I get this question, or variations of it, quite a bit. People often ask me about abrupt and dramatic hair loss that is most often noticed when you wash your hair, comb your hair, or run your fingers through it. This can be pretty obvious, especially when you walk out with a bunch of hair on your hands. People often ask me why this happens seemingly out of the blue in people who appear otherwise healthy. I will go over some of the most common reasons for this occurrence in the following article.
Does the hair break or fall out of the roots?: This is an important distinction. If your hair is dry, brittle or brittle, the cause of your problems will be very different than if the hair falls out at the roots. Hair that breaks can sometimes be due to harsh chemical procedures (dyeing, straightening, pulling, etc.) It can also be due to vitamin deficiencies or malnutrition. Reactions to products are also possible. You will often see dry and unhealthy looking hair. These things are less likely if the hair grows out of the roots.
Take a look at some of the spent hairs and see if there is a white or black tip at the end (which is the root ball). If this is the case, you are dealing with the fall rather than break. Usually, with breaks or splits, the hair will also be much shorter.
Telogen effluvium and dramatic detachment: Certainly, a shedding that reaches such a high level that you see it coming out of your hands could potentially be telogen effluvium (or ET). This occurs when, for whatever reason, your body decides that in order to conserve its reserves, it will reset the hair follicles so they don’t have to put up with growing hair. This can happen if your body senses that you are sick, stressed, or need to preserve your body’s reserves. Common scenarios where this will happen are during hormonal changes such as pregnancy or changing birth control methods, severe illness or stress, or adding something new to your body and/or taking something away (such as daily medications).
This also happens seasonally for some people. It is the same scenario where many hair follicles reset at once. Normally, you will have ten percent or less of your follicles in the molting phase. But with telogen effluvium, or TE, this equation changes so that much more than the typical 10 percent comes into play. Now, although it may seem so, not all the hairs on your head have changed their cycle. And often, your body will straighten itself out eventually, and usually within a few weeks or months, those same hairs will return to the growth cycle and you’ll have a more normal experience. Eventually, the hand hair problem should improve, at least if it’s TE. However, sometimes this condition develops into a chronic variety and things can last a little longer or be more difficult to treat.
Autoimmune disorders, allergic reactions, scalp problems: While TE is the most common cause of hair loss on your hands, there are other causes that can be to blame as well. These are autoimmune diseases such as lupus, Hashimoto’s thyroid disease, and alopecia areata. Also, sometimes the scalp has a hard time supporting and maintaining healthy hair and follicles. This could be due to severe allergic reactions to the products or dermatological problems with the scalp. You can often inspect your scalp to see if there are any noticeable or problematic changes. But for the most part, these issues need to be evaluated by a doctor (usually a dermatologist), whereas seasonal shedding will usually run its course on its own.
Aggressive Genetic Hair Loss: When this type of hair loss happened to me, I would often read that AGA (genetic hair loss or androgenic alopecia) often does not present with shedding or hair loss so aggressive that you would see hair on your hands. My research, experience, and interaction with others who were in the same boat have indicated, for me at least, that this is not always the case. There are cases of AGA or genetic hair loss that can appear suddenly and can be quite aggressive with a large amount of hair falling out in a very short time. Everyone’s experience is different. Therefore, if the detachment does not resolve on its own within a few weeks, this is another possible cause that you may want to consider.