dead/dry roots, hair falls out

It is normal to lose 100 hairs a day, and since you are growing yours this might just be more noticeable now because your hair is longer.  I don't know why it would be dry at the roots, that is kind of unusual.  Maybe your shampoo is too strong?  Maybe try something more gentle or diluting your shampoo. 

As for hair loss, since you take vitamins, make sure you aren't getting too much.  Too much vitamin A can cause hair loss, and too much of some other vitamins can cause other problems.  There is a newly revised recommended daily dosage for vitamin A that is 3,000 IU for men (2,310 IU for women).  Be aware that fortified cereal and milk also contains it, so you may be ingesting more than is in your vitamin.

Hmm, I'm really not sure why your hair would come out so dry at the roots.  I haven't heard of that before.  I'd still try diluting your shampoo though, or even trying to go an extra day between washes.  Diluting your shampoo and using it diluted for awhile before you try that will help because your scalp will have adjusted some already and stopped producing a lot of oil to compensate for the overdrying effect of concentrated shampoo. 

I do have some very dry coarse hair that just comes out of my head that way, I'm not sure if this is what you mean, but these are not that many hairs, just a few.  I suspect these are caused by heat/sun damage since they are only on the top of my head. 

If you could post a picture, that might help us understand what the problem is.


Edited by Susan W - July 23 2008 at 10:38am

Do you know anyone who can give you one of their hairs (I know, strange request...maybe if you have any girls around in your house you can just get one out of their hairbrush).  Because I wonder if your hair is really breaking more than any normal hair would, since all hair breaks easily if you tug it hard. 

If your hair type is "fine", it may break more easily than someone's with the "medium" or "coarse" hair type.  (Meaning, if you take one of your hairs and sit it on something with a contrasting background - like if your hair is dark, sit it on a white piece of paper - is it hard to see?  If its hard to see, your hair may be the fine type.  If its easy to see on a contrasting background, but hard to see on the same color background, it may be medium.  If its easy to see on any background, its probably coarse - the thickest type).  Fine hair does break more easily, and that's just genetics.  There's not much you can do about that.  Keeping it moisturized and doing small trims to keep it from splitting on the ends will help.

Otherwise, maybe your trouble is one of the following:

Do you use any chemicals, dyes, heat styling on it?  That can cause trouble, and stopping any of that will help if you use those.

Maybe its your water?  Do you have well water / very hard water?  If so, a dilute vinegar rinse done last will help rinse off residue that makes your hair feel dry and have buildup on it.  (When soap mixes with hard water it makes soap scum, this can build up on your hair).  Use 1 tablespoon of vinegar in one cup of water and pour it over your head last after conditioning, don't rinse out, the smell will evaporate away. 

Maybe its silicone buildup?  Do you use hair products with ingredients that end in "cone" or "one"?  If so, the vinegar will help a little, but you need a clarifying shampoo to use once a month or so (any shampoo that calls itself "clarifying" should do.  You can use it once every 2 weeks to once every few months, no more frequently than that - its very drying, but will remove buildup from these types of products that can cause dry feeling hair and breakage.  Condition twice after using this shampoo.  I would avoid a shampoo with cones in it.  Its okay to use cones in conditioner as long as you clarify, but there's no reason to get it near your roots, only condition from the ears down.

I'd still try diluting your shampoo though, no matter what kind you use.  It may or may not help, but often it helps quite a bit.

I don't know of any other special formulas that will help, other than trying to keep moisture in.  Many people have different preferences over what products they like to use, it will depend a lot on what works best for you.  You could try oiling your scalp with jojoba or coconut oil, but you wouldn't want to leave it oily, so you'd have to shampoo that out before you went anywhere anyway.  Some people don't use shampoo at all, only wash with conditioner (I again wouldn't use a silicone conditioner for that). That may be something you have luck with.  You really have to try things and see.