May, 2011
The Best Hair Loss Treatments
Studies have shown that in the hair loss remedy market, ninety nine percent of available treatments and products have been proven to be unsuccessful. For those who suffer from hair thinning and loss, this is an incredibly frustrating issue to have to deal with. More than three million dollars are spent every year in an attempt to cure hair loss. What is more, most people who suffer from this disease also have to deal with the emotional ramifications posed by losing their hair. Both men and women suffer from this disease; however, there are different treatments suggested for different sexes.
- For men, hair loss can feel directly related to their vitality and affect self-esteem tremendously. Hair transplant surgery has advanced over the years to produce completely natural looking results. However, if going under the knife is out of the question for you, the best hair loss treatments to go with will be approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Proscar/Propecia (or Finasteride as it is generically known) is only one of two drugs on the market today to have been clinically proven to treat male pattern baldness. The other relatively successful drug is Minoxidil (generically known as Ioniten). For the small percentage who finds no reaction from Proscar/Propecia, Minoxidil is generally recommended as an aid to an already established hair care routine.
- Female pattern baldness differs greatly from its male counterpart. While there are nine different remedies on the market (including Proscar/Propecia and Minoxidil), doctors are reluctant to prescribe these medications that affect the entire internal system. The reason for this is because these treatments could lower certain levels of the hormone androgen. Among the nine FDA approved remedies, the best hair loss treatments being prescribed to women are all topical. A topical treatment containing two percent of Minoxidil is said to be ultimately prescribed to the majority of women suffering from female pattern baldness. Estrogen/Progesterone in cream form is the second most prescribed treatment with Nizoral/Ketoconazole coming in third.
Whether you are a male or female sufferer of pattern baldness, there are clinically proven, prescription FDA approved remedies for your hair loss. While there is not one cure all meant for everyone, with a little patience and guidance from doctors who specialize in this field you could find something that eases your suffering. There may be some trial and error involved in finding the best hair loss treatments, but in the meantime there are plenty of support groups both online and in person who find comfort in sharing personal experiences with other sufferers.
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Fighting With Your Gray Hair
One thing that happens to signify that we are not as young as we use to be is when we suddenly notice that we have a gray hair. Where there is one, there are going to be others. Though most people start to gray just a bit in their thirties and are mostly gray by their fifties or sixties, there are some that have graying hair at a very young age. There are actually far less gray haired people in the world today, but not because we have learned to avoid it. We have just learned to love dying our hair, and we do it often.
Though it has not always been that way, almost all dyes for hair you can find in the stores and online are good for gray hair coverage. If you have any type of gray in your hair, any dye that you buy is going to cover it for you, at least until your roots start to grow in. For some, that can be as soon as two weeks after they have dyed their gray hair. Because it is unsafe and unhealthy for your hair to dye it every two weeks, you have to then choose a root dye so that you are only dying the new hair that has come in gray. That should help you stay colored, but it can be a pain to keep up.
Gray hair can sometimes blend in with other hair colors and look better than an all over dye job. Gray can have a shimmer to it, though not all grays do, but if you like that, it can add some sparkle to your hair if you leave it in small amounts. If you have a lighter hair color, you could add some blond highlights to cover some of the gray, and the rest will blend in nicely. Not only will you not look old, you will have a unique look to your hair that not all people can achieve. You also save yourself from a boring, flat hair dye job that you can get from some brands.
Men do not have to worry about gray hair as much as women, though some of them do. The sad fact is that gray will actually lend itself to making a man look more distinguished and even more handsome whereas it does not seem to do the same for women. Men can blend away their gray hair if they wish, or they can blend away just some of it for a salt and pepper look or a small graying near the ears. Gray is different between men and women, meaning that men don’t have to worry as much about what gray means to their overall allure, so to speak.
Some people simply have to accept that they have gray hair and they have it at a young age. Some get it as young as 16 or 18 years old. They learn at a young age to either live with it or they learn how to take care of it. Some younger folks like the novelty of having a full head of gray hair at a young age, and they allow it to go natural. At this age, the hair is often flowing and healthy, which gives it a nice look. If you start to gray very early, consider going with it, at least for a few years, and you can really stand out in a crowd.
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3 Easy to Find Products to Help Reduce Thinning Hair in Women
The most common types of hair loss in women are:
- Female pattern thinning- also know as Androgenic Alopecia
- Telogen Effluvium -also known as Diffuse Alopecia
- Alopecia Areata – also known as patchy hair loss
The term Alopecia features in all these conditions, that’s because Alopecia actually means `loss of hair’. Each type of hair loss has an additional name to clarify it. It is important also then to understand that these conditions are different, have different causes and therefore need different regimes to treat them. This answers the question why some products do not work for some sufferers.
To recognise the difference between the conditions the sufferer can obtain a diagnosis by consulting and seeking the advice of a professional. Alternatively looking at the variation in the different conditions may also be helpful as some of these conditions have characteristic signs that can guide you.
Female Pattern Thinning / Androgenic Alopecia – The most common type of hair loss referred to as thinning hair. This type of hair thinning is termed as pattern thinning because the loss only affects the top region of the scalp much like male pattern baldness but to a lesser degree, unlike the male version however, women tend to retain their frontal hairline and don’t bald completely. This is a genetically inherited condition. Genetics gives the sufferer a predisposition to the condition and then its hormones that actually affect the hair growth. The genetics determines how the hair thinning will progress.
3 easy to find products for this type of hair thinning:
- In the early stages of Female pattern thinning hair growth stimulators have proved to be effective. The main product medically approved is Minoxidil. This treatment lotion can be purchased in 2% or 5% strengths. The brand name is Regaine or Rogaine. Manufacturer’s instructions should be followed results vary and can take 6-12 months.
Nutritional supplements to improve hair growth can be helpful in the very early stages. A multi vitamin specifically designed for optimum hair growth is the best choice. - In more advanced stages hair replacement is probably a better option such as wigs and volumisers. Volumisers are attachments like wigs but smaller and can be attached to existing hair to add volume if a full wig is not yet necessary.
- Telogen Effluvium / Diffuse Alopecia – This type of hair loss is fairly common and is mostly associated post pregnancy. However, studies have shown that low Iron stores can be a contributing factor to many cases. So much has this been the case that a nutritional supplement has been produced to increase Iron stores.
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