If you notice that your toilet is usually clogged with hair every now and then and you’re worried whether you have hair loss, this will help you a lot.
Hello! My name is Zell. In this article, we’ll talk about something I have been curious about for a very long time, if it is really okay to drop 100 strands of hair a day. The first time I heard about this was when I was a teenager. I was having my O-level, feeling the intense stress and watching my hair on the floor certainly did not help with this stress at all. Haha.
Back in the Food that are good for hair part 2, I mentioned that there are 3 stages of the hair growth cycle. Anagen (Growing), Catagen (Intermediate) and Telogen (Shedding).
The anagen phase, also known as the growing phase, typically lasts for 3 to 5 years, with the hair length averaging 18 to 30 inches. Next, the catagen phase is the transitional stage that will last about 10 days where the hair follicle shrinks and detaches itself. And lastly, the telogen phase is a resting phase that lasts about 3 months. During this phase, the hair will be resting while patiently waiting to fall out and enter the next phase.
I also mentioned that if you consume soy products regularly, the anagen phase might be prolonged. Which means, instead of the regular cycle of growing new hair every 5 years, it might be prolonged to 6 years, or even 7 years. Which also means, you will have fuller and thicker hair, that sounds happy and sad at the same time. You probably will look younger with more hair but it might be hotter too with the thick and long hair.
It’s a joke! I’m more than happy with thick and long hair! Haha.
Let’s do some math. At any given time, we should have about 250,000 strands of hair on our head. If we were to lose 100 strands a day (assuming they are not growing back), it will take about 7 years for it to finish dropping to the last strand, and that is with the assumption that the hair totally stopped growing new hair. But this will not happen as the hair follicle will have a new strand of hair after the resting period.
Besides, not all will drop exactly 100 strands a day. Some might drop 50, some might drop 70, or some might even drop 200. The way I see this, the scalp has a sustainable system that replenishes the hair by itself. Which is why some people can have a head full of thick and beautiful hair even at their old age.
However, due to bad habits, bad decisions or DNA, not all of us will have the volume that we want.
One good thing is, people with shorter hair appear to shed less hair. It could be because our natural hair sebum (oil) protects the first 15cm of the hair so the short hair is always protected. If the hair is, for example, 30cm, the same amount of nutrients are shared for this length.
It’s like 1 litre of water shared between 2 people and another 1 litre of water shared between 4 people. Which group of people will get their thirst quenched?
Now tell me, assuming the nutrients level are the same, will the 15cm hair be healthier or the 30cm hair be healthier? Longer hair receives less nutrients in totality so it might be slightly less healthy, which results in a shorter anagen phase, which also results in the higher turnover rate for the hair. This is a good transition for me to introduce some treatment. So tempting. Haha. I’ll focus on helping you instead and not do any advertisement! :)
Is it possible to stop dropping 100 strands a day?
It is not possible to stop it completely but it can be reduced, maybe 50 a day? Or 30 a day? Sounds good?
It’s quite simple. If you notice that everytime you shower, there will be a lot of hair on the floor, that presents a solution by itself already. Instead of washing the hair everyday, if you wash it once every 2 days, wouldn’t you be reducing it by 50% already? Reducing the hair washing frequency is good for your scalp too.
There are also other hair habits such as tying the hair too tightly, frequently tugging and pulling the hair, frequently touching your hair (all the germs on your hand will cause a scalp reaction), excessive hair services (coloring, bleaching, rebonding, perming, heat styling), or even using of the wrong hair product.
If it’s due to DNA and genes, we might not be able to change this but it might be able to stop it from happening too soon, eat the right food, remember? If all the males in your family have balding issue at 30, chances are it might be due to genes.
One last thing, if you are constantly having stress, like me during my O-level, you might be losing more hair than usual too. That is a sign to tell you to do something. And no, it’s not telling you to give up your O-level. Haha. Take more breaks or eat more food that provides a lot of nutrients to the hair. And if you have just given birth, the hormonal change might cause the hair to drop more too. The same goes to sudden weight loss or diet change.
In conclusion, is it really okay to drop 100 strands of hair a day? Yes, it is okay. If it has all along been like this, chances are, it will continue to be like this. But if you normally comb your hair and you only see 2 to 3 strands on the comb and now you comb it and you see 100 strands, that is a really big sign to seek help. And like what was mentioned above, if you wash your hair once every 2 days, you will be cutting it down by 50%. It takes awhile to get used to it but you can do it!
If you need any help with your hair issue, you know where to find us. Just head to our fb page and send us a message. Or if you have booked an appointment with us on our website, you should have my number. Send me a message. Ask me anything, hair loss, hair care routine, hair maintenance. I’m always here to help you! :)
Steve V Hair Studio
Bugis Cube (opposite Bugis Junction)
#04-04 S'pore 188735
Tel no: 6336 14761
Tiong Bahru (beside Tiong Bahru Plaza - 3 mins walk)
11A Boon Tiong Road #01-02
Singapore 161011
Tel no: 6259 4631
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