How to know if your hair is thinking

I often have readers with TE (Telogen Effluvium), CTE (Chronic Telogen Effluvium) and AGA (Androgenic Alopecia or Genetic Thinning) write me and ask me how to tell if this shedding or hair loss is weakening their hair (or growing thinner.) After all, rapid and healthy growth often ensures that you retain a good, thick head of hair, despite loss. So, in the next article, I’m going to tell you three ways to help you determine if your hair is really getting thinner, or if it’s growing back properly, with no real net loss.

The horsetail method: A quick and easy way to determine how much thinning has occurred is to take an inventory of your ponytail. Many women know how many times they have to twist their ponytail or band to secure it. If you have to turn it one or more times, obviously there’s less mass there. Now, some readers will write and say, “well, isn’t the new growth too short to put in the ponytail?” Yes it is, but often healthy regrowth will cause volume that will allow for a similar sized cola. I can tell you that in the worst moments of my shedding, my ponytail went from the size of a quarter, to the size of a nickel, to the size of a dime, but I was growing my hair all time. Unfortunately, there was not enough regrowth and what there was came out thin and fine.

The hair pulling test: A dermatologist will often do this test in their office, but you can do it at home. Don’t wash your hair a day before this. Take a small amount of hair between your fingers and count how many hairs there are. Write the number and then pull gently. Then, determine the percentage of hairs that came out. A healthy head of hair will only have 10% of the loss of hair pulled out. Anything above 25% is cause for concern. This means it is shedding enough to cause thinning and loss of volume. You will need to be aggressive with your regrowth regimen if this is your result.

Hair Density/Quality Comparison: One way to see how well your new growth is appearing is to identify long, thick, healthy hair. Pull it out with tweezers and set it aside. Next, find some new hairs that are at least 2 1/2 to 4 inches long, pull out these two hairs, and then compare them to healthy, thick hair. Are they that thick and dense? They should be somewhat comparable. (Hair can get thicker as it lengthens, so a slight variation may be normal.) Plucked or tweezed hairs should have a darker sheath or bulb that is rounded and large. This shows that they are being properly nourished within your scalp.

If the hairs that have regrown are thin, sickly, loose, or a lighter color, you may want to suspect that something (DHT, inflammation, bacteria, or fungus) is compromising and miniaturizing their regrowth.) It is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to regain volume unless your regrowth is of good quality.