Hair Loss Products
Hair loss products and other preparations to help deal with hair thinning, baldness, scalp and dandruff problems can be really useful and effective, sometimes, but not always.
It is important first to try to identify the cause of the condition, there is always a hereditary, medical or environmental factor, which should be investigated.
Male and Female Hair Loss
The first thing to consider is that certain types of hair thinning and baldness can be experienced by both men and women, others not. The reason for this is that most hair loss can be traced to a hormonal cause, and men's hormones and women's hormones are different, very different!
In men, the most common reason for loss of hair is male pattern baldness, which is the medical term for hereditary baldness. This means, if you look at your father and your grandfathers on both sides of the family, the more baldness you see in your close family, the more likely you are to experience hair thinning and baldness.
It is wrong to say that this is some sort of defect or affliction, some forty percent of men experience some degree of hair loss before they reach the age of thirty-five, so it is not only common among men, it is quite a normal and proper part of being a man. It is all in your hormones, your male hormones.
Now, just because it is a natural and manly thing to go bald, this doesn't mean it causes any less stress and concern to those who would rather retain their full head of hair. Although you can't change your basic genetic construction, it is quite possible to take steps to delay or reduce the extent of the loss or thinning of hair, and there are many hair loss products which help with this very effectively.
Medical Considerations
First though, we are getting ahead of ourselves, the very first thing you should do when you have any health problems or concerns, is to consult your doctor. There are many medical reasons for hair loss, some of which can respond well to treatment, others which go away by themselves, so if you just wait a while, your own body will use its extensive resources to try to get itself back the way it would have been but for the illness, or whatever it was.
Hair loss can be related to a number of medical conditions, and whether it can be improved depends very much on the treatment of those conditions. Some medicines can also cause hair loss, hair thinning and in some cases baldness, for example chemotherapy.
So, before you do anything else, consult your doctor. He or she will be able to advise you whether there is any medical, general health, or medicinal reason for your hair loss or thinning. Some things may require treatment, others may respond to general changes in your lifestyle, eating a healthy diet, taking exercise, avoiding smoking, not overdoing alcohol, for example, your doctor can advise.
The doctor will also be able to tell you whether your particular type of hair loss or thinning is likely to respond to any of the treatments and medications which are not available on the National Health. Always consult your doctor before you take anything or apply anything which could have adverse effects on your health.
Causes of Hair Loss
So, we know hair loss can be hereditary and if it is, it may be possible to delay the onset, the progress, or help the appearance, by thickening the hair, or at least choosing a hair style which suits the extent of hair you have.
What are the other causes of hair loss, though? They are usually related to illness, diet, general health, or to some environmental cause beyond our control, such as the shock of being involved in a serious accident, sustaining an injury or witnessing some terrible event.
It is difficult to avoid some of the causes of trauma, such as accidents, but the general health and lifestyle aspects can be addressed, and may make quite a difference.
These causes relate both to men and women, as can hair loss caused by medical treatment, chemotherapy for cancer, for example, is a very common cause of hair loss due to medical treatment. The good news is that the hair may well grow back, for example in the months after chemotherapy has been completed.
Sometimes the hair may be quite different to the way it was before, for example someone with straight hair may have curly hair when it grows back following chemotherapy. Most people who have lost their hair from chemotherapy, survived the treatment, survived the cancer, and see their hair growing back, have little care whether it is straight or curly, lighter or darker, or whatever, they are just glad to see it!
Hair Loss Specific to Women
Men have male hormonal baldness to contend with, women have their own specific type of hair loss, which again is hormonal. That is hair loss following pregnancy. Many women bloom during pregnancy, their general health is good, their hair looks good, their eyes bright, they look and feel in the prime of health, just perfect for carrying a baby.
This is not coincidental, it is the body using all its powers and resources to make sure you are and remain healthy enough to devote all your resources to producing a healthy baby. It is quite a natural and welcome phenomenon.
However, everything is not all being bright eyed and wavy haired when it comes to pregnancy, it takes a great deal out of a woman's body, some aspects of which may never be recovered. With regard to the resources the body is using which result in that general well-being, when the baby has used its share of these resources, making it strong and healthy, just as you want it, your body has to say, well I only have so much, and I must concentrate on making a healthy baby.
So, towards the end of pregnancy, and afterwards, there is often a reversal of the good hair days! This is usually in the form of a general lack of condition of the hair, which may become dull and may thin and fall out, in extreme cases fall out quite a bit.
There is more good news, following the birth of your baby, though, or at least when you have finished breast feeding, once your body can concentrate its resources on looking after you instead of your baby, your hair will usually return to its normal pre-pregnancy condition.
It is not only during pregnancy that there are hormonal changes in women and hair loss or thinning can be experienced during the menopause, or when taking medications related to hormonal conditions. Your doctor will advise on what can be done to improve the situation, or whether you just have to wait for time to take care of things.
Hair Loss Treatments
Treatments for hair loss generally fall into three main categories, surgical, medicinal and cosmetic. The first is usually the realm of pop stars, who can afford to have hair transplanted from some other hairier part of their body to their scalp, which can be very expensive.
It is also possible to have the scalp remodelled, to remove the bald area altogether. This is done by inserting a surgical balloon below the bald area, this balloon then being inflated over a period, to stretch the bald area of skin. When the balloon is deflated, this, by then loose, skin is surgically removed, and the remaining skin is stretched together and sewn up, resulting in the removal of the bald area altogether.
This form of surgery takes a long time for the skin to be stretched, and cannot be used for all forms of baldness. It is particularly effective with baldness usually referred to as a bald spot, or sometimes called a monk's tonsure, as it resembles the shaven crown of the head favoured by some monks.
Hair Loss Products
The other two categories involve using some form of medication, or preparation, such as creams gels or shampoos. Those with active ingredients, either medicinal or herbal, try to stimulate growth or re-growth of healthy hair by improving the health of specifically targeted areas, such as the scalp, the blood supply to the scalp and hair roots, or by acting in some way on the hair follicles themselves.
There are good medical and health reasons for some of these treatments and some make perfect sense even to the layman. Herbal medicines which improve the general health and encourage a healthy flow of blood to the scalp certainly make sense, as does massaging the scalp, often with herbal oils or creams.
From time to time various new methods of "curing" baldness come along and these must be viewed with some caution. It would take a lot to make hair grow where there is no hair there, and you should view the claims of anything you try by considering what is being claimed and what seems to be medically possible or likely.
So, if something says it may help to slow the onset of baldness by helping to stimulate a healthy scalp, it probably has much more chance of doing it than a wonder lotion you are supposed to put on a bald head and make hair grow. Realistically, that is much less likely to happen if you think about it.
So, go into any hair loss treatment with an open mind, in full knowledge of what you are doing and the realisation that many of the treatments are just not going to work. There are however many things which will give you some improvement, maybe stimulating improved growth, and almost certainly slowing thinning by maintaining good health, particularly where this is in the scalp and hair follicle area.
Shampoos and Hair Thickeners
The final area of treating hair loss and thinning is the use of hair loss products which thicken the hair to improve the general appearance of the remaining hair. The effect of some of these can be very welcome.
Many of them are a form of super-conditioner, which act in the same way as a hair conditioner, moisturising the hair and giving it strength and body. The moisturising content of the product sticks to the hair, making it thicker, look better and more able to be managed and styled.
In their simplest form, these are the volumising and thickening shampoos, available on the supermarket or chemist's shelf and are used by millions to improve the appearance of their hair. There are, though, a number of stronger and more effective versions, available from the specialist hair treatment companies and chemists.
These can be very effective in improving the appearance of the hair and are well worth trying.