new thread
Hi,
I have hair just past my shoulders and have no intention of cutting it any time soon. But when i wash and brush my hair, the brush ends up covered in hair, the majority are half length hairs that have snapped off. The top of my head is littered with half-length hairs that get in my face when it is windy. This is the first time i've grown my hair and i last had a "proper" hair cut over 2 and a half years ago. I was wondering if this "snapping" problem is common with others or first time growers. I am only 18 and hope this problem isn't an early sign of balding.
It is normal to shed 50-100 hairs per day. Shed hairs will come in a variety of lengths since each hair grows for a variable length of time before it falls out. As your hair gets longer these shed hairs will tend to get longer but there will still be plenty of short ones falling out too. Depending on your hair type you may see shorter hairs sticking out of your hair around your head. This is also normal. These are 'baby' hairs that are not long enough to lay flat. Shed hairs are different from hairs that are damaged (snapped) from rough handling through combing, brushing, towel drying, etc. Before you brush long hair it is important to detangle it with a wide-tooth detangling comb. Start with the ends and slowly and gently work your way up until you can run the wide-tooth comb through the entire length. Stop and manually separate any tangles instead of just "powering" through them! This approach requires a good supply of patience but will reduce broken hairs. Once the hair is detangled it can be safely brushed.
Another place long hair gets damaged is in drying. When we have short hair we tend to scrub our wet hair with a towel but this can damage long hair. The safest way to dry long hair is to wrap a small towel around it and leave it there for a few minutes to soak up the water. Then you can put another small towel over your shoulders and back and let your damp hair dangle loose. It will dry in an hour or two. Most people suggest you wait to comb until it is dry. Personally I use a detangling comb when it has reached the damp stage.
What you described sounds like normal shedding but to answer your baldness question, if you were seeing baldness at your age it would appear as a receding hairline in the front and thinness in the hair at the crown (the flat spot where the top and the back of your head meet).
The link at the bottom of this message is the essay 'On Being a Longhair' by Bill Choisser. I highly recommend you read it as it contains valuable information that will help you on your journey. Good luck with your hair growth goals.
DeathMetalHairCut, for your edification and scrutiny, please go to this web page and read the article titled "Ban the brush". The author is a professional trichologist (hair and scalp expert) so she is no tenderfoot. I had always heard just the opposite. I recently have begun using a wide tooth comb exclusively because brushing was such a hassle. I would like to see how this information jibes with George Michael's advice to brush first thing every morning. I do remember when I was first growing out my hair, I used a wide brush exclusively and each day I would hear my hair popping, which I later found out was my hair snapping into because the brush would just plow through any tangle. That could be the reason you are seeing so much hair in the brush.
