Hair Loss…What’s Normal?

According to the American Academy of Dermatologists, it is normal to lose anywhere from 50 to 100 strands of hair per day. For people with longer hair strands, losing them may be more noticeable.

Women tend to lose more hair strands per day than men. There’s not way to measure the difference, since daily heat styling and frequent hair coloring plays a big part in how much your hair sheds. Besides this, one needs to be aware of ingredients in hair products which can cause one to shed hair and/or deal with thinning hair or losing it altogether. (A future article will discuss more about hair products.)

Now, of course, women can experience periods of increased hair shedding due to life events like pregnancy and menopause.

There are hundreds of thousands of hairs on one’s head, and every single one is at a different stage of its two-to five-year lifespan. Hair grows and dies in phases, and nutrition, stress, hygiene, and daily styling all play a role in how much hair you lose daily. The phase in which a hair strand is growing is call the “anagen” phase, and around 90 percent of the hair strands on a person’s head is currently in that phase.

Hair grows about 1 centimeter per month during the anagen phase. When something stops one’s hair from growing, it’s called “anagen effluvium.” Anagen effluvium is what one would think of when one thinks of “hair loss.”

The catagen phase comes next. Only about 1 to 2 percent of one’s hairs are in the catagen phase at any given time. This phase lasts two to three weeks. During the catagen phase, the hair strand stops growing.

The last phase of hair growth is the telogen phase. Hairs in the telogen phase are also called “club hairs.” During this phase, a hair strand will be at rest as it prepares to detach from one’s scalp. About 8 to 9 percent of one’s hair is in this phase at any given time.

Telogen effluvium describes having more than 10 percent of one’s hair in the telogen phase. Telogen effluvium is temporary, but more hair will fall out while one has it. Stress, surgery, or even having a fever for a few days can bring on telogen effluvium, but one’s hair will more than likely be back to normal within six months.

Now, what causes hair to fall out. The common culprits are stress, health condition, alopecia, female pattern hair loss, thyroid conditions, lupus, and nutritional deficiencies.

How can one tell if one is losing too much hair?

One can perform a “pull test” on one’s hair at home. Start with a small area of clean, dry hair, and run one’s fingers through it, tugging gently once one gets to the ends of the hair strands. If more than two or three hairs are left in one’s hand after each tug, one may be experiencing telogen or anagen effluvium. No more than 10 hairs per 100 strands being tugged should be coming out. It has been always recommended to see a doctor to determine the cause. However, it’s a personal choice whether to determine if the cause might be related to diet, hair care products, medications, hereditary, or even stress.

DISCLAIMER: I am not a medical professional. Only an avid reader. Check with your healthcare provider before starting something new.