Articles | 11-03-19

How much hair is normal to lose every month?


To answer the question, you need to separate between two things: hair growth, which is what Nordic Hair works with, and the hair that has already grown out, which is what hairdressers work with. The hair that has grown out can be manipulated in different ways. You can use different products and cut it, but it will not have an impact on what happens in the production of the hair. Likewise, the weather does not effect the hair follicle under the skin enough to regulate weather you loose hair or not. However, the weather can effect the structure of the outer hair.

In summer, the air is warmer and more humid. The structure of the outer hair can be effected by this. It can get curlier, for example. Generally, most people are more positive around summer time and therefore think less of the hair.

In winter, the air is drier and many people can experience that their hair acts differently. It can then be interpreted as you loosing more hair in winter. Winter is often times also a tougher time for most people, making them more prone to negative thoughts and therefore one might think more about how the hair behaves.

Woman loses hair and looks in the mirror

The hair’s growth cycle

The hair has three stages of the hair growth cycle: anagen, catagen and telogen. During the anagen phase, the hair grows. About 85-90% of all hair on the head is in the anagen phase. A hair generally has a life span of 2-10 years in which it grows.

On older people it is common that one can’t grow hair longer than a certain length because the anagen phase isn’t as long as when you were younger. That is because the growth cycle is shorter before the hair falls off. This has to do with the strength of the hair follicle. If the hair follicle is bigger, it has the strength to grow longer. If it is smaller, then the hair can’t grow as long, the hair becomes weaker and falls off. The anagen growth phase is also genetically decided, so some people have a longer anagen growth phase, other people have a shorter growth phase.

If 90% of the hair on the head is in a growth phase, the remaining 10% are in a resting phase. This phase is called the telogen phase. During the resting phase, the hair follicles do not get any blood supply and the follicle does not produce a hair. The hair follicle will eventually die. However, the follicle stays in the skin up to 2 months before it dies.

When a hair follicle dies and falls out, the hair goes into the third phase, a catagen phase. This is the transition phase when a hair follicle starts to re-grow. This phase can be everything from 1 month to 5-6 months. The older you are, the longer the third phase becomes.

To lose hair in the shower or through being brushed

If you have started losing hair, then brushing or washing your hair in the shower, can cause anxiety because it feels like you lose more hair. It is important to understand that the hair that falls off when you comb through it or wash it, is hair that has already entered its resting phase or its transitional phase.

Hairs that are in the growth phase, are much harder to pull out. That is why you can pull your hair without having it all fall off. Plucking out a hair that is growing hurts, unlike the hair that falls out when you brush it.

The hair growth cycle has a long anagen growth phase, a shorter resting phase and a transition phase. And so the cycle goes around. When you are younger, the resting phase is shorter, and, the older you get, the longer it becomes and therefore the hair gets thinner and thinner. So even if you weren’t to wash your hair or brush it, these hairs would still fall off. Therefore, you do not need to avoid doing either of these day to day activities, as these do not control your hair loss.