Hair fall is a major issue not just for women but also for men. Let's be honest, each time we comb our hair and find a few strands wrapped up in it, our hearts sink a little. We all love our hair and we love receiving compliments about them. But most of the time when we experience hair loss we do not understand the reason behind it. We want to keep our hair shiny, bouncy, and healthy. But that becomes a distant dream because we all lead busy lives, we're always occupied with something or another, we often forget to take care of our own health let alone hair!
It is imperative for you to understand why you are experiencing it in order to be able to control hair fall or find a solution to stop your hair from falling. Do you know what the main reasons are that cause your hair to fall?
Here are a few chief reasons for hair fall
Look up your family tree. Did your dad and granddad too start losing their hair when they were young? Hair loss due to heredity is the most common cause of hair loss. Also knows widely as, male-pattern baldness or female- pattern baldness. It often occurs gradually and in predictable patterns, such as a thinning hair in women and receding hairline and bald spots in men.
Pattern baldness can begin as early as puberty and is most common in men. This type of hair loss involves both (a) hair becoming soft, fine and short and (b) hair thinning.
Imbalanced hormones and changes in hormones cause temporary hair loss. For women, this could possibly happen due to the onset of menopause and pregnancy& childbirth.
Thyroid disease is one among the many health conditions that cause hair loss, in fact, hair loss is also a common symptom of this disease. Thyroid disease is a hormonal condition in which your body is either producing too much or too little thyroid hormone. If your thyroid gland is underactive or overactive, it could cause you to lose your hair extensively. But don't worry usually the falling out of hair caused by thyroid disease is helped with its treatment.
There are certain medical conditions that cause your hair to fall out, these include;
What happens in autoimmune disease? This happens when your immune system fails to differentiate between normal healthy cells and foreign invaders. Your immune system includes bone marrow, thymus, lymph nodes, spleen and the white blood cells. These function to recognize and eliminate foreign invaders. There are about 80-100 autoimmune diseases and can affect any part of your body. One of its symptoms is hair loss.
Alopecia areata is an autoimmune disease caused when your body's immune system attacks the hair follicles. When the white blood cells attack hair follicles, it results in the interruption in hair growth which leads to cause small round patches of hair loss.
Anemia (deficiency of iron in your body) is caused when there are low numbers of red blood cells (hemoglobin) in your body. It usually happens if you are unable to absorb iron properly or your diet lacks iron-rich foods. Also, illness, loss of blood and pregnancy are also the causes of anemia
Many people are not aware of the fact that weak liver is the cause of excessive hair loss. This is because the nutrients are not broken down properly or absorbed by your body. Sometimes the toxins in your body are not eliminated efficiently if you have a sluggish liver. If you're losing hair and cannot fathom why you might want to get your liver checked. Dry skin and excessive hair fall are two of the most common symptoms of a weak liver.
Let us first understand what happens in this disease. IBD is an umbrella term used for a group of inflammatory conditions that your body goes through in the colon and small intestine (Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis are the most common types of IBD) some of the annoying side effects of this disease are hair thinning and hair loss.
Hair loss can also be caused by medications used for arthritis, high blood pressure, depression, cancer, heart problems, and birth control. Basically, if you intake vitamin A in excess it may cause your hair to fall out.
Certain prescription medications include hair loss as their potential side effect. Among such medications are vitamin A supplements, blood pressure medications, blood thinners, antidepressants, certain arthritis medications, gout medications, medications for heart problems, and birth control pills. If your hair fall is being caused because of a prescribed medication, then you can ask your doctor to provide you with an alternative.
It is imperative for you to be healthy, only then will your hair be healthy. Certain Nutritional deficiencies cause your hair to fall out, such as;
Insufficient zinc intake is one of the most common nutritional deficiencies that may cause hair loss. Zinc aids in helping you grow new and healthy hair and its deficiency is mostly the reason for premature hair loss in women as well as in men.
Did you know that 90% of your hair is made of protein? So keep in mind that if your diet is lacking in easily digestible protein, your hair is going to suffer.
Vitamin A is one of the best and the most critical nutrients for the health of your hair, skin, and nails. Deficiency of this vitamin can cause not only hair loss but also acne, poor eyesight, joint pain, dull and pale skin. Also keep in mind that excess of Vitamin A can cause hair fall, so you need to be carefully balanced in its intake.
Iron helps in carrying oxygen to cells all over your body, including your hair follicles. It is vital for your hair growth and regeneration. Iron helps in improving your hair growth. Prevent your hair from breaking, and helps keep your strands strong.
Do you prefer eating low fat and avoid eating fatty foods? Your body needs healthy fats in order to keep your hair and skin healthy. Healthy fats are found in vegetable oils such as rapeseed, olive and sunflower oils. They're also found in nuts, avocados, and seeds.
Sleep plays a very important role in allowing your body to regenerate and repair your hair. Did you know that 40% of women and 80% of men experience hair loss and out of four people one suffers from some sort of sleep problem? One out of four makes an extremely high number of people who are affected by sleep deprivation, be it due to stress, insomnia, or other kinds of sleeplessness.
Variations in sleep patterns have shown to affect your body's immune system's function, physical & mental stamina and hormone secretion. Your hair is very sensitive to changes that take place within your body. Hair loss is almost always the result of an internal disturbance.
Stress as a reason to hair loss should come as no surprise to you. In fact, I believe that you already know how your body responds to stress. But did you know that this is a temporary hair loss (called as telogen effluvium) and that your hair will grow back eventually as your body will begin to balance everything? Sometimes stress also causes sleep deprivation. Stress and anxiety can also cause a sudden loss of large clumps of your hair around your scalp (this condition is known as Alopecia Areata) and on the other hand there is a habitual condition (known as Trichotillomania) caused by stress & anxiety where a person has an irresistible urge and pulls out her/his own hair, sometimes without even realizing it.
We ALL have got our hair styled at some point. Isn't it extremely essential to have perfect hair and perfect clothes during important events such as birthdays, parties, anniversaries, functions? It is not a sin to get our hair styled sometimes. But for people who are in the fashion industry, such as models and actors, getting their hair styled is a part of the job that means they have to get their hair styled almost every day! Now when an excess of nutrients can cause damage to your hair then what do you think the excess of hair styling will do to them?
Hair colouring and using heat do not cause hair loss per se but using heat on your delicate hair will cause them to break in turn damaging the quality of your hair. Heat and chemicals used to bleach, dye, straighten or perm your hair cause the shaft to break off. Which results in temporary thinning of your hair but the good this is that the root of your hair is rarely affected to such an extreme extent that would result in permanent hair loss. However, it is important to keep in mind that the growth of your hair slows down with age and hair damage due to over- styling will be present for a longer time on older people, so if you're in your late 30's you might want to give a second thought before getting your hair styled frequently.
Hair loss can also be caused by various conditions which are related to infection. Conditions or diseases such as;
Don't let the term mislead you, ringworm has got nothing to do with any kind of worms. It is a fungal infection that may occur anywhere on your body. If developed on your scalp, it causes patches of hair loss (it is known as tinea capitis). Have you heard about a condition known as 'Athlete's Foot'? Ringworm is the same thing. It is the same kind of fungal infection that can affect your nails too.
Ringworm usually starts as a small pimple on your scalp and then progressively expands in size, leaving patches of temporary baldness. This fungus gets into your hair fibers in the affected area causing the hair to become brittle and easily breakable, leaving an undesirable bald patch of skin. You must be wondering that if it's a fungus then why do we call it 'Ringworm'? This is because the patches that are caused by it are usually more reddish around the outside with your normal skin tone in the center. This creates an appearance of a worm- shaped ring.
This is an autoimmune condition that affects your skin. What happens is that your skin cells build quicker than they shed, causing an accumulation of unwanted cells. The constant cell buildup and resulting abrasion can cause hair loss among other things such as follicle damage and scarring. This too causes a kind of temporary hair fall, once the condition is treated or controlled, your hair will re-grow.
Either inflammation or irritation of hair follicle that presents redness, pimples, itching or a rash especially on your scalp is called simple folliculitis. It is commonly caused by tight hairstyles (or traction alopecia).
The second most common irritation is a sensitive reaction or allergic reaction to chemicals in your hair products such as fragrances in your shampoos and conditioners, chemical relaxers or styling products that contain alcohol. An infection caused by an accumulation of sticky styling products if not removed properly attracts bacteria and dirt. This plugs your pores and follicles, which further leads to serious secondary infections and of course, hair loss. This kind of infection needs an effective treatment by a dermatologist in order to reverse any severe hair loss.
Medically known as Traction alopecia and central centrifugal cicatricial alopecia or CCCA. Each person has a different scalp and root tolerance to physical trauma and chemicals before it develops a negative reaction on their follicles and hair. As I've already stated above that chemicals, tight ponytails or tight hair styles all contribute to hair breakage and hair follicle damage when experienced or used for a prolonged amount of time. If there is an evidence of infection or pain, I would advise you to talk to your dermatologist and use properly prescribed medications and treatment by an expert so your hair may re- grow.
Hi! I’m Gunjan, a self-proclaimed tea fanatic and intrigued with alternative ways to lead a healthy life. I firmly believe that we should take care of our bodies because it’s the only place we live in.
