I sometimes hear from people who worry that their hair shedding or telogen effluvium is never going to end.
They want to know how it is going to resolve and when.
I heard from a woman who said "I've been shedding for about eleven weeks.
I am pretty sure that I have telogen effluvium from going off of contraceptives.
And I've read that it can take 2-3 months for this to resolve.
I've not seen much improvement so I'm wondering just how this is going to finally stop and what type of improvement I'm going to see.
Will my hair just suddenly stop shedding one day or is it a gradual process?" I'll try to answer these questions in the following article.
The Way That The Shedding Finally Stops Depends Upon The Trigger: Some shedding is caused by a trigger that can be removed.
For example, if your scalp was being negatively affected by a new product that you were using and you were having an allergic reaction that caused shedding, sometimes all that is needed is removing the trigger and discontinuing the product.
Once this happens, a pretty quick improvement is seen.
Another example is that you've added additional stress to your life style.
You body will try to compensate for this by shifting your hair cycle from the growing to the resting phase.
This is your body's way of reserving its energy.
So when you remove that stress from your life, then this process is no longer necessary and the growing phase can resume.
The Process Is Different When The Trigger Can't Be Changed Or Taken Back: Sometimes, there is nothing that you can do to remove your trigger.
For example, if you've given birth, have had surgery, have had a medical issue or have been ill, there's not much you can do to turn back time and erase the trigger.
It's already occurred and all you can do is to try to be gentle with yourself so that you aren't adding additional stress to your life.
Once this process is in motion, your body will shift your hair follicles to their resting or shedding phase and you will lose hair as the result.
Once the event passes or your body begins to heal, there's nothing else that you can really do except for wait for the resting or shedding phase to end and for the growing phase to resume once again.
Most literature that you will read says that this process takes around 3 months.
I find that this is just a general guideline.
Some people get relief before this.
And for others, it takes a little longer.
Also, there's a condition called chronic telogen effluvium which occurs when the shedding lasts for six months or more because of reoccurring triggers, new triggers, or shedding that isn't caused by the suspected culprit in the first place.
Does Normal Hair Loss Resume Suddenly Or Gradually?: It's my observation and experience that most people see a gradual improvement.
It's every shedding person's fantasy to wake up one morning and find that you have almost no hair loss, but this typically isn't the reality, although you may have some really great or low shed days once recovery starts.
In my own case, I would see some improvement and have some bad days followed by some really great days, and then I would just gradually find that my average number of shed hairs gradually decreased until I began to see what was a normal amount of hair loss once again.
So to answer the question posed, generally speaking, (since experiences can vary) telogen effluvium can resolve itself once the trigger is removed or once enough time has passed for normal hair cycles to resume and for the hair to get in the growing phrase once again.