new thread
Hey guys, just wrote an article about hair falling out in the shower. Does anyone else here get massive amounts of hair in their shower and bathroom floor? When I first started growing my hair out, I was pretty worried. I actually thought I was losing hair, haha. The shedding process is much more noticeable when it ends up on noticeable places.
I noticed this when my hair got longer too. Humans shed about 100 hairs a day. Those with short hair generally don't notice because it falls away as it sheds, but those of us with longer hair notice because it hangs on and doesn't fall away until it gets washed or brushed.
I keep hearing this about shedding 100 hairs a day. So if this
is true why isn't someone shedding 100 hairs a day bald by the
end of a few years. I don't know how many hairs on the average
human hair but it seems to me if you shed 100 hairs a day that
you'll loose hair faster than it grows in. Is my math correct on
this? What am i missing in this math?
What am i missing in this math?
*Nobody is talking about all of the new growth hairs that are on a daily basis starting out their own new life span until they retire and fall out. Nature has it all figured out. My own estimated guess: Average loss 100 hairs a day.
Average new hairs just starting life per day 100.
-100
+100
-------
Zero to be concerned about.
Except for one flaw in that arguement................
new hair grows at a 1/2" per month, so it takes
years for that new hair to grow to the desired length.
So am I just over thinking this?
Say you have 100K hairs on your head, if you shed 100 hairs a day, in about 3 years each of your hairs will grow, shed, and be replaced. This would make your terminal length about mid-back.
If you are at terminal, your hair will be all at random lengths mixed together, from hairs about to shed, to new ones just sprouting.
However, if your shed rate is less[2], or your hairs don't all have the same cycle length[1], your terminal length can be much longer.
Conventional wisdom/anecdotal evidence says that most people can grow hair past their waist (absent issues like mpb), and having a hair growth cycle in the 5-7 year range is not unusual.
[1] If just 10% of your hairs shed after 1 year, that is more than a quarter of your shed per day! And translates into 25% longer terminal length on average. I've noticed that I shed out hairs of various lengths, from very short to full length, so despite my shed rate of 50-100 hairs a day, I can still reach extreme lengths.
[2] A shed rate of 50/day doubles your terminal length.
... What am i missing in this math?
At the same time as these hairs are shedding, others on your scalp are just starting to grow, others are half grown and so forth. So the general thickness of the hair is maintained.Each follicle only grows a hair for a few years, then it sheds. That is how we reach terminal length. This is how I understand it anyway. And shedded long hair is going to be more noticeable than shedded short hairs
Cheers