Everyone loses hair. Losing about 50-100 hairs every day is the normal cycle of hair growth. However, if you see bald patches or thinning, you may be experiencing hair loss. Hair loss can be devastating. It can affect an individual both physically and psychologically. People often ostracize themselves due to hair loss. While aging and heredity are some of the common reasons, pregnancy and stress can also see noticeable hair loss.
Today, no matter whether you are male or female, young or old, hair loss can occur at any point of time to anyone. Therefore, it is important to understand all about losing hair and methods to deal with them in the most efficient manner.
Hair Loss Causes
There are innumerable reasons that can lead to hair loss. When you start losing hair suddenly, the cause may be due to childbirth, illness, medicine or poor diet. If hair loss is gradual and becomes more noticeable with each passing year, a person may have hereditary hair loss. Certain hair care practices also can cause noticeable hair loss.
The following describes some of the many things that cause hair loss:
Hormonal Factors
The most common cause of hair loss is a hereditary condition called male-pattern baldness or female-pattern baldness. In genetically susceptible people, certain hormones trigger a particular pattern of permanent hair loss. Most common in men, this type of hair thinning can begin as early as puberty. Hormonal changes and imbalances in women can also cause temporary hair loss. This could be due to childbirth, discontinuation of birth control pills, pregnancy or the onset of menopause.
Medical conditions
A variety of medical conditions can cause hair loss, including:
-
Alopecia areata – This is a condition in which the body’s immune system wrongfully attacks hair follicles causing smooth, roundish patches of hair loss.
-
Scalp infections – Infections like ringworm, can invade the hair and skin of your scalp, leading to hair loss. As soon as the infection is treated, the hair generally grows back.
-
Thyroid problems – The thyroid gland helps regulate hormone levels in your body. If the gland isn’t working properly, hair loss may result.
-
Other skin disorders – Diseases that can cause scarring, such as lichen planus and some types of lupus, can result in permanent hair loss where the scars occur.
Medications
Hair loss can be caused by drugs used to treat the following medical conditions:
-
Arthritis
-
Depression
-
Cancer
-
Heart problems
-
High blood pressure
Other Causes of Hair Loss
Hair loss can also result from:
-
Shock or Stress – Any kind of physical or mental trauma including surgery, accident, illness, flu, death of a loved one or in the case of divorce, all can cause temporary hair loss.
-
Hair-pulling disorder – This mental illness causes people to have an irresistible urge to pull out their hair, whether it’s from the scalp, their eyebrows or other areas of the body. Hair pulling from the scalp often leaves patchy bald spots on the head.
-
Certain hairstyles – Traction hair loss can occur if the hair is pulled too tightly into hairstyles such as pigtails or cornrows.
Risk factors
-
Hair treatments – Excessive use of chemical based hair care products, hair straighteners and permanent waves can leave your hair brittle and prone to breaking off at the scalp. Too much of hairstyling that pull your hair too tightly cause traction alopecia.
-
Poor nutrition – Your hair may thin out if you skip on good dietary sources of protein and iron, such as red meat, nonfat dairy products and iron-fortified cereal. Hair loss related to poor nutrition often accompanies eating disorders and crash dieting.
-
Family history – Your risk of hair loss increases if relatives on either side of your family have experienced hair loss. Heredity also affects the age at which you begin to lose hair and the developmental speed, pattern and extent of your baldness.
Hair Loss Symptoms
Hair loss can appear in a number of ways depending on the problem that is causing hair to fall. It can come on suddenly or gradually and affect just your scalp or your whole body. Some types of hair loss are temporary, while others are permanent.
Signs and symptoms of hair loss may include:
-
Circular or patchy bald spots – Some people experience smooth bald spots, often about an inch. This type of hair loss usually affects just the scalp, but it sometimes also occurs in beards or eyebrows. In some cases, your skin may become itchy or painful before the hair falls out. -
Sudden loosening of hair – A physical or emotional shock can cause hair to loosen. Handfuls of hair may come out when combing or washing your hair or even after gentle tugging. This type of hair loss usually causes overall hair thinning and not bald patches.
-
Gradual Thinning on top of head – This is the most common causes of hair loss, affecting both men and women equally. In men, hair often begins to recede from the forehead in a line that resembles the letter M. Women typically retain a line of hair at the forehead but experience a broadening of the part in their hair.
-
Full-body Hair Loss – Some conditions and medical treatments, such as chemotherapy for cancer, can result in the loss of hair all over your body. The hair usually grows back after treatment ends.
Hair Loss Treatments
Medication
Minoxidil — This is a tested and proven hair loss treatment known to be a good vasodilator, a medication that dilates the blood vessels to allow proper flow of blood in the scalp, delivering an adequate supply of oxygen and nutrients to the hair follicles, thereby producing healthier hair strands. In addition, it helps in slowing down the hair loss process by prolonging the growth phase of the hair growth cycle. It also enhances the size of the follicles, creating larger hair shaft diameters.
Finasteride — When it comes to Finasteride, this is an oral medication know for partially blocking the effect of DHT in the hair follicles in the scalp.
Surgery
-
Hair Transplants – This is an invasive method in which tiny plugs of skin is removed, each containing a few hairs, from the back or sides of your scalp. The plugs are then implanted into the bald sections of your scalp. Several transplant sessions may be needed, as hereditary hair loss progresses with time.
-
Scalp Reduction – This procedure surgically removes some of the bald skin on your head. After hairless scalp is removed, the space is closed with hair-covered scalp. Doctors can also fold hair-bearing skin over an area of bald skin in a scalp reduction technique called a flap.
Surgical procedures to treat baldness are expensive and can be painful. Possible risks include infection and scarring.
Wigs and Hairpieces
If you would like an alternative to medical treatment for your baldness or if you don’t respond to treatment, you may want to consider wearing a wig or hairpiece. They can be used to cover either permanent or temporary hair loss. Quality, natural-looking wigs and hairpieces are available.
Laser Light Therapy
Low Level Laser Therapy is one of the most advanced and effective hair loss treatments available for men and women suffering from hair loss. With LLLT one can achieve fuller and thicker hair. Low Level Laser Therapy is a non-surgical treatment that applies infrared light therapy to a person’s scalp to stimulate his or her hair growth. Unlike other cosmetic and medical lasers, Low Level Laser Therapy is referred to as “soft” laser because of its lack of a thermal component leaving no scars behind. This is a painless procedure that requires no recovery time.
White Diamond Process
White Diamond Ultrasonic-Waves is a new technology that encompasses Ultrasonic-Waves and Infrared Light to repair breakage, damage and dry lifeless hair. White Diamond penetrates deep into the center part of the hair called the “Cortex.” Placed directly under the cuticle, the cortex makes up most of the hair shaft giving hair it’s special qualities such as curl, shine and elasticity. Women who over-use styling tools, color, products and harmful substances on their hair, will often dry out the Cortex, causing damage and resulting in breakage. White Diamond process is excellent for such instances.
Micro-Grafting
Specifically designed and created by Guci Image for Men and Women, Micro-Grafting is for those who do not choose surgery as there Hair Loss solution. Micro-Grafting is another in our list of exclusive State-Of-The-Art technologies for thinning hair. This “Strand by Strand” method was created for areas on the scalp that are extremely visible to the naked eye. This unique process attaches as little as 1 to 6 strands of hair to a “single strand” of your own hair.
