Shedding or breakage? How to tell the difference

Shedding is a whole hair leaving the follicle at the end of its natural cycle. The follicle is fine and will produce a new strand. This is normal, continuous, and happens to everyone every day.

Breakage is a strand snapping somewhere along its length. The follicle is untouched and still growing that hair; a piece of it has simply given way. This is mechanical damage, not a biological event.

The practical stakes: shedding is about follicle health, hormones, nutrition and stress. Breakage is about how you handle your hair. Different problems, different solutions, and no amount of scalp treatment fixes breakage.

Pick up a strand you have lost and look at one end closely, ideally against a contrasting surface in good light.

• A small pale or white bulb at one end means the whole hair came out of the follicle. That is shedding.
• No bulb, with both ends looking like a cut or a rough break, means the strand snapped. That is breakage.
• Very short pieces relative to your hair length are almost always breakage. A shed hair is usually close to your full length.

Points to breakage

• Lots of short pieces of varying lengths, especially around the crown and hairline.
• Ends that look wispy, uneven or noticeably thinner than the mid-lengths.
• Hair that has sat at the same length for a year or more.
• Visible split ends, and white dots along the shaft where a strand is about to give way.
• Worse after heat styling, colouring, or a period of tight tying.

Points to shedding

• Full-length strands with bulbs, in larger quantities than usual.
• A noticeable increase two to three months after illness, childbirth, surgery, crash dieting or acute stress.
• A ponytail that feels thinner in circumference.
• A parting that appears to be widening over months.

If it is breakage

• Detangle from the ends upward with a wide-tooth comb, in sections.
• Reduce heat, and use a protectant when you do apply it.
• Be much gentler with wet hair, which is when it is most fragile.
• Loosen tight styles and vary where you tie.
• Trim off the damaged ends. They will not recover, and they take more hair with them if left.
• Reduce friction while you sleep with a smooth pillowcase or a loose tie.

If it is shedding

Look back two to three months for a trigger, because that is the typical delay. Illness, childbirth, a significant weight change, a new medication or a period of severe stress are the usual suspects. Much shedding of this kind is self-limiting and recovers over several months once the trigger has passed.

If it persists beyond three or four months, if your parting is visibly widening, or if it is concentrated at the crown or temples rather than diffuse, see a doctor. Ask about a ferritin test and thyroid function. Some causes are considerably more treatable early.

Plenty of people have a normal amount of shedding alongside significant breakage, and read the combined volume as hair loss. The bulb test on a handful of strands usually clarifies the mix quickly.

Where both are present, breakage is the one to start on, because it responds within weeks and it is entirely within your control.