How many eyebrows do you lose per day?

Normal Eyebrow Loss Depends on Density to Begin with and Genetically Determined Anagen Phase

It’s normal to lose 2-3 eyebrow hairs per day. The exact number depends on how thick the person’s eyebrows are to begin with and the exact length of their eyebrow growth phase or anagen phase. Most people have 200-400 eyebrow hairs with the typical number falling closer to 225-265. Anagen phase is 2-3 months for eyebrows and telogen phase is of varying lengths up to 6 months or more. Eyebrow grow about 0.15 mm per day

Scenario 1: Thick Eyebrows

Someone with a thick eyebrow might have 350 hairs in the eyebrow. With a typical hair cycle (anagen 60-70 days), that means we’re looking at around 3-4 hairs per day being lost for a normal cycle. If the patient’s anagen phase is genetically determined to be a bit longer - say 80-90 days for their eyebrow hair cycles, we’re looking at 2-3 hairs normally being lost per day.

Scenario 2: Average Eyebrows

The average eyebrow has closer to 250 hairs. With a typical hair cycle (anagen phase of 60-70 days), that means we’re looking at 3 hairs per day being lost for a normal cycle. If the patient’s anagen phase is genetically determined to be a bit longer, we’re looking at around 2 eyebrow hairs being lost per day.

Scenario 3: Thinner Eyebrows

A thin eyebrow has closer to 150-175 hairs and a good number of people have eyebrow density in this range. With a typical hair cycle (anagen phase of 60 -70 days), that means we’re looking at 1-2 hairs per day being lost for a normal cycle. If the patient’s anagen phase is genetically determined to be a bit longer, we’re looking only 1 hair being lost per day and some days none at all.

Some patients have a longer anagen phase yet and can grow very very long eyebrows unless they are trimmed. These individuals might have a normal daily loss of just a single hair.

Conclusion

Contrary to what is out there in the world of the internet, we don’t lose 10 eyebrow hairs per day. That’s incorrect. But we do lose somewhere between 1-3 for the average person.

What is far more important to me than the number of eyebrows hairs being lost is whether or not the eyebrow density is changing.

I don’t ask my patient’s “how many eyebrows do you think you lose per day?”

But I do ask my patients “do you think your eyebrow density is thinner than it was 6 months or 12 months ago?”

It’s the answers to the second question that really influences what investigations and tests will be done.