How long did the shedding phase last for you?

2026-10-02 2899 views 4 posts

I reached goal in January and have been maintaining since. During the losing phase, around month four, my shower drain started looking like a small animal. Wash days went from maybe 10 hairs to what felt like 100. Weeks 14–22 were the worst.

I didn’t panic—mostly—but I did start eating more protein at breakfast (Greek yogurt, around 30g), taking a daily multivitamin, and wearing loose claw clips instead of tight ponytails. By week 26, wash-day shedding was down to maybe 20–30 hairs.

Now at month eight, I have a halo of 2-inch baby hairs at my temples and my part looks less wide. It felt endless while I was in it, but it did slow.

For those further out, when did your shedding finally settle, and did the regrowth catch up before you noticed?

mine was weirdly tied to how fast the scale moved, not the week number. weeks 13-20 were the worst, then it tapered off by like week 24. i track dumb stuff in a notes app: hairs in the drain after wash (yes i actually counted), plus soda intake.

swapping from 2-3 cans of soda to sparkling water didn’t change the shedding at all lol. what actually lined up was when i was eating way less and sleeping 4hrs dong late raids.

around week 22 it just stopped. did yours come out in clumps mostly on wash days or pretty steady?

and did you notice baby hairs before the drain cleared up?

mine started as random 1-inch fuzz at my temples about 3 weeks before it chilled out.

The thing that helped me gauge it was switching to a wide-tooth comb in the shower and counting hairs on a white washcloth. Peak was 70ish per wash, then dropped to ~20 by week 28. For me, it seemed tied to how long I’d been in a deficit overall, not any single week

Honestly, travel made mine look way worse than it actually was. Hotel showers have that harsh overhead light and bright white towels, so every stray hair reads as a crime scene.

I started packing a silicone drain catcher and a wide-tooth comb, and rating shed days 1–5 in my notes app after wash days. Airport-food weeks were definitely my scariest ratings; weeks with real meals and decent sleep were way calmer.

Mine finally settled a couple months into maintenance. Did yours calm down once you hit goal, or did it take a while of maintaining before the drain chilled out?