Help! Where is my hair going???

[Highball Emy]

I've had a problem recently in that my hair seems to be falling outan awful lot... my hair is very thick and curly and I've always found my hair everywhere, but now it's worse.

I'm only twenty-one, my hair is dry and can frizz like nobody's business, but I try and take good care of it. It doesn't look any different, but I'm scared of ignoring it and then suddenly having no hair! The only things I can think of that could be causing this are:

1. I've moved abroad and the water is different... but probably not THAT different from the water at home.
2. I'm growing my hair! It's probably a good five inches longer than I've had it for a while.

What do you think? Some of you are almost certainly far more knowledgeable than I am!

Thank you!

Love,

Emy
xxx

 

[lolly_loisides]

Is your hair falling out from the root or it is breaking off?

 

[Katinka von K.]

Hey there! I think you should show your head to a dermatologist if there really is a lot of hair falling out. The rule is more than 100 hairs a day, I think. The doc´ll check your scalp and decide what´s to do if there has to be something done. If it´s not that drastic you could check whether your eating habits have changed recently or if you´re facing a lot of stress.
I´ve had some serious hair loss due to a massive lack of zinc some years ago because of my medical condition at that time.

 

[Flicka]

I tend to get periods every few years when I lose a lot of hair. Stress makes it worse, but it also seems to be a weird cyclic thing.

 

[Highball Emy]

It's falling out from the root...

Hmm, it's probably not more than a hundred hairs a day, but it's so hard to tell... it's mostly when I wash my hair (every day-two days), although I do find them knocking about in other places!

I dn't know if I'm lacking in zinc... I take vitamins because I've been anaemic and it wasn't fun, so I'd say probably no on that one...

Thanks girls!

Emy
xxx

 

[katiesparkles]

Where did you live before?

I lived in Hannover for most of my live (1 hour from Hamburg), and the water is Germany is veeeery different from the water in the US. Sounds silly, but it's true.. or at least out here in New England. I can't drink water from the tap (too much chlorine) and it dries out my skin/hair like crazy. Or, well, it used to.. and I got used to it, too. Haha. The water over here's "hard" as I'd say in German, I hope that makes sense.

Despite that, have you had your hair cut recently? You need to clip the ends at least every 2-3 months in order for it to stay healthy. That might be one reason...

Edit: From the root... oh my. My reasoning seems unlikely now. I hope it'll get better Maybe try "Kieselerde"? You can get it at the Pharmacy (or at bigger drugstores), it's natural and you don't need a prescription.

 

[FraeuleinBerlin]

Well, I'm from England, but directly before I lived in Russia for six months...

Yep, we say hard and soft water too! The water here is no harder that the water in St. Petersburg, or the water in Cambridge... I still pine for the soft water of South Yorkshire, but I'm not sure it is that...

I think it's better to have hair fall out and break off, surely? Hair falls out from the root naturally, but if it breaks in the middle, that's because it's damaged?

Arghhhh!

Emy
xxx

 

[Highball Emy]

Meant to post that from my new profile, oops!

 

[Cara Wheeler]

I am used to having very short hair and grew it out about three inches longer. It seemed as though I was losing lots of hair, too. Hair seemed to be coming out in clumps when I shampooed.

I realized that I just noticed it more when I shed because it was so much longer than usual. I was so stressed out about it, but nothing was was wrong. I was just shedding twice as much because my hair was twice as long. Hope that makes sense.

-Cara

 

[LizzieMaine]

Do you take birth control pills? Some formulations can cause hormonal hair loss, even if you're otherwise healthy. If you do take them, it might be good to talk to your doctor about the situation and see if there might be a formulation that wouldn't cause the problem.

 

[Highball Emy]

No I don't take the pill, good thinking though.

Cara - I do think it might just be that... plus, my hair needs cutting into shape, so I'll see if a trim and a shape helps...

Thanks for the advice, ladies!

Emy
xxx

 

[virgi]

sorry to hear this. Medication (anti-depressants and stress) can cause your hair to fall out. Also high testosterone levels can also do this. Try rogaine 5%, this will help you if you are showing early signs of alopecia. It is proven to be better in growing back hair in women then it is in men. Good luck and give it a couple of months before it starts to kick in.

 

[lareine]

A stressful event (e.g. emigration!) months ago could manifest itself in hair loss now - a shock or stress can cause the hair to stop growing and not replace itself, so when that hair reaches the end of its natural life it just falls out. It happened to me some years ago and that was the explanation the doctor gave me. Hope yours starts to behave itself again soon.

 

[Highball Emy]

Thanks for your help ladies...

I finally had my hair cut today (needed it for weeks!), so I'll see over the next few days if that has made any difference... If not I think I'm going to try and get myself a doctor's appointment and see what they say!

Emy
xxx