Hair Loss

[Genifer Teal]

1 year ago I decided to let my natural hair grow. A few months later I started noticing hairs at the drain after a bath. I also have a few hairs in the sink after blow drying.

Many people say this is natural and to be expected with longer hair. I can see some logic to this. I also consider the fact that this may have been happening all along. I may have only recently noticed it because the longer hairs don't make it down the drain as well.

My question is this: How much is too much? When should I be concerned that I have a hir loss problem? I'd like to figure this out BEFORE I have a bald spot.

My next question is: What should I do about it? After a year of not wearing a wig, I'd hate to go back. I still have plenty of hair, and I want to keep it all.

My last question: Does anyone have experience with hair loss and HRT? Did harmones have any effect on your hair loss? Did it stop? Was there any regrowth?

Thanks in advance for all your comments. My sympathies go out to anyone who replies with insight on their own hair loss.

Hugs - Genifer

[Tristen Cox]

It's bound to happen, but at the moment I wound consult a doctor to see if it is happening at all. I lost a lot of hair daily when mine was down my back. Gawd why the ***k did I cut it. Anyway You may be just seeing it a lot more because it's longer. Stimulate the folicals to strengthen up and grow. But if you think it's more than too much then go to see a doctor. Best I can tell you. :o

[trinity24]

Yes - you are more likely to notice hairloss when your hair is longer. A healthy person will loose about 100 hairs a day (throughout), so that is considered normal. The only two drugs, that are proven to actually work are Propecia, and Avodart. Avodart is said to be stronger than Propecia, but there are no long term studies on it's side effects, whereas Propecia has been out for a while. Neither of these drugs will miraculously let a bold person grow an Afro. The drugs are meant to stop the hairloss, so the treatments are most successful when you start early. Both of them are pretty expensive (the last time I checked it was about $400 for a yearly supply of Propecia), but you can substitute Finasteride, which is the same price, but contains 4 time the active ingredient, so if you cut pills in 4, you'll end up with paying $100 for a year's supply. Also - I believe you don't need prescription for finasteride, and if you do, there's always online pharmacies that look the other way, to make some money (of course, there's always a danger that you get what you're paying for). Men lose their hair at the corners of the forehead first, so if you are starting to see some thinning there, you'd better start on the drugs now. Same goes for the crown. You may want to take a picture now, and compare it with another after a few months. If you are experiencing a lot of crown hair loss, you may want to look into Rogaine, which incidentaly seems to have high rate of success with that area, but from what I've heard, the application is messy, and your hair looks all greased up, so Propecia/finasteride/avodart would be my weapon of choice. I would also strongly discourage you from using hormones - it's not worth it, the drugs I mentioned are effective, and side-effects, if any occur in a small percentile of users. A note of caution - keep the drugs away from pregnant women - studies have shown, that even by touching the pills, enough of active ingredients can be transfered to lead to serious complications in the fetus. And one last thing - you are more than likely, to end up with the same bolding pattern as your father, or other male ancestors in your family, in which case drugs are your only hope of delaying the inevitable.

[Sierra]

As long as you take estrogen it will halt male pattern baldness.Like Trinity said finisteride is the active ingredient in the drugs that work,to save $ proscar is better than propecia,the both block dht.

[kathy gg]

Hi Genifer,

Have you ever heard of or tried this product.
http://www.nioxin.com/
My husband uses it. What it does is open up hair folicles that have been long dormant or closed. At the start it is even common to see what appear to be zits/acne on your head. But it is dormant roots working through. I am sure they can explain how the shamoo works more scientifically on their website. Many salons carry it, or you could check out places like Trade Secret which can be found in most major malls.

So, if you are concerned about thinning hair, or just too much hair falling out it is a really good product to use.

I do know that it always seems you loose alot of hair when it is long, but that I believe has more to do with the length. You probably were already losing that amount prior.

hugs
kathy in canada


1 year ago I decided to let my natural hair grow. A few months later I started noticing hairs at the drain after a bath. I also have a few hairs in the sink after blow drying.

Many people say this is natural and to be expected with longer hair. I can see some logic to this. I also consider the fact that this may have been happening all along. I may have only recently noticed it because the longer hairs don't make it down the drain as well.

My question is this: How much is too much? When should I be concerned that I have a hir loss problem? I'd like to figure this out BEFORE I have a bald spot.

My next question is: What should I do about it? After a year of not wearing a wig, I'd hate to go back. I still have plenty of hair, and I want to keep it all.

My last question: Does anyone have experience with hair loss and HRT? Did harmones have any effect on your hair loss? Did it stop? Was there any regrowth?

Thanks in advance for all your comments. My sympathies go out to anyone who replies with insight on their own hair loss.

Hugs - Genifer

[Elias]

I'm on a campaign to grow my hair as long as it will grow - but noticed that I seemed to be losing a lot of it daily, the longer it got. Part of that is due to natural perimenopausal hormonal changes, and part of it is that we do tend to notice the loss of longer hairs, because they stuck stuck in the hairbrush, hang around in the tub, and so forth.

I talked to my hairdresser about it, and she recommended Nioxin. I tried it, and now I would NEVER go back to using anything else. My hair loss has slowed, and my hair is growing faster, stronger, and thicker. It's expensive, but it's worth it.

- Elias