I get a lot of emails asking me about the variables that would cause a person’s hair to fall out more. One of the common variables that I am often asked about is having long hair. Some common comments are things like: “I notice my hair falls out more when it’s longer” or “does the weight of long hair make it fall out more or fall out?”; or “If I cut my hair, will it fall out less?” I will answer these questions in the next article.
The hair that is in the resting phase is going to fall out, whether it is long or not: When a strand of hair is going to fall out, it goes from the growth phase (in which it is actively nourished and embedded deep in its follicle) to the resting phase (in which it is essentially dead hair waiting until it is pushed out. or shedding.) This shedding usually only happens over time or with manipulation of the scalp such as washing or combing. I guess the weight of the super long hair might make it come out sooner, but the truth is it would eventually come out no matter what. There is really no benefit to preserving hair in the resting phase because its days are numbered anyway. The real benefit is finding out what is causing so many hairs to go into the resting phase and correcting that destructive process.
Long shedding hairs are more noticeable and look much more lost: If you took, say, 100 long hairs and 100 very short hairs and viewed them side by side, which pile would look like a more drastic loss? The longest hairs, of course. If the hair is very long, the mane will look like maybe 3 or 4 times larger than the short mane, when in fact the loss is the same. Shedding of longer hairs will be much more noticeable because they are seen so prominently on clothing, floors, and drains. Frankly, very short hairs can easily get washed down the drain and don’t show up as much on clothes, so you don’t see or count them. This gives the perception that less comes out when, in fact, it may not be an accurate perception at all.
Does short or long hair better camouflage moulting? Should I cut my hair?:I get this question a lot and the answer really depends on your hair texture and pattern of loss. If your hair is too fine to maintain a layered or short cut, or if the loss is in a pattern that allows you to see the scalp with a short cut, it’s best to leave some length. However, it is not recommended to wear your hair so long that it looks stringy or sparse at the ends. Most women do well with a modified blunt bob (which can be shorter or longer) and men and women do well to add some waves, curls or color to the hair to give the illusion that there is more to the hair. .
But, these considerations are really just band-aids and camouflage. It is optimal to find out why you are moving and fix that. Sometimes, in cases of TE (telogen effluvium or temporary loss), this is simply waiting. But other times, there are inflammation or androgen issues that need to be addressed or fixed because these issues rarely go away on their own.
