Hair Loss
Hair Care to Prevent Hair Loss
In the dos and don’ts list of hair loss prevention, the first is the need to provide one’s hair with sufficient nutrition. A balanced diet is important for the hair in many ways. First of all it is necessary for keeping every body organ fit, and a healthy body is a pre-requisite for healthy hair. Then, scalp and hair follicles require nutrition in its own way. There should be sufficient amounts of protein and zinc in the diet to ensure healthy hair growth. So, a nutritious and balanced diet is imperative for thick and glossy hair, and for preventing hair loss.
Hair cleanliness is also important in hair loss prevention. Washing the hair once or twice a week is a must, while washing it daily is also all right to avoid hair loss. But washing hair more than once a day could be counterproductive. For hair loss prevention, dirt and oil should never be allowed to settle on the hair. The speed with which hair becomes oily depends on the scalp type of different people and washing frequency should be based on what the oiliness of the scalp demands. For reducing hair loss, hair should be shampooed frequently enough to remove dirt. Again, shampoo has to be chosen based on how sensitive your scalp is. There are milder and stronger shampoos available to suit different types of scalps.
Styling hair is fine, but it should not be styled in a way that will contribute to hair loss. Blow-drying is not a highly recommended way for drying hair, especially if the heat is kept high, and may create a situation conducive to hair loss. Wet hair could stretch or break easily. So, to ensure hair loss prevention, hair styling should be done when the hair is dry or only damp. If these small rules are adhered to in daily hair care, hair loss can be prevented substantially in the long run.
Further, hair care products like hair oils, hair conditioners, and hair dyes should be chosen carefully enough to minimize hair loss. Hair dyes contain hair color and something known as developer that helps the color to penetrate. These developers may contain chemicals like ammonia or hydrogen peroxide, which can cause allergic reactions on the scalp and contribute to hair loss. Different dyes have it in different combinations. In order to prevent hair loss, users should select that which is most suitable for their hair and skin.
Human hair has to strike a precarious balance between its cosmetic aspect and wholesome aspect. For that it has to be well-nourished, and taken care of in such a way as to prevent hair loss in the long term. Thick and glossy hair is a highly welcome appendage for everyone, and gives person a unique identity of his own. To ensure that it remains so, hair loss has to be fought off and kept at arm’s length.
What Causes Hair Loss?
From the time of birth, to a certain stage in adulthood, human body, and the body organs within it, grow. After that, the growth stops, except perhaps in the case of human hair. For the entire duration of his life, a man’s hair keeps on growing, falling off, and growing again. Hair grows about a centimetre a month, for anything from two to six years, rests for about two to three months, and then falls off. Hair is lost routinely in that manner. It is a normal and requisite form of hair loss.
About 90% of the scalp hair is generally in a growing phase and the remainder is in a resting phase. Hair loss problems occur when this proportion changes. Hair loss solution becomes necessary when the proportion of the growing hair is less, and resting hair is more, than the normal pattern.
This discrepancy in proportion, which causes hair loss, is influenced by many factors. Surgery, or other illnesses, which tilts the overall balance of the body, and thereby tilts the balance between growing and resting hairs, is one of the hair loss causes. Such a hair loss could result directly from the deficiency in the system resulting from the illness, or could be influenced by the mental stress which is a corollary to many diseases.
Hormonal changes in the body can also pave the way to hair loss. Problems relating to the activity of the thyroid gland are a very common cause of hair loss. Disproportionate activity of the male hormone testosterone, or the female hormone oestrogen, can lead to male pattern hair loss or female pattern hair loss respectively. The problems of hair loss due to hormonal imbalances are normally amenable to treatment.
Postpartum hair loss is a common hair loss problem among women. About three months after the arrival of a baby, women start shedding more than the normal amount of hair. During pregnancy, female hormones remain extra active. When post-pregnancy, the hormone starts seeking the normal level, hair loses the additional protection it has been afforded, and starts falling off in larger quantities in proportion with the falling hormone level.
The most pronounced hair loss is seen in people undergoing chemotherapy for cancer. Other medicines that are cause of hair loss are anticoagulants, antidepressants, medicines used in the treatment of gout, contraceptive pills, or an over-doze of Vitamin A. Diabetes and lupus are medical conditions that aid hair loss.
Besides all these, even a fungal infection on the scalp is enough to trigger a hair loss problem. While an infection is treatable in almost all cases, in the other cases, hair loss problem stops when the medicine causing it is stopped. Problems arise only when a person cannot afford to stop taking a particular medicine.
Proper hair care is necessary to prevent hair loss. Hairstyles, which pull the hair tightly, promote hair loss by resulting in what is called traction alopecia. Certain chemicals used for perms or hot oils applied to the scalp can aid hair loss. Keeping the hair free of dirt and oil by frequent shampooing, brushing it frequently to aid circulation of the scalp, and leaving hair loose much of the time, can substantially prevent hair loss.
There are several hair loss products that can be used to promote hair growth.
