Hair Shedding and Thinning Hair: Common Causes, Scalp Care, and Habits That Actually Help

Finding hair in the shower drain is one of those small moments that can feel much bigger than it should. A clump on the brush. More strands than usual on your pillow. A ponytail that feels thinner in your hand than it did last year. Guides to hair shedding and thinning hair often jump straight to products; this one starts with what's normal, because sometimes the honest answer is reassurance. If you have been quietly counting hairs or taking photos of your parting under bathroom lights, you're not being vain, and you aren't alone. Hair is tied up with identity, age, health and confidence in a way few other things are, and watching it change can be genuinely upsetting.

This guide is here to slow that spiral down a little. It explains how much shedding is actually normal, how the hair growth cycle works, and the most common reasons shedding speeds up or hair starts to thin. It also covers the unglamorous habits that really do help, scalp care, gentler handling, sensible nutrition, and is honest about the things that mostly help the people selling them. There are no miracle regrowth promises here, because hair doesn't work that way, and anyone who tells you otherwise is usually trying to sell you something.

One important note before we start: this article is general information, not medical advice. Hair loss sometimes has a medical cause that needs proper testing and treatment. Later on there's a section on the warning signs that mean you should book an appointment rather than try another shampoo, so do read that part even if you skim the rest.

How Much Hair Shedding Is Normal?

Here is the fact that surprises most people: losing hair every single day is part of having hair. Dermatology organisations generally put normal daily shedding at roughly 50 to 100 hairs a day. That sounds like a lot until you remember that most of us have around 100,000 hairs on our heads. Losing a hundred of them is a tiny fraction, and on a healthy scalp each shed hair is eventually replaced by a new one growing in the same follicle.

It also helps to know that shed hairs rarely arrive one at a time in a neat, even spread. They come loose during washing, brushing and styling, which means the loss gets compressed into visible moments. If you wash your hair every three or four days, the hairs that loosened on the days in between often all come out in that one shower. It can look alarming (a proper tangle in the drain), while still being roughly the same daily average, just delivered in a batch. People with long hair also tend to panic more, simply because one long hair takes up far more visual space than one short hair. A ball of shed long hair looks dramatic; it's often not.

So what does problem shedding look like, compared with the normal kind? A few patterns are worth paying attention to:

• You are shedding noticeably more than your own usual, and it keeps going for more than a couple of months.
• You can see more scalp through your hair than before, especially along the parting or at the temples.
• Your ponytail or bun has measurably less bulk, or your hairline is receding.
• Hair is coming out in patches, leaving smooth, round bald spots.
• The shedding comes with scalp symptoms — pain, itching, redness, flaking or sores.

The phrase “more than your own usual” matters. There's no single number that separates fine from not fine, because everyone's baseline differs. The real signal is change: a shift from your normal pattern that persists.

The Hair Growth Cycle, Explained Simply

Every hair on your head is on its own little schedule, and understanding that schedule explains almost everything else in this article. Including why causes and effects are often separated by months.

Each follicle cycles through three main phases:

The growth phase (anagen). This is when the hair is actively growing. On the scalp it lasts years, usually somewhere between two and six, which is why scalp hair can grow long. At any given moment, the large majority of your hairs, roughly 85 to 90 percent, are in this phase.

The transition phase (catagen). A short reshuffle lasting a few weeks, where growth stops and the follicle shrinks a little.

The resting and shedding phase (telogen). The hair sits in the follicle, no longer growing, for around three months, then falls out — often pushed out by the new hair forming beneath it. Around 10 to 15 percent of your hairs are in this phase at any one time.

Two practical lessons fall out of this. First, because the resting phase lasts about three months, there's often a long delay between a trigger and the shedding it causes. If you were ill in January, moved house in February and started noticing hair in the brush in April, those events may well be connected, even though the gap makes it feel impossible. Second, recovery is slow for the same reason. Even when a cause is fixed, follicles take months to work through their cycle and produce visible new growth. Anyone promising visible results in two weeks is ignoring basic biology.

Hair shedding and thinning hair: the common causes

Hair changes rarely have one neat cause. More often it's a stack: a stressful few months, a bit less protein than usual, a new habit of wearing your hair scraped back, all landing at once. Here are the causes that come up again and again.

Telogen Effluvium: The Delayed Shed After a Shock

Telogen effluvium is the name for a common pattern where a physical or emotional shock pushes far more hairs than usual into the resting phase at the same time. Because they sit there for roughly three months before falling, the shedding starts well after the event, and it can be heavy. People describe hair coming out in handfuls when they wash or brush, usually evenly across the whole scalp rather than in patches.

Common triggers include:

• Illness, particularly anything with a high fever
• Surgery or a significant injury
• Childbirth. The post-partum shed is a classic example
• Major psychological stress, such as bereavement or a crisis
• Rapid weight loss or crash dieting
• Stopping or starting certain hormonal contraception
• A nutritional deficiency developing over time

The post-partum version deserves a special mention because it frightens so many new parents. During pregnancy, higher hormone levels keep more hairs in the growth phase, which is why many people enjoy unusually thick hair. After birth, hormone levels fall, all those held-back hairs shift into the resting phase together, and shedding peaks a few months later. It is usually temporary, with regrowth happening on its own over the following months — but “usually” isn't “always,” so if shedding is still heavy a year after birth, that's worth raising with a clinician.

The reassuring thing about telogen effluvium is that the follicles are not damaged. The hair is cycling, not dying. Once the trigger passes, shedding typically settles and regrowth follows, though the whole process can take six to twelve months from trigger to noticeably fuller hair. The frustrating part is that there's very little you can do to speed it up. The main job is to make sure the trigger really has passed, which is one reason persistent shedding deserves a medical look rather than endless product changes.

Pattern Thinning in Men and Women

The other very common pattern is slower and quieter. Androgenetic alopecia, often called male-pattern or female-pattern hair loss, is a gradual thinning driven by genetics and hormones. Follicles that are sensitive to certain hormones slowly shrink over time, producing finer, shorter hairs until some stop producing visible hair at all. It runs in families, though not always in the obvious way people expect; you can't reliably predict your hair from one parent's head.

In men, it typically shows as a receding hairline at the temples and thinning at the crown. In women, it more often shows as a widening parting and general thinning over the top of the scalp, while the front hairline stays roughly where it was. Both can start earlier than people think, sometimes in the twenties, and progress slowly over years.

Two honest things to say about pattern thinning. First, it is extremely common and nothing to be embarrassed about — a large share of adults experience some degree of it. Second, it's the type least likely to respond to cosmetics. Shampoos and serums can improve the look and feel of the hair you have, but gradual follicle miniaturisation is a medical matter, and the realistic route is an early conversation with a GP, dermatologist or trichologist about what treatments can and can't do. Earlier conversations tend to have more options than later ones.

Health Conditions and Medicines

Sometimes shedding is a symptom rather than the problem itself. Conditions that can affect hair include thyroid problems, both an overactive and an underactive thyroid, iron deficiency, autoimmune conditions, and scalp conditions such as psoriasis or severe seborrhoeic dermatitis. Hormonal changes, including those around menopause and conditions that affect hormone levels, can also play a part.

Certain medicines list hair shedding among their side effects, and starting, stopping or changing the dose of a medicine can act as the kind of shock that triggers telogen effluvium. Never stop a prescribed medicine because you suspect it's affecting your hair. Instead, note when the shedding started relative to the change, and raise it with the person who prescribed it. There may be alternatives, or the shedding may settle on its own.

This is exactly why persistent or unusual shedding should not be self-diagnosed with a search engine. A clinician can take a history, examine your scalp, and arrange blood tests where appropriate, thyroid function and iron stores are among the common ones checked. No article, including this one, can do that job.

Traction Alopecia: When Styling Slowly Pulls Hair Out

Traction alopecia is hair loss caused by repeated pulling on the roots. It's associated with hairstyles that keep hair under constant tension: very tight ponytails and buns, tight braids and cornrows, weaves and extensions that add weight, and repeatedly styling the same areas the same way. The early sign is often thinning or broken hair around the hairline and temples, sometimes with tenderness, bumps or a feeling that your scalp hurts when the style comes out. That soreness is a warning sign, not a normal price of looking neat.

In its early stages, traction alopecia can be reversible if the tension stops. Left for years, the constant strain can damage follicles permanently. If a style hurts, gives you a headache, or pulls your hairline taut, it's too tight — full stop. Looser styles, varying where you part and gather your hair, giving your hairline regular breaks from braided or extended styles, and choosing lighter extensions all reduce the strain.

Crash Dieting and Nutritional Gaps

Hair isn't essential to survival, which means the body treats it as a low priority when resources run short. Rapid weight loss, very low-calorie diets, and diets that cut out whole food groups can all be followed, a few months later, by heavy shedding. Low iron and low protein intake are frequent culprits. This is one reason the shedding after a determined January diet often arrives in April, confusing everyone.

The fix isn't a supplement shopping spree; it is eating enough, consistently, with adequate protein and iron-rich foods. More on nutrition below.

Shedding From the Root vs Breakage: How to Tell the Difference

Before assuming you have a hair loss problem, it is worth checking whether you actually have a breakage problem. They look similar in the brush but have completely different causes and solutions.

A shed hair has come out from the root. It will usually be a full-length hair, and if you look closely at the end that came from the scalp, you may see a tiny white or pale bulb. That bulb is normal. It's the root end of a resting-phase hair, not a piece of your scalp, and its presence doesn't mean the follicle is dead.

A broken hair has snapped somewhere along the shaft. Broken pieces tend to be shorter and vary in length, have no bulb at either end, and often have split, frayed or stretchy-feeling ends. Breakage is concentrated where hair is weakest or most handled, the front hairline, the ends, areas that get the most heat or chemical processing.

Why this distinction matters: shedding is about the follicle and the growth cycle, while breakage is about the condition of the hair shaft. If most of what you are losing is breakage, no supplement or scalp serum will fix it. The answers are gentler handling, less heat and chemical stress, trims to remove damaged ends, and patience while healthier hair grows in. Many people have a bit of both, so don't be surprised if your brush contains some long hairs with bulbs and some short snapped pieces.

Scalp Care Basics That Actually Matter

Scalp care has become a whole industry, complete with scrubs, serums, oils and expensive devices. Underneath the marketing there are a few plain basics that genuinely matter, and they are mostly free.

Washing Frequency: Cleaner Than You Think

There's a persistent myth that washing your hair too often causes hair loss. What actually happens is simpler: hairs that have already loosened come out in the wash, so washing reveals shedding rather than causing it. In fact, washing too rarely can cause problems of its own. Oil, sweat, dead skin and product build up on the scalp, and for people prone to dandruff or seborrhoeic dermatitis, an infrequently washed scalp often gets itchier and flakier.

How often should you wash? It depends on your hair and scalp:

Oily scalp, fine or straight hair: every day or every other day is fine if your scalp feels greasy quickly. Use a gentle shampoo and focus on the scalp.

Normal to dry hair, waves and loose curls: every two to four days suits many people.

Curly and coily hair, or hair in protective styles: once a week to once every two weeks is common, because these hair types are drier along the shaft. The scalp still needs proper cleansing when you do wash — take your time massaging shampoo at the roots rather than doing a quick token rinse.

Whatever your schedule, the signs you need to wash more often are an itchy scalp, visible flakes, oiliness and a stale smell. The signs you might be washing too harshly are different: squeaky, straw-like lengths and a dry, irritated feeling. In that case the issue is usually product strength and how much you scrub the lengths, not the number of washes. Shampoo belongs mainly on the scalp; the lengths get cleaned by the rinsing suds. Conditioner belongs mainly on the mid-lengths and ends.

Dandruff vs Dry Scalp

These two get mixed up constantly, and the treatments are opposite enough that it matters. Dandruff is usually linked to an oily scalp and an overreaction to a yeast that normally lives on skin. The flakes tend to be larger, yellowish or white, slightly oily, and accompanied by itching; you may also get flaking in eyebrows or behind ears. A dry scalp is more about lack of moisture: smaller, drier white flakes, a tight feeling, and dryness elsewhere on your body too.

For ordinary dandruff, an anti-dandruff shampoo used consistently for a few weeks, and actually left on the scalp for a few minutes before rinsing, as the label directs, helps many people. For dry scalp, gentler washing, a richer conditioner and avoiding very hot water are more useful. If flaking is thick, crusted, spreads to your face, or comes with redness and soreness, stop guessing: that could be psoriasis, eczema or an infection, and a pharmacist or clinician can identify it far faster than trial and error.

A Word on Scalp Oils, Scrubs and Massage

Scalp oils can make hair feel softer and can help loosen flakes before washing, and a gentle scalp massage feels lovely and may help you actually cleanse properly. What oils and massage can't do is regrow hair in any reliable, proven way. Enjoy them for comfort and condition if you like them, use oils sparingly if you are prone to dandruff (some oils make it worse for some people), and don't let a relaxing ritual convince you it's a treatment. Harsh scrubs and aggressive scratching, meanwhile, can irritate the scalp and break hairs. Fingertips, not nails, and moderate pressure.

Gentle Handling: Where a Lot of “Hair Loss” Is Won or Lost

The hair at your hairline and ends is old, the ends of long hair may be three or four years old, and it has survived years of washing, sun, friction and styling. Treating it roughly adds breakage that thins the lengths even when the roots are perfectly healthy.

Practical habits that reduce breakage:

Detangle gently. Work in sections, from the ends upward, with a wide-tooth comb or your fingers. Wet hair is more fragile, but curly and coily hair is usually best detangled wet with conditioner for slip; straighter hair types often do better detangling mostly before washing or when hair is damp rather than soaking. Never rip a brush through a knot.

Ease off the heat. Frequent high-heat straightening and curling weakens the shaft over time. Lower temperatures, fewer passes, heat protectant, and heat-free days all add up. If your ends feel gummy or stretchy when wet, that is damage talking, reduce heat and chemicals and trim gradually.

Be careful with chemicals. Bleach, relaxers, perms and overlapping colour services are hard on hair, and combining them close together or applying them over already damaged hair is a common route to severe breakage that can look exactly like sudden hair loss. Follow product instructions, keep services spaced, and be honest with your hairdresser about what's already on your hair.

Mind the friction. Rough towel-drying, tight elastic bands with metal joins, and sleeping on a coarse cotton pillowcase all create small amounts of damage that accumulate. Patting or squeezing hair with a soft towel or old T-shirt, snag-free hair ties, and a smooth pillowcase are cheap, boring, effective swaps.

Brush like it matters. A few firm strokes to style or detangle is plenty. The old hundred-strokes idea just adds mechanical wear.

Notes for Curly, Coily and Protectively Styled Hair

Much mainstream hair advice quietly assumes straight hair, so a few specifics deserve saying out loud. Curly and coily hair is naturally drier because scalp oils travel slowly down a curved shaft, and it's more prone to breakage at each curve. Moisture, gentle detangling in sections with conditioner, and protective styles that keep ends tucked away can all genuinely help length retention, because for many people with textured hair, the issue isn't growth at the root but breakage at the ends.

Protective styles help only when they are actually protective. Braids, twists and wigs protect hair when they are installed without excessive tension, when the scalp is still cleansed and moisturised while the style is in, and when the style isn't left in so long that shed hair and build-up mat together at the roots. A style that is too tight, too heavy or left in for months can cause the traction problems described earlier. If your edges are sore or you see small bumps around braided hairlines, that style needs to come out or be redone looser, however much it cost. Your hairline is worth more than the appointment.

When you take a protective style down, expect a lot of shed hair at once. Remember the daily maths: hair that would have fallen over six or eight weeks has been trapped in the style, so it all appears in one comb-out. That alone is usually normal. What's not normal is pain, patches, or visible thinning that wasn't there before the style went in.

Nutrition: Food First, Supplements With Caution

Because hair is built from protein and its follicles are sensitive to iron and overall energy intake, food genuinely matters — but in a steady, unglamorous way rather than a superfood way.

Protein. Hair is mostly keratin, a protein. Aim for a protein source at most meals, eggs, dairy, fish, meat, lentils, beans, tofu, nuts, especially if you have recently been eating less overall. People who have cut calories hard, or who have moved to a vegetarian or vegan diet without planning protein and iron, are common candidates for diet-related shedding.

Iron. Low iron stores are a well-recognised contributor to shedding, particularly in women who menstruate. Red meat is the richest source, but lentils, beans, fortified cereals, spinach and other plant sources count too, especially eaten with vitamin C-rich foods that help absorption. If you suspect low iron, the answer is a blood test, not guessing with supplements, taking iron you do not need isn't harmless.

Vitamin D. Low vitamin D is common, especially in northern climates and in people who cover their skin or spend little time outdoors. It is checked with a simple blood test, and official health advice in many countries already suggests a daily vitamin D supplement in autumn and winter for the general population. Follow your local public health guidance rather than hair marketing.

The overall pattern. Crash diets, skipping meals for long stretches, and eating very little variety are the real enemies. A varied diet with enough calories, protein, fruit and vegetables covers most hair-relevant nutrients for most people.

The Biotin Myth, Honestly

Biotin is probably the most famous “hair vitamin” in the world, and its reputation is almost entirely out of proportion to the evidence. True biotin deficiency is rare, mostly seen in very specific circumstances such as certain genetic conditions, prolonged use of particular medicines, or extreme dietary restriction. For the average person eating a reasonably varied diet, extra biotin has no good evidence behind it for hair growth — yet it fills gummy supplements everywhere, because it's cheap, famous and easy to market.

There is also a practical catch worth knowing: high-dose biotin can interfere with some laboratory blood tests, including certain thyroid and heart-related tests, and can distort the results. If you take a high-dose biotin supplement and are having blood tests, tell the clinician. It's an excellent example of why “it's just a vitamin” isn't the same as “it can't do any harm.” The same caution applies to any supplement promising dramatic hair results: glands, glands and more glands aren't involved. Evidence is, and for most hair supplements, it's thin.

Expensive Products and Scam Warnings

Hair loss makes people vulnerable, and a whole market exists to exploit that. Be wary of clinics or brands that guarantee regrowth, show only dramatic before-and-after photos with no timeframes or fine print, pressure you to buy months of product up front, or claim a secret formula that doctors supposedly do not want you to know. Be equally wary of pricey shampoos implying they regrow hair: a shampoo touches your scalp for a minute before rinsing, and its realistic job is cleansing. Cosmetic products can absolutely improve shine, softness, volume at the roots and the appearance of thickness, that's a legitimate and sometimes confidence-boosting benefit, but appearance isn't regrowth.

A useful rule of thumb: the more emotional the marketing, the less evidence is usually behind it. Put your money toward a proper assessment first, food you will actually eat, and gentle basics you'll use consistently.

What About Minoxidil?

You'll encounter minoxidil in almost any serious discussion of pattern thinning. It's a genuine medicine — originally developed for blood pressure and widely used, in topical and in some places oral forms, for certain types of hair loss. Precisely because it is a medicine, it doesn't belong in the same category as a cosmetic serum tip. It's not suitable for everyone, it can have side effects, it interacts with personal circumstances such as pregnancy, and oral use in particular needs medical supervision.

So this article won't give you dosage or usage instructions, deliberately. If pattern thinning is your situation, minoxidil is a conversation to have with a GP, dermatologist or pharmacist, who can say whether it's appropriate for you, explain what realistic results and timelines look like, and discuss the alternatives. Bringing it up at that appointment is a sensible question; self-prescribing from an advert is not.

When to See a GP, Dermatologist or Trichologist

Plenty of shedding is temporary and settles on its own, but some situations need professional eyes. Book an appointment, start with your GP, who can refer you to dermatology or suggest a qualified trichologist where appropriate, if you notice any of the following:

• Sudden, patchy hair loss, or smooth round bald patches appearing
• Scalp pain, significant redness, scaling, crusting, pus or sores
• Shedding that starts after an illness, or after starting or changing a medicine
• Rapid or heavy shedding that's not easing after a few months
• Thinning accompanied by other symptoms, such as fatigue, feeling cold, weight changes, or changes to periods. These can point to thyroid, iron or hormonal issues that need blood tests
• Hair loss in a child
• Loss that's affecting your mental health — that's a valid reason on its own

What to Track Before an Appointment

Clinicians consistently say the same thing: a few notes from you make the appointment far more useful. In the weeks before you go, jot down:

• When it started, and whether it was sudden or gradual
• What was happening two to four months earlier, illness, surgery, childbirth, stress, dieting, new medicines. Remember the three-month lag in the growth cycle.
• Where it is happening, all over, at the parting, temples, crown, or in patches
• Any scalp symptoms — itching, flaking, pain, redness
• Your routines, how often you wash, heat and chemical treatments, typical hairstyles and how tight they are
• Family history of thinning, on both sides
• Medicines and supplements you take, including anything bought for hair
• Photos in consistent light, once a month, of your parting, hairline and crown. Same angle, same lighting. Photos taken randomly under harsh light will just upset you; taken consistently, they show real change over time.

Avoid the trap of counting every shed hair daily. It's understandable, it feels like gathering data, and in practice it mostly gathers anxiety. A dated photo once a month tells a clinician (and you), far more than a hair count ever will.

Realistic Timelines: The Part Nobody Wants to Hear

Hair change is measured in seasons, not weeks. Plan on these sorts of timeframes:

After a trigger ends, telogen effluvium shedding often continues for a while before easing; many people see shedding settle within about three to six months, with regrowth becoming obvious later.

New regrowth first appears as short, fine hairs along the parting and hairline — the wispy “halo” people often mistake for frizz or breakage. It can take six to twelve months for that regrowth to add visible fullness, and longer for it to reach the lengths.

Nutrition corrections take months to show, because the deficiency affected hairs that are still working through their cycle.

Breakage improvements show first at the roots: a few months of gentler handling produces smoother new growth, while damaged ends only truly leave when they are trimmed or grow out.

Judge any change by comparing photos three to six months apart, not by how the drain looked this morning. Day-to-day shedding fluctuates with wash days, styling and pure chance; the trend over months is the only signal worth acting on.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Does cutting my hair make it grow back thicker? No. A trim can't change the follicle or the thickness of new growth. What a trim does is remove split, tapered ends, so the hair you have looks and feels fuller and breaks less. It's worth doing for appearance and condition, just not under the illusion that the scissors have changed your biology.

2. Can stress really cause hair loss? Yes, significant physical or emotional stress is a well-recognised trigger for telogen effluvium, the delayed shedding described above. The catch is the timing: the shed typically arrives two to four months after the stressful period, so people often blame whatever is happening now rather than what happened then. Minor everyday stress is not usually enough on its own; major illness, surgery, bereavement and intense prolonged strain are the classic triggers.

3. Does washing my hair every day make it fall out? Washing doesn't cause healthy hairs to fall out. It dislodges hairs that were already at the end of their cycle and ready to shed, which is why the shower can look alarming. Washing rarely, on the other hand, can leave an itchy, flaky, build-up-covered scalp. Wash as often as your scalp needs, with a shampoo suited to it.

4. Will supplements fix my shedding? Only if a genuine deficiency is part of the cause, and that needs a blood test to establish. Extra biotin and general “hair gummies” have weak evidence for people who are not deficient, and some supplements can distort blood test results or interact with medicines. Food first, testing second, targeted supplements only on advice.

5. I shed a huge amount after taking out braids. Should I worry? Usually not. Hair keeps shedding on its normal daily schedule while it's in a protective style, but the shed hairs stay trapped until the style comes down — so weeks of normal shedding appear in a single comb-out. Worry instead if you see pain, sores, broken edges or new thinning, which point to the style having been too tight.

6. When should I stop waiting and get help? If shedding is patchy, painful, accompanied by redness or scaling, started after an illness or a new medicine, is still heavy after a few months, or is making you miserable, go now, not after another product. Those are the situations where testing and proper diagnosis change the outcome.

Give it a fair few months

Most hair shedding has an explanation, and very often it's a temporary one rooted in that slow, three-month rhythm of the growth cycle. The habits that help are mostly unglamorous: wash your scalp as often as it needs, handle your hair (especially the front and the ends), with less force and less heat, loosen the styles that pull, eat enough protein and iron-rich food, and give any change a fair few months before you judge it. Be sceptical of expensive promises, including famous vitamins, and treat medicines as medicines.

And if something about your hair loss does not fit the ordinary patterns, patches, pain, speed, or symptoms elsewhere in your body, don't let embarrassment talk you out of an appointment. Hair is sometimes the first place an underlying issue shows up, and catching that early helps far more than any shampoo. Be patient with the process, and be kind to yourself while you wait. Hair grows slowly. So, often, does confidence, but both do move in the right direction when the cause is understood.

Disclaimer

This article is for general information and education only and isn't medical advice. It doesn't replace assessment by a qualified healthcare professional. If you're concerned about hair loss, scalp symptoms, or any possible underlying condition or deficiency, please consult your GP, a dermatologist, a pharmacist or a qualified trichologist, who can examine you and arrange appropriate tests.

Sources

• American Academy of Dermatology (AAD), patient guidance on hair loss, hair shedding and hair care
• NHS — guidance on hair loss, its causes, and when to see a GP
• British Hair and Nail Society, information on hair and scalp disorders
• Mayo Clinic, patient information on hair loss causes and evaluation