Women and Hair Loss
This blog will discuss 2 of the most of the most common causes of hair loss in women and how to benefit them easily at home. In both cases unlike male hair loss for women and hair loss the symptoms are a general thinning of hair across the whole scalp rather than receding lines.
Women’s Hair loss caused by auto immune diseases is much rarer and will be discussed separately in future. The first is telogen effluvium, in which there is a diffuse or widely spread out shedding of hairs around the scalp and elsewhere on the body. This is usually a reaction to intense stress on the body's physical or hormonal systems, or as a reaction to medication.
The condition, which can occur at any age, generally begins fairly suddenly and can either get better on its own or become a chronic problem. Telogen is actually a natural process and at any one time, up to about 15 per cent of hairs are in telogen. But a sudden stress on the body can trigger large numbers of hairs to enter the telogen phase at the same time. Then, about three months later, this large number of hairs will be shed.
Many adults have had an episode of telogen effluvium at some point in their lives, reflecting episodes of illness or stress. The other common type of hair loss in women is androgenetic alopecia, which is related to hormone levels in the body. There's a large genetic predisposition, which may be inherited from the father or mother. Androgenetic alopecia may affect up to 50% of women over the age of 40.
Research shows that up to 13 per cent of women have some degree of this sort of hair loss before the menopause, and afterwards it becomes far more common - one piece of research suggests that over the age of 65 as many as 75 per cent of women are affected. The cause of hair loss in androgentic alopecia is a chemical called dihydrotestosterone, or DHT, which is made from androgens (male hormones that all men and women produce) by the action of an enzyme called 5-alpha reductase. People with a lot of this enzyme make more DHT, which in excess can cause the hair follicles to make thinner and thinner hair, until eventually they pack up completely. Although neither of these conditions are serious medical conditions they can affect self-esteem and so have negative effects on our lives.
The principal treatments in Modern scientific treatment are the use of the drug minoxidil, hair transplants or scalp reduction using devices inserted under the skin. The disadvantages of the above treatments are that once you start using the drug minoxidil you have to keep using it or the hair will fall out again. This is particularly unnecessary in cases of telogen where the hair loss may only be temporary. The other two methods are very invasive surgical options and are unlikely to be the solution for most people. Given these options it is easy to see the advantages in using natural treatments at home wherever possible. There are several easy ways to benefit these conditions at home. From a traditional medicine perspective the man treatment principal is to improve the quality of the blood and increase blood flow to the scalp.
A particularly good example of this is the sudden hair loss experienced by many women following the loss of blood during child birth. By increasing the quality of the blood results can usually be achieved very quickly.
One of the easiest ways to do this is to use a derma roller or derma stamp on the scalp. The derma roller is a very simple way to dramatically increase blood flow to the scalp and also improve the quality of the scalp through its ability to stimulate collagen in the area. These products are simple and easy to use at home and more effective than simple head massage or inverted postures.
As a bonus the derma rollers can also increase the absorption of any women’s hair loss products used on the scalp. Some studies have shown that they can increase absorption of products through the skin by up to 10,000 times in a single treatment. If using the derma roller with any lotions or tonics for the scalp make sure that the products are safe to use as any listed side effects such as high blood pressure may be increased by the increased absorption.
We recommend using all natural products with the derma roller and only stock products made from traditional herbs that have been repeatedly proven effective in assisting women and hair loss in organic ethanol bases. We recommend you use products similar to this if you are planning to use them with the derma roller. Keep in mind if purchasing a derma roller you will need to purchase one with a needle length of at least 1mm. This is because in the cases of women and hair loss unlike men there is still a lot of hair across the scalp which is often longer. Therefore the extra length is needed to effectively penetrate through the skin and improve the scalp.
Other natural factors that can be used to assist female hair loss include • Eating a healthy diet – this is particularly important following child birth where the body has been quite debilitated. • Reducing stress wherever possible • Doing mild exercise to increase circulation • Adding green tea to your diet. This has been repeatedly shown to improve a variety of types of hair loss. For more information about the Hair Loss treatments follow this link
