Thinning hair or hair loss is both men’s and women’s issues, especially when they’re starting to age. While aging is an inevitable aspect of life, you can prevent or delay certain health issues by modifying your lifestyle and doing the right things essential for your health.
Hair loss is caused by a variety of factors. By identifying these factors and finding ways to reduce them, you’re able to preserve your locks until they turn grey and thin naturally. For now, let’s identify the common causes of hair loss and the ways they can be prevented.
1. Physical Stress
Hair loss is commonly linked to physical stress. When your body undergoes stress, it finds ways to preserve your health, which may often involve a sacrifice in other body parts like shedding hairs.
When physically stressed out, your body responds by shedding hair in three ways. The first one is called Telogen Effluvium. Your hair’s life cycle normally goes through three phases, the growing phase, the resting phase, and the shedding phase. A considerable amount of stress can disrupt this cycle. A large number of hairs get stuck in the resting phase and within a few months, they fall out by just combing or washing them.
The second type of hair loss is known as Trichotillomania or trich. This happens when you have an irresistible urge to pull your hair as a way of dealing with stress and other uncomfortable feelings like loneliness or frustration. You may want to pull the hair on your head or other parts of the body like the eyebrows or eyelashes.
The third type is known as Alopecia Areata. This occurs when your immune system attacks the hair follicles, which leads to hair loss, during stressful events.
But you don’t have to worry when you go through any of these situations because your hair will grow back once you’re able to manage the stress and your body recovers.
2. Emotional Stress
Like physical stress, emotional stress can also take its toll upon your health. Emotional trauma like the death of a loved one, a divorce, or a job loss can shock your system. This can affect hair growth leading to hair loss.
Unlike physical stress that’s easier to manage, emotional stress takes a longer time to heal or get under control. Healing from your emotional trauma through talk therapy, a new hobby or exercise allows you to heal your body as well as regain the health of your hair.
3. Anemia
Anemia is caused by iron deficiency and hair loss is one of its noticeable symptoms. This is a reversible health issue that can be fixed much easier by taking supplements and eating foods loaded with iron such as beans, tofu, potato, whole grains, and dark leafy greens.
4. Hypothyroidism
Thyroid disorders occur when your thyroid produces either too little or too much of a particular hormone. Hypothyroidism is a condition of an underactive thyroid gland, meaning your thyroid isn’t producing enough thyroid hormones. Your body’s natural functions simply go down when you have an inadequate supply of thyroid hormones.
When left untreated for long, this condition affects new hair growth leading to a thinning of hair across the scalp since no new growths are replacing the ones you shed. This condition will worsen because some medication that treats thyroid problems can also cause thinning of hair.
The good news is, this is only temporary. Once your thyroid starts to recover so is your hair.
5. Protein Deficiency
Protein provides the body with many health benefits including healthy hair and skin and providing structures for cells. A deficiency happens when your protein intake isn’t adequate to supply your body’s protein needs. Once your body is deficient with protein, it will automatically go on survival mode and ration protein to the most vital organs.
Because hair isn’t as important as the other organs, it won’t receive a supply of proteins. Without protein, your hair growth shuts down and hair loss occurs within two to three months.
To avoid this scenario from happening, make sure that your body is getting enough protein. Include protein sources such as fish, meat, eggs, and other animal products in your regular meals.
6. Overconsumption of Vitamin A
6. Overconsumption of Vitamin AWhile a deficiency in certain nutrients can lead to hair loss, overconsumption of vitamin A can lead to the same problem. But this can be easily fixed by reducing your vitamin A intake to an adequate level.
7. Heredity
If you’re enjoying perfect health but are having hair loss issues, blame it on your genes. And when it comes to hereditary hair loss issues, gender doesn’t count. Your sister is likely to get bald if some women in your family lose their hair at a certain age, just like the men.
Female pattern hair loss is known as androgenic alopecia, which is slightly different from male pattern baldness. Women dealing with hair loss don’t have receding hairlines. Their part may only widen along with a noticeable thinning of hair. This issue can be dealt with by using over the counter products that help with hair growth. Seeing your doctor is also a big help.
8. Male Pattern Baldness
While heredity contributes to hair loss, your sex hormones can also play its part. You will come at an age where your receding hairline starts to become more noticeable. Some men do the trick of hiding this by growing their hair a bit longer and styling their hair to cover the receding hairline or the spot where the hair starts to thin.
As men age, hair loss doesn’t happen at a onetime big-time event. It does so gradually. Hair growth starts to become finer, thinner, and shorter until the follicles shrink allowing no more hair to grow at all. Men can start to lose their hair as early as their teens. The earlier the hair loss starts, the greater the loss becomes.
However, don’t ignore it when you notice you’re losing hair more than usual. This can be a sign of underlying health conditions like thyroid problems or nutritional deficiency. You can treat natural hair loss with certain hair treatments and oral medications. Others grab the opportunities for hair transplants.
