Am I Balding? How Much Hair Loss Is Normal?

Have you started to lose some of your hair? This is completely normal for a lot of people.

Studies have shown that about two-thirds of men begin losing hair by the time they turn 35. About 40% of women, meanwhile, begin losing hair by the time they turn 40.

With these statistics in mind, you shouldn’t freak out too much if you see hair loss in men or hair loss in women affecting you. But you might want to ask yourself the question, ‘How much hair loss is normal?’

There is a chance that you could be experiencing preventable hair loss in some instances. If this turns out to be the case, you’ll likely want to do everything in your power to reverse it by getting the right hair loss treatment.

Before you start going down that path, though, you should learn more about hair loss and all that it entails. Continue reading to get a better sense of whether or not your current hair loss would be considered normal.

How much hair loss does the average person experience every day?

First things first: One of the things that we would like to point out right from the beginning of this is that everyone loses some of their hair on a daily basis. If you’re experiencing hair loss to any degree right now, you should take comfort in this fact.

The average person loses anywhere from 50 to 100 hairs each day. These hairs fall out when people are taking a shower, brushing their hair, or even just going about their days.

The good news is that, even if you’re losing 100 hairs each day, you’re probably not going to notice it happening. You have hundreds of thousands of hairs on your head, so losing 100 of them isn’t going to do much damage. You should be able to maintain your usual image despite this kind of hair loss.

You’re not going to have to start to worry about hair loss until it becomes excessive. Once it reaches that point, that’s when you’re going to want to begin asking yourself, ‘How much hair loss is normal?’, and trying to come up with a good answer.

How much hair loss is normal over the course of time?

As we just mentioned, losing 50 or even 100 hairs from the top of your head every day isn’t really a big deal at all. Your body will continue to produce new hairs to take their place over time so that you don’t look any different than you do now.

But with that being said, you might find yourself asking, ‘How much hair loss is normal?’, when and if your hair loss ever does start to take a toll on your appearance. That is usually going to be the point when you’ll begin to fall out of the ‘normal’ range.

Hair loss is no longer considered normal if you start to notice:

• Bald spots on different areas of your head
• Patchiness located on various parts of your head
• Large clumps of hair falling off your head for no discernable reason

If you suspect that you might be experiencing hair loss at a rapid rate, it’s a good idea for you to inspect your shower drain every so often. When you do, you’ll be able to tell whether or not you seem to be losing more hair than the average person should.

What can cause a person to experience hair loss?

If you believe that your hair is falling out faster than it should, you should consider trying to figure out what could be at the cause of it. There is usually a deep-seated reason for why a person’s hair will begin to fall out very quickly.

There are some people who will find that they’re suffering from a condition called telogen effluvium, or excessive hair shedding. It affects millions of Americans every year and results in temporary hair loss among them.

You may have telogen effluvium if:

• You’ve lost a significant amount of weight in a short period of time
• You’ve gone through a particularly stressful period of your life due to the loss of a job, a divorce, a death in the family, etc.
• You’ve undergone a serious operation
• You’ve just gotten over an illness that involved you dealing with a very high fever
• You’ve made the decision to stop taking birth control pills

Fortunately, you can typically reverse the effects of telogen effluvium over time. By giving your body time to adjust to your new weight or working your way back to health after a stressful time in your life, you can see your hair start to grow back on its own.

There are, however, also some more serious causes of hair loss that might cause you to lose some of your hair for good. Alopecia is one great example of a condition that can cause permanent hair loss. Lupus is another condition that can result in it.

Any time you find yourself asking, ‘How much hair loss is normal?’, you should also ask, ‘And what could be causing it?’ Once you’re able to get to the bottom of what’s causing hair loss, you can work to slow it down and possibly even reverse it.

How can you tell if you’re losing too much hair?

There are some people who fear hair loss so much that they’ll ignore a hair loss problem, even when it’s staring them right in the face. You should try not to do this since putting off the problem could make it impossible for you to get your hair back later on.

If you’re worried about the current condition of your hair, there is a very easy test that you can perform to see where your hair stands. You can run your fingers through a small portion of your hair and then gently pull on it and see what happens.

If you’re left with even just a few pieces of hair in your hand after performing this test, it might mean that hair loss is an issue for you right now. You’re going to want to start working towards nailing down the cause of it so that the problem doesn’t spiral out of control.

What can you do to slow hair loss down?

The moment you find that you’re losing more hair than you should, you should spring into action and do something about it. There are a number of steps that you can take right at home to slow hair loss down a little or to stop it altogether.

One of the first things you should do is be more careful with it when you caring for it. You should use a gentle shampoo on your hair and try not to tug on it too much when you’re combing it and styling it.

You should also try not to treat it with too many harsh chemicals when you’re having it professionally styled. When you subject your hair to these chemicals, it can weaken it and make it challenging for your hair to maintain its strength.

Outside of doing these kinds of things, you should also try to eliminate stress from your life since that can play a big part in the health of your hair. Too much stress is going to cause your hair to fall out way quicker than it would under normal circumstances.

And of course, you should also be very cognizant of what you put into your body and how it will impact your health when it comes to hair loss. You should only eat foods that are going to promote hair growth. And while you’re at it, you should also incorporate gummy vitamins for hair into your daily routine to get the results you’re looking for.

What if at-home hair loss treatment doesn’t work for you?

If you attempt to take care of your hair loss problems at home and don’t get the results you’re looking for, you should make an appointment with your doctor to talk to them about what’s going on. They’ll be able to give you a better answer to the question, “How much hair loss is normal?”

They can also give you some suggestions on what you can do to combat hair loss. They’ll provide you with additional insight on hair loss causes and come up with a plan of action that’ll help you get your hair back.

You don’t have to let hair loss ruin your life

Far too often, people think that hair loss is simply a part of life and don’t make any effort to stop it. You shouldn’t take this approach to deal with hair loss if you can avoid it.

Instead, you should ask yourself, ‘How much hair loss is normal?’, and then doing something about yours if you don’t think you should be losing as much hair as you are. By doing this, you may be able to regain your hair and restore some of the self-confidence that you tend to lose when hair loss begins to take a toll on you.

Tommy Williamson did his degree in psychology at the University of Edinburgh. He has an ongoing interest in mental health and well-being.