00:00Hey Naturally Curly World, I'm Christina.
00:02I'm Gerilyn.
00:03And today we're talking about the science of shedding.
00:06What is shedding?
00:07Why does it happen?
00:08How can we prevent it?
00:09We're going to figure all of that out in just a moment.
00:15All hair, all of our hairs, go through a three phase cycle.
00:21The first is the antigen phase, when your hair grows out of your scalp.
00:26Then the catagen phase, it stays there for a little while.
00:28And then the telogen phase, when it's released.
00:31And your hair is in these different phases at different times.
00:34So not all of your hair is growing, staying, and falling out at the same time.
00:40Different hairs are in different parts of the growth cycle.
00:43Shedding occurs during the telogen phase.
00:46So if you have a perfectly healthy head of hair, you're probably going to lose about
00:5080 hairs a day.
00:52It's perfectly normal because that means you're in the telogen phase.
00:55But if you feel like you're losing way more than 80 to 100 hairs, first think, have you
01:03only washed your hair once in the last, say, four or five days?
01:08And then you take a shower and you lose five days' worth of 100 hairs.
01:13And that looks really scary when it clogs your drain, but it's actually still normal.
01:17You just haven't released the shed hair.
01:20So I think that happens quite a lot with curly hair and it scares people, but it's still normal.
01:25It also happens a lot with people that are wearing a lot of protective styles.
01:29It can be super scary when you take out your braids, your twists, your extensions, and you
01:34see all of this hair come out with the extension.
01:37Don't necessarily be alarmed.
01:39Also you can go to a stylist who can safely remove those extensions and also help you
01:44feel a little bit better about the shedding that has occurred over one to three months.
01:50That person can also help you with the end of that growth phase where she can help trim
01:55those ends that you don't need anymore.
01:57So if you are experiencing more than the usual amount of shedding, then there are a few different
02:02things that could be causing that.
02:04Stress is one of them.
02:06A lot of that is hormone related.
02:08Pregnancy is another big one that has effects on when women who are pregnant feel like their
02:15hair is so much healthier and fuller when they're pregnant.
02:19That's because their hair has stopped in that catagen or antigen phase.
02:24It's not doing the telogen releasing part of it, so their hair is fuller and thicker than
02:29it ever has been before.
02:31But then after they have the baby, their hair enters that last phase and they lose a lot
02:37of that hair.
02:38So we have an article about that from one of our contributors who went through that and
02:43how she's dealing with it.
02:44If you're curious about how you can prevent hair shedding, there's really not a lot you
02:49can do, but you can slow down the process.
02:53So our bodies produce a chemical called DHT.
02:57It restricts the blood flow to the hair follicle and that actually causes hair to fall out,
03:03causes it to shed a little bit faster.
03:06So if you notice that you're shedding more than you ever wanted to, get yourself a DHT blocker.
03:14You can get a scalp treatment, a shampoo, a conditioner, put it directly on your scalp, follow the instructions
03:20on that product.
03:21But that'll actually help you slow down the shedding process.
03:25You'll see less hair fall.
03:27You'll see less of your hair on the floor.
03:30We'll leave an article about DHT and DHT blockers down in the description box.
03:34If you are seeing little hairs all around your bathroom, some of that is breakage and some
03:42of it is shedding.
03:43You can normally tell if you take one of your fallen hairs and look at it up close and see
03:48if it's the full hair and it still has that bulb on the end of it from your follicle, that's
03:55a shed hair.
03:56But if it's a short hair, maybe it has a split end or a break somewhere on it, that's breakage.
04:03And I've heard a little birdie tell me that there's an exogen phase.
04:07I'm not sure if that's a real thing.
04:10However, it sounds like it could be something real where the hair is exiting your scalp.
04:17I don't know.
04:18Let me know in the comments what you think about the exogen phase and if that's real.
04:22I haven't heard of the exogen phase, but the curly community does like coming up with
04:26their own words.
04:27If you have more questions about shedding, what it is, how it's different from hair loss,
04:32definitely talk to us in the comments below.
04:35If you think you have a medical problem though, go ahead and see a medical practitioner.
04:40We won't be able to answer that in the comments below.
04:42And if you liked this video, then make sure you watch our next one.
04:46We're going to talk about why you should shampoo.
04:47We'll see you next time.
04:48Bye.
04:49Bye.
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