Shedding

I am a slow transitioner, and a new curlynikki member. I went all natural in 2007, and have not done the BC. I haven't received a perm since june/july 2007. I grew out my perm, by wearing braids for months at a time. I also got routine 6-8-week trims. Now 2 1/2 years later, I have started to shed. My hair looks and feels healthy, I only use chemical free shampoos, and I do not put to much product in my hair. When I wash my hair, way to much is falling out, when I style my air dry-ed hair to much is left in my hand, and when I straighten my hair, to comb thru forget it. What can i do for this problem? Help!!

You said you wore a perm, grew it out with braids and now you're
shedding. You were shedding back when you had a perm and braids, you
just didn't notice it.

Sheds don't get trapped as easily in straight
hair as they do kinky curly. They end up on your shirt, your chair and
the bathroom floor with straight hair. With kinky curly, you may find 1
or 2 on your shirt, but for the most part, they will stay trapped in
you hair until you wash, run your fingers through or comb/remove them.
When you have braids, the sheds will remain in your hair until you take
them down .

Shedding is a natural part of the hair growth process (some estimate we shed 50-100 hairs per day) and the amount is relative. Is there a tiny little white bulb present on one end of the strand (if so it's a shed if not it's probably breakage)? How often are you removing sheds from your head? If you only remove sheds once a week, you've got 7 days worth of sheds. Are you noticing any bald or thin areas? If not, there probably isn't anything to worry about.

I only deshed my hair once a week (on wash day) and my shed hair balls are the size of golf balls but It's completely normal for me.

Thanxs. that helps. I don't have any balding or thinning areas. I knew that we lose some hair each day, I guess I never knew how much is too much. When I comb my hair threw before styling (putting in up or leaving it down) probably about 30-50 hairs come out. Then at night before wrapping it up to sleep, about the same.

@precious_secca: I have way more than that...I am just a heavy shedder. When I used to wear my hair straight I would find hairs everywhere. Now I don't because the all come out when I detangle.

Great. I can relax, I'm not losing my hair!! Thank you.

Precious Secca,

I tend to agree with the others above about it being normal to shed (I'm a heavy shedder myself) but it sounds like you experienced a sudden increase in shedding recently even though you went natural in 2007?

If there has been a big change rather than a steady, relatively constant pattern of shedding then I would suggest:

1. Investigating whether your hair needs more protein. Does it feel mushy and weak as well?
2. Investigating your general health - are you also feeling run down? Perhaps get an iron level or thyroid test done by your doctor to rule this out.
3. Crushing garlic into your pre-poo mixture and leaving that on for an hour before you shampoo. I wasn't overly concerned with my shedding as it was a constant pattern but I saw a noticeable decrease when I saw a thread about the use of garlic to address shedding and then tried it out myself out of curiosity.