While we love to share our favorite DIY remedies and tips, it is always a to seek the assistance of professionals. The internet is full of information on just about anything, but is it always a reliable source for serious conditions? No. Quite often, seeking professional help is best but when do you seek it. With all the advances in hair care in recent years there has still been advances in ingredients, products, and styles that are not only a bad for the hair in its present state but quite often can leave lasting damage to the hair follicles. Sometimes you just don’t know and Mesherrod from Curly Q&A needs guidance on hair fall.
Read more: Hair Loss vs. Hair Breakage
Question
Whenever I wash my hair excessive amounts of hair falls out. Is this normal, and what should I do?
Answer
According to the American Academy of Dermatology, it is normal to shed between 50 to 100 hairs a day and when one sheds considerably more than that, they are experiencing excessive hair shedding, or telogen effluvium. If you are losing more than those hairs per day then you do have excessive shedding and here is some information on what may be causing it and why.
Common stresses for excessive hair loss are:
- Lost 20 pounds or more
- Giving birth
- Stress
- High fever
- Undergone an operation
- Recovering from an illness, especially if high fever was experienced
- Stopped taking birth-control pills
The hardest part to identify the cause of stress is that fact that the excessive hair shedding can occur a few months after the event. Usually as the body readjusts the shedding stops and within 6 to 9 months but to be clear, hair shedding differs from hair loss and the most common causes of hair loss or anagen effluvium are:
- Hereditary hair loss
- Immune system overreacts
- Some drugs and treatments
- Hairstyles that pull on the hair
- Harsh hair care products
- Compulsion to pull out one’s hair
Once you have determined the cause, a trichologist, dermatologist or your physician may need to be involved. One or more can help create a plan of action to treat it, especially if an illness or hormonal imbalance of some kind is to blame. Excessive hair fall is symptomatic of something, whether it is hereditary, illness driven, hormonal, or stress and seeking professional help is vital. All the DIY treatments that can be found online for hair loss may help in many instances, but the source will dictate the treatment, which is why professional advice is important.
Read more: What You Need to Know about Temporary & Permanent Hair Loss
Conclusion
Excessive hair loss is not normal and should be addressed with you primary care physician, dermatologist, or trichologist. It is not unheard of or even rare, so finding out the cause whether through them or from the examples above should not be a problem. Know that proper hair care starts from the inside—eating right, exercising, avoiding stress, staying hydrated”>—although outside factors and sometimes inside ones (hormonal, illnesses, hereditary”> can interfere. Once you learn what is causing the excessive hair loss then you can fix the problem and get back to healthy hair.
