Hey guys,
Over the course of the last year and a half I have been experiencing scalp pain and inflammation. This has been previously diagnosed as seborrheic dermatitis, although nothing seems to help completely. Along with this, I have been consistently shedding around 90-110 hairs every shower, once every day. My hair is wavy-curly so it is possible that I don't lose much during the day as my hair type and use of styling clay stops them from completely falling out. They probably cling on to and get tangled into neighboring hairs, only to fall out during showering. I'm 23 and about a NW1.5.
I am making this post because last week I had a chemical allergy patch test done to see if I am allergic to anything that could possibly be causing my scalp inflammation. 80 chemicals were tested and I had one reaction, which was to "fragrance mix #2". This mix includes Lyral, Citral, Citronellol, Farnesol, Coumarin and Hexyl cinnamic aldehyde. The rash that appeared was inflamed, raised, and itchy. I have since been trying to remove all instances of parfum, fragrances, or flavors from my contact. I have stopped using nizoral and my other shampoos/soaps that contain fragrances.
The interesting part of this is that my shedding has drastically reduced during this past week. I generally shower once every 20-30 hour period. In the shower I do comb out the tangles and knots, which I feel allows more hair to come out during the shower. As I previously mentioned, I was losing about 100 hairs every shower every day. This past week I was losing an average of only 30 hairs in the shower. Some days were as low as 15 while one day was 60 but most were around 25-30. My pain has also been lessened, however there have been instances where this was true in the past where there was no pain for weeks at a time, only to spontaneously re-appear. Hopefully that does not happen now that I am avoiding fragrances.
I have been taking supplements for about 6 months which include saw palmetto, pygeum, pumpkin seed oil, biotin, nicotinamide riboside, pterostilbene, zinc orotate, fish oil, and borage oil. I am unsure of whether these are doing anything to be honest but I have not experienced any side effects.
I feel that there could be a few explanations for the reduced shed. Hopefully it is due to removing this allergen. It could also be due to changing seasons as it is now getting colder and is close to winter. However I feel I was consistently losing this much hair across seasons. Maybe my supplements are finally kicking in but I feel that this is far too coincidental.
If anyone has any insight or has heard of anything like an allergen causing these symptoms please let me know! If anyone else is experiencing these symptoms then perhaps it would be beneficial for you to also get an allergy test done.
Over the course of the last year and a half I have been experiencing scalp pain and inflammation. This has been previously diagnosed as seborrheic dermatitis, although nothing seems to help completely. Along with this, I have been consistently shedding around 90-110 hairs every shower, once every day. My hair is wavy-curly so it is possible that I don't lose much during the day as my hair type and use of styling clay stops them from completely falling out. They probably cling on to and get tangled into neighboring hairs, only to fall out during showering. I'm 23 and about a NW1.5.
I am making this post because last week I had a chemical allergy patch test done to see if I am allergic to anything that could possibly be causing my scalp inflammation. 80 chemicals were tested and I had one reaction, which was to "fragrance mix #2". This mix includes Lyral, Citral, Citronellol, Farnesol, Coumarin and Hexyl cinnamic aldehyde. The rash that appeared was inflamed, raised, and itchy. I have since been trying to remove all instances of parfum, fragrances, or flavors from my contact. I have stopped using nizoral and my other shampoos/soaps that contain fragrances.
The interesting part of this is that my shedding has drastically reduced during this past week. I generally shower once every 20-30 hour period. In the shower I do comb out the tangles and knots, which I feel allows more hair to come out during the shower. As I previously mentioned, I was losing about 100 hairs every shower every day. This past week I was losing an average of only 30 hairs in the shower. Some days were as low as 15 while one day was 60 but most were around 25-30. My pain has also been lessened, however there have been instances where this was true in the past where there was no pain for weeks at a time, only to spontaneously re-appear. Hopefully that does not happen now that I am avoiding fragrances.
I have been taking supplements for about 6 months which include saw palmetto, pygeum, pumpkin seed oil, biotin, nicotinamide riboside, pterostilbene, zinc orotate, fish oil, and borage oil. I am unsure of whether these are doing anything to be honest but I have not experienced any side effects.
I feel that there could be a few explanations for the reduced shed. Hopefully it is due to removing this allergen. It could also be due to changing seasons as it is now getting colder and is close to winter. However I feel I was consistently losing this much hair across seasons. Maybe my supplements are finally kicking in but I feel that this is far too coincidental.
If anyone has any insight or has heard of anything like an allergen causing these symptoms please let me know! If anyone else is experiencing these symptoms then perhaps it would be beneficial for you to also get an allergy test done.