Is Hair Loss Associated With Vitamin Deficiency
May 16th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
by The Alternate Medic
Naturally a daily supply of Vitamins and Minerals contributes to good health.
In their search for the answer to what causes hair loss, some people are questioning if hair loss is due to vitamin deficiency, with the hope of discovering one treatment or another. What they might not understand is that in most cases, it is completely normal for hair to thin and fall out. Permanent hair loss, or pattern baldness, occurs when genetics prevent new hair from developing to replace the ones that fall out.
It must be recognized that there are other cases when hair loss can be a sign of a serious medical problem. This condition is known as temporary hair loss, because genes did not predetermine the loss of hair. A major cause of temporary hair loss is vitamin deficiency.
Are There Vitamins That Prevent Hair Loss?
There are many different vitamins that are extremely important to maintaining a healthy head of hair. Hair loss could be caused by a vitamin deficiency in any of these nutrients. All that is necessary to reverse the temporary hair loss is following a proper diet!
Vitamin A is known to promote the healthy growth of both cells and tissue in various parts of the body, including the cells in the scalp and hair. Therefore, a vitamin A deficiency could lead to hair loss and dandruff, especially if the deficiency occurs for an extended period of time. If you note this happening to you, to get the vitamin A you need, we recommend that you consume lots of leafy vegetables, colorful fruits, liver, eggs, and fish oil.
Another area where hair loss can be caused by a vitamin deficiency is when you are lacking in one or more of three B vitamins. These three B vitamins (more specifically folic acid, vitamin B6, and vitamin B12) are important to the creation of red blood cells and hemoglobin, which carries oxygen to various body tissues, including the hair cells. This vitamin deficiency can cause hair loss due to the reduced blood and oxygen supply to the hair. Vitamin B can be found in: chicken, fish, whole grains, beets, and orange juice.
Also being deficient in biotin could cause hair loss. Though deficiency in biotin is rare, it has been observed in some cases. Biotin is found in select foods, it is also produced in the intestines by good bacteria. Most people who eat a healthy diet would never experience hair loss as a result of deficiency in this vitamin. However, if this does occur, vitamin supplements can be taken.
Is There Anything Else You Should Know?
The following vitamins and minerals are important to the growth and maintenance of hair. These vitamins and minerals include zinc, iron, vitamin C, and copper. If you do not receive an adequate amount of these vitamins, make sure to look for food sources rich in these vitamins and minerals or begin taking supplements.
It May Be As Easy As That
If you are suffering from hair loss, you are no doubt willing to go to any extent to find a cure. For some, it’s as easy as making changes to their diet. Wouldn’t it be great if everyone could simply change their eating habits to get the results they want to see?
Modern medicine is moving so fast and new medicines and treatments are appearing almost daily, so it is not to hard to conceive that some of the hair loss treatments available today do actually work in stimulating re-growth of the hair follicles where once there was none. Each individual may react differently to different treatments so along with individual research it may require you to try various treatments before finding the one that works for you.
The Birth Control Pill and Hair Loss
May 15th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
by C. Gray
The FDA approved the use of the birth control pill back in the 1960’s for the purpose of preventing women from becoming pregnant. Women quickly discovered it was more advantageous to prevent pregnancy by taking a pill. They also found that it regulated their periods, minimized cramping experienced during menstrual periods, and also cleared up acne on their faces.
Birth control pills have the same type of natural hormones that the body already makes; estrogen and progestin. These hormones play hold a very important role by providing balance to women’s hormonal system. You should always expect some type of side effect result from the use of birth control pills.
With those who take the birth control pill, several side effects can be experienced. These side effects can be mild to severe and can result in a host of problems. One of the many side effects of birth control pills is hair loss. Definitely consider this if you have a family history of female pattern baldness.
You should talk to your doctor and find out what your options are in relation to taking birth control pills, as some birth control methods have less hormone levels in the actual dosages. Typically,your doctor will recommend that you start on a low dose birth control pill. Your doctor may even recommend a non hormonal birth control pill for those with a family history of hair loss.
If hair loss does run in your family, consider staying away from these methods of birth control:
-Hormone injections - These injections contain progestin to prevent you from ovulating at all.
-Skin patches - To be worn on your body thisand it continually releases the hormones progestin and estrogen into the body at a low dose
-Implants - The implants contain progestin which can release a continual dose into the body to prevent you from ovulating.
Monitoring you hair loss while using birth control is important in determining when an alternative birth control is needed in order to stop the hair loss. Discuss all the alternatives with your doctor prior to starting any kind of birth control regimen. If hair loss is not genetic in your family, the birth control pill may be tolerable without the side effect of female hair loss.
If you suffer from female hair loss be very critical about the birth control types that are available to you.
Causes on Why Women Have Hair Loss Revealed Here
May 9th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
Concerning the aspect of health, taking care of your hairs is essential. If individual attention is not provided your hair will soon become damaged and quite possibly you may start experiencing hair loss. While hair loss is a problem for both men and women, more women have been reporting some sort of hair thinning or hair loss than ever before. There are many aspects that can actually impact how hair grows, and whether it grows at all. Genetics, Hormones, Medications or Drugs, the Environment, and Nutritional Deficiencies are some of the main factors contributing to hair loss.. Also, women’s hair styles, perms, highlights, and hot oil treatments can cause sufficient damage. Poor hygiene can even play a significant role in experiencing an unnatural amount of hair thinning and/or hair loss.
Let’s start by discussing what factors can cause damage to hair follicles. There are several different kinds of factors that contribute to hair loss and damage They include, but aren’t limited to, women’s hair style, perms, highlights, hot oil treatments, and poor hygiene. Each factor can devastate your hair and may result in irreversible damage. Hot oil treatments, for example, are beneficial for women who are plagued with dry hair and scalp but the hot oil used can cause the hair follicle to become inflamed. This can then lead to scarring and permanent hair loss. Also, the piggy tails you put your child’s hair up into is actually pulling their hair too tight to the point of hair loss. It can cause scarring of the scalp and thus leave the hair follicles permanently damaged. This damage will then block the hair from growing forever.
Brushes used can also cause damage to your hair. That is mainly due to no one having the same texture of hair. Therefore, when you brush your hair with a flair styler brush it may cause your hair to become frizzy, contain tangles or even split dead ends. Using a cushion brush with healthy hair there isn’t any static or frizz that usually occurs with unhealthy hair. As long as split ends are not a problem for you, a vent brush is a great choice. One set back is that if you do have split ends it is possible to worsen damage to your hair resulting in frizzy and unmanageable hair. Combs are also good to use with hair that isn’t too damaged.
Now let’s examine additional causes that are involved with hair loss
1. Your Genes
Genetic research has had many advances giving scientists more tools in which to learn more about the genetics of hair loss. Heredity plays a dominating role when it comes down to problems with hair growth. Direct relatives experiencing thinning or balding hair mean that you can expect to have the same issues with your hair.
Even with your genetics planned out, there are still plenty of options available to you that can help prevent hair loss. Just work out a preventative treatment plan to keep the hair you have and even grow new hair. Have this plan up and going before any real effects begin to show.
2. Hormones
Another reason people lose their hair is their hormones. One thing though is that it isn’t hormones themselves but more when hormone levels are out of sync. Pregnant women are the perfect example of hormone levels going through fluctuations. That is because during pregnancy their hair is becomes thicker and more beautiful. Then once they give birth, hair begins falling out in excessively. Hormones during this period are completely out of alignment. Of course the hair thinning stops once hormone levels are back to normal.
Some people only need to check and adjust any hormonal imbalances to help prevent hair growth problems. The one thing to undertake before anything else is to talk with your doctor concerning your specific case of pattern baldness. He or she will be able to do some blood work and see if any imbalances or other possible medical justifications, that may cause hair loss, can be ruled out. Also, any causes found by your doctor will quite often stop once it is properly treated.
3. Prescription Medications or Drugs
Although illegal drugs will definitely do damage to your hair, including sudden hair loss, a number of legal prescription drugs may also cause sudden hair loss in some women. Research has denoted certain drugs that tend to cause sudden women’s hair loss (where the hair falls out in clumps or patches), which include Nexium, Accutane for acne, most anti-coagulants containing Wafarin, most Anti-convulsants (typically given for epilepsy), and most anti-depressants.
This reaction is rare, but experiencing abnormal hair loss or thinning while on one of these types of medications, you may want to contact your doctor. Your doctor will decide whether to reduce your dose or change your prescribed medication entirely if they believe it has a direct link to the hair loss you are experiencing.
4. The Surrounding Environment
Environmental pollution is a prominent factor in the production of estrogen in the body. Until you decide to leave the big city and settle out in the green countryside, you will need to improve your body’s capability of neutralizing pollution in which to prevent it from causing the production of estrogen. Ultimately you will need to detoxify your liver in which to achieve this. It is very much recommended to do a liver cleanse regularly and there are plenty of cleaners in which to choose from at many health food stores.
5. Nutritional Deficiencies
Nutritional deficiency is also another reason some people lose their hair. Hair loss is one of the symptoms of anorexia and bulimia because these disorders are characterized by a lack of nutrients. However, your deficiency does not need to be severe for you to notice a difference in your hair. Even a slight nutritional deficiency can lead to thinning hair.
This is why you will find supplements on the market designed just for hair health. Even if you feel you’re not deficient in any nutrients, these supplements can help accelerate growth and strengthen your hair. Another thing to consider regarding nutritional deficiencies is what kind of food you are eating. Food these days have a lot of chemicals that can cause the production of estrogen, which can also have an impact on whether or not you experience hair loss. Making sure to incorporate a low carbohydrate/high protein diet in your daily regime, will help combat hair loss. Liver detox will also help to neutralize the chemicals found in food, but a much better way is to avoid chemicals in food by eating more organic foods.
In order to take care of your hair you may need to use a more natural approach to avoid follicle inflammation or damaged hair and scalp. You can use such things as lemons for hair highlights, olive oil for moisture, aloe vera for a conditioning. You can purchase all the pure natural products at any health food store. However, if you think your hair is thinning more than usual or you start noticing more hair loss than normal, the very first thing you should do is see your physician to make sure that it isn’t caused by any medical conditions. Along with ruling out medical causes for your hair growth problems, you can discuss the best treatment option for your individual case. There are many different ways to treat hair loss, including with natural supplements, topical formulas, prescription medication, hair transplant and more.
Factors Causing Female Hair Loss
May 8th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
Discovering that you have a hair loss problem is a big deal. Most women are self conscious of their appearances and the thought of going bald is something that you may not be ready to accept. But it is like discovering your first wrinkle on your face you are now faced with it so learn how to deal with it the best way you know how. At first thought, you may assume that your hair loss is due to your age. But as women get older there are several different conditions that can develop over time that may cause hair loss or hair loss may be a side effect of something in particular. Either way you need to learn what is causing your hair loss and if you can stop it or just learn how to live with it.
Moderate hair loss can be normal. The stage in which hair grows is an ongoing process. Typically, hair will grow steadily anywhere from 2 to 6 years at a rate of less than one inch each month. Over time hair will fall out and another hair will start to grow almost instantly. This gradual change of hair loss is something that pretty much goes unnoticed. However, a sudden loss of hair could be a sign that something is wrong. The cause of female hair loss in excess is can’t really be figured out too easily due to there being so many factors being involved in causing it.
The first thing that you need to realize is that most of the time your hair loss can be stopped and new hair will grow back naturally once the problem is found but occasionally you may need to seek help to assist your hair in growing back. No matter what you have several options and it won’t be long until your hair is growing.
Your doctor can help you determine what is causing your hair loss and help you correct the problem. Once the problem is corrected your hair loss will stop and hair will start to grow back in the thinning areas.
Some common factors leading to female hair loss include:
Illness or Surgery when women may have received anesthesia. The anesthesia used has the capability to cause temporary hair loss. This can usually be over a period 3-6 months after the surgery.
Hormonal imbalance. Once the hormonal imbalance is determined you can start to grow your hair back.
Childbirth. Over the duration of childbirth, a woman’s hormones are usually quite unbalanced and this can cause excessive hair loss. But once they back in alignment women will not have experience any problems growing your hair back.
Medications. Some medicines that are used to prevent pregnancy, treat cancer, thin the blood, or some antidepressants have the possibility of triggering female hair loss. Stopping the use of these medications should allow a woman’s hair to grow back in.
Infections. A woman’s scalp could possibly have problems with a fungal infection and that could be a cause of female hair loss. After proper treatment to remove the infection is used, her hair will stop falling out.
Whether you have just given birth to your baby or you haven’t changed a thing in your life, if you notice a considerable amount of hair loss you will need to see your doctor who will probably recommend a blood test to find out if
- you have Hypothyroidism
- An infection
- Any vitamin deficiencies or too much of a certain vitamins.
- If you have a hormonal imbalance
Checking blood work results will let the doctor know if the hair loss in a woman is something that he or she can treat. Just like a fever, female hair loss can be a symptom of something being wrong in a woman’s body that needs to be addressed. Regardless of what is causing female hair loss, it can be treated and doctors can provide treatment options. Don’t let female hair loss get out of control before seeing a doctor. Women should to go as soon as hair loss becomes apparent.
Let’s Try Homemade Hair Care Products
May 8th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
Women are usually very particular with the look of their hair because it is what people will notice straight away and they will remember someone’s hair the most. That is why we want our hair to look as good as it possibly can most of the time. Most of us have drawers that are stuffed with curling irons, combs, brushes and flat irons.
Why are the bathroom shelves full of sprays and gels and the bathtub is full of hot oil treatments, shampoos, and conditioners? No doubt that we hope all these products give us spectacular hair. Do they really work because if not you are wasting lot of money. However by using homemade Hair Care products you can save money and have beautiful hair. In addition, most homemade hair care ingredients are already in your kitchen.
Everyone knows that a head full of shiny hair is a sign of peaceful soul and a healthy body. Glossy hair is what we usually seen when people are walking out of a salon. There are a few sprays and conditioners on the market that can help return your hair to that fresh-from-the-salon glow, but they cost money and several of them make your hair feel tacky to the touch.
Actually if you are using too much leave in sprays they will weigh down your hair while using too much of shine enhancing sprays will make your hair appear oily and unwashed rather then the shine that you are hoping for. However by using homemade hair care products not only you can save money, but they can restore your hair natural shine.
Beer
Beer has been historically used in homemade hair care product to add shine to a person’s hair. Not surprising several of the best hair care company’s include beer in the shampoos and conditioners that are later sold at salons due to their effectiveness at making hair shiny. These hair care companies had done some research and found that the hair becomes shiny not really because of the beer but rather the hops (a beer ingredient)which added the glow.
Using Tea
If you still turnoff by the thought of beer strong smell and feel reluctant to try, tea is another ingredient which you have at home that has been used successfully as handmade hair remedy that adds shine to your hair. How to do it? First, boil the water, then give the teabag time to seep. Pour it over your hair after the homemade hair care product has cool completely.
A Second Cup of Espresso
If you are an espresso drinker but are not a fan of both tea and beer. You still can have shiny hair with homemade hair care using a cup of espresso but it has to be extra strong then pour it over your head, of course without sugar or milk. To achieve the best results pour the espresso on dry hair. 20 minutes later rinse it off.
