Anyone who has ever owned a cat or a dog knows that shedding is a normal part of pet ownership. But did you know it is also a normal part of the life cycle of your own hair?
According to the National Institutes of Health, the hair life cycle looks like this: “The hair cycle is composed of four primary phases: anagen, catagen, telogen, and exogen.” When your hair is in the anagen phase, it is actively growing. Catagen is when the growth stops. Telogen is when the hair follicles are just resting. This usually lasts three to four months and then, in the exogen phase, the hairs fall out and the process – if you and your scalp are healthy and working properly – starts again.
At the end of the telogen phase, you will likely be losing 50 to 100 hairs per day. And each hair follicle goes through these stages at a slightly different rate than the other ones around it, that normal shedding happens almost all the time.
Should I Be Worried About Hair Shedding?
As long as your hair shedding is stable and within the normal range, there is absolutely no reason to worry about it. Of course, if you are like most people, you have no idea how much hair that is. And, even if hair shedding is within the normal ranges, there can be times when you want to suddenly pay more attention to it.
How Do You Know If You’re Losing Too Much Hair?
Healthline points out that sometimes hair shedding is going to more noticeable than at other times. For instance, the longer your hair is, the more that your normal hair shedding is going to look like a big deal. It generally is not.
But if you start noticing it falling out in clumps, bald spots, or patchiness, your shedding may have progressed into hair loss. The same is true if you notice your hair part widening, your hairline receding, or overall thinning.
How Long Does the Hair Shedding Phase Last?
When your hair is in the normal lifecycle, you will always have some number of your 100,000+ hair follicles that are in the resting phase and getting ready to shed. But if you have had an illness, high stress event, or medication that has shocked your hair into a telogen phase… the shedding will usually last between six and eight months.
According to the American College of Dermatology, these events most often resolve themselves and your hair will start growing again normally over time. However, that is not always reassuring to the patient.
Precision Hair Restoration can offer you piece of mind about hair shedding.
Because the question of hair shedding versus hair loss can be so confusing, the best option is often to talk to a doctor who can ascertain whether your hair loss is normal or something you should act on. At Precision Hair Restoration, our first consultation will be talking to you about factors that could be impacting your hair loss. When you are ready to talk about why you are losing your hair, we are here. Contact us today.
