“My hair falls so much in the rains” is one of the most common things people in Rajkot tell a dermatologist between July and October. Some of it is real hair fall from the roots; much of it is hair breaking, or a scalp that is unhappy in the humidity.
The difference matters, because each has a different fix. This guide explains the three common kinds of monsoon hair fall, what helps, and when it’s worth having it checked.
How much hair fall is normal?
Everyone sheds hair every day. Losing 50 to 100 hairs a day is normal, and you notice more on the days you wash, because washing releases hairs that had already let go.
Some research from Europe suggests that hair shedding also follows the seasons, with more resting hairs in summer that then fall over the following months. There are no good studies from India, so it’s hard to say how much of monsoon hair fall is seasonal. What dermatologists do see regularly in the rainy months are three other causes.
1. Hair that breaks
When hair stays wet for hours, from rain, sweat or humid air, it swells and stretches and becomes easier to snap. Frizzy hair tangles more, and pulling a comb or brush through it breaks it along its length.
How to tell: the hairs you find are short pieces of different lengths, with no small white bulb at one end. The root is still growing.
What helps:
- Dry gently. Wrap your hair in a towel to soak up the water instead of rubbing it, and let it air dry when you can.
- Detangle with care. Use a wide-tooth comb, starting from the ends. Straight hair is best combed once it has dried a little; curly or textured hair is easier to comb while still damp.
- Condition the lengths after every wash. A little oil or a leave-in conditioner on the lengths also helps resist frizz and breakage.
- Loose styles. Tight buns, ponytails and braids, especially on wet hair, pull at the hair and the roots. Use soft, covered bands and change where the band sits.
- Rinse after the rain. If you get soaked, rinse with clean water, dry gently, and don’t tie the hair up wet for the rest of the day.
More everyday hair care tips: seven habits for healthier hair.
2. A damp, itchy scalp
In humid weather the scalp stays warm and sweaty for hours. The yeast that lives on every scalp (Malassezia) feeds on scalp oil, and in some people its by-products irritate the skin. The result is dandruff, itch and redness, and a strong urge to scratch.
Dandruff doesn’t cause baldness, but an inflamed, itchy scalp and constant scratching can add to the hair you see falling, and treating it helps.
What helps:
- Wash as often as your scalp needs: every day or every other day is fine if it gets sweaty or oily. Frequent washing does not cause hair fall.
- Use a medicated anti-dandruff shampoo two or three times a week, with ingredients such as ketoconazole, zinc pyrithione, selenium sulfide or salicylic acid. Leave it on for three to five minutes before rinsing, and use a mild shampoo on the other days.
- Keep oil off an oily, flaky scalp. Oil feeds the yeast; keep it to the lengths of the hair.
- Dry the scalp properly after washing or getting caught in the rain, and avoid wearing a tight cap or helmet on a damp scalp for long hours.
More on what drives dandruff and which shampoo ingredients to choose: oily scalp and dandruff.
In children, itchy, scaly patches with broken hairs can be scalp ringworm (tinea capitis), a fungal infection that spreads between children and needs antifungal tablets from a doctor. Other fungal rashes that flare in the rains are covered in our monsoon skincare guide.
3. Shedding after a fever or illness
The monsoon is also the season of fevers: dengue, malaria, typhoid, viral fevers. A high fever or serious illness pushes many growing hairs into the resting phase at the same time. Nothing seems to happen at first, and then, two to three months later (sometimes a little longer), those hairs fall together, all over the head. For many people in Gujarat, that means heavy hair fall in October or November that seems to come from nowhere.
This is called telogen effluvium. How to tell: the fallen hairs are full length with a small white bulb at the root end, and they come out evenly from the whole scalp rather than in patches.
What to know:
- The roots stay. As the body recovers, shedding usually settles within about six months, and the hair fills in again over the following months, sometimes taking up to a year to look full.
- It isn’t caused by your shampoo or oil, and changing products won’t stop it.
- Eat well while you recover, with enough protein and iron.
- Get checked if it carries on beyond six months, if you feel unusually tired, or if you’ve also had heavy periods or a recent pregnancy, because low iron or thyroid problems can make it worse or keep it going.
The same pattern follows childbirth, crash diets and severe stress. Our guide to hair fall in women explains these triggers and the tests that help.
Myths worth dropping
- “Rainwater makes hair fall.” There’s no good evidence for this. Leaving hair wet, tied and unwashed is the more likely problem.
- “Washing every day causes hair fall.” It releases hairs that had already shed. A clean scalp is a healthier scalp in humid weather.
- “Hot oil massage every night will stop it.” Oil on the scalp can make dandruff worse, and massage won’t stop shedding after a fever.
- “An anti-hair fall shampoo will fix it.” A shampoo stays on the scalp for a minute or two. It can keep the scalp clean and treat dandruff, but it can’t change what happens at the root.
- “Cutting hair short stops hair fall.” It makes broken hair less visible and easier to manage, but doesn’t change shedding from the roots.
When to see a dermatologist
See a dermatologist if:
- hair fall carries on for more than three months, or is heavy enough that you see more of your scalp;
- your parting is widening or your hairline is moving back, which suggests pattern hair loss rather than seasonal shedding;
- you notice round bald patches, or scaly, itchy patches with broken hairs (especially in a child);
- the scalp is painful, red or has pus spots;
- hair fall comes with tiredness, weight change, irregular periods or other symptoms.
At the consultation, the dermatologist looks at the scalp and hair (often with a dermoscope), may do a gentle pull test, and may ask for blood tests such as haemoglobin, ferritin, thyroid and vitamin levels. Treatment depends on the cause: dandruff treatment, correcting a deficiency, or, for pattern hair loss, medicines and in-clinic options such as Meso-PRP. See hair fall treatment in Rajkot or read the hair fall guide.
The short version
In the monsoon, hair breaks more when it stays wet and tangled, the scalp gets damp, oily and itchy, and fevers cause shedding a few months later. Wash as often as your scalp needs, treat dandruff with a medicated shampoo, dry and comb gently, keep styles loose, and give post-fever shedding about six months to settle. If it doesn’t, or if you see patches or a widening parting, see a dermatologist.
