Does long hair shed more? I’ll tell you

I get a lot of emails asking me about the variables that would make a person’s hair fall more. One of the common variables I’m often asked about is having long hair. Some common comments are things like: “I notice that my hair falls out more when it is longer”, or “Does the weight of long hair make it fall more or fall out?” or “If I cut my hair, would it fall less?” I will answer these questions in the next article.

Hair that is in the resting phase will fall out, whether it is long or not: When a strand of hair is going to fall out, it goes from the growth phase (in which it is actively nourished and deeply embedded in its follicle) to the resting phase (in which it is essentially dead hair waiting to be pushed). it usually only occurs over time or with manipulation of the scalp, such as washing or combing your hair. I guess the weight of the super long hair could make it come out sooner, but the truth is, it would eventually have come out no matter what. There really is no benefit to keeping your hair in the resting phase because your days are numbered anyway. The real benefit is discovering what is causing so many hairs to enter the resting phase and fixing that destructive process.

Long hairs that fall are more noticeable and appear much more lost: If you take, say, 100 long hairs and 100 very short hairs and view them side by side, what hair will look like a more drastic loss? Longer hairs, of course. If the hair is very long, the hair will look between 3 and 4 times longer than the short hair, when in fact the loss is the same. Longer hairs will fall out much more noticeably because they show up so prominently on clothing, the floor, and in the drain. Frankly, very short hairs can easily go down the drain and are not as noticeable on your clothing so you don’t see or count them. This gives the perception that it is coming out less when, in fact, it may not be an accurate perception at all.

Does short or long hair better camouflage hair loss? Should I cut my hair ?:I get this question a lot and the answer really depends on your hair texture and loss pattern. If your hair is too fine to maintain a layered cut or a short cut or if the loss is patterned so that you can see the scalp with a short cut, it is best to leave some length. However, it is not recommended to wear hair so long that it appears stringy or thin at the ends. Most women do well with a modified blunt bob (which can be shorter or longer) and both men and women do well to add some waves, curls, or color to their hair to give the illusion that there is more.

But, these considerations are actually band-aids and camouflage. It is optimal to find out why it is falling apart and fix it. Sometimes in cases of TE (telogen effluvium or temporary loss), this is really just waiting. But other times, there are inflammation or androgen issues that need to be addressed or fixed because these issues rarely go away on their own.