Hair Shedding vs. Hair Loss: How To Spot The Difference, According To The Pros
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Loading... - Fabian Blanco
- 08 Sep 2022
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Have you ever rinsed out your shampoo to see more than a few strands go down the drain? While it's easy to jump to conclusions when this happens, you should find peace knowing that each person does lose 50 to 100 hairs a day on average. So a few hairs is to be expected—even if it looks daunting.
However, continuously pulling out clumps of hair or finding thin patches should raise a red flag. In general, hair loss and hair shedding refer to different things and call for different treatments—here's how to spot the difference.
Hair shedding vs. hair loss—are they different?
"Hair shedding refers to a condition known as telogen effluvium, when the hair sheds more than usual," board-certified dermatologist Marisa Garshick, M.D., FAAD, tells mbg. "On the other hand, hair loss often refers to a state when something stops the hair from growing," Garshick says.
So while these terms may be used interchangeably in casual conversation, they're actually referring to completely different things.
Hair shedding.
As mentioned above, 50 to 100 hairs a day is a normal range of shedding. So if you pull out a few hairs when you rinse out your shampoo or run a brush through your strands, there's no reason to panic.
Once you begin to lose substantially more hair throughout the day, you may be experiencing excessive shedding. As Garshick says, "Excessive hair shedding may occur as a result of certain physical, emotional, or psychological stressors on the body." Read More...
