Hair Shedding vs Breakage: Key Differences

Hair shedding vs breakage is the first thing to work out when you notice more hair in your brush or on the bathroom floor. Both make hair look thinner, but they start in different places. Shedding begins at the root, inside the scalp. Breakage happens along the strand, outside it. The remedies are different too.

What shedding is

Each hair grows for several years, rests for a few months and then falls out so that a new hair can take its place. Losing about 50 to 100 hairs a day in this way is normal. Shedding becomes a concern when the number rises clearly above your usual level for weeks.

A shed hair:

• Is the full length of your hair.
• Has a tiny, pale bulb at one end. This is the club-shaped root of a resting hair and is normal.
• Comes away easily, often in the shower or brush.

What breakage is

Breakage happens when the hair shaft is weakened and snaps. The root stays in the scalp and keeps growing, but the hair becomes shorter and uneven.

A broken hair:

• Is shorter than the rest of your hair, sometimes only a few centimeters.
• Has no bulb.
• May have a frayed, split or blunt tip.

How to tell them apart

Collect the hair from your brush for a few days and look at it against a white surface. A mixture of both is common.

Common causes of extra shedding

• Illness with a high fever, surgery or a major emotional shock, usually two to three months earlier. See Stress and Hair Loss: Understanding Telogen Effluvium.
• Childbirth.
• Rapid weight loss or a restrictive diet.
• Stopping or starting some medicines, including hormonal contraception.
• Low iron or thyroid problems.
• Hereditary hair thinning, which is gradual.

Common causes of breakage

• Frequent blow-drying, straightening or curling at high heat.
• Bleaching, permanent color, relaxers and perms.
• Brushing roughly, especially when hair is wet.
• Tight ponytails, buns and braids, and metal or rubber hair ties.
• Rubbing hair with a towel.
• Sun, chlorine and salt water.

What to do about shedding

1. Think back three months for a possible trigger.
2. Eat regular, balanced meals with enough protein and iron.
3. Handle hair gently while it recovers.
4. Give it time. Shedding after a one-off trigger usually settles within six to nine months.
5. See a doctor if shedding lasts longer than six months, is very heavy, comes with other symptoms, or you see patches or a widening part. Hair Thinning: Causes and When to Get Help lists the causes of thinning.

What to do about breakage

1. Lower the heat and use a heat protectant, or take a break from hot tools.
2. Space out color and chemical treatments.
3. Condition after every wash and use a mask weekly.
4. Detangle from the ends upwards. See How to Reduce Hair Breakage When Brushing.
5. Use soft hair ties and looser styles.
6. Trim damaged ends. Split Ends: Causes and Ways to Reduce Breakage explains why split ends cannot be mended.

Broken hair recovers as new, undamaged hair grows, at about one centimeter a month. Hair Growth Cycle: How Hair Grows and Sheds explains the cycle.

When both happen together

Stress on the body can cause shedding at the same time as styling damage causes breakage. Deal with breakage through gentler care, and look for the trigger behind the shedding. Photographs taken monthly in the same light help you to see the trend.

Related on ArniSun

• Hair Growth Cycle: How Hair Grows and Sheds
• Split Ends: Causes and Ways to Reduce Breakage
• Hair Thinning: Causes and When to Get Help
• Stress and Hair Loss: Understanding Telogen Effluvium
• How to Reduce Hair Breakage When Brushing

Sources and further reading

• American Academy of Dermatology: Do you have hair loss or hair shedding?
• American Academy of Dermatology: 10 hair care habits that can damage your hair
• DermNet: Telogen effluvium