Why am I losing hair? Is it me or is it everyone facing this? Is it the weather?These are questions that have bothered every individual numerous times in their life, if not once!

We have been told that we lose upto a hundred hair strands a day as per TV commercials, but why is it then that it feels like you didn’t see any hairfall one day, and strands coming off in dozens on some days?

Let us find out!

Life cycle of a hair strand

Life of a hair strand

We have about 1 lac hair follicles on our scalp. Let us understand the structure of each individual hair strand. Every hair strand is made up of two parts. 

The hair root – present beneath the scalp and the hair shaft or the body of the hair which we see.

When the new hair cells grow inside the hair follicle, the hair strand grows longer and longer. This is referred to as the ‘growth phase’

90% of your hair are in the ‘growth phase’ always.

Next to the growth phase, comes the ‘transition phase’. During this phase the hair root separates from the inner layers in the scalp. Later, the blood supply to the hair strand is cut off, this is called the ‘telogen phase’. The hair strand comes off from the scalp and falls out. Fresh cells start to form at the site of the hair follicle and a new hair strand now starts growing.

With each strand in different phase of its life and a lakh of hair follicles and each hair in a different stage of its life, losing a 100 strands a day now makes sense, doesn’t it?

Causes of Excessive Hair fall

• Damaged hair roots, which could be because of multiple reasons, which include trauma, infection, folliculitis (inflammation of the hair follicles)

• Lack of micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) in diet in adequate amounts for growth of healthy hair. If our diet does not contain optimal quantities of vitamins and minerals on daily basis, it will reflect as hairfall in a couple of months. Biotin, zinc, vitamin A, C, D, B12 are essential for hair growth.

• Unclean scalp causes hairloss. This cause of hairloss can be dealt with easily. Keeping the scalp squeaky clean by the use of an appropriate shampoo as per scalp needs, taking a hair shower frequently, to get rid of oil, sebum, dirt, pollutants piling up on the scalp. You could also use home made scalp scrubs or silicone scalp scrubbers while shampooing your hair. Let the shampoo sit on your scalp for for 1-2 minutes so that it gets time to do its job before you wash it off.

• Poor blood circulation is another cause of hairloss. Dry massage of the scalp with fingertips, or with the use of a desired oil preferably coconut oil helps stimulate blood flow to the scalp and strengthens the roots. Always remember to massage your hair with oil when the scalp is clean, not when it has a build up of oil and sebum! You want the oil to penetrate the skin, so always massage the scalp when it is clean.

• Stress during the time when hair is beginning to grow (This leads to unhealthy hair growth and they eventually fall off together in bunches ). Well, stress leads to hair loss too! That too in abundance, so next time you find yourself stressing out, remember, the hair that is growing right now on your head is growing under stress and will shed. Amazing tip to manage stress there!

• Thyroid disorders, be it hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism or for that matter any hormonal imbalance in the body can take a toll on your overall metabolism and hair won’t be spared too.  Expert tip: “Keep your thyroid levels in control and lead a healthy lifestyle!”

• Side effects of certain medicines, like NSAIDS (non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) painkillers, steroids, certain psychiatric medication, chemotherapy

• Not combing for multiple days and then seeing hair fall of all the days combined after a week! Be as diligent with haircare as you are with your skin care. Use a wide tooth comb and don’t tug your hair from the roots. Start combing your hair from the ends and move all the way up gradually.

Eliminate these causes and see getting your luscious hair back!

Follow upcoming blogs to find out solutions for hair loss and how you can get them to grow back!