I’ve Started Nutrafol, Why Am I Still Shedding?

It’s understandable to feel a little worried anytime you notice a bit more hair than usual in the shower drain. But when it comes to your hair, understanding the hair cycle can go a long way in calming shed anxiety and helping you figure out what might be behind it. You might be surprised to learn that hair shedding can commonly be a delayed reaction to a stressor from months ago, or even a sign of new hair growth.

Unlike other organs in the body, hair doesn’t react to things quickly. In a normal hair cycle, a hair follicle spends many years in the growing (or anagen) phase before transitioning to spend months in the resting (or telogen) phase, and then eventually shedding. 

Sometimes, stressors can impact this cycle, causing hair to shift out of the growth phase early, leading to premature hair shedding. However, shedding in response to stress doesn’t happen immediately.¹

Even if a hair follicle moves out of the growth phase and into the resting phase early, it will still be in the resting phase for an average of 3 months before you might finally see hair shed.^1,2

This is very different from our body’s other systems, like the digestive system, which will typically let us know within 24 hours if we ate something it didn’t like. But when something stresses your hair, it’s common for us not to see the resulting shedding until many months later. So, when hair shedding happens, resist the urge to think short-term when trying to figure out what may have caused it, and instead consider factors from the last 6 months.

When discussing the hair growth cycle, we commonly separate the growing phase from the final shedding phase of the follicle. But, in a typical healthy hair follicle, these two phases are actually happening at the same time. While old hair is still resting in the telogen phase in the upper part of the hair follicle, an anagen cycle for a new strand of hair begins below it. As this new hair strand grows outward, it pushes the old hair out, leading to its shedding phase.^1,3 

Unfortunately, depending on what’s going on in the scalp environment and which signals are being sent to the hair follicles, a new anagen phase doesn’t always overlap perfectly with the telogen and exogen phase of the hair strand before it.¹

If hair hasn’t been growing, with many hair strands currently in the resting phase, adding a hair growth supplement may initially cause a mild amount of temporary shedding as a new hair growth cycle causes resting hair strands to be pushed out.⁴ 

This mild wave of shedding can happen when introducing any support—a supplement, a dietary change, a lifestyle shift—that positively induces new hair growth to take place. 

Starting a new hair growth supplement does not typically lead to a large amount of shedding—meaning more than some increased strands of hair on your brush or in your shower. When in doubt, discuss your concerns with your trusted healthcare provider or dermatologist to help guide you and screen for any underlying issues that may be impacting your hair health.