new thread
I'm continuing to experience the phenomena of noticing more hairs falling out when I take a shower and then brush afterwards. I'm hoping it's just what we always tell people who first ask about this - that it is just a symptom of having longer hair and consequently tending to notice more of the hairs that fall out.
My question is, does this level off? Do you guys with very long hair continue to notice hairs shedding when you shower? I would imagine if you continue to lose 100 hairs a day and each of those hairs is 30 inches long, that must make for a lot of very noticeable hairs falling out. Do people with very long hair continue to lose 100 a day?
Even though my hair isn't "really long", the answer to your question is yes, hair loss (ignoring MPB) is constant. Think about it...the root end of your hair, which is genetically programmed to fall out after a certain growth period, has no idea how long the strand is. For the most part, the approximately 100,000 hairs on your head will fall out pretty evenly, timewise. For example, if your hair has a 4 year lifespan, and you have 100,000 strands on your head..that is
4 x 365 +1 = 1461 days of growth
100,000/1461 = 68.5 strands lost per day.
In fact, you could calculate this all backwards...
Let X equal the number of hairs lost on a typical day
given the equation y = (100,000)/(61X)
y will equal your approximate terminal length (in inches)
*This is using the standard 100,000 hairs and .5in/month growth rate.
So let's say I was traveling west in a plane from Boston to
Tokyo and I cross the International Date Line just as I
loose my 30th hair. When the plane lands, does that mean I've
actually -gained- 30 hairs? :-)
(I think I lost 68.5 hairs mulling over your computations, heh heh)
Nope........it won't "level-off." As a matter of fact, the longer your hair gets the MORE you will see! But don't dispare.......it's all part of being a "Longhair." Enjoy your hair! :-)
A hair loss of 100 hairs per day would only allow for a terminal length of 16.4 inches if you have 100,000 hair strands on your head. That would mean an average hair would only live for 1000 days which is 2.738 years. 2.738 x 6 inches per year = 16.4 inches. I probably have the second longest hair on this board. It will tie into a 38 inch pony tail which means my hair is perhaps 42 inches long hanging loose. That is about 2.5 times the above value, and yes, I lose at most 40 hair strands per day on the average. I will lose 120 to 150 hairs when I wash my hair but only 15 to 20 per day for the 6 day interval in between washings. I wash once a week. ( I count 2 20" fragments as 1 strand or 4 10" fragments as 1 strand. ) Bottom line, to get really long hair it must grow fast, have a low loss rate, and be strong so it does not break. I even created a hair terminal length estimater in Excel using 3 variables: growth rate, strands lost per day, and number of strands on your head. I would post the terminal length calculator if I knew how to. It is a small file, about 20 kilobytes in size. I hope this information is helpful and happy growing. Absalom
Thanks for the info. 120 hairs averaging 38 inches long must make for a lot of hair in the shower drain. It's only normal shedding but if you weren't used to seeing that much, it would be alarming.
I've never counted how many I lose when I shower but it seems like a lot. Maybe I should try counting one time. I usually wash my hair every other day.
Actually 95 percent of those hairs come out during drying my hair. I actually blow dry my hair using the low heat setting and hold the hair dryer somewhat far from my head. A good rule to avoid hair damage is > can you apply the heat from the hair dryer to unprotected thin skin such as on your arm for at least 20 seconds? Check this with caution as many hair dryers can burn skin in a few seconds and will certainly damage hair. A thermometer can also be used to check this. My dryer produces about 135 degrees F at 6 inches which will not damage my hair. One closing note is to not count short hair fragments as full strands. 2 fragments that are about half your hair length each would be approximately 1 strand which means you may be losing less hair than you think. happy growing Absalom
I experience losing alot of hair in showering and brushing...haven't noticed it slowing down as it's gotten longer, but i'm not noticing any bare spots either. I say, "don't sweat it"
Take care,
Brett