How To Tell If Your Hair Is Growing Back After Hair Loss

In the last few years, I have seen more hair loss in my clients hair than I ever have in my 17 year career. I can say that an estimated 90% of my clients have experienced thinning hair recently, which is WAY more than normal.

In this blog post, I’m not going to dive too deeply on what is causing it or how to treat it because I have made other posts giving those explanations. This blog post is going to be all about how to tell if your hair is growing back after falling out.

Here is my blog post on causes and solutions for thinning hair, and here is my post on my experience with covid hair loss in particular.

Below you can see my Youtube Video on regrowth after hair loss.

What are the signs your hair is growing back after hair loss?

There are a few key indicators that you can look for when determining if your hair has started growing back yet. Typically, these hair growth stages last for 3-9 months, 6 months on average.

When I experienced hair loss myself, my hair began thinning 6 months after the event that caused it, and began growing back about 6 months after that. This is helpful when determining when you should be on the lookout for the below signs.

1. Extra itchiness or sensitivity at your scalp

Typically when your hair begins to grow back, your scalp may be itchier than normal. Think of the hair growing back after shaving your legs. When the hair is popping through the skin, it’s not at all uncommon to feel some slight irritation or itchiness.

2. Tiny baby hairs at your scalp

The next indicator is seeing very tiny baby hairs at your scalp and hairline. At first these hairs will be microscopic, but over time they’ll get longer and become more noticeable. Which takes us to the next indicator below.

3. Noticeably shorter hairs when blow drying

This is what I filmed my Youtube video on, and in my opinion is the best way to be sure your hair is growing back after hair loss. Using this method, I was able to determine 100% whether or not a client lost hair and that it was in fact growing back in.

These baby hairs will be the same length throughout the head of hair, and will be made apparent when you hold the length of the hair out and hit the base of the hair with air from a blow dryer. This makes those baby hair stand out from the rest of the hair.

4. Your hair is frizzy

Since you have new baby hairs growing in, your hair will appear much frizzier than normal. These hairs don’t have enough weight to them to stay laying down, so they may stand up if you don’t use products or thermal styling.

5. Extra volume at the root

The last indicator that your hair is growing back after hair loss is that your hair is extra volumous. Since there is new hair growth towards the root, this adds lift to the hair as if you had texturized it.

The root of the hair is thicker, bulkier, and heavier, while the ends of the hair are light. Since the ends are lighter, the hair naturally has much more volume.

How to tell if your hair is growing back or breaking?

The best way to tell if your hair is growing back or breaking is taking a look at where you’re seeing the baby hairs. Are they at the same point all throughout on your head, or only on a specific location?

If you have had chemical treatments done to your hair–particularly bleaching–then pay attention to if this is where you are seeing the baby hairs. It’s not uncommon to have breakage around your hairline if you’ve recently had your hair highlighted. Especially if you have a money piece or brighter highlights right at your hairline.

After enough time has passed, it will be obvious if the baby hairs are new growth or breakage. I know it can be extremely difficult, but patience will be your best friend in this journey.

How to help hair grow back after hair loss

***Since I’m sharing the products that I love to use with you guys, my posts may include affiliate links to these products. If you take action and purchase a product through clicking one of my links, I’ll make some commission money from it at no extra cost to you. This enables me to be able to continue giving you awesome hair tips, so thanks! ***

As your hair is growing back in, be sure to take extra good care of it. Your hair is likely still on the fragile side, and it’s smart to take a break from extreme chemical treatments and blonding services.

1. Take liquid biotin and collagen
2. Eat healthy
3. Avoid excess heat tools
4. Use quality products
5. Do conditioning treatments every time you wash your hair
6. Wash your hair less frequently (1-2 times a week)
7. Avoid large bath towel turbans (use smaller towels)
8. Avoid tight hair ties and messy buns
9. Use a boar bristle brush
10. Use leave-in conditioners and serums

• Liquid Biotin & Collagen
• Heat Protect Spray
• Strengthening Treatment
• Moisturizing Treatment
• Leave In Conditioner
• Leave In Serum
• Dry Shampoo
• Dry Conditioner

Hair Loss Regrowth Conclusion

I’ve seen more hair loss in the last several years than I have in my entire 17 year career behind the chair.

Hair loss typically occurs an average of 6 months (3-9m) after the event that triggered it. The hair should begin growing back another 6 months after that.

5 signs that your hair is growing back from hair loss are:

1. Itchiness or sensitivity at your scalp
2. Tiny baby hairs coming from your scalp
3. Noticeably shorter hairs while blow drying
4. Frizzy hair
5. Extra volume at your root

You can tell that this is regrowth rather than breakage by whether or not the baby hairs are uniform throughout the head or narrowed to a specific area.

Be sure to take extra good care of your hair while it is growing back in to be sure that the hairs grow down as smoothly as possible.

If you have any questions for me on regrowth after hair loss, leave them for me in the comments. And make sure to subscribe below to make every day a good hair day!