Daily Hair Loss: What is the Norm for Women?

Contents
1• Physiological daily hair loss
2• Causes for variation
3• Criterion to determine whether your hair loss is pathological

1• Physiological daily hair loss

The hair constantly renews itself: it has a well defined life cycle. When a hair dies, another replaces it and makes it fall. It is therefore normal that you lose some hair every day.

Healthy hair includes from 10 to 15% of telogen hairs (i.e., hair that is ready to fall). They are the ones we lose naturally, day after day. But how much hair can we thus lose, for physiological reasons, on a daily basis? Here is where it is impossible to fix an average number: it can easily double from one woman to another.

2• Causes for variation

First variable: how long your anagen phase (the one during which your hair is alive) lasts. There really is no standard length: it is part of your genetic capital and also varies depending on your gender. For women, it lasts between 4 and 7 years (it is shorter for men: between 2 and 4 years). Men’s hair thus theoretically renews itself faster and their daily hair loss is greater.  

Your hair’s natural density per square centimeter that you were genetically granted at birth. The higher it is, the more hair will fall naturally, every day: that is the second variable. And, given that from one person to another, this density can vary from 180 to 320 hairs, it is difficult to establish an average.

 Morphology is the third variable to take into account. The size of the head, the way the hair is implanted (low or high, at forehead or at nape level) are as many factors that determine the scalp’s total surface, and therefore the number of hairs, no matter how many there are per square centimeter.

In other words, it can be some women’s norm to lose from 20 to 25 hairs a day, while others’ with denser hair and a fast hair cycle can lose up to 70 or 80, even 100, with it remaining normal.

3• Criterion to determine whether your hair loss is pathological

- The only reliable criterion is the anagen hair/telogen hair ratio. On healthy hair, the ratio must remain CONSTANT. Here is how it is calculated:

- If that proportion increases by 5% in favour of the telogen hair, that means the hair loss is becoming pathological. In the case of a 10% increase, it is considered to be strongly pathological.

You should be able to easily notice the difference on your own: you will find more hair than usual on your comb or brush, in the sink or on your clothes.

If you have a doubt, we advise you to have a hair diagnosis. The analysis will also check the presence and quality of regrowing hair and your hair’s potential thinning out. Those two criteria are to be taken into as much consideration as the hair loss itself.


 WORTH NOTING

There are two exceptions that can trigger an increase of telogen hair (up to 30%!) without it meaning that the hair loss is abnormal: beginning of the season hair loss, in autumn and spring, and especially ‘post-partum’ hair loss (after childbearing).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:
Hair Loss in Autumn (Beginning of Season Hair Loss)
Childbearing and Hair Loss
Hair Life Cycle
'Telogen Effluvium' (Diffuse Hair Loss)
'Androgenetic’: A Word that Scares Women
Impact of Androgen Hormones on Hair Loss
Stress and Hair Loss
What is The Hair Growth Daily Pace?
Hair Loss Treatments FAQ

FOR TREATING:
Anti-Hair Loss Treatments in France
CLAUDERER Anti-Hair Loss Treatments
Clauderer in-Depth Hair Diagnosis

Diagnosis In-depth Clauderer Diagnosis: Have a complete hair checkup