention to my shedding!).

You're definitely not alone right now!! I hope your shed stops soon.

[piffyanne]

Further information: the occasion arose where I've had to measure my waistline twice this month, once at the beginning and once at the end. I'd gone up an inch in circumference during that space of time, although I can't recall whether it was circumstances like skimping on water the first day and maybe having a huge meal the day of the second measurement.

I'm alllllways cold, and that's often a symptom of iron deficiency. I've been getting more meat (and hence protein), but it's partly because I've started CRAVING it (so that's not a good sign, right?). I daily have fish sticks in the morning and double helpings of whatever meat is being served at dinner.

My eating habits have been bad since 6th grade (the year before The Great Shed): I went through a several-year spurt of major clinical depression (suicidal thoughts, excessive lethargy, the works) and got out of the habit of eating. I wasn't trying to hurt myself, I was too tired to bother, I didn't notice I was missing meals, I didn't care. I'd eat when I was hungry, but I was only noticeably hungry every couple DAYS (seriously. It's strange, and it's true.)

Then I started having fainting spells, and it turned out I'd gotten dehydrated, too (that, and the doctor diagnosed anemia at the same time). Until 5th grade I drank water almost as often as I breathed, because I enjoyed the taste of our well water. We switched to Lake Michigan water, and, although everyone else LOVES it, I miss the well water taste. So I don't drink as much, (even when I purposely set out to be hydrated. I just can't stand the LMW in large quantities) because I find it distasteful, and there goes my hydration. :rolleyes: I forget about it, too.

I drink more than I used to, and I haven't fainted in years, although I still get badly dehydrated if I spend any time out doors in the heat. (I sometimes wonder if this is why I don't sweat? That's another topic, but I only, ONLY sweat if I'm suuuuper overheated. It's great for the vintage clothes I wear, it's bad for the PiffyAnne.) I'm building a new habit of drinking a mug of water before bed, and I suck down a huge quantity of tea each day, so that's where my fluids all come from.

I'm STILL trying to break the habits I picked up those three years. I try to eat more regularly (I've gone up from 1 meal: dinner to 2 meals: breakfast and dinner), but then I realize I haven't eaten in two days AGAIN and I look myself in the mirror's eyes and ask my body "why didn't you TELL me??" I'm also going to say right here that although it IS destructive, I'm not doing it on purpose. I'm just absent minded. It's not Bulimia or Anorexia, and it's not on purpose: I'm not trying to lose weight, and I really don't care two hoots what I weigh.

My diet is only as varied as my mom's dinners are. I'm the kind who gets into ruts. I've had fishsticks with malt vinegar on them every morning since August of 2011, and had a pouch of tuna fish every Tuesday and Thursday of the school year (easier to transport in my backpack, and I was stuck on campus, which is an hour away).

I'm TRYING to improve my habits, but I don't see how any of this ^ would have made such a drastic change in my hair if it's been going on for a long time.

A few weeks ago, I oiled with olive oil and CO'd it out. Loved it for a week, and did it again the next week (I only wash once a week, when I neeed it). Then I oiled and ended up leaving the oil in for almost a week, but I had to use diluted shampoo to get it out because the CO left it feeling greasy still.

It's a change in routine, and it happened around the time the main part of the massacre started, although the matting from hair loss dates from long beforehand of the olive oil use. Do you think it's the oiling's fault? I'm still thinking it's the anemia, but it's weird.

>deep breath< Now you know more about me than you ever wanted to, but maybe it helps?

Take away/TLDR: Eat regularly, drink water, vary your diet, and avoid picking up habits that are harmful, or you'll be dealing with breaking them for years to come.:o

I've bolded some key points, in case you don't feel like reading my life's story.

[MonaMayfair]

OK. The always feeling cold can be a symptom of thyroid imbalance and putting weight on for no reason (your waist measurement) definitely can be a sign of under active thyroid.
I have an underactive thyroid myself. I actually LOST weight as one of my symptoms (but this is really unusual, most people put weight on when their thyroid is under active (and lose weight when it's over active)
I had a massive shed. I still do periodically (I'm having one right now) because my thyroid levels fluctuate all the time. I get tested every three months.

Google the symptoms of thyroid disorders and see if you have any of the others (they're so random, it's not easy to connect the dots and realize you have an illness) It was the hair loss that sent me to the doctor, not all the other stuff!
I think it's worth having a blood test to find out. There are a lot of causes of excessive shedding, but if you do manage to find out the reason you will have an idea of what to do (eg thyroid medication)
I mean, there's no point taking iron, vitamin D, biotin etc, if you're not actually deficient in those things, it's quicker to find out why it's actually happening if you can.

[elbow chic]

I'm no doctor but a lot of that sounds like a possible thyroid issue to me. My mom always had gobs of hair and even after she lost half of it, she still had "plenty" of hair so docs wouldn't believe her that she was losing handfuls of it.

Anyway, after awhile she did convince the doc to test and she's on meds now, which help her energy level a lot. Hair is regrowing but it takes a long time to recover after a massive shed like that!

Good luck! another thought... is this it first time you hair has been long? Sometimes I think I am shedding a LOT when really, it is just that the hairs I'm shedding are so much longer than they used to be that it feels like an unusual amount when really it isn't. But your situation sounds more severe than that. Can't hurt to have it checked out.

[elbow chic]

oh, and... are you getting enough vitamin C?

[spidermom]

Shedding happens AFTER the resting phase.
It sounds like it's time for a physical examination and lab work. I hope you can get it sorted out.