In my previous two posts I discussed how to lower the influence of genetics on hair loss and dietary/lifestyle measures you can take to fend off baldness. In this post I will talk about how to be proactive in treating your hair loss and choosing the right course of action moving forward.
If you are losing your hair, you may be feeling the negative mental side effects of the stigma associated with baldness. Losing your hair makes you susceptible to feelings of loss, desperation, and fading youth. The good news is that while science has not quite reached the zenith of curing hair loss, you have far more options than hair loss sufferers did just twenty years ago. Before you grab the clippers and go for the Bruce Willis look, you should take a look at your options.
First Things First
Discovering hair loss can seem like a sudden shock to your system. When you confirm you are experiencing baldness you may feel a calm but hopeless feeling. This happens because we have seen this scenario unfold many times with out friends and relatives so we assume their destiny is ours. The truth is once you get past the “why me?” phase, you can begin dealing with the issue proactively. Once you have accepted that your hair loss is not going away, you become much more empowered to take on the issue. Relax and remember that you have options your father and his father never had.
Where To Start
Before getting into options lets dispel the myths so that you can know what to worry about and what not to worry about. If you are experiencing Male Pattern Baldness, your hair is thinning due to a genetic predisposition that causes your scalp to stop producing hair. In other words, your hair loss is only a symptom of a different problem. This means that your hair loss should be looked at critically rather than superficially.
The Myths
There is a lot of information out there that point hair loss sufferers in the wrong direction. Getting these myths out of the way will likely change how you feel about your hair loss. First of all, wearing a ball cap does not cause or exacerbate hair loss. This myth has been dispelled repeatedly but I thought it would be worth mentioning.
The worst action a hair loss sufferer can take is to not touch their hair in fear of losing more. If you stop touching or brushing your hair, you reduce stimulation to the scalp in turn causing faster hair loss. This may save a few hairs in the short run, but when those hairs fall out eventually, they will not be replaced because the follicle will have entered a dormant phase. While dormant follicles can be revived over time, it is much easier to prevent them from entering a dormant phase in the first place.
Which Hair Loss Solution?
The solution you choose to treat your hair loss should be based on at least a few factors. There are many things to consider such as cost, safety, and effectiveness just to name a few. Not all hair loss solutions are created equal. I opted for a natural hair loss solution to avoid developing new health risks and to curb financial cost. Other hair loss sufferers may choose a more clinical option like hair transplant surgery.
My advice would be to research all of your options weighing out the pros and cons carefully before making your decision. When you’ve found a solution you believe in, you should give it a chance to work. Many hair loss sufferers jump from solution to solution spending lots of money and achieving little in the way of results. There is nothing wrong with switching your course of treatment based on new information but remember any hair loss solution is going to require time to take effect.
Taking Care Of Your Hair
Examine how you take care of your hair. Doing so will help you remove any harmful habits that could be speeding up your hair loss. Do you use a cheap shampoo that is loaded with chemicals? Is your shampoo even designed for your type of hair? Are you using shampoo too frequently? Since hair loss is only a symptom of a deeper problem within your scalp, you should examine what you’re putting on your scalp every day.
The scalp is a complex area with subsets of organs, which produce hair. There is a balance of oils (notably sebum) that naturallly coats your hair. Too much, too little, or unevenly distributed sebum can cause more problems. Many who know about sebum’s role in hair loss feel that too much sebum or hardened sebum causes and/or exacerbates hair loss. In reality, if you try to shampoo away sebum your scalp will respond by producing more sebum.
This just one example of hair care gone awry. In order to take the best care of your hair, you should use a shampoo designed to meet the needs of your scalp. I use a shampoo called Nioxin, which cleans the scalp without upsetting the balance of essential oils. This is not an expensive shampoo but it is designed to be used by those suffering from thinning hair. Many shampoos are designed for hair loss sufferers and add another weapon in the battle against hair loss.
Develop A Proactive Attitude
Being proactive with hair loss is the best way to keep you hair and recover hair that you have already lost. There are a number of measures you can take to address hair loss. Don’t be afraid to handle your hair. Begin at home, looking at what you’ve been doing to maintain your hair. Look for a course of treatment that is right for you. You have an opportunity to treat your hair loss, so if you really want your hair back put down the clippers and take action. With good research, consistency, and a positive attitude, hair loss can be a thing of the past.
Samuel Reed is a hair loss survivor and the author of Hair Reborn: The Holistic Approach For Natural Hair Regrowth available in print and digital formats on amazon.com.
Hair Reborn in Digital From Amazon Kindle
Hair Reborn In Print From Amazon
To learn more about reversing hair loss naturally visit:
Hair Reborn Book Official Website
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Saturday, February 18, 2012
How Your General Health Affects Hair Loss
In my last post Hair Loss: Beating The Genetic Code, I discussed steps that can be taken to diagnose hair loss before it gets serious and steps one can take to fend off baldness before it begins. In this post, I will address the affect your overall health can have on your hair.
Common Hair Loss or Male Pattern Baldness is generally thought of as a genetic condition with which there is little or no recourse to treat or prevent. There may be more to the mystery of hair loss than just bad cards in the game of genetic poker.
While those of us with a predisposition towards baldness are likely to develop hair fall to some degree, there are secondary factors that may accelerate the rate of loss. These factors fall into three categories; Diet, Lifestyle, and Exercise. Here in the United States, we generally flunk at all three categories. Many Americans don’t eat right, smoke and drink, and don’t exercise enough.
Looking At Our Global Neighbors (From An American Perspective)
If you are an American hair loss sufferer, you may have noticed the condition of baldness affects many of our fellow citizens. If you look to other parts of the world, particularly Asia, you may notice hair loss is a problem which is far less prevalent in this region. Many men in China even enjoy non-graying hair into their sixties. Why is there such a difference in the frequency of hair loss between Eastern and Western civilization? Genetics may play some role but the biggest difference between Americans and their Asian counterparts are found within their dietary choices.
Do men prematurely lose their hair in Asia? Yes ,it can happen, but this issue is far less in frequency when compared to hair loss in the U.S. (I suspect the small amount of hair fall developing in this region could be relative to the increasing amount of American influence, particularly in Japan).
In the United States, we generally eat processed foods loaded with saturated fat and with little or no nutritional value. It can actually be quite challenging to avoid these foods in America, but a deep introspective look will help you assess where you stand in your diet.
Before you grab the phone and order up some Chinese food, be warned that Chinese food in the U.S. is different than native Chinese food. Chinese cuisine here in the States is cooked in heavy amounts of grease and with the food additive MSG. Instead, read on to find practical advice about how to examine your diet and lifestyle to help curtail your hair loss.
Slow and Fast Hair Loss
Hair fall can occur at many different speeds and ages depending on the person. This is likely due to the overall health, lifestyle, and nutrition of any given person. The obvious argument against this theory is that seemingly healthy people still experience baldness and many unhealthy people keep their hair. One has to look beyond the argument. If you don’t have the genetic predisposition to experience hair loss, your lifestyle will have a negligible affect on your hair, where as a person with the genetics to experience baldness will likely lose their hair at certain rate. Health, Lifestyle, and Nutrition become variables in this equation.
Contributing Factors
If one engages in a diet that lacks nutrition, one can expect to exacerbate their hair loss ultimately increasing the speed of the condition. Moderate exercise tends to increase blood flow and carry nutrients, vitamins, and minerals all around the circulatory system. A lack thereof can cause blood to distribute slowly which can cause serious health problems like heart disease, heart attacks, and strokes. If you smoke, cigarettes may be contributing to pollution of your blood by adding thousands of toxins to your blood stream. These secondary factors all play a role in the acceleration of male pattern baldness.
The Composition Of Hair
Hair contains three primary elements you have probably heard of before; Zinc, Copper, and Sulfur. If your dietary choices are poor, you may be not be getting the necessary amounts of these minerals. Hair’s strength and elasticity is built by nutrients, minerals. and vitamins and when there are deficits, hair can suffer even more.
Biotin is a vitamin which is responsible for the strength of hair, skin, and fingernails. While most healthy people can easily get the required dose of biotin though foods like eggs and bananas, a fast food aficionado may not be getting enough. Vitamins, nutrients, and minerals are the building blocks of health and the health of your hair. Some changes in your diet can help your hair quite a bit.
The Equation Of Health And Hair Loss
While genetics generally control who will lose their hair, your life style and health can have a huge effect on the degree and rate of hair fall one experiences. Maybe you have noticed some people lose most of their hair in a few short years while others go bald over an extremely prolonged period of time. The difference is usually attributed to the overall health of the hair loss sufferer.
In other words, those who begin losing their hair and live an unhealthy lifestyle have put themselves on the express lane to baldness. One who examines their lifestyle and diet and makes the necessary changes has a good chance at prolonging their hair loss for many years. The biggest problem is consistency; many people cannot be consistent with healthy choices for long periods of time.
What You Can Do
If you want to do the most for your hair on a health level, the best way to start is too examine your diet, lifestyle, and exercise routine. Changing your diet to include foods that add vitamins, nutrients, and minerals will strengthen your hair. Dropping bad habits like smoking, alcohol, or drug use will strengthen your immune system. Developing a moderate exercise routine (i.e. walking) will greatly increase blood flow distributing vitamins, nutrients, and minerals throughout your blood stream.
These changes will improve your overall health and the health of your hair. Genetics play a role in hair loss but it is the road we choose that determines how big of a role genetics play. If you give your hair what it needs to grow and keep your health in check, you can defend your hair from further loss and in time recover some of what you’ve lost.
Remember diet and exercise are just one weapon in the fight against hair loss. There are other methods that can naturally stop hair loss and regrow hair especially when used in combination. Remember, as with most things in life, moderation is key.
Samuel Reed is a hair loss survivor and the author of Hair Reborn: The Holistic Approach For Natural Hair Regrowth, a book with a detailed plan for naturally stopping hair loss and regrowing hair.
The book is available in print and digital formats on amazon.com
Hair Reborn in Digital From Amazon Kindle
Hair Reborn In Print From Amazon
To learn more about reversing hair loss naturally visit:
Hair Reborn Book Official Website
In my last post Hair Loss: Beating The Genetic Code, I discussed steps that can be taken to diagnose hair loss before it gets serious and steps one can take to fend off baldness before it begins. In this post, I will address the affect your overall health can have on your hair.
Common Hair Loss or Male Pattern Baldness is generally thought of as a genetic condition with which there is little or no recourse to treat or prevent. There may be more to the mystery of hair loss than just bad cards in the game of genetic poker.
While those of us with a predisposition towards baldness are likely to develop hair fall to some degree, there are secondary factors that may accelerate the rate of loss. These factors fall into three categories; Diet, Lifestyle, and Exercise. Here in the United States, we generally flunk at all three categories. Many Americans don’t eat right, smoke and drink, and don’t exercise enough.
Looking At Our Global Neighbors (From An American Perspective)
If you are an American hair loss sufferer, you may have noticed the condition of baldness affects many of our fellow citizens. If you look to other parts of the world, particularly Asia, you may notice hair loss is a problem which is far less prevalent in this region. Many men in China even enjoy non-graying hair into their sixties. Why is there such a difference in the frequency of hair loss between Eastern and Western civilization? Genetics may play some role but the biggest difference between Americans and their Asian counterparts are found within their dietary choices.
Do men prematurely lose their hair in Asia? Yes ,it can happen, but this issue is far less in frequency when compared to hair loss in the U.S. (I suspect the small amount of hair fall developing in this region could be relative to the increasing amount of American influence, particularly in Japan).
In the United States, we generally eat processed foods loaded with saturated fat and with little or no nutritional value. It can actually be quite challenging to avoid these foods in America, but a deep introspective look will help you assess where you stand in your diet.
Before you grab the phone and order up some Chinese food, be warned that Chinese food in the U.S. is different than native Chinese food. Chinese cuisine here in the States is cooked in heavy amounts of grease and with the food additive MSG. Instead, read on to find practical advice about how to examine your diet and lifestyle to help curtail your hair loss.
Slow and Fast Hair Loss
Hair fall can occur at many different speeds and ages depending on the person. This is likely due to the overall health, lifestyle, and nutrition of any given person. The obvious argument against this theory is that seemingly healthy people still experience baldness and many unhealthy people keep their hair. One has to look beyond the argument. If you don’t have the genetic predisposition to experience hair loss, your lifestyle will have a negligible affect on your hair, where as a person with the genetics to experience baldness will likely lose their hair at certain rate. Health, Lifestyle, and Nutrition become variables in this equation.
Contributing Factors
If one engages in a diet that lacks nutrition, one can expect to exacerbate their hair loss ultimately increasing the speed of the condition. Moderate exercise tends to increase blood flow and carry nutrients, vitamins, and minerals all around the circulatory system. A lack thereof can cause blood to distribute slowly which can cause serious health problems like heart disease, heart attacks, and strokes. If you smoke, cigarettes may be contributing to pollution of your blood by adding thousands of toxins to your blood stream. These secondary factors all play a role in the acceleration of male pattern baldness.
The Composition Of Hair
Hair contains three primary elements you have probably heard of before; Zinc, Copper, and Sulfur. If your dietary choices are poor, you may be not be getting the necessary amounts of these minerals. Hair’s strength and elasticity is built by nutrients, minerals. and vitamins and when there are deficits, hair can suffer even more.
Biotin is a vitamin which is responsible for the strength of hair, skin, and fingernails. While most healthy people can easily get the required dose of biotin though foods like eggs and bananas, a fast food aficionado may not be getting enough. Vitamins, nutrients, and minerals are the building blocks of health and the health of your hair. Some changes in your diet can help your hair quite a bit.
The Equation Of Health And Hair Loss
While genetics generally control who will lose their hair, your life style and health can have a huge effect on the degree and rate of hair fall one experiences. Maybe you have noticed some people lose most of their hair in a few short years while others go bald over an extremely prolonged period of time. The difference is usually attributed to the overall health of the hair loss sufferer.
In other words, those who begin losing their hair and live an unhealthy lifestyle have put themselves on the express lane to baldness. One who examines their lifestyle and diet and makes the necessary changes has a good chance at prolonging their hair loss for many years. The biggest problem is consistency; many people cannot be consistent with healthy choices for long periods of time.
What You Can Do
If you want to do the most for your hair on a health level, the best way to start is too examine your diet, lifestyle, and exercise routine. Changing your diet to include foods that add vitamins, nutrients, and minerals will strengthen your hair. Dropping bad habits like smoking, alcohol, or drug use will strengthen your immune system. Developing a moderate exercise routine (i.e. walking) will greatly increase blood flow distributing vitamins, nutrients, and minerals throughout your blood stream.
These changes will improve your overall health and the health of your hair. Genetics play a role in hair loss but it is the road we choose that determines how big of a role genetics play. If you give your hair what it needs to grow and keep your health in check, you can defend your hair from further loss and in time recover some of what you’ve lost.
Remember diet and exercise are just one weapon in the fight against hair loss. There are other methods that can naturally stop hair loss and regrow hair especially when used in combination. Remember, as with most things in life, moderation is key.
Samuel Reed is a hair loss survivor and the author of Hair Reborn: The Holistic Approach For Natural Hair Regrowth, a book with a detailed plan for naturally stopping hair loss and regrowing hair.
The book is available in print and digital formats on amazon.com
Hair Reborn in Digital From Amazon Kindle
Hair Reborn In Print From Amazon
To learn more about reversing hair loss naturally visit:
Hair Reborn Book Official Website
Friday, February 17, 2012
Hair Loss: Beating The Genetic Code
By Samuel Reed
Hair loss affects roughly 35 million men and 21 million women in the Unites States alone. This affliction while not life threatening has a deep impact on one’s self esteem, self-confidence, and self-perception. Hair loss can often invite cruel remarks even from family and friends. Hair loss also makes people feel a sense of identity loss and often forces them into a state of concealing their hair loss anyway they can.
Hair loss seems to be happening at an earlier age than ever before. Even high school students are starting to develop problems with hair loss. While genetics are considered to be the overriding factor in common forms of baldness, there are preventative steps one can take to fend off hair loss before it begins.
Taking these steps before or in the early stages of hair loss can help you avoid more difficult steps down the road. While reversing hair loss is possible throughout a variety of methods, the earlier you deal with the issue the faster it is resolved.
Know Your Family History
A long running misconception is that the trait for hair loss is inherited from the mother’s side. We now know that it is possible to inherit this trait from either or both sides. Take a look at your parents, grandparents, siblings, uncles, aunts, and cousins. Your family member’s hair holds the clues for where your hair may be going.
If there is a steady pattern of hair loss in your family, there may be hair loss in your future. Occasionally, hair loss skips a family member within a generation. This phenomenon could explain why you are losing your hair and your brother isn’t.
Look For The Signs
If you think you’re beginning to lose your hair look for the tell tale signs and confirm this is the case. Often hair will fall out for other reasons like stress and/or poor health. It’s important to remember that non-balding people lose 50-100 hairs everyday. When you see extra hair accumulating in the shower drain, on your pillow, or in your hairbrush, this could indicate the early stages of hair loss.
The best way to tell if your experiencing serious hair loss is to self examine your hair with one or two mirrors. Look for uneven patterns of hair and/or a few hairs missing in obvious spots. Use a brush or comb to move hair aside for a closer inspection. If there is a serious problem, you’ll know.
Relax
If you are beginning to lose your hair, you have found out at the most optimum time. At this point, you have identified the problem and are able to begin dealing with it. The sooner you identify hair loss the easier it is to reverse it. Even those with more serious hair loss have the opportunity to do something about it. If you are the former and are at the early stage, you have greatly shortened your hair loss ordeal.
Take Action
Many people, particularly men just accept hair loss. If your hair is important to you, you should not subscribe to this attitude. There are a variety of ways to reverse hair loss at many stages. Taking action is vital for those who want their hair back. A hair loss sufferer must be proactive about their dilemma and begin researching treatment options.
There are many methods whether they are clinical, surgical, or natural to treat hair loss. If you are an early stage sufferer, a shampoo formulated to remove DHT will definitely help you keep most of your hair. For someone who is not losing their hair, but genetically disposed to baldness, using a special shampoo could prevent baldness altogether.
Beating The Genetics Of Hair Loss
While many believe that if you’re going to be bald, there is nothing that can be done about it, this simply is incorrect. Hair loss can be treated at any stage. If you think hair loss is in your future based on your family history, begin looking into options before the process begins. If the process has already begun, become proactive and take the steps to stop your hair loss and regrow the hair you have lost.
When you feel nothing can be done to resolve your hair loss, remember that many times doctors have told patients that they will never walk again only to be proven wrong by strong willed patients. People with a predisposition to weight problems have often been able to remain healthy and fit. While genetics are a factor in hair loss, being proactive can substantially lower the influence of these genetics.
Samuel Reed is a hair loss survivor and the author of Hair Reborn: The Holistic Approach For Natural Hair Regrowth, a book with a detailed plan for naturally stopping hair loss and regrowing hair.
The book is available in print and digital formats on amazon.com
Hair Reborn in Digital From Amazon Kindle
Hair Reborn In Print From Amazon
To learn more about reversing hair loss naturally visit:
Hair Reborn Book Official Website
By Samuel Reed
Hair loss affects roughly 35 million men and 21 million women in the Unites States alone. This affliction while not life threatening has a deep impact on one’s self esteem, self-confidence, and self-perception. Hair loss can often invite cruel remarks even from family and friends. Hair loss also makes people feel a sense of identity loss and often forces them into a state of concealing their hair loss anyway they can.
Hair loss seems to be happening at an earlier age than ever before. Even high school students are starting to develop problems with hair loss. While genetics are considered to be the overriding factor in common forms of baldness, there are preventative steps one can take to fend off hair loss before it begins.
Taking these steps before or in the early stages of hair loss can help you avoid more difficult steps down the road. While reversing hair loss is possible throughout a variety of methods, the earlier you deal with the issue the faster it is resolved.
Know Your Family History
A long running misconception is that the trait for hair loss is inherited from the mother’s side. We now know that it is possible to inherit this trait from either or both sides. Take a look at your parents, grandparents, siblings, uncles, aunts, and cousins. Your family member’s hair holds the clues for where your hair may be going.
If there is a steady pattern of hair loss in your family, there may be hair loss in your future. Occasionally, hair loss skips a family member within a generation. This phenomenon could explain why you are losing your hair and your brother isn’t.
Look For The Signs
If you think you’re beginning to lose your hair look for the tell tale signs and confirm this is the case. Often hair will fall out for other reasons like stress and/or poor health. It’s important to remember that non-balding people lose 50-100 hairs everyday. When you see extra hair accumulating in the shower drain, on your pillow, or in your hairbrush, this could indicate the early stages of hair loss.
The best way to tell if your experiencing serious hair loss is to self examine your hair with one or two mirrors. Look for uneven patterns of hair and/or a few hairs missing in obvious spots. Use a brush or comb to move hair aside for a closer inspection. If there is a serious problem, you’ll know.
Relax
If you are beginning to lose your hair, you have found out at the most optimum time. At this point, you have identified the problem and are able to begin dealing with it. The sooner you identify hair loss the easier it is to reverse it. Even those with more serious hair loss have the opportunity to do something about it. If you are the former and are at the early stage, you have greatly shortened your hair loss ordeal.
Take Action
Many people, particularly men just accept hair loss. If your hair is important to you, you should not subscribe to this attitude. There are a variety of ways to reverse hair loss at many stages. Taking action is vital for those who want their hair back. A hair loss sufferer must be proactive about their dilemma and begin researching treatment options.
There are many methods whether they are clinical, surgical, or natural to treat hair loss. If you are an early stage sufferer, a shampoo formulated to remove DHT will definitely help you keep most of your hair. For someone who is not losing their hair, but genetically disposed to baldness, using a special shampoo could prevent baldness altogether.
Beating The Genetics Of Hair Loss
While many believe that if you’re going to be bald, there is nothing that can be done about it, this simply is incorrect. Hair loss can be treated at any stage. If you think hair loss is in your future based on your family history, begin looking into options before the process begins. If the process has already begun, become proactive and take the steps to stop your hair loss and regrow the hair you have lost.
When you feel nothing can be done to resolve your hair loss, remember that many times doctors have told patients that they will never walk again only to be proven wrong by strong willed patients. People with a predisposition to weight problems have often been able to remain healthy and fit. While genetics are a factor in hair loss, being proactive can substantially lower the influence of these genetics.
Samuel Reed is a hair loss survivor and the author of Hair Reborn: The Holistic Approach For Natural Hair Regrowth, a book with a detailed plan for naturally stopping hair loss and regrowing hair.
The book is available in print and digital formats on amazon.com
Hair Reborn in Digital From Amazon Kindle
Hair Reborn In Print From Amazon
To learn more about reversing hair loss naturally visit:
Hair Reborn Book Official Website
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)