Sometimes I hear from people who are desperately hoping that their excessive hair loss (which they suspect is telogen effluvium) is finally coming to an end. Usually the first thing they notice is that not as much hair comes out when they wash it. Next, they may see less hair shed on their clothes. Some see new growth, but many do not. However, sometimes, just when they are hopeful that the decrease in hair loss means their ET is slowing down or about to end, it suddenly comes back.
I’ve heard of someone who said, “I admit I count my strands. While my telogen effluvium was in full swing, I was losing at least 200 strands a day, sometimes more. For the past few days, I’ve only been losing about 100. I was hoping this meant this nightmare was coming to an end. But this morning when I showed up, 175 hairs came out. Does this mean my shedding isn’t over? How do you know when your telogen hair effluvium is over once and for all? I will try to answer these questions in the next article.
While very little clinical information is available, the more “normal” days you see over a longer period of time, the greater the chance that your molt is coming to an end: If you’ve tried to research this topic, you probably already know that there isn’t much information available. And this lack of information may lead you to believe that molting must stop abruptly. Many people expect to wake up one morning to find a normal shedding continuing from that day on. Unfortunately, this is not always the way it happens. Often you will see sporadic shedding that goes up and down before it completely normalizes.
Your follicles probably didn’t enter the shedding phase all at once, so they may not enter the growth phase all at once: Think about what happens to start the detachment in the first place. Usually, some trigger (stress, medication, injury, etc.) causes many of the hair follicles to enter the resting or shedding phase at the same time. Normally, this is staggered so that only a small percentage of follicles rest or shed at one time. But, when you have telogen effluvium, this process is not staggered and you have many more follicles than normal shedding strands of hair. However, this may not happen on the same day. It can happen over the course of weeks or days. That is why recovery can also be gradual. That does not mean that you should not celebrate or be happy when you notice a day that gives you relief. Likewise, you shouldn’t get crushed if the shedding fluctuates a bit.
So is there a well to know when their molt is officially over: I think the answer is different for everyone. Some people won’t be happy until they see many days in a row where their shedding is absolutely normal. And others are happy with any improvement. And because it can be normal to have peaks and valleys in this process, to be sure, most people consider shedding to be over if they’ve had normal hair loss for three months or so. And the truth is, once the shedding starts to improve, you no longer feel compelled to keep track of the number of hairs falling out or the days during which it happens, so you can lose count of all modes.
The bottom line for me is that any time you see an improvement, you should be encouraged. With that said, it is normal to see an improvement followed by an increase in shedding once again. And this doesn’t always mean that their moult is starting all over again. Seasonal shedding or hair loss for a day or two can be perfectly normal. But if you’ve seen “normal” ranges over the course of several days or a few months, then that’s a good indication that your shedding is in the early stages of ending.
