Q: My daughter is 3 and half year old. She has always had healthy hair but lately her hair is falling a lot. I oil her hair with almond oil before every hair wash. It is mostly cold weather here so I use lukewarm water to wash her hair. Why is her hair falling excessively? Is there any way of preventing it? Does she need treatment for it or is it a sign of some deficiency?

A:I appreciate your concern for your child losing more hair than you are used to seeing. If the child is otherwise well and there has been no particular illness in the recent past, say 3-4 months back, you need not worry about it. The hair pass through cycles of hair growth and fall and while it is uneven in humans, it sometimes does happen that more hair fall at certain times than at others. I think the child will recover on her own unless there are patches of hair loss. Your oiling the hair with almond or any other oil before wash is not of any particular value since oil is useful only if applied after the hair wash and is required for hair that are dry. It has no effect on the growth of hair but may prevent breaking in hair that are dry and brittle.