I get this question, or variations of it, quite a bit. People often ask me about the abrupt and dramatic hair loss most often noticed when washing, combing, or running your fingers. 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 otherwise appear to be healthy. I will go over some of the most common reasons for this occurrence in the following article.
Does the hair break or come out of the root?: 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 from the root. Breaking hair can sometimes be due to aggressive chemical procedures (dyeing, straightening, pulling, etc.) It can also be due to vitamin deficiencies or malnutrition. Reactions to the products are also possible. You will often see dry and unhealthy looking hair. These things are less likely if the hair comes out from the roots.
Take a look at some of the worn hair 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 instead of breaking. Usually with breaks or parting, the hair will also be much shorter.
Telogen effluvium and dramatic shedding: Certainly, a shedding that reaches such a high level that you see it coming out of your hands could potentially be telogen effluvium (or TE). 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 support hair growth. This can happen if your body perceives 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, illness or severe stress, or adding something new to your body and/or removing something (such as daily medications).
This also happens seasonally for some people. It is the same scenario where many hair follicles are rebooted 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 ten percent comes into play. Now, although it may seem like it, not all the hairs on your head have changed their cycle. And often your body will eventually straighten itself out and usually within a few weeks or months those same hairs will go back into the growth cycle and you will have a more normal experience. Eventually the hand hair problem should improve, at least if it is ET. However, sometimes this condition becomes 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 also be to blame. These are autoimmune diseases such as lupus, Hashimoto’s thyroid disease, and alopecia areata. Also, sometimes the scalp has difficulty supporting and maintaining healthy hair and follicles. This could be due to severe allergic reactions to the products or dermatological problems of the scalp. You can often inspect your scalp for any noticeable or troublesome changes. But, for the most part, these problems need to be evaluated by a doctor (usually a dermatologist), while seasonal shedding will usually run its course on its own.
Aggressive Genetic Hair Loss: When this type of hair loss happened to me, I often read that AGA (genetic hair loss or androgenetic 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, at least to me, 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. So if the abruption doesn’t resolve on its own within a few weeks, this is another possible cause you may want to consider.
