5 Causes Of Thinning Hair

March 16th, 2009 -- Posted in Diseases, Conditions and Treatments | No Comments »

Causes of thinning hair can be wide and varied, but if you are losing hair it may not necessarily be a permanent thing. We are going to cover some of the different reasons behind hair loss today however before we do so lets make sure we are aware of hair cycles and also a quick test to see if you are potentially going bald.

At any one time approximately ninety percent of your hair is growing and the other ten is resting. It is when your hair is resting that it is likely to fall out so if all of a sudden you see a lot of hair in the plughole or on your comb then this may be the reason why.

There is a test you can do to give a further indication if you are going bald or not and that is to do a tug test. This is a lot less painful than it sounds, all it consists of is grabbing a few hairs between thumb and forefinger (you want at least 20 or so) and then pulling these strands slowly but firmly. If you lose more than half a dozen on this test then you may be going bald.

Now that we have covered that, let us look at 5 possible reasons behind hair loss :-

1. Chemicals-Everyday we are subject to loads of different chemicals attacking our skin and its no different when it comes to our hair. People do lots of things to make their hair more attractive using colors and bleach etc… However you may be thinking I have never done that and yet I am still losing hair, well if thats the case let me point you in the direction of your shampoo. The reason for that is a lot of shampoos contain a chemical called Sodium Laureth Sulfate, and this cleans and degreases your hair, but it can thin your hair out too-so check your shampoo you may want to use a milder version

2. Hereditary – the jury is out on whether baldness really is hereditary or not, however if there is a history of baldness in the family then there is a probability it will occur again.

3. Hormones- Hormones are raging through our body all the time, in men too much testosterone can turn to DHT which will cause hair loss and in women a lack of estrogen which normally blocks testosterone can lead to hair loss. In the case of women a solution for this is quite often found in hormone replacement therapy.

4. Sebum- You normally only hear about sebum when acne is discussed as a build up of it can be a cause behind acne, but it can also be a cause behind hair loss too. This happens if there is a build up of sebum on the scalp as it can attack the bulb of the hair from which the follicle grows.

5. Immune System- There are certain types of alopecia which can occur through disorders in the immune system and they can have various effects on a persons hair from partial hair loss to total baldness tight the way through to losing all of the body hair.

These are just a few of the things that can be behind what causes baldness, however the list is not exhaustive and if you are concerned about hair loss then you may want to seek expert advice or do further research into ways how to prevent hair loss.

Hair Growth Products

March 13th, 2009 -- Posted in Diseases, Conditions and Treatments | No Comments »

If you are a man or a woman and your hair starts to fall out then chances are you may be tempted to try some hair growth products to stop the hair falling out or just to try and make it look thicker. Of course like any other problem in life that you want to resolve, when you first look at it there seems to be an abundance of solutions out there showing you how to prevent hair loss, and we’ll look at a few of them here

The main products you will probably have come across will first of all be hair transplants and then secondly some kind of prescription medication. Lets look at these first.

Getting a hair transplant is not cheap, prices vary but it is always in the thousands no matter if your currency is Euros, Pounds or Dollars and more often than not it is a course of treatment and not a one off and these treatments can be painful. This course of action is not for many people really as generally price is a factor.

Prescription medication on the other hand is more accessible, but again there is a downside to this too as some of the medication out there is specifically designed to combat DHT which is caused by too much testosterone and is quite often the cause of hair loss. Because this medication is combating testosterone, there are occasions when it can also effect a mans ability to perform sexually too.

That being the case are there any alternatives? Well thankfully yes because it seems that mother nature always has something up her sleeve to help and hair loss is no different, so following are some things you can buy as supplements or from health shops to help prevent hair loss:-

Saw Palmetto – No-one is really certain why saw palmetto works effectively, but it is thought that it contains something in it which blocks an enzyme which turns testosterone into DHT, and if you remember from before DHT is what causes hair loss.

Nettles – Another natural ingredient for combating thinning hair is nettle root extract. Nettle is high in many beneficial properties including vitamins A & C but its main strengths in fighting hair loss is that it again can help excess testosterone and DHT.

Any good supermarket should sell Rosemary and Sage and you want these 2 items in you shopping basket. The reason being is that you can boil these up with some nettles and then use the liquid to wash your hair. What you should find by doing this is that it really cleans your scalp and helps to thicken the hair root by stimulating it.

There is one way to get all of these hair loss products together in one go and that is with a product called Provillus. Provillus is a natural treatment for hair loss containing all the the above ingredients and more and they also have different supplements for both men and women. You can find out more about Provillus hair loss treatment at howtopreventhairloss.org