posted
21/03/11
Noticed more fallen hair collecting on the drain stopper in your shower room?. Or do you suspect that more hair has been left in your brush than is normally the case?. Been sweeping up more strands of hair all over your house?
Getting worried? Although hair is not essential for survival, the lack of hair can affect one’s self confidence in today’s environment. And no wonder! We are bombarded with a constant stream of advertisements sponsored by beauty salons, hair care products and hair loss treatments on looking good through a crop of beautiful hair. So if we start to lose hair, we can become really self conscious about our looks.
Our hair become stressed with over exposure to the sun, frequent hair blow drying and repeated perming, rebonding and hair colour treatments. The hair becomes dry and brittle and break off very easily. Tying hair too tightly can also cause hair breakage. Illnesses like low thyroid hormones are additional factors resulting in hair loss.
Hair loss is also known as alopecia. About 100 strands of hair out of a normal scalp of 100,000 hairs are lost daily. Any hair loss of more than 100 strands of hair per day warrants a case for concern.
The lifespan of a single hair strand is about 5 years. Genetic baldness is caused when the body fails to replace hair that has fallen off. Familial history may determine if hair loss is going to occur and women’s hair does thin with age as well. Temporary hair loss in post-pregnancy cases and lifestyle changes are additional explanations for hair loss.
A hair loss remedy can be through taking oral pills or through hair loss products applied directly to the hair. Other hair loss solutions include vitamin supplements, herbal cures, scalp treatments and hair transplants. A good understanding of what causes the hair loss in the first place can help us decide what best solution to take.
In the meantime, if you have a family history of balding genes, take preventive hair loss measures. Simple procedures like using a mild shampoo and conditioner, and gentle brushing or combing would really help for good hair structure and a healthier crop!
posted
18/03/11
The hair loss treatments outlined here cannot provide definitive cures for all hair loss conditions, but they do represent regimes that many sufferers have found useful. In other words, they are examples of potential solutions that many patients have chosen after honestly assessing the causes of their hair loss together with their expectations.
This article will focus on four basic approaches:
1. A drugs based approach for those who don’t mind taking strong medications.
2. A commercial product approach for those who prefer a non-drug solution but who still want a treatment that has a track record.
3. A natural remedy approach for those who prefer to follow the natural route.
4. A nutritional approach for those who wish to adopt a more holistic perspective.
It remains a fact that only two hair loss treatments have been approved by the FDA and both can be classed as strong drug-based medications. Propecia (finasteride) is the treatment of choice for many men with good reason – it tends to work! It is a powerful drug that inhibits the formation of DHT in the system, eventually to a level that is sufficiently low to encourage a normal growth cycle. Rogaine (minoxidil) acts differently in that it stimulates hair growth in both men and women by overriding the prevailing hair loss symptoms. These drugs can be used either on their own or in combination. Women should seek professional medical advice before using Propecia.
The world of commercial hair loss products is much less clear cut and it is here that many scamsters ply their trade to rip-off unsuspecting customers. The best advice I can give here is research, research, and more research! Many useful products are available on the market but none have been approved by the FDA. Probably the best, and certainly most popular, commercially available products are those containing natural ingredients that have been shown in field trials to reduce hair loss and encourage regrowth. You can find out more about these products by visiting the site listed at the end of this article.
Increasingly, people are turning to natural hair loss remedies as they seek to combat thinning hair. This has an obvious appeal for many sufferers and there is growing evidence to support the view that some natural remedies may be effective in curtailing hair loss. The most popular ingredients of natural hair loss treatments include ginko biloba, green tea, he shou wu, pygeum, saw palmetto and stinging nettle. Each of these is described in more detail in an supplementary article entitled “Herbal Remedies That Offer Hope”.
It is becoming increasingly evident that poor nutrition and modern lifestyles can have a negative impact on health, and hair loss is no exception. At the most basic level, improved nutrition can minimize shedding and support other treatments that encourage regrowth. This can be achieved by:
– eating adequate amounts of protein.
– eating appropriate levels of useful carbohydrates.
– achieving a healthy balance of dietary fats.
posted
14/03/11
We all lose a certain amount of hair each day – anywhere from 50 to 100 to 125 hairs. True hair loss occurs when these hairs we lose don’t grow back, or when the amount of hair we lose each day exceeds this normal range.
Hair loss can occur as a result of medications, such as chemotherapy treatments or blood thinners, which can damage the telogen hairs, or stop the natural cell division that then produces weakened hair that is susceptible to breaking. High doses of vitamin A can also lead to hair loss as well. The most common type of hair loss, however, is where more and more hair follicles enter what is called the resting phase (telogen phase) in the hair growth cycle.
Overall, hair grows continuously from the scalp, but it moves away from the scalp in 3 phases. Hair is not all uniformly in one phase. Different parts of the scalp will be in different phases, so at any one time you should have hair follicles in all 3 stages. Generally, most (90%) of the hair will be in the anagen phase, 10 to 14% of the hair will be in the telogen phase, and only 1 to 2% of hair in the catogen phase.
The first phase is the Anagen phase, which is the growth phase. This can last anywhere between 2 and 8 years. A shorter anagen phase will limit how long your hair can grow. Hair cells at the root divide rapidly, which lengthen the hair shaft.
In the next phase, the catagen phase, the outer root of the hair follicle shrinks and attaches to the root of the hair. Hair growth stops here. This phase lasts 1 to 2 weeks.
The telogen phase is the resting phase. This lasts from 5 to 6 weeks in normal hair. Hair doesn’t grow in this phase, but it stays firmly rooted in the scalp as long as the follicle stays in a resting phase below it. New growth begins at the end of the resting phase, and this is when natural hair shedding will happen, as the new growth pushes the old hair out.
In male pattern baldness, more hairs enter the telogen phase. This effects of this are an increase in hair shedding. Hair gradually becomes thinner and shorter, and in the end, the hair follicles shut down.
