Maybe you've heard that shedding up to 100 hairs per day is normal. But, how much hair loss is really normal and how do you keep track? According to a study in the June 2008 issue of the Archives of Dermatology, a simple 60-second hair count is a practical and reliable tool for the assessment of hair shedding..

The researchers evaluated 60 healthy men between the ages of 20 and 60 who had no evidence of hair loss in order to determine the range of normal for a standardized 60-second hair count. The 60-second hair count involved combing the hair on the top of the head forward over a towel or pillowcase for 60 seconds and then counting the number of hairs shed. They found that the shedding range for 20- to 40-yeard-old men was 0 to 78 hairs, with an average of approximately 10 hairs. For 41- to 60-year-old men, the range was 0 to 43 hairs, with an average of approximately 10 hairs. These hair counts were repeated 6 months later, with no significant change.

All of the men involved in the study were Caucasian males with straight hair, so it may be that men of other ethnicities would shed hair at different rates. Further studies on the rate of hair shedding in men who do have hair loss would increase the usefulness of the 60-second hair count in predicting impending hair loss.