I sometimes get emails from people who want to know why their hair has gotten a weird, loose, unkempt texture before or during the increase in hair loss. They want to know if the shedding is affecting the hair or if the weird texture came before or has something to do with the shedding. They also want to know if its texture will return to normal once the shedding stops. I will try to address these concerns in the following article.
Why changing hair texture commonly goes hand in hand with telogen effluvium: When your hair goes into TE or shedding mode, then you have a large percentage of your hair follicles going into the resting phase at the same time. From the moment the hair changes its cycle until it falls out, it takes a while. This can be anywhere from a few weeks to a few months. (This is why many times, you will begin to shed about 2-3 months after the “trigger” that caused the molt.)
During this transition phase, many hairs are technically “dead” or no longer growing. They will eventually come off, but this doesn’t happen right away. So as the hair moves forward and prepares to fall out, it takes on another texture, which is what you’re seeing now. People often ask me what they can do about it or how they can make their hair look better. In truth, there is no way for the hair to return to the growth phase. It’s going to drop sometime soon and there’s no way to change that. However, sometimes wearing your hair up or in a ponytail will help camouflage this. If you don’t want your hair to stand up, you can spray on a light leave-in conditioner or frizz-free product that will help your hair relax. Be very demanding to choose a product that is light. If you don’t, this will weigh down your hair and make it look thinner and/or oilier.
The good news is that once all the resting hairs are usually gone, their texture will eventually return to normal, as long as you address and remove the trigger (if necessary) so this cycle doesn’t keep repeating itself. itself.
When to worry about changing hair texture: Like I said, the loose hair dryer that goes hand in hand with TE will often take care of itself. More concerning is the miniaturized hair. Because sometimes, what you are seeing is not your typical TE. Sometimes the loss also has a component of AGA or androgenic alopecia (genetic thinning). And when this happens, you sometimes get a miniaturization of your new growth. What this means is that your hair follicle is negatively affected by androgens or other hormonal or genetic issues. As a result, the hair that grows back becomes finer and finer. This will also sometimes give the flight path and weird texture that I often hear about and know from personal experience.
In this case, you will need to decrease the effect of androgens and hormones while vigorously stimulating new growth. This is often at least a two-step process, but if you approach it very methodically, you can change or improve its texture.