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How to Stop Hair Shedding | Step-by-Step Guide

How to Stop Hair Shedding | Step-by-Step Guide

When you’re in the shower, you might notice some hair around the drain. While this is fairly common, you should know how to stop hair shedding. This will both save your drain and your sanity. Read on to learn how.

How to Stop Hair Shedding: A Summary

For a piece on how to stop hair shedding, a woman looking in disbelief at her purple brush that has multiple clumps of hair in it

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To return your scalp to prime condition, you need to evaluate why your hair is shedding in the first place. Then, you’ll be able to take steps to prevent it from happening by following these steps:

  1. Understand What Type of Hair Shedding Is Normal
  2. Learn How to Recognize Hair Loss
  3. Change Your Diet
  4. Take a Supplement to Stimulate Hair Growth
  5. Reduce Your Use of Heated Hair Tools
  6. Change How You Brush Your Hair
  7. Loosen Your Hair Style
  8. Use Specialized Shampoo and Conditioner
  9. Be Gentle with Wet Hair
  10. Change Your Sleep Habits

How to Stop Hair Shedding in 10 Easy Steps

1. Understand What Type of Hair Shedding Is Normal

If you notice your hair falling out, it’s important to learn what type of hair shedding is normal because you may be experiencing normal hair loss. It’s common for people to lose between 30 and 150 hairs each day.

Although this sounds like a lot of hair, most people have between 100,000 and 150,000 hairs on their scalp, so you will barely notice this small number. Your hair grows and falls out in four stages. It starts with the cells in your hair follicle dividing, followed by hair growth.

It grows until it reaches the maximum length, and then it detaches from the blood supply and waits for a new hair to grow under it. Once the new hair begins to grow, it pushes the old one out.

This is a continuous cycle for all of the hairs on your head. Often the hairs you find in the sink are those that have been pushed out by new hairs growing in. 

2. Learn How to Recognize Hair Loss

Hair loss is happening if you’re losing more than 150 strands of hair each day. You should also look for signs that you’re losing hair. You might notice patches where your hair is thinning. You could also have a receding hairline.

Sometimes people have hair thinning at the crown, and others find that the hair around their part is thinning. If you have thick hair, you might notice that you have less than you used to.

Finally, seeing clumps of hair falling out in the shower or in your hair brush is a sure sign. If you want to stop hair shedding, it’s important to take steps to improve the growth phase of your hair. 

3. Change Your Diet

Your diet has an impact on the health of your hair. Hair growth relies on certain nutrients, and if you aren’t taking them in, your hair will suffer. The best diet to boost your hair growth is one that includes lean proteins, healthy fats, and a lot of fruits and vegetables.

Try eating more eggs, chicken, and fish, and add in avocado and olive oil. Dark green leafy veggies are beneficial, and fruits and vegetables that are rich in vitamin C are great. Choose oranges and bell peppers to give your hair a boost. 

4. Take a Supplement to Stimulate Hair Growth

If you want to do more than change your diet, you should start taking supplements to help reduce shedding. These supplements are already made with vitamins and minerals that are specifically formulated to help your hair follicles stay healthy.

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They often include biotin, which is great for growing hair. You will even find all natural vegan hair supplements that help you reduce your hair shedding.

Read Next: Hair Loss Products That Work

5. Reduce Your Use of Heated Hair Tools

When you use heated hair tools, such as your curling iron, your flat iron, or your hair dryer, it damages the hair shaft and makes it brittle. Brittle hairs are weak and will break off and shed.

You should reduce the use of these tools, and try other methods of styling your hair that are free of heat. In addition, when you have to use a hair dryer or a flat iron, you should always use a heat protectant spray to coat your hair and protect it.

6. Change How You Brush Your Hair

It’s important to make sure that you detangle your hair, as tangles and knots often increase your hair loss. However, you might consider changing how you brush your hair. Most people brush from the scalp down to the ends of the hair, but this actually takes knots and turns them into tangles.

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It also causes hair to break off and increases shedding. You should buy a special detangling brush to tease the hairs apart when you have tangles, and always start at the ends and move up toward the roots.

Read Next: Best Hair Brushes

7. Loosen Your Hair Style

Many hairstyles that are convenient and easy to do add stress to your hair and your scalp. Common hairstyles that stress your hair include ponytails, braids, and buns. They often lead to damage and shedding hair.

You should consider loosening up your hair style, and when you put it up, switch to soft hair rings as opposed to traditional hair bands. Don’t pull your hair tight into the ponytail or bun; instead opt for a messy bun or a loose ponytail with a soft hair band.

Read Next: Easy Everyday Hairstyles

8. Use Specialized Shampoo and Conditioner

When you shampoo and condition your hair, you have a lot of product choices. Some people choose moisturizing products because they help to keep your hair hydrated, while others choose volumizing products to lift their hair and give it more body.

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You also have the choice of nutrient-rich shampoos and conditioners that moisturize your hair while giving it the nutrients it needs. They contain special microproteins and other ingredients that help to make your hair stronger and healthier after each shower. 

Your conditioner is also an important product. It adds hydration to your hair so that it stays healthy. You should find a quality conditioner that adds nutrients to your hair as it locks in moisture. Consider the ingredients as you choose the products you want to use for your hair.

Read Next: Best Conditioners and Best Shampoos

9. Be Gentle with Wet Hair

Another place where you might be adding to your hair loss is after the shower. If you’re accustomed to using a big cotton towel, the fibers in the towel are rough and could be pulling at your hair. They often make it frizzy and tangled.

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When your hair is wet, it’s more fragile than when it’s dry. It’s easier for it to break, so it’s important to consider changing how you dry your hair. You should use a microfiber towel to remove the excess moisture from your hair, and then use a detangle wet brush to get rid of the tangles.

This type of brush is designed to massage your scalp while you brush, which helps to improve your blood flow. This, in turn, will allow more nutrients to get to your hair follicles to prevent your hair from shedding.

Read Next: How to Get Rid of Frizzy Hair

10. Change Your Sleep Habits

If you aren’t getting enough sleep, it will come out in your hair. It’s well-known that getting enough sleep is the most important factor in maintaining your health, and you’re supposed to get at least eight hours of sleep every night.

If you’re cutting your sleep short, it could be causing your hair to shed. Try to set a regular sleep schedule. Set your bedtime and the time you wake up. Make sure that your room is cool and dark at night, and avoid your screens for an hour or more before you go to bed. You might notice an improvement in a short time if you make the effort. 

Things to Consider

Man concerned with hair shedding and wants to know how to fix it, symbolized by him looking in the mirror

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If you notice that your hair is shedding, it’s important to know what to do and what not to do.

Things to Do

  • Add lean proteins, healthy fats, and leafy greens to your diet
  • Try a hair supplement
  • Use a nutrient-rich shampoo and conditioner
  • Detangle from the ends up to the roots
  • Get eight hours or more of sleep
  • Understand hair loss versus normal shedding

Things Not to Do

  • Avoid heated tools
  • Don’t pull your hair in tight styles
  • Stay away from cotton towels
  • Don’t brush down through tangles

So, How Do You Stop Hair Shedding?

So there you have it — how to stop hair shedding. Remember that it’s normal to lose between 30 and 150 hairs each day. However, if you’re losing more than that, you may want to control the hair shedding.

It’s important to do whatever you’re able to make sure that your hair is getting the nutrients that it needs, and then be gentle to avoid styling tricks that damage and break your hair.

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