shedding woes...

[adrienne0914]

i think i've mentioned quite a bit how i've been shedding for no good reason really. this morning it was especially bad.

i detangled my hair well before washing. since i hadn't combed it in over a week, i lost the usual amount while combing. i combed it really well so i thought it would be a breeze to comb after washing. actually it was. my hair wasn't tangled at all because i wash and condition in one direction, and i don't really manipulate the hair itself much. BUT still i lost a bunch of hair. i took a pic of it:

as you can see, there is at least 200 hairs there. i'm really at my wit's end with this

... i stopped taking BC pills. i've been taking my vitamins consistently for ages. i know how to be light handed with my hair. i really don't know what else to do at this point...

any suggestions?

 

[AnjelLuvs]

Girl I feel you but I just stopped thinkin about it and keep telling myself it is apart of a bigger process which is growing out the hair and this should be normal

 

[cutebajangirl]

Perhaps you are ending a growth phase and will have a short rest/shed period before the vast majority of your follicle re-enters another growth phase.

 

[perfectpeace]

I wonder if the shift in hormones has caused this (stopping the BCs). I use two products to address this myself:

Florisene

http://www.nutrihair.co.uk/understanding_hair_loss.htm

This company markets a product in the UK called Nutrihair. (In Canada and the US it's marketed under the name "Florisene." I learned about the product from the above website. I purchased the product from www.westons.com as Florisene.)

It's basically an iron pill. The manufacturer believes that temporary hair loss/shedding due to stress, temp. illness, shift in hormones (stopping/starting birthcontrols, post-menopause, etc.), can be reversed by increasing iron intake. (I do not take any other iron-containing vitamin with this for fear of iron overload.)

Progesterone Cream

I purchase this from eternallyfit.com.

Hope these help.

 

[aikaa71]

Adrienne

,

I feel your pain. I have been shedding since Jan this year.For the amount of hair i see on the picture and considering how much hair you have and your length, its not too much hair lost.

I recently bought a herbal oil that is used to help stop shedding. Its called Lotus herbal oil, its an Indian product made from natural oils. I will post my results on it after a month or so.

Do not let the shedding discourage you. Keep up the good work. Your hair is so beautiful

 

[DahomeyAhosi]

Adrienne I agree with aika. Some people lose 200 hairs in 3 or 4 days so if that's all you lost in a week I wouldn't fret over it. You have thick, beautiful hair.

 

[shinyblackhair]

I was just looking at your shedding pics yesterday. I have no advice cuz I'm going through the same thing. I've been doing the 2 min reconstructer weekly and I don't think it's really helping at all. Well maybe a little. I'm going to try and consume more protein through my diet and see if that helps at all. Mayb you could try that too. Also, I'll be picking up a couple of new proteing treatments to see how my hair responds, I'm going to be trying the Joico KPak and the Affirm 5 in 1 to see how that goes. Also, I'm getting a tiny trim too.

 

[LondonDiva]

Hey Adrienne

Did you actually count the hairs or is that your guess at 200?

During my washes the shedding seems like a lot but I've notice how 4 or 5 long strands together can look like about 20 in a little ball.

 

[keylargo]

Adrienne,I'm so sorry that you are going through this

Try not to stress too much about it but at the same time, I wouldn't be all that passive about it either. You will figure out the problem

Have you tried that Nutrine garlic shampoo that some of the ladies have posted about? It's supposed to help with shedding. I think debyjay used it.

Also, what's your diet like? Have you made any drastic changes to it?

How is your health? I know when my immune system is down like from having the flu or something, my hair will start to shed. We all know that hair is the last thing to grow and the first thing to go when you are ill as far as the immune system is concerned.

Now keep your chin up

 

[love2praz]

Adrienne:

I am sorry that you are troubled about the shedding but like someone else already said, with the amount of hair that you have, that really doesn't seem to be too much hair.

I'm speculating that the shedding could possibly be the end of one hair growth phase (as someone else suggested). Since you live in Cali, I doubt it could be attributed to seasonal changes.

Stay encouraged and keep doing what you are doing!

 

[SVT]

Adrienne,

I remember you mentioning this problem a few months back. I didn't have any advice for you then because I hadn't experienced the type of shedding you described...until now.

My hair has been coming out in clumps when I wash and it's extremely unnerving to me. I figured it must be due to all the moisturizing products I use. That's the major regimen difference between my pre-shed days and now. There's also some threads discussing this.

I've changed my routine by decreasing the amount of moisture products and techniques I use and increasing the amount of protein. I've only been doing the protein thing since this week but I hope to see results in a couple of weeks.

Good luck and I hope you get to the bottom of your shedding dilemma.

 

[Nonie]

Adrienne, it could be normal. Sometimes we see that which we fear because we seek it, even if subconsciously. And you definitely don't need stress to aggravate the situation. The other day someone mentioned effluvium (abnormal shedding) which can be reversed once the cause no longer exists.

Here's more info on it.

 

[shinyblackhair]

nonie that was some excellent info. Thank you for posting that.

 

[dontspeakdefeat]

Hang in there Adrienne. I am sure someone here can help out.

 

[Allandra]

I agree with LondonDiva. A few LONG strands can look like a whole lot of hair. Since you hadn't really combed your hair all week, I don't think that is a bad amount of shedding (since it's probably all of the hair you would have lost during the week).

 

[teenie]

Adriene I was having the same problem for many months until recently I tried the Surge hair revitalizer and it stopped the shedding

 

[debyjay]

Hi Adrienne, I was shedding like crazy for a very long time and finally got it under control this past Sunday. Please please if you have not yet tried the garlic shampoo Nutrine -- try it. Meinzzfuture (sp)? suggested it and boy was she right. For $3.99 my shedding reduced by 70%. I saw the conditioner next to it and bought that also. It worked is all I can say about it. Last night I did another wash along with an emergencee treatment for breakage and let me tell you there was practically no hair in my rattail comb! This has never ever happened before ever. I was/am as pleased as punch. You must must try this. I usually have to clean out the comb a few times during my roller setting -- not last night.

 

[aqualung]

Adrienne, this shedding's got to stop!

I stopped mine by sitting under the bonnet dryer (high heat) for an hour with Clairol Renewal 5X conditioner for dry/damaged hair on my soaking wet hair and scalp. It will STRENGTHEN hair without making it brittle like a protein treatment. The 5X stronger is not a gimmick. It's only $2 or $3 at the drugstore. Please, please, please try it today!

 

[luvhair]

ok should I be worried because I lose about 5 times as much hair every time i wash.

 

[Armyqt]

Adrienne, I'm with LD and Allandra on this. I doubt very seriously that it is anything close to 200 strands. You have to consider that your hair strands are very long. When they're all balled up together like that, it is enough to make you go insane. Don't fret though, I think this a normal amount. You have a good regime and unless something's going on internally, I think you'll be good to go. I noticed that as my hair started getting longer, my shedding seemed to increase. I had to check myself though. I got real asinine about it and started separating and counting those babies. Once I realized that these hairs were not as many as I thought AND they had bulbs, I could relax. Please keep us updated on this issue

 

[mblake8]

[ QUOTE ]
luvhair said:
ok should I be worried because I lose about 5 times as much hair every time i wash.

[/ QUOTE ]
me too

 

[melodee]

Adrienne,
When did you stop the BC pills? I stopped them in March, but my doctor sid sometimes it can take several months after a certain event for the hairs to begin shedding themselves. I am going through a shedding stage too. Lets just take some deep breaths together, and know that it will get better and we're gonna make it through with hair still on our heads. Much love!

 

[caramelbarbie]

I have to agree with the others that said that your shedding isn't too bad considering you haven' t combed it in a week.
I had 4 times that a few weeks ago but I hadn't combed my hair that well for 4 weeks.
I wonder if the change of season had anything to do with it.
Are you close to touch up time??
Good luck and don't worry.

 

[adrienne0914]

thanks everyone for your encouragement!! after reading all of your responses, i'm thinking maybe i overreacted. lol! the thing that was so distressing though was the fact that i had already lost a huge wad of hair prior to washing. so i'm like "dang, i don't want to get to waist length and have 3 strands of hair on my head!!"

i went back and counted the hairs just to be sure. almost all of them had the bulbs, and i stopped counting at 200...

anyway, to hopefully answer all of the questions asked:

- i stopped taking the BC pill in oct 02. i read somewhere that it takes about three months for the hormonal effects to wear off. when i first stopped taking it, the shedding did increase at first. then it slowed down. and now it's getting worse again. at one time i'd lose 20 hairs (at the most) while washing. so it makes me panic every now and then...

- perfectpeace, thanks for that info!!! i've never heard of Florisene. i believe this is something that i have to address internally first. so i'm definitely going to get some!! how long have you been taking it, and what are your results thusfar? and where do you put the ProCream? on your scalp?

- aikaa, definitely let me know your results with the Lotus herbal oil. where do you get it from?

- shinyblackhair, i have the Affirm 5-in-1 and love it! it hasn't really had an effect on the shedding, but it gives incredible slip!

- keylargo, my health is good. i just had a physical in sep. my doctor said other than being overweight, i have no other health issues. i did recently become VERY inconsistent with the protein shakes. i used to drink them in the morning with my vitamins. lately i've been taking them with orange juice. could that be part of the problem?

- SVT, i've been doing the mega moisture thing almost since day one. soi'm not sure that's the reason...

- nonie, thanks for the link. it really was useful. i'm familiar with the term growth/shedding phases, but i've never read anything about it in detail. i'm trying not to stress!!

- allandra, how many hairs do you normally lose when you wash? and does that amount ever fluctuate for you?

- caramelbarbie, i've actually modified my regime to getting a retouch every 3 months. so the last time i got it done was oct 15th.

after trying the Florisene (or during),

i'll definitely be trying the Surge, Nutrine shampoo, and other external products that were suggested!!

this post is already long enough, and i didn't call everyone by name, but thank you all again so much for the useful information! i now feel that i at least have some things i can try! if the situation changes from anything that i do try, you know you'll all be the first to hear about it!

p.s. one good thing that i noticed when i washed yesterday is that my hair soaking wet was about 1/2" from my waist!!

 

[aikaa71]

Adrienne,

I got the lotus herbal oil at a local beauty supply shop.

Im sure you can get it from an asian supply store or order on line at http://www.lotusherbals.com/

will let you know how the oil works out for me.

 

[adrienne0914]

thanks for the link, aikaa! i saved it for future reference, i'll definitely be looking out for your results!

 

[shinyblackhair]

[ QUOTE ]
adrienne0914 said:
p.s. one good thing that i noticed when i washed yesterday is that my hair soaking wet was about 1/2" from my waist!!

[/ QUOTE ]

That's excellent!!!

I was just thinking that I need to get myself on some reliabe bc. I was going to go with the Pill but, I'm going to have to look into something else. I can't afford to lose more hair that absolutely necessary.

 

[skegeesmb]

Considering the fact that you've been growing your hair out for almost 4 years, you might have gone through your resting phase. Don't worry about that hair, it looks like a lot from the picture, but since brunettes have about 100,000 hairs on the head, we have to lose aroun 20% before anyone can tell you have been really shedding.

That's 20,000 hairs. 200 hairs is 10% of 2,000 hairs of 10% of 20,000 so that's 1% of hair you've lost. I really believe that this is normal shedding for hair as long as yours. White bulb ends are even better.

 

[sassygirl125]

[ QUOTE ]
I really believe that this is normal shedding for hair as long as yours.

[/ QUOTE ]

I was thinking the same thing.

I also agree with the poster that said long, shed hairs look more... plentiful

than short, shed hairs.

 

[joyous]

[ QUOTE ]
keylargo said:
Adrienne,I'm so sorry that you are going through this

Try not to stress too much about it but at the same time, I wouldn't be all that passive about it either. You will figure out the problem

Have you tried that Nutrine garlic shampoo that some of the ladies have posted about? It's supposed to help with shedding. I think debyjay used it.

Also, what's your diet like? Have you made any drastic changes to it?

How is your health? I know when my immune system is down like from having the flu or something, my hair will start to shed. We all know that hair is the last thing to grow and the first thing to go when you are ill as far as the immune system is concerned.

Now keep your chin up

[/ QUOTE ]
Adrienne, when I go through a shedding phase the only thing that stops my shedding is garlic shampoo. I swear by it. I only apply it to the scalp because it makes the hair feel stripped. Then I apply a deep moisturizing conditioner.