When I was living in Puerto Rico I became persona non grata in my household. Well, not so much me as my hair. Not the hair on my 
head, but more specifically the hair that used to be on my head. I am shedding uncontrollably and my hair somehow appears EVERYWHERE. Needless to say, this was not appreciated by my family and they went as far as to jokingly (I think) suggest that wear a hair net around the house.
Over a year later, and it’s still happening. Thankfully, for now, I have a head full of thick hair that could really be enough for two people so I haven’t worried about going bald. But because trying to keep my hair off the floor, table, sink, etc… is becoming a full-time job, I decided to do some research and find out if this is normal and what, if anything, I can do to stop it.
I was surprised to learn that it is normal to lose up to 100 hair strands per day. Finding this out made the obsessive person in me want to count for a few days, but let’s be honest the woman with the attention span of a gnat will win and I’ll lose interest in the project within the hour. So I trusted my ability to ‘eye it’ to give me an idea and I do believe that I am over the legal normal limit.
Possible causes of excessive hair loss range from vitamin/mineral deficiencies to serious illness so I won’t list them here. A few that made sense in my life were iron and zinc deficiency, lack of sufficient water, regular use of hair dye, excessive touching/pulling of hair (I twirl my hair) and wait for it….wait for it… AGE…
November 26, 2011 at 4:36 pm
I am the marvel of my hairdresser because of how thick my hair is. I am also the marvel of my husband by how much hair I shed every day. So go figure. I trust, though, that you have had your thyroid tested because that could be a cause
November 27, 2011 at 12:47 pm
Hi Judith! I’ve had my thyroid tested several times, for different reasons actually (constant exhaustion). Come back healthy every time.