I often hear from people who are very upset these days when they look in the mirror in an attempt to comb their hair. This is because weeks or months of severe shedding have passed due to telogen effluvium. When you finally finish this process, you may have completely different (and much thinner) hair than you had in the beginning.

I often get comments like: “I have been suffering from telogen effluvium for almost five months. The shedding has started to improve a bit, but the appearance of my hair is not. It is so fine and stringy. And at the same time Once I it’s stringy, it’s also dry and brittle. A part of me just wants to cut it all off. But honestly, the length is the only thing that helps me hide how thin it is. How can I make it look better? hair will grow back. But until then, how do I make it look decent? “

I can tell you what helped me. I cannot promise that these tips will work for all hair types and in all cases. But I do think these things helped me make the most of the hair I had while waiting for it to grow back.

Make sure you wash and condition regularly: When you’re losing tons of hair and when you notice more coming out after shampooing, it becomes very tempting to skip the shampoo. However, this will make your hair look greasy and stringy. I used to be so paranoid about washing my hair with products that may have made hair loss worse, that I used to use baby shampoo. Needless to say, this made my already dry and loose hair look like the tips of a broom. That is why it is very important to condition. Because I noticed that conditioning used to result in a lot of additional hair loss, I used to use the spray conditioner with some success. It is very important to keep your follicles free of debris and accumulated so that you are supporting healthy and normal regrowth.

Gently lift the root: When my hair was very thin, it soon became apparent that there was a need to create some lift. However, teasing or blow drying was never a great idea with my hair. So I would literally wash my hair backwards some days. And when I finished shampooing, I gently combed my hair towards the top of my head. Then I would secure it with a dry towel. And I would let it dry that way for as long as possible. This created a lift at the roots and made my hair look fuller. I was paranoid about wearing chemical loose hair so I used clear, natural aloe vera gel. This worked well because it nurtured and calmed my scalp at the same time.

Consider a blunt cut, at least at the ends: I was also hesitant to cut the length of my hair when it was falling out. I felt that short hair would look thinner. I finally found out that a blunt cut like a longer bob can look fuller than a long tapered cut. You don’t need a severe or short bob, but any cut where the hair is blunt at the bottom can give the appearance of being fuller. It also helps a lot to keep your hair from looking so stringy.

Use oils sparingly: You probably already know that when you have this condition, your hair can look very dry and fly. But at the same time, when you overcondition your hair, it can look stringy or greasy. I used to approach this by spraying a light mist of Moroccan oil only on dry hair. And I’m talking about extremely light mist mostly just at the ends (you don’t want to put it at the root).

I know this may seem like a lot of work. But you should know that usually you will just have to try a little harder until the hair grows back.