Thinning Hair Tips

If you are one of those people with thinning hair and you have the opportunity to take action to improve your head of hair what would you do. There are few methods that result in complete hair restoration, but hair implants offers nearly 100% successful hair transplantation. There are two main methods of hair implants and different methods are suitable for men than women. Each method involves taking hair and grafting it onto the bald area. The amount of hair that will need to be transplanted depends upon the level of hair loss and the skill of the surgeon. A typical hair transplant would require somewhere around 500-1000 hair grafts.

Strip method

This method involves taking a strip of hair follicles from an area where hair growth is good and transplanting it to the are of thin or bald hair. The strip is carefully removed and the area stitched together to leave a fine scar. The strip are arranged in a pattern to have the hair growing in a natural way. As the thinning hair is due to damaged follicles, transplanting healthy hair follicles is often successful. This method is often used on men who are affected by traditional pattern baldness where thw hair at the back of the scalp is usually thick, whilst the hair on top is balding.

FUE (Follicular Unit Extraction) Method

This method is becoming more popular and useful for women who suffer from female pattern baldness where the hair thins all over  rather than just the top. In FUE a single hair follicle is taken and transplanted. In this method hair from other parts of the body can be used. For women this is especially useful as body hair can be use as a filler to help the thicken their remaining hair and other transplanted hair.

When considering hair implants you need to consult a specialist to see if your hair condition is suitable and to discuss options and costs. Hair transplant costs will vary from surgeon to surgeon and the quality of the surgeon will affect how successful each graft is. There is no doubt that is surgery is an option for you the results can be spectacular.

You have another handful of hair that came out today, for the umpteenth day in a row. Now you are really worried. You are losing your hair. First don’t panic. Second go and see your doctor, make sure there is no medical reason (and this could be simply hormonal changes) why your hair is suddenly falling out. Usually a sudden dramatic increase has a medical reason, so get it checked out NOW.

If you find out there is no medical condition to explain your sudden hair loss, you are just one of a growing number of women who find their hair thins as they get older. This could be due to genes (there is a “hair loss” gene called Sox21) or stress or poor nutrition. There some things you can do as soon as you notice your hair is thinning.

First things first

Start looking after the hair you have, as soon as possible. Whilst it is possible to replace lost hair (by surgery for example), it is much easier to hang onto what you have.  There are treatments available that will help you to reduce the amount of hair that is lost, by working on the hair follicles to keep them healthy and growing. These treatments usually only benefit you whilst they are being taken, so to continue the effect you have to continue the treatment, and that can be an expensive process.

Lifestyle

Look at your current lifestyle, is there anything that can be contributing to your hair loss. Things to consider are diet, exercise and environmentally factors.

1.       Diet – are you getting the correct nutritional needs your body needs for your stage of life. This can be helped by taking supplements to ensure that you get enough vitamins and minerals to maintain healthy hair. There are some nutritional products that especially target DHT absorption. DHT is said to be responsible for weakening the hair follicle, causing hair loss.

2.       Stress – you may need a higher nutritional intake than normal if you are stressed. Work out how to reduce your stress levels. Take time for yourself every day.

3.       Exercise – this can help to reduce stress and improve general health. There are suspicions  that poor scalp circulation can contribute to hair loss, whilst it is not known if this causes hair loss  for certain,  it almost certainly doesn’t  help you keep your hair.

4.       Heat – by this I mean hair dryers and excessive harsh hair care products. If you have a very complicated hair care routine, if maybe that the amount of heat used by hair dryers for example, and the kind of hair products you use are not at all kind to the hair. Again it is not proven that these products cause hair loss, but again can accelerate existing hair loss conditions.

What Else Can You Do?

If your hair has thinned to an extent that you are uncomfortable with how it looks, then take some time to find a hair stylist that specializes in thinned hair styles.  This may mean a slightly different hair style to help your hair look thicker. There are products available that thicken your existing hair strands giving more volume. Certain styles easily conceal the fact that your hair is thinner than it was. Ultimately the earlier you start to look after your crowning glory the more options you have to keep it looking great for longer.

One of the most devastating discoveries you can make about your hair is that there is less of it than there used to be. There are a number of reasons why you may be losing your hair- understanding is the first step to working out the best action to prevent further hair loss or even increase your hair.

The first thing to be aware of is that hair is continually growing, resting and shedding – it is normal to loose some hair everyday. Up to 100 hairs a day would be considered normal hair shedding. Did you know that hair grows for up to 8 years, then stops(over a period of a few weeks) then rests for about 3 months. After that it falls out and the process starts up again. When hair follicles are damaged the hair doesn’t grow for as long, and finally fails to restart the cycle when the hair has fallen out.

It’s Always Your Parents Fault!

The most usual reason for thinning hair is genetic, statistics have more than 95% of thinning hair cases are caused by genetics.  Have a good look at your family members, if your father or mother has thin or balding hair, then you will have to be very lucky to escape it yourself! There are other reasons for your hair to suddenly start to thin or fall out and these should be checked out by your doctor. They include illness, hormonal changes, diet and stress.

Alopecia

Hair loss is called alopecia and is caused by sensitivity to DHT (Dihydrotestosterone); this is where testosterone is converted to DHT and interferes with the growth of new hair cells. The hair follicles start to shrink and the hair they produce falls out sooner and eventually the affected hair follicles stop producing hair at all. If left unchecked it will lead to baldness in men and very thin hair in women.

Pattern Baldness

Hair loss tends to follow a pattern – often called pattern baldness (male or female). The technical term is Male pattern baldness is androgenetic alopecia or AGA. Male pattern baldness is different to female pattern baldness; thinning hair in men is different to thinning hair in women. In men, the hair tends to recede from the front temples, then a bald patch develops on the back of the head and lead to all round thinning and balding. This can be seen in the Norwood chart for seeing the different stages of male pattern baldness.

Female Pattern Baldness tend to be thinning hair on the top of the head, but little recession and can be shown in the following diagram

Whilst you may not be able to avoid having thinning hair, there are thinning hair treatments available to help you keep your hair. The most important thing is to discover early if you have thinning hair and to take the appropriate steps.