This is a lot of hair in my hand...

[lnana04]

Now granted, I haven't combed through it in about 3 weeks, so I guess it was bound to shed, but this is a lot. My hair was maybe 2 inches away from midback length and now it's like five inches above it. I combed the thickness and the length out of it.

I had my hair in small twists for four weeks and I took them out and realized I couldn't comb through it. So I just kept putting it in a ponytail, and I finally got through it tonight...unfortunately a ton of it came out. The bad thing is that this exact same thing just happened to me just three months ago, so this is the 2nd time, in three months, of me combing a chunck of my hair out.

 

[CarLiTa]

that's a lot!
condition and condition again!

i have felt like that's happened, too. Once you wash your hair and it's conditioned and detangled, you can better determine where you are.

 

[lnana04]

that's a lot!
condition and condition again!

i have felt like that's happened, too. Once you wash your hair and it's conditioned and detangled, you can better determine where you are.

Yeah. I detangled tonight with Suave, but I guess I will condition it with a deep conditoner tomorrow. hopefully things will be looking better by then.

 

[n_vizion]

I usually experience a ton of shedding when I leave my hair alone for too long. Because of that, I vowed never to leave my hair alone without combing it for no longer than 1 week. All the shed hairs make the combout out process more difficult which can means more breakage.

 

[Foxglove]

Maybe you shouldn't wait so long to detangle. 3 weeks is a long time and you probably have lot of shed hairs tangling with the unshed hairs and breaking them
Also detangling under the shower with your hair soaked in condish with a wide toothed comb saves a lot of hair

 

[so so chic]

i agree with the other posters. i definitely would not wait that long again to detangle. how and what did you detangle with? i find that if i section my hair into four sections, spraying each section with water, and detangle one section at a time with a wide tooth comb, it works out pretty good. i lost a lot of hair like that before trying to detangle in the shower without sectioning my hair. i have to detangle in sections when its really tangled . hth

 

[MJ]

Regarding the shedding:

That's normal. You have to remember that natural hair doesn't lie flat and alot of that bulk is air/space. I get more than that when I take my cornrows down after 6 weeks. It's a bit overwhelming but realize that your hair shed at least 50-100 strands per day. Multiply that by the number of days in three weeks....

50 x 21 = a ball of 1,050 hair strands
or
100 x 21 = a ball of 2,100 hair strands

How many hair do you think are in that ball in your hand?

Get my drift? Don't worry about it. Your hair is just doing its thing like it's supposed to.

 

[so so chic]

Regarding the shedding:

That's normal. You have to remember that natural hair doesn't lie flat and alot of that bulk is air/space. I get more than that when I take my cornrows down after 6 weeks. It's a bit overwhelming but realize that your hair shed at least 50-100 strands per day. Multiply that by the number of days in three weeks....

50 x 21 = a ball of 1,050 hair strands
or
100 x 21 = a ball of 2,100 hair strands

How many hair do you think are in that ball in your hand?

Get my drift? Don't worry about it. Your hair is just doing its thing like it's supposed to.

Oh wow! Thanks so much for this. I know it was intended for the OP, but that is great information you just posted, for myself and others . And not to highjack the thread, but since you seem to know so much about shedding, is it normal if you don't leave your hair untouched for that amount of time. I got my hair colored by a friend and it got very tangled in the process. when i washed and detangled it in the shower, i lost tons of hair. is that normal too?

 

[Divine Inspiration]

Are you natural? I've noticed that a ball of natural hair looks like a lot more than a ball of relaxed hair that may be the same number of strands. That's something to consider. It also expands as it dries, the same way the hair on our head does.

I agree with the other ladies regarding detangling. That is WAY too long, and I would imagine that led to some breakage and some pieces getting caught up with other pieces.

I would detangle again in a few days and see how much you lose. Also, try a light protein treatment like GPB or Keraphix.

Have you eating habits or diet changed lately? Are you stressed? Those things can make a difference. An iron deficiency can definitely cause shedding and so can poor eating habits.

 

[lala]

Not trying to make you feel worse than you already do, but that is a significant amount of hair to lose in one combing.

That's why I detangle daily, but in 3 weeks I wouldn't lose that much. Maybe you should examine what products you're using on your hair, and start gently detangling daily to see if it lessens.

 

[laurend]

I don't know. I lose a lot of hair like you when I detangle every three weeks and I'm very gentle. I have always shedded like that all my life and I learned to live with it. However, my hair is thick(I'm a mini Dyslla) and bra-strap length.

 

[Kacie]

Now granted, I haven't combed through it in about 3 weeks, so I guess it was bound to shed, but this is a lot. My hair was maybe 2 inches away from midback length and now it's like five inches above it. I combed the thickness and the length out of it.

I had my hair in small twists for four weeks and I took them out and realized I couldn't comb through it. So I just kept putting it in a ponytail, and I finally got through it tonight...unfortunately a ton of it came out. The bad thing is that this exact same thing just happened to me just three months ago, so this is the 2nd time, in three months, of me combing a chunck of my hair out.

I think this caused your breakage issues. It sounds as if you allowed your hair to matte. I know that when your hair is tangled you want to just put it away and deal with it, but that's the worst choice you can make.

Next time untangle each twist throughly as you undo them and keep your hair separated in four or more sections. This is the method I use when taking down my daughter's twists. I saturated her hair with a bit of olive oil first, then I start to unravel the twists. I drown her hair in conditioner, and began to detangle with my trusted Jilbere shower combs (extra wide and wide size). She usually keep her twists for about two weeks, and has almost no shedding (she is only a tot, so that may be a factor for the no shedding).

 

[HoneyDew]

So are we talking about 7 weeks or 3?

You had your hair in twist for 4 weeks and then 3 more weeks without combing?

You can shed a lot in that time frame. Yes, I would be concerned if I were you, because I am just like that. I don't like seeing more than 5 shed hairs when I comb! But, I have issues.

But, if you had not combed in 7 weeks, well, I would not be surprised if that is normal.

 

[HoneyDew]

I think this caused your breakage issues. It sounds as if you allowed your hair to matte. I know that when your hair is tangled you want to just put it away and deal with it, but that's the worst choice you can make.

Next time untangle each twist throughly as you undo them and keep your hair separated in four or more sections. This is the method I use when taking down my daughter's twists. I saturated her hair with a bit of olive oil first, then I start to unravel the twists. I drown her hair in conditioner, and began to detangle with my trusted Jilbere shower combs (extra wide and wide size). She usually keep her twists for about two weeks, and has almost no shedding (she is only a tot, so that may be a factor for the no shedding).

You are so right. I had this happen to me once and I had to CUT the matted sections out. That was 3 years ago and I am STILL trying to grow my hair back out. I had APL hair and it was GONE because of the matting and tangling.

 

[Kacie]

You are so right. I had this happen to me once and I had to CUT the matted sections out. That was 3 years ago and I am STILL trying to grow my hair back out. I had APL hair and it was GONE because of the matting and tangling.

I had this happen a few months ago when I was stretching and decided that I didn't need to detangle thoroughly. Don't ask why, but I figured the relaxer would get rid of the tangles .

 

[MJ]

Oh wow! Thanks so much for this. I know it was intended for the OP, but that is great information you just posted, for myself and others . And not to highjack the thread, but since you seem to know so much about shedding, is it normal if you don't leave your hair untouched for that amount of time. I got my hair colored by a friend and it got very tangled in the process. when i washed and detangled it in the shower, i lost tons of hair. is that normal too?

No, I don't think it is. It sounds like the PH of your hair has changed. Please consider thoroughly detangling your hair before you wash it, maybe even using a conditioner to detangle and then shampoo. The conditioner would provide slip during the detangling (minimizing breakage) and act as a barrier against the harshness of the shampoo (focus on cleaning the scalp, the shampoo runoff cleans the hair). Also, intensive moisture treatments would help soothe the roughen cuticles and significantly diminish the breakage and tangles. I am no expert. It's just that I've just been on the board for a while and have experienced (and witnessed) many trials and successes.

 

[LynnieB]

i dunno about it being so much about breakage but more about not detangling the hair for such a long period of time.

when my hair was mid-back, this was a typical hair ball: no manip (no combing, brushing, or touching my hair at all) after a one week period. if it were 4 weeks, i'd have about 4 hair balls just like it and it'd probably cover my hand like this too!!

http://public.fotki.com/IsItOnlyHair/textureshair-typing-/typical-shed-hair/img1199typical.html


my hair is very thick and it was long. i never lost length. i found this type of hairball to be normal.

Since the OP is saying her hair got shorter - to me this means there's been some definite breakage.