The other day, I got an email from someone saying, “Lately, I’ve been noticing a lot of loose hair on my clothes, floor, and pillow. But I have really thick hair. I wonder, could it be normal to lose more hair if you start with a hair that is quite thick?” I will address this issue in the next article.
How much hair falls out is “normal”?Generally speaking, we are given normal ranges for the amount of hair that is normal to lose. This can be more or less depending on the seasons, the time of the month, or any medical circumstances that may have to be considered. It is usually a few percent of what you start with that is considered a typical loss. But more often than not, we’re told that 50 to 100 stray hairs a day is nothing to worry about, as long as you don’t notice an increase in what’s normal for you over an extended period of time.
And these ranges can vary depending on how much hair you have to work with. For example, natural blondes generally have the most hair to begin with (since their hair tends to be fine, but thick), so they may not have anything to worry about if they lose 100 hairs a day for a period of time. short of time, as long as they are not at this higher end for an extended period of time. Redheads have the second thickest hair (and it’s often thicker so they get better coverage), followed by brunettes. There are exceptions to every rule, but for the most part, the finer your hair, the more hair you will have at first because you need more hair to get decent coverage and volume if your locks are fine in texture.
How much hair loss or shedding is too much (even if you have thick hair): We have all met people who shed drops every day but continue to have very healthy and thick hair despite the loss. And, most of us have met people who shed very little but whose hair looks pretty thin despite this. There are many variables that go into this, but two of the most important are whether you are out of normal ranges for an extended period of time and the quantity and quality of your regrowth.
Many of us can tolerate being outside the normal shedding ranges for a short period of time and will recover fairly quickly as normal, healthy hair grows back. But, if the shedding or loss of hair is so prolonged that the new growth never gets a chance to catch up, we will eventually suffer a noticeable net loss. And, some people shed even normal or below normal amounts, but their new growth is missing or miniature and finer than before, so that the same amount of hair provides half the amount of coverage and makes a noticeable and worrying difference.
Therefore, the answer to the question: “how much shedding is too much” is really too much if it affects the cosmetic appearance of your hair. Some of us can move around a lot and because we are good regenerators, our hair looks the same in the long run. And some of us don’t have this luxury because the shedding lasts too long or our new growth just can’t keep up.
