Let me start by saying, most hair shedding is normal and a natural part of our hair growth cycle. Click here to find out what causes excessive hair shedding. But this article is for anyone who’s experiencing excessive hair shedding, beyond what’s normal for you. Here’s how to prevent, reduce and stop excessive hair shedding and achieve new hair growth with product recommendations that work!
Signs of Excessive Hair Shedding
Here are the signs of excessive hair shedding listed below, click here for more information on what causes it. Which can be due to poor nutrition and diet (are you getting enough protein?) Medication (including contraception) and hormonal changes – anything that affects the hormones, affects the hair. As hormone changes can affect the way hair grows by shortening the growth part of the hair cycle, leading to excessive hair shedding. Thyroid dysfunction can cause excessive hair shedding and hair loss, which I’ll talk more about in part two. Mineral and vitamin deficiency can also cause and contribute to hair loss – most importantly vitamin B, D and Zinc.
- You’re losing more hair on washday, whether there’s more of it clogging the drain or stuck on the walls
- You’re losing hair every time you touch or run your fingers through your hair
- You notice more hair (than usual) on your hair brush
- Your hair density has dramatically reduced, most noticeable when you tie your hair up in a ponytail
- You can see thinning along your hair line, especially at the temples and most noticeable when you tie your hair up
- You find full length hairs everywhere – on your clothes, your pillowcase, in the car etc.
How to Stop Excessive Hair Shedding
This is part one of a two part series. Click here to read part two, about what causes excessive hair shedding. Including seasons, hormones, medications, thyroid issues, postpartum and (peri)menopause. But here are the things I’ve been doing, and the products I’ve been using, to stop excessive hair shedding + achieve new hair growth. I really wish I’d taken before pictures of my hairline in October, when I was losing the most hair. Because the before + after pictures would have been even more dramatic, but I just didn’t get around to it.
Budget friendly Basics
At the very minimum, incorporate my modified rice water treatment into your washday routine. I recommend doing it once/week, but for the first month, I did my modified rice water treatment every single washday (2-3 times/week). For the sake of keeping this article as short as I can, read this article for more information on the benefits of rice water for hair growth and instructions on how to make it. But if you struggle to get your hair to grow past a certain length, then rice water is a must! Because it doesn’t just cause new hair growth, it strengthens the ends. Preventing split ends and breakage, so you can grow your hair in length, as well as density.
Secondly, get a scalp massager and use it every single night to stimulate blood flow to the scalp. This Ceremonia Scalp Massager is my favourite because it’s just the right amount of firmness. Available here at Sephora or get 20% off at Cult Beauty using code CURLMAVEN. You can also just use the pads of your fingers. Be gentle if your scalp is sensitive, you don’t have to be rigorous. For best results, apply a scalp serum first. But you’ll see benefits from scalp massaging alone. Using this scalp massager has become part of a three step nightly ritual that’s resulting in noticeable new hair growth, as you’ll see from the images in this article.
Scalp Health: weekly + monthly
Hair growth (and hair shedding) starts at the scalp. So make sure you’re using good quality products, made using high quality ingredients. Washing your hair 2-3 times/week and clarifying using a chelating shampoo once/month. Bumble + Bumble Sunday Shampoo is my favourite, use code CURLMAVEN for 21% off at LOOKFANTASTIC. I also recommend applying some kind of scalp treatment 30-60 mins before washing your hair once/week. Read this article for product recommendations + a healthy hair routine.
If you’ve got a dry, itchy or flaky scalp then I recommend The Innate Life Problematic Scalp Treatment. Or Act + Acre’s Salicylic Acid Scalp Exfoliator (formerly called Scalp Renew). If you’ve got an irritated or sensitive scalp, use Act + Acre Scalp Detox – which is what I’ve been using. It’s incredibly lightweight, more like a tonic, and very soothing. Get 20% off Act + Acre on their website and at Cult Beauty (who ship worldwide) using code CURLMAVEN.
Serums + Supplements: daily
This is where things can get a little more pricey, but as you can see from the hair growth along my hair line – it’s worth it. A few things about hair growth supplements. Most of the ones on the market are glorified multivitamins that don’t have high enough levels of key vitamins and minerals to promote hair growth. And many hair growth supplements aren’t formulated using high quality ingredients. But the second thing about hair growth supplements is, you need to take them for at least 4-6 months to see noticeable hair growth. But ideally 12 months for best results not only in new hair growth and hair length, but density too.
In 18 months of taking Hair369 hair growth supplements, I tripled the length of my hair. Despite getting five hair cuts during that time and my hair density was much thicker, meaning I had more hair. I only recommend three hair growth supplements, which are from Bounce Curl – available on their website in the USA. Kiyo Beauty (UK) and The Clean Beauty Edit (EU). Act + Acre (which are only available in the USA) and Hair 369, which are my personal favourite and ship worldwide, but are currently sold out.
Then there’s scalp serums, which can also be quite pricey. But after using them consistently for the last few months, I can see a noticeable difference and visible hair growth. Especially around my hair line, which is where my excessive hair shedding was most visibly noticeable. I even stopped using one for a few weeks to see if I noticed a difference, and I did! This is because scalp serums that promote hair growth and increase density, prolong the anagen (hair growth) phase. And delay shedding (the exogen phase), making the hair look fuller and feel thicker. Scalp serums are also a much lighter consistency than oils, and I’ve got much better results from serums than I ever did from scalp oils that promote hair growth.
Out of all the recommendations in this article, hair growth serums are the one product that have made the biggest difference to achieving new hair growth! Although I really think that the scalp massager + LED Hair Growth Helmet have boosted the benefits (and results) of the hair growth serums.
I started off using the Act + Acre Stem Cell Serum, applying 2-3 pipettes every night before using my Ceremonia Scalp Massager. But I recently switched to Living Proof Density Serum which is more affordable, and almost a 33% less than the Act + Acre Stem Cell Serum. The Living Proof Density Serum also has an anti-grey complex of amino acids and antioxidants. Which really intrigued me as I’ve had quite a few grey hairs appear in recent months. So far, I’m seeing great results and continued hair growth, especially around my hair line. Use code CURLMAVEN for 20% off Act + Acre Stem Cell Serum on their US website, or Cult Beauty who ship worldwide. And 21% off Living Proof Density Serum at LOOKFANTASTIC.
If you’re trying to grow or maintain hair density, don’t pluck or pull grey hairs out. The repeated damage you’ll cause to the hair follicle will eventually stop new growth.
LED Red Light Therapy: daily
When I first started experiencing excessive hair shedding and significant hair loss, CurrentBody sent me their LED Hair Growth Helmet. This won’t be for everyone, simply due to the price – although you can get 15% off using code CURLMAVEN. But for anyone who’s at the stage of, “I’ll try anything to stop excessive hair shedding and promote new hair growth and density.“ The CurrentBody LED Hair Growth Helmet really works!
Especially when you combine it with complementary hair regrowth treatments, like the scalp serums mentioned above. The LED red light therapy used in the CurrentBody Hair Growth Helmet boosts energy in hair follicles. Stimulating them to go from the telogen (resting) phase and re-enter the anagen (growth) phase of the hair growth cycle. It also reduces inflammation, improves blood flow in the scalp and lowers DHT levels. Which is a hormone that can trigger excessive hair shedding + hair loss.
Available in two sizes, and recommended to use 10 mins every day. You should start to see results after 6-8 weeks, depending in your hair growth cycle. Even though I’ve lost a lot of hair due to excessive hair shedding, I still have a lot of it. So I’ve been using the CurrentBody LED Hair Growth Helmet for 10 mins/day with my hair parted down the middle. Then another 10 mins/day with the sides of my hair crossed over the back of my head to expose my hair line, where the thinning is most noticeable.
Protect your Hair at Night
And finally, protect your hair at night to minimise frizz, reduce dryness and prevent friction which causes breakage and damage. I’ve already written an article with more information, product recommendations and a video tutorial of how I protect my hair at night, which you can read/watch here. But this is really important and makes more of a difference than you realise. Especially if you’re trying to grow your hair longer and retain length.
I know so many of you are also struggling with excessive hair shedding and have been waiting for me to publish this article and share what I’ve been using, and what’s been working. I really hope you’ve found it helpful! And feel more positive that you can do something to stop the excessive hair shedding and achieve new hair growth. I have been doing all of these things, using all of these products. From monthly clarifying to weekly scalp treatments + my modified rice water treatment. To my nightly ritual of using the LED Hair Growth Helmet for 20 mins. Before applying a scalp serum + using the scalp massager. Then protecting it at night.
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