Types of Hair Problems

Grey Hair

Male Pattern Baldness

Female Pattern Baldness

Premature Hair Loss

Dandruf

Scalp Aging

natal Hair Loss

As we are discussing types of hair problems now move on to the very common problem on hair, color change into grey. This can be an indication of Vitiligo. Vitiligo is a condition which cause irregular white patches white patches on skin and hairs in affected area also turns to grey or white.
The affected person can go for hair dye but the question is whether hair dye is safe in Vitiligo treatment? Also hair dying could be a used as a temporary solution to vitiligo cure. But I will recommend one should first consult a dermatologist or doctor.

Diet:

A balanced diet is the best solution to prevent hair loss that provides necessary nutrients to your body to have healthy hairs. Whole grains, dairy, protein, vegetables and fruits can be the part of your balanced diet. You should make sure eating high-protein foods especially because hairs mainly are made of protein. High-protein foods can result in hair growth. Anemia is the problem to hair growth and foods containing Vitamin C can prevent this disease to cause hair loss.

Be Gentle With Your Hair:

Always avoiding pulling your hairs and be gentle with them as it may result in damaging your scalp. You should use hairbrush with gentle hands. Though styling is an important thing these days but you should be careful in pulling hairs while making any style. Always select loose hairstyles to prevent hair loss because your hairs can be pulled out by tight updo and tight buns hairstyles. It will put pressure on hair follicles. Always select an option of drying your hair naturally instead of using blow dryer often. Also avoid curling irons, hot curlers, flatirons or crimpers and select natural texture hairs instead of getting them damaged by using these tools.

Hair Oils:

Make a habit of massaging your scalp on regular basis (daily if possible), using few drops of any recommended oil (generally it is rosemary or lavender oil) and your fingertips. It will increase blood flow in the scalp that prevents hair loss. These kinds of hair oils encourage hair growth.

Silica Shampoo:

A number of shampoos are available online and offline (in the market) that work better to prevent hair loss, but be vigilant in selecting a shampoo that contain mineral silica. It is recommended by top practitioners in the world that hair loss can be prevented using silica and it also works well in stimulating growth of new hairs.

Natural Hair Products:

You should go for natural hairstyling products, conditioners and shampoos to take care of your hairs, because using chemical products can result in irritating your scalp. Your shampoo should be formaldehyde-free and sulfate-free. Don’t ever go for hair dying with chemicals because it can result in irritating scalp, allergic reactions and even in hair loss. Therefore herbal products are mostly recommended to prevent hair loss.

Causes:
Both emotional as well as physical stress can result in more hair loss, including stress because of loved one dying or a stress because of surgery.

Effects:
The production of hair actually shuts down by the body especially when a person suffers from any kind of stress. It eventually leaves your hair into a resting phase and hairs forget about growing. This ultimately cause in falling out your hairs.

Types:
There are normally three types of hair loss that are connected by experts with hair loss because of stress category:

- Alopecia Areata:
A large variety is believed to be included in the list of those factors that cause alopecia areata, but possibly all are attached to the serious-nature stress. The hair follicle is actually attacked by the white blood cells in alopecia areata, that don’t allow hairs to grow and eventually they are unable to stay at your head and fall down.

- Telogen Effluvium:
A large number of growing hairs get affected in this condition as they are pushed into a resting phase. This condition generally happens due to any physical or emotional stress situation. The affected hairs eventually start falling after a few months even when you wash your hair or comb them.

- Trichotillomania:
This is an irresistible type of hair loss because of stress because it eventually pulls your hairs not only out of scalp but other areas of the body including eyebrows. This type of hair loss can be because of dealing with any kind of uncomfortable or negative feelings like tension, frustration, fatigue, loneliness, anxiety or stress.

Time Frame:
Hair loss due to stress can take somewhere between 3 to 6 months but generally this period is not restricted to this time period, because, sometimes, heavy hair loss has been noted within weeks if the sufferer is facing an intense stress.

Treatment:
If you are facing a hair loss due to any kind of emotional stress, you should immediately plan visiting your reliable or nearest therapist. You can get some useful tips to mange or at least manage this hair loss or your stress. Some hair loss products can also be helpful in this situation and can result in growing your hairs.

Comparatively warmer weather is just about to come and most of you probably would be thinking about using sunscreens to protect your hairs directly affecting from the sun. Well, sunscreens are relatively good enough in reducing skin cancer because they protect them to get sunburned. But, this is not the case in hairs as if they are dead they can’t develop caner and even can’t blister or burn.

This is also true that the direct sunlight can damage hairs because it has been proved that keratin proteins starts breaking down due to UVB rays of sunlight. It means sun exposure can seriously damage your hairs by weakening them. Studies also proved that UVA rays badly affect on pigments and destroy them. This is the reason that why colored and natural hair are getting faded with the sunlight.

The only way to retain strong, healthy and colored hair even in strong sunlight is nothing but to protect them. Anti-breakage and color extending are the two names that are given to those specifically designed products that protect hairs getting damaged from the sun exposures. Rinse-off conditioners as well as shampoos may also give protection but it can be least protection as they are known as rinsed off products.

Mists as well as hair sprays may also not give you the desired result because coating every single hair is truly a nearly impossible task especially without getting it drenching greasy or wet. Some styling creams, hair gels and leave-in conditioners are even better in this case because the hairs can get coated more evenly through these products. Some popular brands in these categories are Nexxus Dualiste, Kerastase Soleil Cream, Garnier Color Shield and Redken Color Extend.

Putting sunscreen is recommended on your scalp especially if you have hair thinning problem. Gel formulas actually protect hairs from sun but they evaporated more quickly and don’t provide long oily look to your hairs.

Hair loss is a fairly common cosmetic health problem. Men are certainly affected more commonly but women are not immune by any means. The problem can result from extremely varied causes but androgenic baldness, commonly known as male pattern baldness affects the largest number of individuals. A hairloss treatment should must be there to cope this . Hairloss can be extremely distressing and can hence be complicated frequently by unusual emotional stress. A few cases of anorexia nervosa have been associated with hair loss.

There are numerous remedies available but are generally less effective than the expectation of victims.

Androgenetic hair loss is generally believed to be related to an excess of male hormones, but has a strong genetic association as well (i.e. runs in families).

The cheapest and the easiest of all management strategies would be to learn to live with it, but it is hardly acceptable for most of the affected individuals.

The only two drugs that have shown reproducible benefit in hereditary male pattern balding are finasteride and minoxidil, but the former hardly offers any benefit for women even after menopause. It can cause birth defects in addition if used during pregnancy. The choice in women is limited hence only to minoxidil.

Oestrogen therapy has also been used in women with androgenetic alopecia, but the results are not very encouraging. Women androgenetic alopecia need also to be discrete in the choice of their contraceptive pill. They should preferably use a combination pill which contains progestogens of low androgenic activity like norgestimate or ethynodiol diacetate.

Finasteride is usually more effective in restoring hair and is recommended in males only at a dose of 1 mg daily given by mouth. Minoxidil is applied topically to the scalp in the form of 2 to 5 % solution. Both these drugs increase the size of existing hair and halt the further loss of hair, but they can not restore what has already been lost.

Both the drugs need to be used at least for a year before any significant improvement in hair growth can be established. The effect may diminish after withdrawal of medication.

Alopecia areata is generally treated with immunomodulating drugs like such as steroid injections, anthralin. Minoxidil may also be useful, and a 5 percent solution is the most effective. Treatment should not be discontinued until acceptable regrowth of hair has been achieved.

Local application of immunotherapy is being investigated currently. An allergen to the scalp is applied which induces inflammation, which stimulates hair growth. The exact mechanism of action in this treatment is yet to be understood clearly.

Hairloss Treament called Hair transplantation is a surgical technique in which your lost hair is replaced by your own natural and living hair.

The hair is taken from areas of richer growth at the back and sides and transferred to balding regions at the top and front of the scalp. This technique does not increase the total number of your hair. It rearranges their location to yield a better cosmetic appearance.

It must however be realized that

.  Hair follicles are taken from the donor area and implanted in the recipient area. But the important point to remember is that the hair follicle must be implanted proficiently because inadequate technique can result in the permanent loss of that follicle.

.  Transferring hair follicles from one place to the other is a permanent process. The process can not be reversed and a follicle that has been transferred once can not be moved again to any other region.

Pre-surgical evaluation of the client and planning of surgery can hence be far more important than the surgical procedure. It is an acceptable cosmetic benefit that should be goal rather than a successful surgical procedure. The surgical team must clearly know which follicle is to be removed and where to be implanted.

A wig is a bunch of hair artificially designed to be worn on a bald head, which should mimic natural hair. The hair used for this purpose may however be severed natural human hair, but synthetic filaments are cheaper and hence more commonly employed. It is probably the oldest of all camouflage technique for improving cosmetic appearance in hair loss.

An appropriately made and worn wig can be no less than a wonder, but the highest quality wigs can cost you a fortune. They may be very delicate in addition requiring a lot of care for adequate maintenance . The more commonly used cheaper wigs provide not only a poorer camouflage but may offer additional problems in maintenance. Majority of the people who have been wearing a wig would love to do away with it, and the name “Wig” has come to be rated more as a stigma than an effective remedy. The manufacturers have started hence to produce variations of the classical wig. These newer versions are being name differently as well e.g. toupees, Hair extensions, hair weaving, Hair Bonding-Fusion etc.

Wigs are used mainly to disguise hair loss, and they should hence be unnoticeable. A wig that can be noticed, defeats its purpose.

The issues related to wigs can be divided in two distinct groups, namely the adequacy of camouflage and the problems of holding the wig into place.

Adequacy of Camouflage

A wig should not be noticeable to be adequate. Most people wearing wigs have some residual hair of their own and the hair in the wig should not look different from this native hair. It should match in color, texture and style. This is usually hard to achieve with synthetic fibers. But a well matched wig employing human hair may also need to be replaced often. The native hair may change in color (e.g. graying due to aging) or the wig may discolor with the passage of time due to effects of sun exposure. The wig shall become noticeable in either case. Hair in the wig start looking different from the native hair and the situation may necessitate a change of wig. It is obvious hence that an adequate and effective wig is an expensive preposition to start with, and equally expensive to maintain.

The advertisers of wig and toupees generally claim that you can swim with them and take part in similar sports, but that is a half truth. Soap, water salt and chlorine can permanently damage the color and styling of wigs and toupees both.

Holding the Wig into Place

Traditionally the wigs are attached to the scalp with a tape or glue, but they come off relatively easy with embarrassment in public. Many newer methods of wig attachment have gradually emerged as a consequence. Some wigs are attached using Wire Loops which are surgically stitched into the scalp. Serious infections are common and uncleanliness is inevitable resulting in offensive smell. In Tunnel Grafting , skin tunnels are created surgically which can hold the plastic fasteners of the wig.

The moral of the story is that if you cannot afford a perfect custom made wig, it is unlikely to be useful as a camouflage.

Toupees

Toupees are not very different from wigs except that they are meant to cover a much smaller area. But keeping them in place and cleanliness are not easy to achieve.

Other Camouflage Possibilities

In Hair Weaving , the hair is knotted to an artificial base and this base is then woven into the residual native hair. They become loose with growth of the native hair and need to be retied and tightened repeatedly. That cause additional permanent hair loss due to repeated tying and tightening of the wig (traction alopecia).

The cost of hair weaving may be fairly attractive, but the recurrent cost tightening and retying will add to it, and it may turn out to be far more expensive than expected.

Hair Bonding-Fusion differs from hair weaving only on that the new hair are bonded with surgical glue rather than woven. It needs tightening similarly with the growth of native hair, and the cumulative cost of its maintenance is also comparable.

Hair Extensions are woven into the existing native hair and very popular in women who want long flowing tresses of hair. There has to be a lot of native hair far practicable hair extensions. They need also to be tightened and readjusted repeatedly. This method is not considered suitable for men.

Artificial Hair Thickeners are fine powders of matching colors that are sprayed onto the thinning hair mixed in glue. The thickness of the hair is hence increased temporarily, which lasts till the hair is shampooed next time. The hair can however be combed and styled meanwhile. This method is very suitable for thin hair as well as covering up small areas of hair loss like alopecia areata. They are available in a wide variety of colors and you can easily fine one to match your hair. It must however be viewed as a temporary method of camouflage.

Hair loss or alopecia can result from a number of causes, ranging from the commonest androgenetic baldness through severe systemic illness to hair loss because of anticancer treatment. The treatment will obviously differ according to cause which needs to elucidated in every case before an individualized management strategy can be devised. The common types are discussed below.

Male Pattern Baldness (Androgenetic Alopecia)

This is by far the commonest cause of hair thinning and loss in adult males. The condition runs in families and has a strong genetic component to its causation. It is believed to be related to an excess of male hormones in the body (Androgens).
The hair starts thinning usually around the age of twelve, but it may be delayed up to the age of 40. Up to 50 % of the population may have experienced some degree of hair loss before entering into the 6th decade of their life.

The main abnormality in this type of hair loss is a more rapid cycle of hair growth. The hair follicles become smaller and the hair is shorter and thinner. They are shed earlier than normal, giving rise to a sparser and lighter growth.
The presentation can be extremely varied and can range from simply a receding hair line, to loss off hair from the crown and temples, to complete baldness. Very thin scanty filaments may be the only thing that is left in severe cases.

Female-pattern Baldness

It is rarer than the male counterpart, but differs in it appearance and presentation. Thinning of hair is more severe on the front, the temples and at the top. Some hair is generally present at the hair line despite patches of extensive baldness in rest of the scalp.

Alopecia Areata

It is an immunologically mediated disease which affects roughly 2% of the population, without any gender bias. Children and young adults are affected more commonly. The disease manifests as small rounded to oval patches of subtotal to total hair loss. It can affect of the hairy skin of any part of the body including scalp.
The hair follicles remain alive in this condition, and there is always a hope. The hair generally grows back, but such spontaneous remissions may come in months to years.
Milder cases respond better to treatment but advanced cases like total hair loss

Herbal and natural remedies in general and hair loss remedies in particular are a far cheaper option than the modern medicine. They are simple to prepare and you hardly ever need he highly expensive professional supervision for their use.

One may ask the very pertinent question then; “why the alternative medicines are so much less in use”. The answer is simple. The herbal and natural products have to be licensed by drug regulating authorities before marketing if they are to appear in the competitive market of medicine. That involves a lot of money. Humongous amounts need to be spent on pre-launch researches and the like. The industry of alternative medicine simply does not have that big money! Then there are no laws to grant patents for these products to assure the recovery of your investments.

Now we come to most important question. Do herbal hair loss remedies work?

The answer is yes in block letter.

The most important fact about alternative medicine is its solution oriented approach contrary to the problem oriented approach of scientific medicine. Diseases result from a complex interaction of multiple derangement of body system. The alternative medicines are generally combination of numerous ingredients which work on different levels with different intensities and tend to solve the problem at every level. The benefit is hence more complete, more logical and more lasting. Where as scientific medicines are generally single ingredient which targets only a small specific component of abnormality. No wonder their effects are general temporary.

Herbal medicine focuses also on the improving the general health and nutrition of the whole body as well as that of the organ/ component presenting the current problem. That gives it a distinct advantage over other disciplines of cure.

The choice lies open for you to choose.

Follicle 

The follicle contains several layers, and each layer serve a different job. At the base of the follicle is a projection which is called a papilla. papilla contains capillaries, or tiny blood vessels, these vessels feed the cells. The living part of the hair is bottom part that surrounds the papilla or bulb. The cells in the bulb will divide every 23 to 72 hours, and imagine this division is faster than any other cells in our body.


The follicle is further in between two sheaths – inner and outer. The inner follows the hair shaft and ends just before opening of skin. While the outer sheath goes all the way to gland. The sebaceous gland is very important because it produces materials that provides natural conditioner to your hair.

Shaft

This is the dead part of hair. It is made up of hard protein called keratin and it consist of three layers. The inner is medulla and is not present in the hair shaft most of the time. Next comes cortex and then cuticle. It is the cortex that makes up the majority of hair. The cuticle is formed with tightly packed scales. This is where your hair conditioner acts. And from where the color of hair comes from? these are pigment cells that are distributed in the cortex