Tips for managing wet hair with telogen effluvium (TE)

Many of the emails I receive from people who are battling telogen effluvium ask questions about the best way to deal with hair loss when wet. When we get out of the shower or finish washing and conditioning our hair, it is when we comb it or comb it if it is healthy and does not fall out. But, when you have TE, combing your wet hair can mean tons of shedding.

But, if you don’t style it, it can dry out in a very unflattering way. Which means it can be unmanageable, loose, or lacking in decent style. I recently heard from someone who said “my hair is quite long and I have had telogen effluvium for about four months. After washing my hair very carefully, I am not sure what to do. Because every time I comb or brush wet hair, I find It falls out a lot more. This makes me not want to handle or touch my hair. But if I let it dry, I have unruly strands everywhere. How can I comb my hair when it’s wet? If it falls a lot more every time I touch it When I wait for it to dry, it’s just too unmanageable. ” I will try to address these concerns in the next article.

I came up with a regimen that worked quite well for me when I had CTE (chronic telogen effluvium) and I will share it with you now. When your hair falls out, it is very important that you do not pull or handle it too much. As you probably already know, just touching your hair will make it more likely to fall out. And, from a psychological point of view, it is important to avoid this as much as possible.

In my case, I gently patted my hair dry as best I could. I would add avoid combing or brushing my hair until completely dry (and would only do this when necessary). I would add conditioner spray to leave my hair to make it easier to manage. (Be careful this is a lightweight conditioner so your hair doesn’t look greasy.) Then, I ran my hands very gently through the shaft of my hair to make it look good. Then I would put that same hair in a towel and put it on top of my head to dry. The act of putting the hair in the towel would add volume. And putting it together first would help keep it from getting wild and loose. I would let my hair towel dry as long as possible. On a good day, I could let my hair dry completely before removing it. If that was not possible, I would towel dry my hair and then remove it once it was dry.

Now once I got my hair out of the towel, it wouldn’t look too bad and any hairs that had fallen out would gather on the towel, saving me the hassle of having to remove my worn out hair from my clothes. Of course, there would be some loose hair, so I would straighten it with my hands, fingers or, if necessary, with a wide-toothed comb. This type of comb is very important because it does not pull as much. When my hair fell out a lot, I had to avoid curling irons or rollers because it only caused more hair to fall out. But this towel method allowed me some volume and style. And if I wanted wavy hair, I would gently twist the hair I collected (like a ponytail) and gently twist it before putting it on the towel. This would create some loose waves.

The important thing is not to pull wet hair. This is not a good idea when your scalp and hair are healthy and not falling out, but it is a horrible idea when it is or when you have TE. Seeing your hair fall out is bad enough, but accidentally pulling more of it can be almost unbearable. That is why it is important to treat your hair very gently, but handle it so that it looks good once it dries so that it does not take a lot of work to get it to style or look good.