Picture this: it’s wash day and you decided to do a pre-poo (pre treatment before shampooing) to eliminate the amount of shed hairs you usually experience. So you take your coconut oil, or whatever product you choose to pre-poo with, and remove all those shed hairs accumulated during the week. Next you shampoo and notice that you’re still having to remove shed hairs. Then you proceed to deep condition and after rinsing that out, you’re STILL finding more and more shed hairs. Frustrated, you take to the internet to figure out what you can do. Well no worries, I’m here to give you a few at home tips to consider in dealing with your shed hair chronicles.
The first thing to keep in mind, is that it’s perfectly normal for our hair to shed, as this is a natural occurrence. We usually shed about 50-100 hairs per day, which equates to 350-700 hairs per week! But if you think you are losing more hair than that, consider some of the tips listed below to help combat excessive shedding.
1. Deep Treatments
Sometimes our hair needs extra care and a little boost from our normal hair practices. Hot Oil Treatments, deep conditioning with heat or steam and increasing protein treatments are ways to show our hair a little TLC. There are TONS of products on the market for each of these areas, but one of my favorite treatments is the Dr. Miracles 3 Step Conditioning Treatment. It has a small amount of protein and adds extreme moisture to the hair which helps protect the hair and decreases shedding when used consistently. Check out my tutorial of the 3 Step Treatment
2. Styling Methods/Over manipulation
Do you over use your comb/brush? Do you touch your hair a lot or are constantly styling it? Sometimes we have to evaluate our styling methods and the way we over-manipulate our hair. Hair is fragile and should not constantly be dealt with, as it can increase shedding and lead to breakage! One way I love to give my hair a rest is to do protective styling. Protective Styling means that our hair is in a style does not require a lot of touching and manipulating which allows it to rest and eventually grow. Popular protective styles are: buns, twists, braids, updo’s, weaves, etc. Keep in mind that even when protective styling you have to take care of your scalp. So though you are not actually doing a lot to your hair, you want to be sure to keep your hair moisturized (with leave-in conditioners and light oils) and massage your scalp often when these types of styles are installed.
3. Lack of Nutrition/Poor Diet
A lot of times we forget that what we put into our body’s is just as important as how we take care of it on the outside. And of course, our hair is no different. If excessive shedding is occurring, it’s a good practice to evaluate our diet. Are we feeding our body all the nutrients it needs? Vegetables, fruits, water, vitamin supplements; all of these things play a part in the health of our hair as well as the health of our overall body. Also, you may want to ensure that you are not suffering from Anemia (low iron), which can sometimes manifest in your hair shedding dramatically.
4. Time for a Trim
If you’ve done some or all of the tips listed above and you still don’t see any improvement, it could simply be time for a trim. A lot of times when we are in need of a trim, the rest of our hair suffers. It can cause more tangles in our strands which contributes to shedding and leads to breakage. Evaluate your need for a trim by paying attention to your detangling process. If it’s taking you longer to detangle or the ends of your hair aren’t looking as nice after that twist out, then consider giving yourself a trim (if you know what you are doing) or go to a professional stylist to ensure it is done correctly.
Please keep in mind these are suggestions. It’s great to be open to trying new techniques, but do not attempt everything all at once. Hair care is trial and error and definitely takes time. So it is unnecessary to do a pre-poo, a hot oil treatment, a deep conditioning treatment and a protein treatment all in the same wash session. Take your time and incorporate or cut out techniques little by little. If you’ve tried several things over a decent period of time and nothing is changing, then it may be something deeper, such as an underlying health issue. For that, please visit a healthcare official for more answers.
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Brandelyn Green is the Founder of VoiceOfHair, a platform to help women of color find the best hair care products, regimens and hairstyles! Since starting VoiceOfHair in 2014 she has grown the social media platform to over 1MM+ on Instagram and Facebook. As a natural who is also a salon goer, she wanted to create a platform where people could find the best products, hairstylists, advice and trends.
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