
While there’s nothing I can do to take away the pain of childbirth I just might have some information for you today that can bring back a full, vibrant and healthy head of hair. Get your notepad ready and let’s get started!
Everyone loses hair. It happens during your morning shower, while you're blowing it dry, or when you give it a quick brush—and that's normal. Women, on average, lose fifty to one hundred hairs a day. That's just hair going through its cycles, and there will be a new one to replace it. But hair loss may be a sign of a more serious medical condition that needs an evaluation by a dermatologist and possible treatment. Here are nine causes of hair loss and how to deal with them.
Telogen Effluvium: occurs after pregnancy, major surgery, drastic weight loss, or extreme stress, in which you shed large amounts of hair every day, usually when shampooing, styling, or brushing.
Hereditary Hair Loss: known as androgenetic alopecia and, according to the American Academy of Dermatology, is the most common cause of hair loss. The gene can be inherited from either your mother's or father's side of the family, though you're more likely to have it if both of your parents had hair loss.
Alopecia Areata: an autoimmune disorder in which the immune system attacks hair follicles. It affects about 4.7 million people in the United States and occurs equally in men and women. The cause is unknown, but it may be triggered by stress or illness.
Skin Conditions of the Scalp: skin conditions that lead to hair loss include dandruff, psoriasis, and fungal infections such as ringworm. Seborrheic dermatitis causes the scalp to shed its skin, so you'll notice greasy, yellowish scales on your shoulders or in your hair.
Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome: PCOS can cause facial hair growth, irregular periods, acne, and cysts on the ovaries. And while you may experience hair loss on your scalp, you may notice more hair elsewhere on the body.
Lupus: Lupus often causes extreme fatigue, headaches, oral ulcers, and painful, swollen joints. Many people also experience hair loss, which may be mild and occur while shampooing or brushing your hair—or it may be more severe, coming out in patches and accompanied by a rash on the scalp.
Excessive Styling: Too much shampooing, styling, and dyeing can harm your tresses. Heat and chemicals weaken the hair, causing it to break and fall out. Often, it's a combination of treatments—keratin, coloring, and blow-drying, for instance —that does the damage. If the fallout is occurring from external damage caused by styling, it will simply break, and you won't see those club-shaped telogen bulbs at the ends. Do a pull test to confirm if you are styling your hair too much. Take a small handful of about 50 strands, pulls gently, and check to see whether the hair that comes out has bulbs on the ends.
Women can take several steps to improve their hair. Watch the types of food you eat. It may sound silly but it’s actually true. Due to the unhealthy lifestyles we live – synthetic foods, processed foods, genetically modified foods and toxins in the air, our body is constantly battling with toxins and stress which do not encourage a healthy body for hair growth. Hair grows from inside and hair is a fiber that is part of our cells which grows from the subdivision of our cells in the hair follicles. To solve this problem, we need natural healthy food that the body can easily break down for digestion in order for our hair to grow. The foods we need for good hair growth are fresh fruits and vegetables, meat, fish, eggs, nuts and wholemeal foods. We also need lots of water for detoxification, the lubrication of food for digestion, to aid in digestion and to reproduce the cells for hair growth.
According to the Huntington College of Health Sciences, you will most likely experience progressive hair loss after the age of 50. Your hair can also become dry, brittle and thin. While certain topical treatments may help combat this, getting an adequate amount of nutrients, such as selenium and zinc, in your diet is essential for hair health. These minerals work with your body to encourage hair growth and help prevent future loss.
Hair is a bodily tissue and as such, it requires certain nutrients to maintain its health and ability to function properly. The Huntington College of Health Sciences states that if you have a selenium deficiency, it may inhibit your hair's ability to grow, resulting in an overall thinning of your tresses. The College goes on to say that a diet with insufficient amounts of zinc may lead to a compromised immune system that can result in hair loss. Both of these minerals are essential for the health and growth of your hair.
Selenium functions as an antioxidant and helps rid your body of the harmful effects that result from exposure to the sun and the environment. It also enhances your immune system, supporting your body's ability to maintain its proper functions, such as hair growth. Zinc is essential to your immune system as well, and it also has antioxidant properties. In addition, it strengthens your hair follicles and may help prevent certain types of hair loss.