Many people notice the same pattern every autumn: more hair is left in the shower drain after washing, the hairbrush fills up more quickly, and the ponytail suddenly feels less thick. It is easy to become concerned and think, "My hair has started falling out excessively."
But is autumn really to blame? More importantly, where is the line between temporary seasonal shedding and a condition that should no longer be ignored? Let's explore when it is reasonable to simply monitor your hair and when it is advisable to consult a trichologist.
Why Does Hair Sometimes Shed More in Autumn?
Hair is constantly going through its natural life cycle. Some hairs are actively growing, while others temporarily stop growing before eventually falling out, making room for new hairs. For this reason, losing a certain number of hairs each day is completely normal. On average, people lose around 50–100 hairs per day, although this number varies from person to person.
During autumn, increased hair shedding may indeed become more noticeable. However, it is important to understand that the change of season is not always the direct cause. Hair responds to changes within the body with a delay. Several weeks or even several months may pass between a triggering event and noticeable hair shedding.
For example, during the summer a person may have experienced a high fever, a severe infection, significant emotional stress, rapid weight loss, a restrictive diet, surgery, or another major physical stressor. It is only in autumn that they may notice a marked increase in hair shedding. As a result, it often appears that autumn is responsible, when in fact the underlying cause occurred much earlier.
How Does Hair Grow and Fall Out?
To understand why hair sheds, it is helpful to know the main stages of the hair growth cycle. Anagen is the active growth phase. It may last for several years. During this stage, the hair follicle is actively producing a hair shaft, which gradually grows longer. The next stage is catagen, a short transitional phase during which hair growth stops and the follicle gradually shrinks.
This is followed by telogen, also known as the resting phase. The hair remains in the follicle for a period of time before eventually falling out. The follicle can then enter a new growth cycle. When a large number of hairs enter the resting phase simultaneously, increased shedding becomes noticeable some time later. This condition is known as telogen effluvium.
How Much Hair Loss Is Considered Normal?
The number of hairs lost each day varies considerably from one person to another. For this reason, trying to count every hair after taking a shower is generally not very helpful. Hair shedding often appears much more dramatic after washing, particularly if you do not wash your hair every day. In such cases, hairs that naturally shed over several days simply remain trapped among the existing hairs until your next wash.
What matters much more is whether your overall hair density is changing. If your hair sheds slightly more than usual but your parting remains the same, your ponytail does not become noticeably thinner, and the shedding gradually settles, it is most likely a temporary process. However, if you notice that your hair is gradually becoming less dense, this may indicate a different situation.
How Does Stress Affect Hair?
Severe or prolonged stress can influence the hair growth cycle. Importantly, hair does not necessarily begin falling out immediately after a stressful event. The body may respond several months later. As a result, many people fail to connect their current hair shedding with something that happened much earlier.
The trigger does not have to be emotional stress alone. Serious illness, high fever, surgery, sudden weight loss, or inadequate nutrition can all place significant stress on the body. This is why, during a consultation, it is important to consider events that occurred over the previous several months rather than focusing only on what is happening at the present time.
Can Nutrition Be the Cause?
The condition of your hair depends to a large extent on your overall health and on receiving an adequate supply of essential nutrients. Rapid weight loss, strict dieting, protein deficiency, or a severely restricted diet may all be associated with increased hair shedding.
Certain gastrointestinal disorders may also interfere with the body's ability to absorb the nutrients it needs. However, it is not advisable to start taking iron, zinc, vitamin D, or other supplements marketed "for hair" without first identifying the underlying cause. While deficiencies of certain nutrients can indeed contribute to hair loss, excessive intake of some vitamins and trace elements may also be harmful. For this reason, it is important to determine the underlying cause before deciding whether dietary changes or nutritional supplements are necessary.
Hormones and Hair Loss
Hormonal changes can also affect the condition of the hair. Hair shedding may increase after pregnancy and childbirth, during menopause, in certain thyroid disorders, and in other hormonal conditions. Some forms of alopecia are associated with an inherited sensitivity of hair follicles to hormonal influences. In such cases, the condition may develop gradually. A person may not notice any changes for a long time until one day they realise that their parting has become noticeably wider and their usual hair volume has diminished.
Hair Loss After Illness
In some cases, hair begins to shed several months after an infection or an illness accompanied by a high fever. This may be particularly noticeable in autumn if the illness occurred during the summer.
Such a response may be temporary, and the hair often gradually recovers. However, if the shedding is severe or prolonged, it is important to make sure that it is truly a temporary reaction rather than a sign of another underlying condition.
When Can Autumn Hair Shedding Be Considered Normal?
If you notice slightly more hair on your brush during autumn, but your overall hair density has remained virtually unchanged, your scalp appears healthy, there are no bald patches, and the shedding gradually decreases over time, there is usually no reason to panic. In such cases, it is reasonable to monitor the situation for a while, treat your hair gently, and avoid additional damaging factors. What matters most is not the amount of hair left in the shower or on your brush, but whether your overall hair density is changing.
When Should You See a Trichologist?
This is the key question for most people experiencing increased hair shedding during autumn. You should consult a trichologist if the shedding has become noticeably heavier and continues for several weeks without improvement, especially if you can see that your hair is becoming thinner, not only in your hairbrush but also visually. If your ponytail has become significantly thinner, your parting has widened, your scalp is becoming more visible, and your previous hair volume is not returning, it is best not to attribute everything to the change of season.
Do not delay seeking professional advice if you develop bald patches or areas of hair loss. The sudden appearance of a round bald spot or rapid thinning in a particular area requires professional assessment. Changes affecting the scalp are also a reason to seek medical advice. Itching, burning, redness, tenderness, significant scaling, crusting, or inflammation may indicate a scalp disorder rather than ordinary seasonal hair shedding.
It is also advisable to consult a specialist if your hair loss began after severe stress, a high fever, an infection, surgery, rapid weight loss, or a strict diet. Even when the trigger appears obvious, it is important to ensure that recovery is progressing as expected. Particular attention should be paid if your hair is not only shedding but also becoming progressively finer. Gradual hair miniaturisation may be an early sign of certain forms of alopecia. In the early stages, this can be easy to overlook, so it is better not to wait until obvious bald areas develop.
What If Your Hair Has Been Falling Out for Several Months?
If your hair shedding has continued for several months and your hair density is gradually decreasing, it is advisable not to postpone a consultation. It is especially important to seek professional advice if you have already tried shampoos, hair masks, ampoule treatments, vitamins, or other products without noticeable improvement. In such cases, the problem may not lie in the hair shaft itself but within the hair follicle or may be related to your overall health.
A trichologist can help determine the type of hair loss and assess whether further diagnostic testing is needed.
Why is it important to identify the type of hair loss?
There is no single, universal type of hair loss.
With diffuse hair loss, the hair becomes thinner relatively evenly across the scalp. With androgenetic alopecia, hair gradually becomes thinner in specific areas. In women, the central parting may become more noticeable, while in men, the hairline may recede and thinning can develop in the crown area.
With alopecia areata, individual round patches without hair may appear.
There are also inflammatory and scarring conditions that require timely medical attention, as damage to the hair follicles can sometimes lead to permanent hair loss.
That is why the phrase “It’s just seasonal hair shedding” does not always explain what is actually happening.
What happens during a trichologist consultation?
The assessment begins with a detailed conversation. The specialist will ask when the hair loss started and how it has changed over time. They may also ask about recent illnesses, stress, significant weight loss, changes in diet, surgery, hormonal changes, or certain medications.
The condition of the hair and scalp is then assessed.
If necessary, a trichoscopy may be performed. This is an examination of the hair and scalp using magnification, allowing the specialist to see features of the hair follicles and patterns of change that cannot be assessed with the naked eye.
Depending on the situation, the doctor may recommend additional examinations or laboratory tests if there are reasons to investigate nutritional deficiencies, hormonal imbalances, or other possible causes of hair loss.
Do you need to change your hair care routine in autumn?
If your hair has become dry or brittle, your hair care routine may indeed need some adjustments. However, it is important to distinguish between hair breakage and hair loss.
With breakage, you may notice short, broken hairs. With hair loss, the entire hair usually falls out.
In autumn, it is worth treating your hair more gently. Avoid wearing very tight hairstyles constantly, brushing your hair aggressively, or regularly exposing it to high temperatures.
If your hair has been damaged by colouring or heat styling, pay particular attention to caring for the lengths.
However, even the best shampoo or hair mask cannot eliminate a hormonal, genetic, or systemic cause of hair loss.
What should you do if your hair starts falling out more than usual?
First of all, there is no need to panic or immediately buy every product that promises to stop hair loss.
Instead, try to assess the situation over time. Check whether your parting has become wider, whether your ponytail feels thinner, whether areas of thinning have appeared, or whether your hairline has changed.
Also think about what has happened in your life and to your body over the past few months. Sometimes the cause is not autumn at all, but an event that occurred well before the first symptoms appeared.
If hair loss is significant, continues for several weeks without improvement, or is accompanied by noticeable thinning, hair miniaturisation, bald patches, or changes in the scalp, the best course of action is to consult a specialist.
The main thing to remember
Seasonal hair shedding can be temporary and does not necessarily indicate a medical condition. If you notice slightly more hair loss than usual, but your overall hair density remains stable and the situation gradually improves, you can monitor the changes.
However, if hair loss continues for several weeks, your hair density noticeably decreases, your parting becomes wider, your ponytail becomes thinner, bald patches appear, or the condition of your scalp changes, it is better not to wait. These are reasons to consult a trichologist.
And most importantly, you do not have to wait until the hair loss becomes so noticeable that other people start to see it. The earlier a specialist identifies the cause, the more opportunities there are to choose the right approach and help preserve your hair.
Autumn itself should not be a reason to panic. But it can be a good reminder to pay closer attention to the condition of your hair and your overall health.
