If your floor is currently covered in tangles of loose hair, if you keep finding yourself yanking strands out from between your buttcheeks after a shower, if every time you run a brush through your hair you’re alarmed at just how much ends up on your lap, you’re not alone.
Hair shedding is totally normal, and if you feel like you’re experiencing it more intensely recently, you’re not imagining things.
Hair shedding does indeed increase in intensity in autumn and summer, according to new research.
Researchers from John Hopkins University School of Medicine in Maryland had a look at Google trends to measure patterns in Google searches related to hair loss from January 2004 to October 2016 in eight different countries.
They found that across all eight countries in both hemispheres, summer followed by autumn saw more hair loss searches than winter and spring.
This could indicate that more people experience hair loss in summer and autumn than in winter and spring – although it’s not entirely clear why.
Medical Daily notes that increased hair loss in summer and autumn may be because scalp hair is grown to protect our delicate skin from sunburn. As temperatures cool and sunlight hours shorten in late summer and autumn, we don’t need as much protection on our heads, so we shed our hair more. That’s one theory, anyway.
The people behind the study note that much more research is needed on the relationship between hair loss and the time of the year, but lead researcher Dr Shawn Kwatra believes that the findings could be helpful in the way we treat hair loss.
‘This finding is clinically relevant for patients presenting in the summer and fall months with worsened hair loss and has implications in assessing the effectiveness of therapies,’ said Dr Kwatra. ‘Future research will further clarify this association and examine the physiology of the hair cycle.’
But for now, take solace in the suggestion that you’re not alone in struggling with a seemingly unending supply of loose hair on your pillow cases, clothes, and coats. It’s perfectly normal.
It’s estimated that we lose as many as 100 hairs a day, which gets balanced out by the rate of hair growth.
If you do feel like your hair loss has dramatically increased though, it’s worth chatting to your doctor. They’ll likely reassure you that you’re not actually losing as much hair as you believe (I know what shows up in the plughole is scary, but it really isn’t as bad as it looks), or will be able to do tests to work out if something else is going on.
Remain calm, don’t panic, and make sure to use conditioning products to avoid additional breakage. Silk pillowcases are handy, too.
But there’s no way to put a stop to all hair loss. It’s inevitable, it’s normal, and we just have to deal with it.
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