Hair loss can affect individuals for a variety of reasons. Understanding the factors that play a role in our hair's health and growth cycle is an invaluable resource for tackling the issue of hair loss.
While everybody has a specific situation or reason for their personal hair loss, there are certain underlying factors that must be addressed in order for hair loss to be reversed and for the follicles to achieve their maximum potential for their current state. It is common for people who are losing hair to suffer from more than one of these conditions and if any of these issues are unaddressed then hair loss will continue to be an issue.
Hormonal (DHT)
Hormones are important regulators that send signals throughout our body that dictate its processes and operations. Key sex hormones play a part in our hair's growth and when problem's arise those very same hormones can cause hair loss. The main hormone that causes hair loss is di-hydro-testosterone, otherwise known as DHT, which is a byproduct of testosterone that binds to follicles and causes them to become clogged in a process that is known as miniaturization.
As DHT accumulates within the follicle, the follicle opening becomes smaller, leading to thinner, weaker and more brittle hairs that are more likely to break and fall out. Over time, this process continues until the follicle is completely miniaturize and no longer grows hair.
The key to dealing with DHT related hair loss is to act early as it is a gradual process. A treatment that is administered early on in the miniaturization process will be much more effective and provide faster and more dramatic results.
Because speed is so important when dealing with hair loss, it is a good idea to track the state of your hair periodically, you can do this by taking pictures of your hair and comparing them over time or by keeping track of hair fall on your pillow or in the shower drain.
This type of hair loss usually manifests in the top regions of the scalp (vertex, crown or temples).
Block DHT And Reduce Hair Loss
Nutritional Hair Loss
One other reason for hair loss that may seem much more obvious is our nutrition. The nutrients that we take in on a daily basis fuel our body and give it the necessary inputs that it needs in order to function at its highest capacity. Without a balanced diet, there are many health issues that may arise and hair loss is no exception!
Neglecting your diet and nutritional needs can very well accelerate the natural hair loss that people experience, fortunately this type of hair loss can be reversed by making better diet decisions.
The most important nutrients for hair health and growth are Vitamin D, Iron, Zinc, and Biotin.
Nutritional deficiencies can exasperate hair loss caused by other factors or it can be the primary reason for loss itself. Usually hair loss from nutritional deficiencies will be throughout the entire scalp and it has the potential to be very impactful.
Optimize Your Nutritional Intake For Hair Health & Growth
Inflammatory Hair Loss
Inflammation is our body’s way of reacting to an annoyance or irritant. When your body detects that something abnormal is going on, like a tear in the skin or excess bacteria in the gut, it releases a large number of white blood cells to the damaged or irritated area to fight off bacteria and initiate the tissue healing process.
To deliver the large amount of white blood cells, your body sends an increased amount of blood and fluid, along with hormones that inform your brain to protect the damaged area. This rush of fluid leads to some characteristic symptoms found in most cases of inflammation, including:
- Dermatitis
- Psoriasis
- Eczema
- Seborrhea dermatitis
- Scarring alopecia
- Alopecia areata
Having localized or systemic inflammation is usually an indication of one of the above mentioned medical conditions, which cause hair loss among other symptoms such as irritation, redness, itchiness and more.