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your hair on….. Don’t just accept hair loss and baldness take active steps against it... |
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Facts about your hair
• The average scalp has 100,000 hair follicles (varies between dark, blonde, red hair)
• Sadly, no new follicles are formed after birth
• Most people lose between 50-100 hairs a day
• If you notice a regular loss of 150+ hairs a day, it is considered significant hair loss
Male-pattern baldness (androgenetic alopecia)
This is the most common type of hair loss, sometimes referred to as hereditary hair loss. It follows a pattern of a receding hairline, followed by thinning of the hair on the crown and temples. It is caused by male hormones (testosterone) forming by the hair roots into DHT (Dihydrotestosterone) which inhibits hair growth. It enters the hair follicles (the holes in the scalp where the hair come from) and reacts chemically, miniaturising the hair follicle and hair root.
This results in hairs becoming finer and finer, until the appearance of thinning hair is obvious and develops into baldness.
It is a hereditary condition, but there are many effective treatments that can give 85% success rate in reducing hair loss and enabling regrowth.
FACTS about Male Pattern Baldness
• Male Pattern Baldness is the most common form of hair loss and accounts for around 95% of hair loss in men
• If left untreated it is usually permanent
• It is inherited from either parent
• It can start as early as your teens, in your 20’s or 30’s
• Up to a third of all men will develop some degree of Male Pattern Baldness
• By middle age (50’s), around 50% of men will suffer with significantly thinning hair
• Male pattern baldness is triggered by a combination of hormonal activity/ heredity
• Together these cause the hair follicles on your scalp to shrink
• Over time, this shrinking results in shortening of the hair’s growing cycle
• Hair then becomes shorter and thinner, until growth stops
Female-pattern baldness (androgenetic alopecia)
Hair gradually thins, usually from the top of the head. It frequently becomes more noticeable after the menopause and also tends to runs in families, it may be passed down through the genes, but it is still to be confirmed.
Other causes of baldness
Anything that disrupts the various stages of hair growth can cause excessive hair loss. If the follicles remain in the resting phase and then shed, instead of growing new hairs, there will be a noticeable thinning of hair on the head.
Some anti-cancer drugs can interfere with the formation of new hair cells at the root during the growth stage. This usually rights itself, once the treatment has stopped, new hairs will grow back. Follicles destroyed or damaged by skin diseases, burns, or destructive hair treatments can result in baldness in that area.
Some of these can be turned around with the right treatment and by stopping destructive treatments. Severe burns and scarred areas are unlikely to show regrowth due to the damage done to the hair roots.
What to do?
Once you’ve decided that you have the signs of hair loss developing, don’t waste anymore time worrying about it, start taking some positive steps in the right direction…
