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Is this normal? And does the shampoo I use have anything to do with how much hair I lose?
One of the things we forget is that we are animals and, just like all other animals, we shed. So you shouldn’t be surprised that you lose some hair every day. But is 40 to 100 strands normal?
On the average person’s head (assuming there aren’t any bald spots), there is an average of 100,000 hairs. Feel free to count them if you like … we’ll wait. This is somewhat related to your natural hair color: Brunettes average about 120,000 hairs while redheads have only 90,000. The number of hairs is strictly controlled by your genetic makeup, which means there is nothing you can do to increase the number of hairs on your head.
At any given moment, each hair follicle on your head is in one of three growth phases. The anagen phase is when the hair is growing and actually getting longer. This can last anywhere from two to seven years. The catagen phase is a transitional phase, when growth slows and eventually stops. The telogen phase is the final phase, in which growth has completely stopped and the hair is vulnerable to falling out. The hairs that you naturally shed are all in the telogen phase.
Studies have shown that you should expect to shed approximately 0.1 percent of your hair each day. That means you lose 100 hairs every day. This is almost exactly the amount you are asking about. And remember: This is a biological rate; it has nothing to do with the shampoo you use.
The only effect hair products will have on the amount of hair you lose is that they may make you notice more lost hairs. Washing and styling involve lots of movement, so hairs will be more likely to fall out if they are ready. However, this will be true of any hair care brand.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Hair falls out naturally and the brand of shampoo you use will not have any added effect.
WHY DO GRAY HAIRS LOOK AND FEEL DIFFERENT?
Tiffany wants to know: Why do my gray hairs seem more kinky and unruly compared to the rest of my hair?
Gray hair looks gray because it has lost its melanin, which gives hair its color. Melanin is naturally produced in the hair follicle and “injected” into the hair fibers as the protein is formed and pushed out of the head. It’s the same kind of melanin that gives your skin its color. Two basic types of melanin (eumelanin and pheomelanin) are responsible for every hair color from brown and black to blond and red.
No one knows why hair follicles stop producing melanin. Genetics mostly. There comes a point where the melanocytes (the melanin-producing cells) just stop producing. Thus you get gray hair.
WILL HAIR DYE GIVE YOU CANCER?
Every so often you hear about how chemicals in your cosmetics are responsible for cancer, birth defects or even autism. Unfortunately, the sources for these conclusions are rarely cited and, when they are, they are typically a biased political committee or marketing group.
An article titled “Can dyeing your hair really give you cancer?” recently caught our eye. The article discussed a major conference that was being held in Belfast in which the long-term link between bladder cancer and people with dyed hair was being discussed. It stated:
Evidence exists to indicate regular and long-term use of hair dyes can be associated with the development of the cancer, which kills more than 4,000 in the UK each year.
Now, if this article was all you read on the subject, you might conclude that hair dye causes bladder cancer. You might also get the impression that experts are in agreement. After all, they did get their information from Questor, a European environmental research center.
Being the skeptical Beauty Brains that we are, we went to see what the medical journals had to say on the subject. A search of “hair dye” resulted in 649 hits. The most current research is useful for answering questions like these; review articles are best. Review articles are designed to summarize all the work that has been published before.
An article about hair dye and cancer published in late 2006 in the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health concludes:
Results for bladder cancer studies suggest that subsets of the population may be genetically susceptible to hair dye exposures, but these findings are based on small subgroups in one well-designed case-control study. Replication of these findings is needed to determine whether the reported associations are real or spurious.
This is a bit different than the definitive bladder cancer/hair dye link suggested in the newspaper article. Essentially, the researchers say certain genetically predisposed people may have issues, but even this isn’t a certainty. A more thorough study is needed. But the important implication is that for most people, this isn’t a problem. Hair dye will not cause cancer.
What you read, see or hear in the mainstream media rarely tells the whole story. When it comes to issues about health and safety you would not be wrong to immediately reject their conclusions. If you want to know the real story, do a little research for yourself using the least biased sources you can find. Research in this case would find that the majority of studies show no established link between hair dye and cancer. So feel free to color with abandon.
For a more thorough summary of the cancer/hair color research, read this article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association: http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/293/20/2516.
CAN YOU SLOW IT DOWN?
No one has figured out how to do this yet. And the truth is that only the pharmaceutical companies would be looking for the solution anyway. Cosmetics companies focus on things that do not react with your body. I’m not sure if there will be a solution to this problem anytime soon. (By the way, there are products out there like Reminex that claim to restore melanin production, but we’ve seen no data to indicate that they work.)
WHY DO PEOPLE THINK GRAY HAIR IS SO DIFFERENT?
There are probably two reasons: First, we know that as you age, the follicles produce less of their natural lubricating oils. That can make hair feel dry and coarse. Second, gray hairs are just easier to notice because of the color difference. Think about all the hairs on your head that are unruly. Those that are the same color as the rest of your hair simply don’t get noticed.
THE BOTTOM LINE
There is no solid data to show that gray hair has a different physical structure that makes it feel more kinky and unruly. In fact, we’ve seen experiments that show if people close their eyes they cannot feel a difference between gray hair and “normal” hair.
WILL HONEY AND CINNAMON HELP STOP HAIR FROM FALLING OUT BUT TURN HAIR GRAY?
Sosina says: I read on the internet that applying honey and cinnamon to hair is good for treating hair loss. But people say that honey makes hair gray. Which one is true?
The internet is a wonderful tool, but remember anyone can write anything, and you never know what is really true. (Unless you’re reading the Beauty Brains, that is.)
WHAT DOES HONEY DO ON HAIR?
Honey is a humectant, which means it has a tendency to hold on to water molecules. This is a desirable property in a moisturizer, especially one designed for skin. But unlike skin, hair is not alive and it doesn’t need as much moisture as skin does. Honey is not a good lubricant, so it doesn’t have any benefit for making hair slippery and smooth. In fact, it’s the opposite of slippery—it’s sticky because it’s basically a sugary solution. (Rub some between your fingers and you’ll see!) It will not smooth your cuticles or help a comb pass through your hair without damaging it. So any moisture-grabbing benefits that honey might give your hair are offset by its stickiness. The bottom