Hair shedding is a normal process that occurs as part of your hair growth cycle. Hair shedding, or simply hair falling, is the final stage in a 3-step biological process of hair growth.

The first phase of hair growth involves the growth of the hair follicle. This is followed by a phase where the follicle breaks down on its own. In the third and final stage, the hair sheds to give way to new hair.

Losing 50 to 100 hair strands daily is part of the natural hair growth process. This growth-shedding-regrowth cycle is common and may occur throughout an individual’s lifetime.

Hair shedding can become a problem when there is excessive hair fall. If you notice more than normal shedding on your comb or pillow, then it could perhaps be excessive hair shedding.

Medically, excessive hair shedding is referred to as telogen effluvium.

Table of Contents:

• Is There a Difference Between Hair Shedding and Hair Loss?
• What are the Reasons for Excessive Hair Shedding?
• What to Do When You Experience Hair Shedding?
• How to Stop Hair Shedding?
• Watch What You Consume
• Get Your Beauty Sleep
• Start/Update Your Haircare Routine
• Grab a Cleanser
• Smoothen Strands With a Conditioner
• Seal with a Moisturizer
• Adopt Safe and Healthy Haircare Practices

Is There a Difference Between Hair Shedding and Hair Loss?

Yes, hair loss is different from hair shedding. Hair shedding is a normal process, whereas hair loss is not. Hair shedding often stops on its own, and hair loss stops only when the causative factors are addressed.

Hair loss occurs when an underlying cause prevents your hair from growing. These causes can include:

• Heredity
• Certain medications and treatments
• Use of hair care products with harsh chemicals
• Following rough hairstyling methods
• Abnormal reaction from the body’s immune system

The cause of hair loss needs to be addressed to allow hair to regrow normally. For example, if certain drugs or treatments are causing you to lose your hair, you need to modify your intake of drugs or change the treatment. It is crucial not to stop medications on your own as side effects may ensue. Talk to your doctor for a remedy.

Patients undergoing treatments such as chemotherapy, too, lose hair in excess. Hair in such people tends to regrow once treatment stops.

Dermatologists may recommend appropriate treatment for hair loss caused by unavoidable factors such as heredity. For preventable causes, dermatologists may recommend proper skincare practices.

Often, a good skincare routine with the right products and good haircare practices can prevent hair loss caused by preventable factors.

What are the Reasons for Excessive Hair Shedding?

The reasons for hair shedding that is out of the ordinary are multiple. Often, a period of intense stress can lead to excessive hair shedding. Once this phase passes, shedding tends to stop on its own.

Hair shedding is common if you have recently experienced any of the following:

• Delivered a child
  
  
• Undergoing acute stress. Divorce, becoming a caregiver for a loved one, and job termination are some examples that can lead to such intense stress.
• Any recent weight loss of at least 20 pounds
• Experienced high fever recently
• Undergone a surgery
• Ceased taking birth-control pills
• Insufficient intake of vitamins

In pregnant women, the body undergoes multiple changes, which impact the body’s natural hormonal balance. This imbalance can affect the hair growth cycle, leading to greater shedding.

Illness, especially one that has a high fever as a symptom, also can also cause hormonal imbalance, which leads to hair shedding.

Lack of adequate nutrition can cause shedding. Foods rich in iron, protein, calcium, biotin, and vitamin D, are crucial for hair growth. Intake of these vitamins can help in reducing hair shedding.

Wondering why weight loss causes hair shedding? There are numerous changes in the body during the period of weight loss. These intense physical changes can trigger hair shedding.

Stress is also a major contributor to hair loss. When faced with intense stress, the body undergoes various physiological changes, which can lead to disturbed sleep and appetite. These changes impact the hair growth cycle by speeding up its resting stage (the third and final stage in the growth cycle). This can result in excessive hair shedding.

Another common reason for hair shedding is seasonal hair fall. If you are losing more hair in winter or toward the end of fall, then you could be experiencing a seasonal impact. The impact of daylight hours on the hair growth cycle is believed to be the reason for seasonal hair shedding.

In summer, daylight hours are longer. This phenomenon triggers the telogen phase, disturbing the actual time duration of the normal cycle. This results in hair shedding in late fall or winter.

Seasonal hair fall is normal. An effective skincare routine and a well-balanced diet enriched with vitamins essential for the hair can stop this type of hair shedding.

What to Do When You Experience Hair Shedding?

Wait.

In most cases, hair tends to grow back on its own after the period of stress stops. For example, in new mothers, excessive shedding occurs for two months after giving birth.

Shedding peaks four months after giving birth. This shedding is normal. Hair tends to regrow once the body adjusts itself to the new changes in the body of the mother. Within 6 to 9 months, the mother experiences natural hair growth.

If the stress is temporary, then hair shedding is temporary. But if stress prolongs, then excessive hair shedding is also prolonged. If you experience chronic stress, then you may undergo long-term excessive hair shedding.

Talk to your dermatologist to know if you are suffering from hair loss or hair shedding. Both may seem similar. But a dermatologist can identify the underlying reason and prescribe the right treatment.

How to Stop Hair Shedding?

Hair shedding is easier to manage and even prevent. The following tips come in handy to manage hair shedding and sometimes even hair loss caused by preventable factors.

While hair shedding stops on its own, you can speed up the process by adopting good haircare practices and a healthy lifestyle. Here are some ways that can help you stop hair shedding and get healthy hair back:

• Watch What You Consume

A classic, balanced diet with fresh vegetables and fruits is the best remedy. These foods contain nutrients essential for the hair. As iron is a critical nutrient for hair, include iron-rich foods such as leafy vegetables, pulses, and fish. Foods rich in beta carotenes such as papaya, sweet potatoes, and tomatoes, are helpful too.

• Get Your Beauty Sleep

Sleep is critical to the proper functioning of the body. Physiological functions are dependent on the quality of your sleep. Lack of proper sleep causes stress, pain, mood changes, emotional imbalance, and overall reduced quality of life. Any changes within the body reflect in the hair too. For example, too much stress can cause hair shedding.

Give yourself the sleep you need to rejuvenate and function at its best. When internal functions are efficient, hair shedding too comes under control. 

• Start/Update your Haircare Routine

You may already have a haircare routine in place or may not have one in place at all. Either way, it is time to give your hair the excellent benefits of good haircare. A haircare routine need not be extensive or expensive. A few simple steps can protect your existing strands and give you the glow you always wanted.

So, what makes a good haircare routine?

Grab a Cleanser

Cleansing is the starting point to good hair. A good cleanser removes dead skin cells and remains of any product, such as the shampoo you use on your hair. Without this cleansing action, these impurities build up in your follicles and deprive natural oils of reaching the scalp and hair.

Good cleansing is also crucial to remove sebum or natural oil build-up in hair follicles. Without cleansing, sebum build-up and production increase, leading to greasy hair. Lifestyle habits such as swimming can cause product build-up, which needs to be removed for clean and strong strands.

When you do not cleanse your hair, the build-up remains, making strands vulnerable to damage.

For the best results, choose products that are natural and completely free of sulfates and parabens. You may want to consider the Activated Charcoal & Keratin Shampoo from WOW Skin Science for a deep cleanse.

This formulation is rich in natural ingredients. Activated charcoal performs intense follicle purification, removing dirt and impurities from deep within the follicles. The cleansing action is supported by the strengthening action of keratin. Keratin is an essential protein critical to building your hair structure.

After cleansing and strengthening, your hair is soothed with intense moisturization, provided by aloe vera, almond oil, argan oil, and jojoba oil.

Intense and complete hair treatment to stop your hair shedding!

Smoothen Strands With a Conditioner

The cleansing action of shampoo can leave your strands wanting more moisture and smoothness. Without moisturizing action, your hair loses its natural oil and becomes dry and frizzy.

A conditioner nurtures the hair with required moisturization.

A good conditioner contains molecules that are cationic in nature. This nature makes it easy for conditioners to attract hair and nourish them with moisturization. The conditioning action also makes your strands soft and smooth, reducing the risk of tangling. Tangles can break your hair. When hair is dry, tangling and hair breakage are immense.

By adding a layer of moisture, conditioners also protect your hair from external hair damagers, including the sun, which can make your hair rough, dry, and lifeless.

For the best moisturizing action, try WOW Skin Science’s Coconut Milk Conditioner. This formulation has all the ingredients perfect for strong and radiant hair.

The conditioner is enriched with coconut milk, which has super hair-nourishing power. It keeps the scalp healthy and restores strength to damaged hair with excellent nourishment.

Sweet almond oil retains skin moisture, keeping your scalp moisturized and strong. Vitamins A, E, B6, and B1 in the oil provide essential nourishment to the hair. They also protect hair and scalp from sun damage. With enough moisturization, your hair stays moist.

Castor oil lends enough moisturization to the internal layers of your hair, making strands more supple and less vulnerable to damage. Argan oil is rich in fatty acids, which improves hair moisturization.

The moisturizer is also rich in hydrolyzed keratin, which repairs damaged hair back to health and keeps strands strong against breakage.

Packed with goodness, this conditioner is all you’ll need to keep your hair soft, smooth, and supple.

Seal with a Moisturizer

Moisturizing action is only effective as long as it is available to your skin and hair. A moisturizer helps by sealing the moisture within your hair and scalp. With regular use of a moisturizer, your strands will stay lubricated. In addition, moisturization reaches strands and follicles when they need it, which prevents dryness.

When intense moisturization is the need, WOW Skin Science’s 10-in-1Hair Oil comes in handy. The formulation provides deep moisturization, penetrating deep into the scalp without leaving any greasy look or feeling.

The oil is enriched with extra virgin olive oil, argan oil, almond oil, jojoba oil, vitamin E, grapeseed oil, safflower oil, tea tree essential oil, and Bhringraj extract. Each natural ingredient nourishes your hair with nutrients and moisture and prevents damage.

Extra virgin olive oil, for example, is rich in antioxidants, which prevent hair damage by free radicals. Jojoba oil is known for its powerful moisturizing action, which helps repair even damaged strands.

Tame your frizzes, repair split ends, and seal in moisture for a lovely look even after a tiring day, all with this 10-in-1 hair oil.

Adopt Safe and Healthy Haircare Practices

A hair routine is key to keeping your hair hygienic. But no amount of hygiene is going to help your hair if you are consciously damaging strands with your hair habits.

Here are some hair habits you need to stop immediately to stop hair shedding:

• Stop tying your hair immediately after a wash. Wet strands break easily. Let your hair loose for drying.
• Stay away from excessively tight hairstyles as they can cause more damage than you may realize. High-tension hairstyles can lead to traction alopecia or simply traction. This is a hair loss condition resulting from the excessive and constant pulling of hair.
• Styling your hair tight now and then may reduce hair loss. But frequent tight-styling can cause permanent hair loss.
• Reduce hair tangling and consequent breakage with a good haircare routine and a wide-toothed comb.
• Use warm water to wash your hair. Hot water can make your hair dry.
• Use a microfiber cloth to dry your hair as it soaks up water quickly and thoroughly.
• Use air drying to dry your hair. Exposing your hair to hot blowers constantly can damage and weaken strands. If you want to use a dryer, then consider using the cool mode option.

• Protect your hair with heat protectants to prevent it from being damaged by styling devices such as curlers and straighteners.
• Color your hair with a sufficient gap of 2 to 3 months in between sessions. Too much coloring can damage hair quality and strength.

With stressors dominating human lives, hair shedding becomes an inevitable consequence. But you need not suffer from the consequences. Healthy eating and lifestyle habits are key to managing hair shedding. Including a good haircare and skincare routine is a must to complement your diet and lifestyle.

Whether or not you are experiencing hair shedding, a haircare routine always works to keep your hair healthy. Sticking to a routine can even prevent hair shedding and unhealthy hair loss in the first place.

Go natural with WOW Skin Science’s skincare and haircare products. All products are vegan, natural, and dermatologically tested for safety and efficiency. Plant actives and extracts with rich cultural history and scientific backing are used as ingredients in these formulations.

Pamper yourself with the best in natural hair care products! Explore WOW Skin Science products to choose the right ones for your routine.