How do I stop obsessing over my hair?

Hello everyone, I've had health anxiety on and off for about 3 years. It hasn't been too bad this years despite the pandemic, but last month I got overwhelmed with the fear of losing my hair. It was triggered by an actual health problem, I had issues with my period so my gyno thought we should check my TSH levels that came back slightly raised. While I was waiting for my endocrinologist appointment and knowing the symptoms of hypothyroidism I became convinced that I had hair loss. Suddenly I started to notice hair EVERYWHERE, on my clothes,on my bed, on the carpets. I'm pretty sure it was there before I noticed it since I have long hair and I've always found big hair balls when I vacuumed, but now I get so sad when I find even a single hair. I'm obsessed with taking pictures of my hair to see any signs of balding and sometimes I pull it to see if any hairs come out. Turns out I don't have hypothyroidism(I have to follow-up in a few months)and the doctor said that the levels of TSH aren't high enough to mess with my period or with my hair. I should be relieved right?Wrong!I got even more obsessed, washing my hair makes me so sad and anxious because that's when I deal with most of the shedding. I even went to a dermatologist who said my hair is okay and it's just very fine, which makes it look like I don't have a lot.
I know that shedding hair daily is a part of life and I probably shedded as much as I do now before it came to my attention but for some reason I find it unacceptable to shedd even one hair without getting worried. It's like a switch flipped in my mind and I get very triggered when I see hair. I don't know how to cope with it, even though I've dealt with similar problems in the past(feeling for lymph nodes mainly),because even when I spot taking pictures and pulling my hair I still see a hair on my pillow or my clothes and I get really sad.
I'd really appreciate some tips on how to ignore it, I'm sick of being sad over it!It's worse than when I thought I was dying:doh:

I'm shedding like the clappers at the moment. I mentioned it to my hairdresser, and the conversation went like this...

Me: I seem to be losing more hair than usual. It's much thinner than it was, don't you think?

Hairdresser: *snorts* Are you kidding me? My arm is aching off from blow-drying it. Ya fine!

Tell it to my plughole! :huh: (not a euphemism)

So, the facts are that it is normal to lose between 50 and 100 hairs PER DAY! Mine was long (until the other day) and long hair makes it seem that there are more strands than there actually are.

Tbh, I'm not freaking out about potential baldness because every other part of my body has given the hell up, so why not my hair? :weep:

If a dermatologist said your hair is ok, your hair is ok.

Whilst it's a shame that this is affecting you negatively, it's good that it's a trivial fear. I love it when my OCD or health anxiety changes to focus on something trivial because it gives me the ability to look back at my previous worries of serious health concerns and gain some perspective. I say enjoy the fact that your obsession has switched to focus on something that even if true isnt life threatening and remember all those times you were tormented by health fears and bask in how it feels to not be worrying about them now. :)

Also, they make some amazing wigs out there so even if you did lose your hair, you could get an amazingly beautiful and realistic wig. Remind your brain that it's not life or death and there's no need to obsess.

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For some reason the hair thing bothers me way more than thinking that I'm dying. Maybe I'm vain😂
But with the fear of illnesses I could always rationalize it, I knew deep down that I'm actually fine. Losing hair doesn't seem that unlikely since I see my damn hair all day long, even though that probably happened before I noticed it.

Maybe you've attached your sense of self worth to your hair too much. Women do that a lot, I also used to do it but once I realised that baldness can just happen I had to separate my esteem and sense of feeling pretty from my hair. Hair is just hair, would you rather be alive and bald or dead/dying with a full head of hair?
If you could rationalise away your health worries perhaps you should try rationalise away the importance of having hair? It really isn't that important once you scrape away the surface level concepts of beauty and social norms.
Also, lots of people look amazing with no hair. I've wanted to shave my head loads of times purely because of women I've seen who looked stunning with buzz cuts of just no hair at all.

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Originally Posted by Purple Blood

For some reason the hair thing bothers me way more than thinking that I'm dying. Maybe I'm vain
But with the fear of illnesses I could always rationalize it, I knew deep down that I'm actually fine. Losing hair doesn't seem that unlikely since I see my damn hair all day long, even though that probably happened before I noticed it.

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To be honest, I'd take bald over death because you can throw a wig over your head and get on with your life...

If it's a matter of feeling unattractive without hair, remember that someone, somewhere, is totally into bald women.

I don't know how old you are, but you need to get your head around this hair-thinning deal because the menopause generally steals from heads, arm pits, and the pubic area - distributing them elsewhere - like on the face.

Personally, I reckon my moustache is on fleek! :yesyes: