How to understand and prevent hair loss

Getting worried? Although hair is not essential for survival, the lack of hair can affect one's self confidence in today's environment. And no wonder! We are bombarded with a constant stream of advertisements sponsored by beauty salons, hair care products and hair loss treatments on looking good through a crop of beautiful hair. So if we start to lose hair, we can become really self conscious about our looks.

Our hair become stressed with over exposure to the sun, frequent hair blow drying and repeated perming, rebonding and hair colour treatments. The hair becomes dry and brittle and break off very easily. Tying hair too tightly can also cause hair breakage. Illnesses like low thyroid hormones are additional factors resulting in hair loss.

Hair loss is also known as alopecia. About 100 strands of hair out of a normal scalp of 100,000 hairs are lost daily. Any hair loss of more than 100 strands of hair per day warrants a case for concern.

The lifespan of a single hair strand is about 5 years. Genetic baldness is caused when the body fails to replace hair that has fallen off. Familial history may determine if hair loss is going to occur and women's hair does thin with age as well. Temporary hair loss in post-pregnancy cases and lifestyle changes are additional explanations for hair loss.

A hair loss remedy can be through taking oral pills or through hair loss products applied directly to the hair. Other hair loss solutions include vitamin supplements, herbal cures, scalp treatments and hair transplants. A good understanding of what causes the hair loss in the first place can help us decide what best solution to take.

In the meantime, if you have a family history of balding genes, take preventive hair loss measures. Simple procedures like using a mild shampoo and conditioner, and gentle brushing or combing would really help for good hair structure and a healthier crop!