Young Curly-Haired WomanBREAKAGE or SHEDDING? KNOW THE DIFFERENCE

 

There are many reasons why women experience hair loss.  Some reasons such as hormonal changes (i.e. post- partum shedding), medical issues (i.e. chemotherapy, certain medications) or just plain old genetic predisposition (i.e. balding) are very common among women and as a matter of fact, most women don’t know that they are the carriers of the “balding” gene. That’s right, women carry the balding gene. However, these are not the reasons we will be looking at today. Believe it or not, there are two reasons that are more familiar and more prevalent when talking about this issue with women and why they suffer hair loss. Breakage and shedding, these two are no strangers and actually have found themselves a comfortable place among “hair loss” conversations.

DO YOU KNOW THE DIFFERENCE? WHAT ARE SOME OF THE CAUSES? Too often, the two are mistaken for each other, but not any longer. After reading this article you will walk away knowing how to recognize and define a broken hair and a shed hair.

The hair goes through a process called “the growth cycle”. It is at the end of the growth cycle that the hair is “shed”. The average person sheds 50-100 strands a day. The following illustration demonstrates “the growth cycle”.

GROWTH CYCLE

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Shed Hair

Presence of white bulb at the end of hair strand

Causes: Hair has reached the end of its “growth cycle”, hormonal changes, medical issues or genetic predisposition

Broken Hair

Absence of the white bulb on either end of the hair strand

Causes: Dryness, aggressive manipulation (i.e. combing, braiding), imbalance of protein levels

 See the Difference

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Now that you know the difference, take time to analyze your hair first, before diagnosing it. You may find that breakage isn’t your problem at all; rather, your hair is just experiencing the end of its growth cycle.

 

 

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