Six
weeks ago I started using product X and now my hair
is shedding like crazy. What's going on?
A:
Sometimes hair loss treatments will cause follicles
to "wake
up" a few weeks early in initiating hair growth. This
causes the old dormant hair that's still present to
suddenly be ejected prematurely. Thus you may see a
temporary wave of increased hairloss. It's only an
apparent increase in actual hair loss, however, as
this falling hair
had stopped its growth cycle many weeks earlier and
was just waiting to drop out. Increased fallout of
this sort should normalize within a few weeks. If it
continues over a prolonged period of time (a few months)
it may be that the treatment is contraindicated. Note
that the majority of people do not notice any increased
shedding with various treatments. Increased shedding
is most often a positive sign, but its absence is not
a negative sign. Note also that hair fallout is not
perfectly uniform throughout the year, so sometimes
increased or decreased shedding is simply coincidental
with normal hair cycles. Also bear in mind that it
is perfectly normal to lose hair every day. The problem
with pattern hair loss is primarily one of having insufficient
regrowth. |
