The One That’s Right For You – What to Look For in a Hair Loss Product
Posted By: Healthy Life on March 23, 2008 in Hair Loss Treatments – Comments: No Comments »

If you’re noticing that your hair isn’t as bouncy and luxurious as it once was and is looking a bit dull and thin of late, chances are you’ll linger a bit longer in the health section of the supermarket next time you pop in. With so many products available nowadays, all vying for the position of number one hair loss treatment, you probably don’t realize just how specific a condition hair loss can be. In choosing a treatment or product that’s right and reliable for you, there are many factors you ought to consider.

The fundamental question you need to ask is why are you suffering from hair loss? Before you reach for the newest and shiniest product, it’s best if you consult a professional to get to the bottom of this question. This doesn’t necessarily mean blood tests and scalp pulls – in most cases a hair loss specialist will be able to determine the cause through a simple, non-invasive diagnosis.

There are many factors that influence hair growth and any number of reasons can cause excessive shedding. Some of the main factors are improper diet, medical treatments or surgeries, stress, and genetics – the latter being the most common root of hair loss in women and baldness in men. There are lots of restoration products and treatments suitable but which one or combination of them is best for you is an individual matter that requires individual assessment, advice and specifically tailored treatment.

If your hair loss is the result of the use of an ongoing medication, switching to an alternative drug which has the same benefits may be all that’s needed to correct the problem. If your condition is due to nutritional problems such as anemia or extreme dieting, then you ought to consult a dietitian to address the underlying problem. Supplements for hair are beneficial in these instances to improve and then maintain the condition and health of the hair but in any case, FDA-approved hair loss treatments are the medically accepted remedies for hair loss.

Minoxidil is a topical treatment that was originally considered as a drug used to fight high blood pressure. However, when it had excessive hair growth as a side effect, it was modified and developed to be one of the most effective hair loss treatment products available.

Propecia also has multiple benefits. The main cause of hair loss is a genetic sensitivity to dihydrotestosterone (DHT) which is the same testosterone metabolism responsible for prostate growth. It’s long been proven that Propecia stops hair loss by inhibiting the formation of DHT and recent studies indicate that finasteride (the key ingredient in Propecia) could also reduce the risk of prostate cancer.

These treatments have been through years of clinical testing and scientific studies to prove that they can actually stabilize and reverse the condition, unlike the hair loss products that line the shelves of the local supermarket.

Not all treatments are created equal for everyone, so you really should do the research and consult a specialist. When searching for a hair loss product that’s right for you, the key thing to remember is that there is something out there that will be right for your needs.

For something that has been on top of our head (and all around our body, actually), hair is one of the most ignored things in the human anatomy. The pre-conception that hairs are just tubular assemblages of dead cells made of protein has made some people complacent, or even careless.

Is Hair Dead?

To clarify, hair is dead matter. The material that composes human hair is very common to the integument system of the human body. By integuments, we refer to the human hair, the nails on the hands and on the feet and the small, down like hair that surrounds the human body. What’s the common denominator between all these different appendages?

That would be the protein-like compound known as keratin. Keratin is responsible for making our nails grow back, and is also responsible in continually reproducing our hair.

Keratin is produced in the human body with the help of the most common micro-nutrients around, namely: vitamin C (or ascorbic acid), vitamin A (the ‘eye’ vitamin is also a hair vitamin), vitamin B (all B-vitamins are helpful) and of course, vitamin D (found in milk and dairy products, and produced in small amounts in the skin when sunlight is present).

Hair, as you may already know, is ‘stacked’ into tubes. These tubes, which number in the hundreds of thousands, is the hair that we stroke when we’re happy or sad.

Is Hair Part of Skin?

Is hair part of your skin? If so, why does it look different? The answers to these questions are as follows. Technically, your hair is skin material. However, it moves away from the skin-form and differentiates itself through the tubular structure and its predisposition to make use of melanin; the natural pigment found on the human skin.

The melanin is there to protect you from the direct ravages of the sun’s radiation. That’s why extreme exposure to sunlight causes the hair to shrivel up and lose some of its original color which is a sure sign of sun damage.

An average person would have more than a hundred thousand follicles at any one time. Babies have more than double this number, but eventually lose the extra follicles as they physically mature. If you count the whole body, the number jumps to five million easily.

What is Anagen & Telogen Phases?

You must remember that hair follicles have two distinct, biological phases. The first phase is called the anagen phase. This phase allows the hair follicles to actively reproduce hair strands as they are being shed everyday. If you’re young (and don’t have male-pattern baldness yet) then at least ninety percent of your follicles are in this phase.

What happens when the anagen phase abruptly quits on you? Well, the hair enters the second, unfortunate phase: the telogen phase. The telogen phase is the time when follicles simply wave goodbye, and your hair falls out.

Anyway, the human hair can grow at least half an inch per month, depending on how healthy your scalp is. When your hair reaches more than three feet, the body detects the relative length, and the hair simply stops lengthening itself.