I often have readers with TE (telogen effluvium), CTE (chronic telogen effluvium) and AGA (androgenic alopecia or genetic thinning) who write to me and ask me how to know if this shedding or hair loss is thinning their hair (or if they are thinning ). After all, fast and healthy regrowth often ensures that you maintain nice, thick hair, despite the loss. So in the following article, I’ll tell you three ways to help you determine if your hair is actually thinning or growing back properly, without any real net loss.

The ponytail method: A quick and easy way to determine how much thinning has occurred is to take an inventory of your ponytail. Many women know how many times they have to twist the ponytail holder or band to secure it. If you have to turn it one or more times, obviously there is less mass there. Now some readers will write and say, “well, isn’t the regrowth too short to get into the ponytail?” Yes it is, but often healthy regrowth will result in volume that will allow for a similarly sized tail. I can tell you that in the worst moments of my shedding, my ponytail went from the size of a quarter to the size of a nickel to the size of a dime, but my hair was growing back all the time. Unfortunately, there was not enough regrowth and what did happen was fine and fine.

The hair pull test: A dermatologist will often do this test in his office, but you can do it at home. Do not wash your hair one day before this. Take a small amount of hair between your fingers and count how many hairs there are. Write down the number and then gently pull. Next, determine the percentage of hairs that came out. A healthy head of hair will only have 10% loss of pulled hair. Anything greater than 25% is cause for concern. This means that you are losing enough to cause total weight loss and volume loss. You will need to be aggressive with your regrowth regimen if this is your result.

Hair density / quality comparison: One way to see how well you are growing back is by identifying long, thick, healthy hair. Remove with tweezers and set aside. Next, find some regrowth hairs that are at least 2 1/2 to 4 inches long, remove them, and then compare them to thick, healthy hair. Are they so thick and dense? They should be somewhat comparable. (Hair may get thicker as it lengthens, so slight variation may be normal.) The pulled / pinched hairs should have a larger, rounded, darker sheath or bulb. This shows that they are properly nourished within your scalp.

If the hairs that grow back are thin, unhealthy, loose, or lighter in color, then you may want to suspect that something (DHT, inflammation, bacteria, or yeast) is compromising and miniaturizing your new growth). It is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to regain its volume unless its regrowth is of good quality.