The most common type of hair loss encountered in men is called male-pattern baldness (also known as androgenic alopecia.) This condition leads to hair width progressively decreasing until the hair is completely gone and baldness develops.
According to recent research, the primary cause of baldness (androgenic alopecia) is the androgenic hormone called DHT (dihydrotestosterone.) Normally, this hormone performs a number of important roles in male development, but when the level of DHT in scalp is increased, it binds to the hair follicles preventing them from extracting the necessary nutrients from the blood flow. This makes the follicles shrink and the width of the hair shaft decrease. The width of the hair shaft determines the hair width so as the follicles shrink, the hair becomes thinner as the result. Eventually, the shaft becomes so narrow that no hair can grow at all.
Fortunately, the solution to the problem of hair loss is rather simple -- decreasing the level of dihydrotestosterone in the body usually prevents hair loss (or reverses it if it has already developed.) There are such prescription drugs as Finasteride (Propecia), which reduce the level of DHT and stop hair loss. However, these drugs can sometimes have very nasty side effects (e.g. there are known cases of gynecomastia (growth of breasts in males) and erectile dysfunction among the users of finasteride.) In addition, their effectivity is not universally accepted.
A better solution to the problem of baldness is to use natural treatments. They work in exactly the same way as synthetic prescription drugs, by blocking DHT and preventing it from binding to hair follicles. However, since they contain only natural ingredients, they do not have any side-effects commonly associated with synthetic chemicals. This makes natural hair loss treatments an attractive alternative to prescription drugs.
Saw Palmetto is a natural ingredient, which reduces the level of DHT, thus stopping and reversing hair loss.
Click here for the natural hair loss treatment containing Saw Palmetto as well as nutrients to promote fast hair regrowth.
Peter Davidoff is an expert in natural hair loss treatments.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
Hair Loss Natural Treatment
By Dr John Anne
Isn’t it paradoxical that inspite of the fact that most of us enter the world as bald as a coot, and sometimes even exit that way, we spend our lifetime trying to maintain our hair through thick and thin. All of us lose between 40 and 120 strands of hair a day, depending on the amount of hair one has and its growth cycle.
Hair growth is not a continuous process. Hair follicles have a growth phase (anagen) and a resting, non-growth phase (telogen). Depending on how we treat our hair there will invariably be a variation in the amount of hair loss too. The lost hair is often so quickly replaced that we almost never notice its departure. But If you start to notice an alarming amount of hair on the bathroom sink or on your brush, if your pillow is covered with scads of loose hair, if your part seems to be getting wider or you're seeing more scalp, you've probably got a problem and its time to take some action before you are fated to join the million men and women suffering from hair thinning or pattern hair loss. Hair loss and thinning can lead to anxiety, depression, and lack of confidence and fear too.
Why on earth did it happen to me?
Hair loss begins when a certain enzyme converts the hormone testosterone into another hormone called DiHydrotestosterone (DHT). Androgenetic Alopecia, or hereditary hair loss is the most common cause of hair loss. Roughly put, the more Androgens or the hormones that affect hair loss you have the faster you will lose hair. Men generally lose their hair in a horse-shoe shaped pattern; i.e. they lose hair at the top of their head. Women on the other hand very rarely ‘go bald’. Here hair thinning takes place with the part getting wider and the hair receding from the frontal area behind the frontal hairline.
Telogen effluvium or hair loss due to emotional stress is another major cause for hair loss. What happens here is that hair goes through a synchronized shift from the anagen phase to telogen, the resting phase? This occurs after severe physiologic stress, such as any major surgery, pregnancy, death, divorce, loss of job etc. Usually once the period of stress is over hair growth slowly returns to normal.
Other factors for hair loss include use of birth control pills (relating to the amount of the progestin hormone in the pill), or a reaction to certain medications or even some supplements. Hair loss is also a known reaction to chemotherapy drugs. Thyroid, syphilis and other illnesses will also lead your hair to fall out. Improper care too plays a role in hair loss. Pulling the hair by wearing a very tight pony tail, cosmetic changes like colouring the hair, rebonding too much blow drying , over zealously brushing your hair , can all cause hair to be pulled out prematurely.
Another important factor is diet. Improper diet, iron deficiency, dyes used incorrectly, losing too much weight too soon and menopause can also cause your hair to thin out.
So what can one do to slow down or reverse hair loss?
History tells us of how the Greek physician Hippocrates tried to alleviate his patients' baldness with pigeon droppings. Aristotle tried goat’s urine to remedy his own baldness. Cleopatra prepared pastes for Julius Caesar made of ground horse teeth, deer marrow and charred mice mixed with bear grease. Its unlikely that any of these remedies bore fruit but the effort in that direction continues. One should however not lose hope as today, more than ever, there are many ways to slow down and even treat hair loss to a large degree.
First check if you are missing out on any of the following:
· Adequate intake of vitamins.
· Balanced diet rich in iron and protein.
· Intake of raw vegetables, fresh fruits, salads, green leafy vegetables regularly.
· Washing hair twice weekly with a light shampoo.
· Reduce anxiety, stress and sleeplessness.
· Check for infections of scalp.
If hair fall persists meet a dermatologist or a physician who deals with hair loss and ascertain the reason for the hair fall. No absolute cure for hair loss has been found so far, yet not all varieties of hair loss are untreatable. Drugs known to slow the onset of common baldness, minoxidil (Rogaine) and finasteride (Propecia) are available with prescription. These have gained wide popularity but few of its side effects are still coming to light.
Other Options
Surgical treatments are becoming quite popular as they give a very ‘natural’ look. Hair is transplanted from the back of the scalp from where it grows. This is a very expensive treatment and the can be quite invasive. Experts agree that a diet rich in whole foods and irons help promote hair growth. The food we eat shows in the quality of blood, and, therefore, the hair. For men, it has been suggested that a low fat diet may help decelerate the balding process. For women, hair loss could be a sign of a gastrointestinal problem, which needs to be checked. Lack of protein, or an excess or Vitamin A are a often stated cause of hair loss.
According to Chinese Medicine, hair loss is related to a kidney deficiency. The ancient texts caution that too much sweet or salt could cause hair to fall out. Natural remedies such as Aromatherapy, and natural supplements and herbs such as Saw palmetto oil, Folic acid,Silica biotin, and vitamin B5 are also said to help rejuvenate and maintain thickness of the hair. Ayurveda believes in a holistic approach to alleviate hair loss issues. It is based on the use of plant oils, herbs, as well as meditation, diet, exercise and massage to balance a person's three doshas (Vata, Pitta, and Kapha) that make up one's "Prakruti" (mind-body type). According to this ancient science, oils such as brahmi and Bhrigaraj oil reduce Pitta dosha in the hair follicles thereby stimulating hair growth. Mixing either of these oils with some coconut oil and leaving it overnight is a popular solution.
Everyone's hair loss is different, and with constant care and attention one can reduce hair loss and have a head full of beautiful tresses.
Know Effective Hair Loss Remedy through Natural Treatment. Also read some Home Remedy for other common ailments.
Learn more on Ayurveda – through World's Finest Portal on Ayurveda and Herbal Remedies.
Isn’t it paradoxical that inspite of the fact that most of us enter the world as bald as a coot, and sometimes even exit that way, we spend our lifetime trying to maintain our hair through thick and thin. All of us lose between 40 and 120 strands of hair a day, depending on the amount of hair one has and its growth cycle.
Hair growth is not a continuous process. Hair follicles have a growth phase (anagen) and a resting, non-growth phase (telogen). Depending on how we treat our hair there will invariably be a variation in the amount of hair loss too. The lost hair is often so quickly replaced that we almost never notice its departure. But If you start to notice an alarming amount of hair on the bathroom sink or on your brush, if your pillow is covered with scads of loose hair, if your part seems to be getting wider or you're seeing more scalp, you've probably got a problem and its time to take some action before you are fated to join the million men and women suffering from hair thinning or pattern hair loss. Hair loss and thinning can lead to anxiety, depression, and lack of confidence and fear too.
Why on earth did it happen to me?
Hair loss begins when a certain enzyme converts the hormone testosterone into another hormone called DiHydrotestosterone (DHT). Androgenetic Alopecia, or hereditary hair loss is the most common cause of hair loss. Roughly put, the more Androgens or the hormones that affect hair loss you have the faster you will lose hair. Men generally lose their hair in a horse-shoe shaped pattern; i.e. they lose hair at the top of their head. Women on the other hand very rarely ‘go bald’. Here hair thinning takes place with the part getting wider and the hair receding from the frontal area behind the frontal hairline.
Telogen effluvium or hair loss due to emotional stress is another major cause for hair loss. What happens here is that hair goes through a synchronized shift from the anagen phase to telogen, the resting phase? This occurs after severe physiologic stress, such as any major surgery, pregnancy, death, divorce, loss of job etc. Usually once the period of stress is over hair growth slowly returns to normal.
Other factors for hair loss include use of birth control pills (relating to the amount of the progestin hormone in the pill), or a reaction to certain medications or even some supplements. Hair loss is also a known reaction to chemotherapy drugs. Thyroid, syphilis and other illnesses will also lead your hair to fall out. Improper care too plays a role in hair loss. Pulling the hair by wearing a very tight pony tail, cosmetic changes like colouring the hair, rebonding too much blow drying , over zealously brushing your hair , can all cause hair to be pulled out prematurely.
Another important factor is diet. Improper diet, iron deficiency, dyes used incorrectly, losing too much weight too soon and menopause can also cause your hair to thin out.
So what can one do to slow down or reverse hair loss?
History tells us of how the Greek physician Hippocrates tried to alleviate his patients' baldness with pigeon droppings. Aristotle tried goat’s urine to remedy his own baldness. Cleopatra prepared pastes for Julius Caesar made of ground horse teeth, deer marrow and charred mice mixed with bear grease. Its unlikely that any of these remedies bore fruit but the effort in that direction continues. One should however not lose hope as today, more than ever, there are many ways to slow down and even treat hair loss to a large degree.
First check if you are missing out on any of the following:
· Adequate intake of vitamins.
· Balanced diet rich in iron and protein.
· Intake of raw vegetables, fresh fruits, salads, green leafy vegetables regularly.
· Washing hair twice weekly with a light shampoo.
· Reduce anxiety, stress and sleeplessness.
· Check for infections of scalp.
If hair fall persists meet a dermatologist or a physician who deals with hair loss and ascertain the reason for the hair fall. No absolute cure for hair loss has been found so far, yet not all varieties of hair loss are untreatable. Drugs known to slow the onset of common baldness, minoxidil (Rogaine) and finasteride (Propecia) are available with prescription. These have gained wide popularity but few of its side effects are still coming to light.
Other Options
Surgical treatments are becoming quite popular as they give a very ‘natural’ look. Hair is transplanted from the back of the scalp from where it grows. This is a very expensive treatment and the can be quite invasive. Experts agree that a diet rich in whole foods and irons help promote hair growth. The food we eat shows in the quality of blood, and, therefore, the hair. For men, it has been suggested that a low fat diet may help decelerate the balding process. For women, hair loss could be a sign of a gastrointestinal problem, which needs to be checked. Lack of protein, or an excess or Vitamin A are a often stated cause of hair loss.
According to Chinese Medicine, hair loss is related to a kidney deficiency. The ancient texts caution that too much sweet or salt could cause hair to fall out. Natural remedies such as Aromatherapy, and natural supplements and herbs such as Saw palmetto oil, Folic acid,Silica biotin, and vitamin B5 are also said to help rejuvenate and maintain thickness of the hair. Ayurveda believes in a holistic approach to alleviate hair loss issues. It is based on the use of plant oils, herbs, as well as meditation, diet, exercise and massage to balance a person's three doshas (Vata, Pitta, and Kapha) that make up one's "Prakruti" (mind-body type). According to this ancient science, oils such as brahmi and Bhrigaraj oil reduce Pitta dosha in the hair follicles thereby stimulating hair growth. Mixing either of these oils with some coconut oil and leaving it overnight is a popular solution.
Everyone's hair loss is different, and with constant care and attention one can reduce hair loss and have a head full of beautiful tresses.
Know Effective Hair Loss Remedy through Natural Treatment. Also read some Home Remedy for other common ailments.
Learn more on Ayurveda – through World's Finest Portal on Ayurveda and Herbal Remedies.
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Hair Loss
By Stephanie McIntyre
To understand the nature of hair loss it helps to understand the nature of hair. The process of balding and of thinning hair is directly related to the way in which the body produces it. The production of hair is a complex mechanism involving a number of bodily processes.
All hair grows from hair follicles. There are more than a thousand of them on any one head, and over 100,000 hairs on average. Follicles also, with the exception of the soles of the feet, palms of the hand, mucous membranes and lips, cover the entire body. They are just below the skin's surface and are made up of the follicle shaft, papilla and sebaceous glands.
Hair is produced when new, living cells are created at the base of the follicle, which pushes older cells up through the shaft. These older cells die and harden, and this forms the hair shaft. This hair shaft that's made of dead protein cells is covered by a scaly cuticle, which is composed of little plates.
Each hair has cycles of growth and rest. Usually, only about 80% of hair follicles are actively growing at any one time. The other 20% are in the rest, or dormant stage. The longer growth cycle lasts anywhere from 2 to 6 years. The much shorter rest cycle begins after this period, but lasts only a few months. On average, the lifespan of a hair is from 2 to 7 years.
Hair grows about ½ inch a month: more than this in summer and less in winter. After the resting phase the hair is shed as a new shaft is started in the follicle and it pushes the old hair out. This loss and re-growth cycle goes on for our entire lives. We lose from 50 to 100 hairs a day, but this doesn't make a dent in the total. With male or female pattern baldness, more hairs than the normal 50 to 100 can be lost and unfortunately, not replaced. So when significantly more hair is shed than is replaced, the condition we call hair loss or balding occurs.
Hair gets its color from melanin, which is the same pigment that colors the skin, and also the retina. Two forms of melanin are responsible for the color in hair: eumelanin and pheomelanin. Pheomelanin is the pigment type that causes hair to be red or blond, eumelanin causes black, brown, and gray colored hair. It's the little bit of eumelanin in hair without any other pigment that causes hair to be gray. Hair shafts of different colors tend to be on the head in different amounts. Red hairs average about 90,000, brown and black hair about 110,000 and blond hair around 140,000 hairs on the average head.
There also tend to be differences in the average thickness and growth rate of men and women. Men tend to have thicker heads of hair, and their hair usually grows faster.
There are other disorders of the hair besides male and female pattern baldness, though they aren't usually life threatening. Hirsutism is excessive hair growth, usually in women, in places where hair doesn't normally grow. Though not dangerous, it does have cosmetic and possibly psychological and emotional implications. Its cause is an increased level of male hormones.
A healthy diet is important for the maintenance of healthy hair. And there are vitamins that important to hair health, too. Vitamin A helps keep hair dandruff free, and helps hair stay soft and pliable. Vitamin B1 and B6 are essential for the retention of hair: if deficient in them you can start to lose it. Vitamin B12 helps the hair acquire nutrients. And Vitamin C manages hair color and maintains healthy growth.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Stephanie_McIntyre
To understand the nature of hair loss it helps to understand the nature of hair. The process of balding and of thinning hair is directly related to the way in which the body produces it. The production of hair is a complex mechanism involving a number of bodily processes.
All hair grows from hair follicles. There are more than a thousand of them on any one head, and over 100,000 hairs on average. Follicles also, with the exception of the soles of the feet, palms of the hand, mucous membranes and lips, cover the entire body. They are just below the skin's surface and are made up of the follicle shaft, papilla and sebaceous glands.
Hair is produced when new, living cells are created at the base of the follicle, which pushes older cells up through the shaft. These older cells die and harden, and this forms the hair shaft. This hair shaft that's made of dead protein cells is covered by a scaly cuticle, which is composed of little plates.
Each hair has cycles of growth and rest. Usually, only about 80% of hair follicles are actively growing at any one time. The other 20% are in the rest, or dormant stage. The longer growth cycle lasts anywhere from 2 to 6 years. The much shorter rest cycle begins after this period, but lasts only a few months. On average, the lifespan of a hair is from 2 to 7 years.
Hair grows about ½ inch a month: more than this in summer and less in winter. After the resting phase the hair is shed as a new shaft is started in the follicle and it pushes the old hair out. This loss and re-growth cycle goes on for our entire lives. We lose from 50 to 100 hairs a day, but this doesn't make a dent in the total. With male or female pattern baldness, more hairs than the normal 50 to 100 can be lost and unfortunately, not replaced. So when significantly more hair is shed than is replaced, the condition we call hair loss or balding occurs.
Hair gets its color from melanin, which is the same pigment that colors the skin, and also the retina. Two forms of melanin are responsible for the color in hair: eumelanin and pheomelanin. Pheomelanin is the pigment type that causes hair to be red or blond, eumelanin causes black, brown, and gray colored hair. It's the little bit of eumelanin in hair without any other pigment that causes hair to be gray. Hair shafts of different colors tend to be on the head in different amounts. Red hairs average about 90,000, brown and black hair about 110,000 and blond hair around 140,000 hairs on the average head.
There also tend to be differences in the average thickness and growth rate of men and women. Men tend to have thicker heads of hair, and their hair usually grows faster.
There are other disorders of the hair besides male and female pattern baldness, though they aren't usually life threatening. Hirsutism is excessive hair growth, usually in women, in places where hair doesn't normally grow. Though not dangerous, it does have cosmetic and possibly psychological and emotional implications. Its cause is an increased level of male hormones.
A healthy diet is important for the maintenance of healthy hair. And there are vitamins that important to hair health, too. Vitamin A helps keep hair dandruff free, and helps hair stay soft and pliable. Vitamin B1 and B6 are essential for the retention of hair: if deficient in them you can start to lose it. Vitamin B12 helps the hair acquire nutrients. And Vitamin C manages hair color and maintains healthy growth.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Stephanie_McIntyre
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