Loose, Thin Hair After Telogen Effluvium: Tips To Make It Look Fuller
I often hear from people who are very upset these days when they look in the mirror in an attempt to comb their hair. This is because there have been weeks or months of severe shedding due to telogen effluvium. When this process is finally done, you can have a completely different head of hair (and much thinner) than the one you had in the beginning.
I often get comments like, “I’ve been suffering from telogen effluvium for almost five months now. Shedding has started to improve a bit, but the appearance of my hair hasn’t. It’s so thin and stringy. And while it’s stringy, too.” it’s dry and brittle. Part of me just wants to cut it all off. But honestly, the length is the only thing that helps me hide how thin it really is. How can I make it look better? I know my hair will probably come back grow up. But until then, how do I keep it looking decent?”
I can tell you what helped me. I can’t promise that these tips will work for every hair type and every case. But I do think these things helped me make the most of the hair I had while waiting for it to grow back.
Be sure to wash and condition regularly: When you’re losing tons of hair and notice more coming out after shampooing, it becomes very tempting to skip the shampoo. However, this will make your hair look greasy and stringy. I used to be so paranoid about washing my hair with products that could have made the shedding worse, that I used to use baby shampoo. Needless to say, this made my already dry, loose hair look like the ends of a broom. That is why it is very important to condition. Since I realized that conditioning used to lead to a lot of additional hair loss, I used to use spray conditioner with some success. It’s really important to keep your follicles free of debris and build it up so that you’re supporting normal, healthy new growth.
Gently lift at the root: When my hair was very fine, it soon became apparent that some lift needed to be created. However, teasing or blow-drying was never a good idea with my hair. So I would literally wash my hair backwards on some days. And, when I finished shampooing, I would gently comb my hair down towards the top of my head. I would then secure it with a dry towel. And I would let it dry like that as long as possible. This created lift at the roots and made my hair look fuller. I was paranoid about using a hair chemical, so I used clear, natural aloe vera gel. This worked well because it nourished and soothed my scalp at the same time.
Consider a blunt cut, at least at the ends: I was also hesitant to cut the length of my hair when it was falling out. I felt short hair would look thinner. I eventually discovered that a blunt cut like a longer bob can look fuller than a long tapered cut. You don’t need a severe or short bob, but any cut where the hair is blunt at the bottom can give the appearance of more volume. It also helps a lot to keep your hair from looking so stringy.
Use oil sparingly: You probably already know that when you have this condition, your hair can look very dry and fly away. But at the same time, when you overcondition your hair, it can look stringy or greasy. I used to tackle this by spraying a light mist of Moroccan oil only on dry hair. And I’m talking about an extremely light mist, mostly just on the ends (you don’t want to put it on the root).
I know this may seem like a lot of work. But know that you usually just have to put in a little more effort until the hair grows back.
