What is the Normal Amount of Hair a Person Sheds in a Day?
Often, they have been noticing more loss and may have even gone to a doctor, stylist, or specialist only to be told that their hair looks fine and they are probably well within "normal limits.
" Still, they know that their hair looks and feels different to them and they know that what they are seeing falling on clothing and filling up their shower drain and vacuum just isn't right.
But, they concede that sometimes you lose more hair with age or due to changes of the seasons of various other reasons.
So, many ask me how much hair is normal to lose each day and when do you reach the level where you're losing too much hair? I'll answer this question in the following article.
How Specialists Come Up With The "Normal" 100 Shed Or Lost Hairs Per Day: Many dermatologist will suggest that losing 100 hairs per day or less is normal and nothing to worry about.
I would agree with this if you're only looking at a few days every once in a while.
But, losing this much hair day after day over weeks or months can thin out your hair, especially if it's not regrowing very aggressively.
A person has an average of 100,000 strands of hair on their head.
(Specifically, blonds have 140,000.
Brunettes have 110,000, and red heads have 90,000.
) It can be "normal" to lose up to 10% of your hair volume if your hair moves from the growing phase to the resting phase.
So, for a red head, 90 hairs per day could be normal at one point in the hair cycle, but this should not last for very long.
So when dermatologists are saying that 100 hairs per day is normal, they are talking about typical heads of hair and a 10% resting phase shed.
Of course, not everyone has the same strands of hair on their head and not everyone regrows at the same rate.
For someone with a very thick head of course hair, it will take much longer to see thinning from shedding than someone with thinner, finer hair.
A Straight Answer About What Is Normal Hair Loss: In my view, any hair loss or shedding that goes on for more than a few weeks and which is enough to make a noticeable difference in your hair (less volume, a smaller pony tail, a larger part, etc.
) should be looked at much more closely.
Most people have a good handle on what is typical for them and most people intuitively know when they are out of this range.
So, when a doctor (or anyone else) tells you that your hair looks fine, consider that they don't know your head or your hair the way that you do.
Sure, it may turn out to be nothing or it may be temporary TE (teleogen effluvium) but the more hair you lose, the more difficult it is to regrow it and retain your volume, so if your gut is telling you that something is wrong, at least be open to taking a closer look.
Because the sooner you address it, the easier it is to fix.