This Is The Weird Reason You’re Shedding So Much Right Now

Shedding hair. We’ve all experienced it and have asked ourselves repeatedly: What are we doing wrong? Is it our shampoo, our eating habits, our stress level or all of the above? When we’ve swapped shampoo, overhauled our diet and penciled in extra hours of meditation and our hair still won’t stop falling out, there must be something else at play. As it turns out, the universe is against you. According to a study in the British Journal of Dermatology, it’s more common for us to lose hair in summer and fall than in winter and spring. Get this: People are even Googling the words “hair loss” more during these months.

While it makes sense we’d shed in the summer—our bodies don’t need the extra warmth—what’s the deal with fall? In the weirdest twist ever, the culprit may actually be shorter days. One hypothesis is that hair is necessary to protect the tops of our heads from the harsh rays of sun and save our scalps from sunburn. As temperatures cool and daylight hours shorten, this need lessens and hair loss increases. So again, it’s not you, it’s the universe! While we still encourage a nutritious diet, keeping your stress level down and sleeping on a silk pillowcase, sometimes you just have to remember, that’s life.