Losing it: How to Stock Your Hair-Loss Arsenal
3 minute read
Um, excuse me…did you lose something?
Who, me?
Yes, you seem to have left a few things behind.
Like where?
On the floor. On your pillowcase. In the shower drain.
If your hair is shedding and thinning, you’re hardly alone, says a brand-new study published in the journal Menopause. First, it states the obvious: Men and women both lose hair as they age. No longer do we possess the thick, shiny hair of our youth.
But what might not be so obvious - and even more distressing - is something we didn’t expect to happen to our hair during the menopause years. It’s during this period that we come face-to-face (head-to-head?) with the added risk of hair loss.
Well, thank you very much. We’re prepared to lose our periods; maybe our libido, our waistlines and our skin tone as well. But…our hair, too? No, not that! Those strands that we love, deserting us? You don’t know what you’ve got til it’s gone. Joni Mitchell sang it well way back when, before our hair was hauled off in a big yellow taxi.
Hair loss, why now?
If you didn’t know that our hair follicles have estrogen receptors, well, the cat is now out of the bag. Without the necessary estrogen to strengthen our strands, the hair on our heads suffers and sheds.
And the rest is hairstory, er, history.
If you’re searching for good news here (and isn’t life made better if you seek out a silver lining?) look at it this way: We don’t lose all our hair, but rather, lose it in certain areas on our heads. This is known as female-pattern hair loss (FPHL), the most common hair loss disorder in women.
FPHL displays itself in myriad ways: Either with minimal thinning (if we’re lucky), which we can camouflage (if we’re handy in the hair-styling department). Others may notice that parting is such sweet sorrow, as their center or side part begins to widen (revealing more scalp on either side). And then there are those whose hair goes AWOL from the top, or crown, of their heads. (We all deserve to wear a crown after all, but not that kind of crown.)
Though experts say thinning hair can’t actually be reversed, there are things that can make your heir hair more apparent. Some options stimulate new hair growth, while others preserve the hair you have.
With so many options, we need to choose wisely. If you’re stuck in your own personal timeline, forever associating luscious locks with youth, hang on. Below, we comb through some options to find ways to get to the root of the problem.
Before we start, however, this important note: Since hair loss can be caused by any number of things — including illness, your thyroid, diet, medication or stress— some options listed here might not work as well for thinning associated with menopause.
Protect Your Assets
Now’s a good time to treat your hair like you yearned be treated by that bad-boy crush you had in high school: with kindness and respect and a minimum of drama or trauma. Self-inflicted damage with harsh chemicals, too-hot hair tools, brushing too aggressively and wearing slick, glam hairstyles that pull on your hair (like buns and tight ponytails) can all net out damage and breakage.
Play Word Games
There aren’t enough letters in Wordle to spell out “thickening,” “extra volume,” “growth intensifying” and/or “anti-thinning;” but we can search product labels for these words. All can help create the illusion of thicker hair by temporarily plumping up hair strands. Other products act like push-up bras, giving your lifeless hair a lifting effect at the roots so it does not lie flat and feckless.
Note: Some experts warn that over time, some products can create a coating on the hair, ultimately weighing it down and creating limp and lifeless hair - the opposite of what you’re after. An occasional cleansing with a clarifying shampoo can rid your hair of excess product.
Wash Gently (and Carry a Big Comb)
It’s hard to say no to a vigorous scalp massage. But resist the urge. Scrubbing too hard when shampooing can push your fragile hair over the edge. Wash gently, and follow up with a moisturizing rinse-out conditioner before untangling your hair with a wide-tooth comb.
Pro Tip: Wrapping your wet hair in a microfiber towel will help it dry more quickly and cut down on damage from blow-dryers.
Brush Up On Your Styling Technique
Ever notice how a professional can make your hair look thicker and fuller than ever before? (Yes, that’s worth the generous tip.) Consider fine-tuning your blow-drying skills or (gently) teasing your hair at the roots to create more volume. There’s lots to learn about faking it online, like this primer from Cosmo.
Check Out Medications and Products
The only FDA-approved drug to treat female pattern baldness or thinning hair, minoxidil (sold under brand name Rogaine) can be purchased over the counter in foam or liquid form in concentrations of 2 percent or 5 percent. Minoxidil works by blocking testosterone from converting to DHT (a male sex hormone linked to thinning hair) and can foster new hair growth, giving hair a thicker overall appearance.
Sounds good, right? But, like marriage, it takes patience and commitment. It takes about 12 months of daily use for minoxidil to work its magic. And if you stop using it, it will stop working for you. Worse yet, the new hairs that you gained will be lost. That’s money (and hair) down the drain.
Finasteride (Propecia) is FDA-approved to treat hair loss (but only for men; go figure). Ask your doc is she can prescribe it off-label (more on that below).
Medications like spironolactone, flutamide, dutasteride are approved to treat other medical conditions, but can be prescribed for hair loss off-label, a legal and common practice that means using an FDA-approved drug for an unapproved use.
Low-level laser (light) therapy (LLLT) has been shown to stimulate hair follicles and stimulate growth. Caps, helmets, headbands and brushes can be purchased to use at home.
Micro needling (popular for facial care) uses hundreds of tiny needles to stimulate your scalp. When combined with minoxidil, it can drive the product deeper into your scalp to work better. (Don’t worry, it doesn’t really hurt.)
Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) uses platelets extracted from your own blood, mixed with plasma (the blood’s fluid). The magic solution is injected into areas of your scalp to stimulate new hair growth, and can be combined with micro needling as well.
Fake It
Add some fiber (not to your diet but to your head). Spray products like Toppik come in various colors and create the illusion of hair, as in filling a widening part. The fibers — Toppik uses Keratin, the protein in hair, skin and nails created from a natural wool source — washes out with shampoo.
Hair extensions and wigs. Lady Gaga, Dolly Parton and other celebs do it, so why can’t we? In addition to full-on wigs, there are smaller hair pieces that can fill in the missing pieces, like bangs and crown toppers (which add volume to the top and crown of your head). The wig and extension market is growing due in part to expanding numbers of women with hair loss.
Seek Out Serums and Supplements
Serums are sometimes called “growth activators” and contain various ingredients that might remind you of food, like peppermint oil, coconut water extract, red clover, mung bean and curcumin. They work by stimulating circulation to the scalp’s hair follicles. Studies and opinions are mixed; sometimes it takes trial and error to find one that will work for you.
Supplements containing vitamins and nutrients like iron, collagen, caffeine and biotin are touted to stimulate hair growth (some experts say these will only work for those who are deficient in that specific vitamin or nutrient).
Examine Your Nutrition
Inadequate intake of nutrients like biotin, iron, protein or zinc can be culprits in hair loss. But like everything else in life, a healthy balance is a must: More is not necessarily better. Getting too much of some — like selenium, Vitamins A and E — has been linked to hair loss. A delicate balance, indeed.
Sources:
https://www.aad.org/public/diseases/hair-loss/causes/fall-out
https://www.aad.org/public/diseases/hair-loss/treatment/tips
https://www.aad.org/public/diseases/hair-loss/types/female-pattern
https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/treating-female-pattern-hair-loss
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5582478/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3746236/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6380979/
https://www.toppik.com/faqs#:~:text=A.,closest%20match%20to%20human%20hair
https://www.karger.com/Article/FullText/509905
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2684510/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4387693/
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