Hair loss is a big worry to many people, both male and female. If you have a worrying amount of hair in the basin after shampooing, you may think you are on the way to baldness. But this is not usually the case. The 50–100 hairs that everyone loses each day often become tangled with the rest of the hair, but are washed out when we shampoo. So we see what seems like a lot of hair in the basin after shampooing, but in reality these hairs have been shed earlier.

Of course, bald areas are an obvious sign of hair loss, but otherwise it can be difficult to tell whether your hair is getting thinner. To find out, try the ‘tug test’. Hold a small bunch of hair – about 15 or 20 hairs – between the thumb and index finger. Pull slowly and firmly. If more than six hairs come out there may be a problem.