Hair care tips

To have beautiful and healthy hair you need some hair care tips:

• Avoid using brush on wet hair; this can lead to hair breakage.
• Trim hair every two months.
• Use some hair protection lotion for your hair
• Dampen your hair brush before brushing, to reduce static electricity.
• Excessive blow drying damages hair. Also chemical treatments can leave hair dry and damaged.
• Avoid hot water for shampooing, as hot water strips out essential oil from scalp and hair and leads to dryness.
• Don’t used tight hat, it can cause the hair to be pulled out of the scalp and can cause permanent damage. When styling your hair, do not make it too tight.
• Use beer for conditioning, it removes residue from your hair.
• Wash hair with mild shampoo to avoid stripping hair of its natural oils.

Reasons for hair loss

You are probably anxious to know why your hair is falling out or thinning. Hair loss can be due to heredity, stress, medicine, aging or some other reason. Some of the common reasons of hair loss:

• Hormonal problems can cause temporary hair loss. If the thyroid gland is inactive, it may result into hair loss. Also hormonal (androgens) imbalance can cause hair loss.
• Excessive mental or physical stress can cause hair loss. Too much stress can result into hair loss.
• Hair loss can be result of some illness or surgery. If you have undergone some surgery or suffering from some disease or illness you can face the problem of hair loss.
• Some chemicals, hair styles can also lead to hair loss.
• Hair loss can also be due to genetic problems. The male hormone testosterone appears to be the main problem and is heavily linked to heredity.
• Some medicines can cause hair loss. This type of hair loss problem is solved once you stop taking these medicines. Medicines used in chemotherapy, birth control pills and antidepressants can cause hair loss.
• Rapid weight loss can also cause hair loss as a side effect.

Types of hair loss

Hair loss is defined as significant loss of hair. There are many types of hair loss, some are temporary and some are permanent. Hair loss can be caused by variety of factors like genetic, aging, medications or diseases. Treatments are specific to the type of hair loss. Major types of hair loss are discussed below:

• Androgenetic Alopecia - It account for 90% of hair loss. This type of hair loss can affect both men and women, though men experience a much degree of hair loss. It is hereditary and is passed generation to generation. With androgenetic alopecia, your hair begins to thin at the temples and at the crowns. Although this type of hair loss is permanent, hterea re ways to treat it.
• Alopecia Areata: It affects both men and women equally and is generally experienced in childhood. Alopecia Areatea is tempropry hair loss disease and is mild patchy hair loss on the scalp. Alopecia universalis is total body hair loss. There is no cure for Alopecia areata, only treatments are available.
• Telogen Effluvium: This type of hair loss occurs due to sudden increase in stress. In this type of hair loss, the hair follicles are shifted into resting phase and the growth of hair is stopped. It can be caused due to stress, poor nutrition, childbirth, sugical operation or some medications. Telogen Effluvium is not permanent type of hair loss, and may continue up to 3 months.
• Anagen Effluvium: This occurs when chemicals damages the hair follicles resulting into patches of hair loss. This type of hair loss occurs generally due to radiation or chemotherapy treatment. It is a temprory hair loss problem.

There are variety of products available in market for hair loss treatment. Treatment totally depends on the type of hair loss.

Summer hair care tips

Summer time has come and soon we will be meeting the peak of these hot months. You need something extra to keep your hair in healthy conditions, as they tend to become dry, frizzy and brittle during these days. Our hairs are not only exposed to heat and sunlight, but also to summer activities like swimming, hiking and camping. Swimming in the pool can damage the hair, as swimmin pool water contains chlorine which is harmful for the hair.

Here are some handy hair care tips for summer:

• Use sunscreen products(shampoo, conditioner, moisturizer) made for hair. Try using moisturizing shampoo rather than the the normal shampoo. If you are out for long and you forgot to use conditioner with sunscreen, you can use regular sunscreen but make sure that you rinse it thourougly when you get home.
• Wear hat or scarf to protect your hair from direct sunlight, but make sure that it does not resctrict circulation of air.
• Make least use of hot items like hair dryers and curling irons.
• Avoid washing your hairs in hot water or hot shower, use warm or cold water instead.
• Go for deep conditioning for preventing hair from dryness and frizziness.
• Deep conditon your hair after swimming to remove chlorine and salt contents from hair.

Hope these tips will be useful to you. With some little attention, you can avoid summer damage to your hair!

Male pattern baldness

Male pattern baldness also known as alopecia is most common type of hair loss in men. Male pattern baldness affects about 60% of men by the age of 35. Baldness is not a disease but totally due to aging, testosterone and heredity. It is caused by hormones and genetic predisposition.

The typical pattern of male pattern baldness begins at the hairline. Baldness occurs when follicles shrink, resulting into thinner and shorter hair. Hormone testosterone present in high level in males is converted to dihydrotestosterone (DHT) by enzyme 5-alpha reductase. DHT has negative effect on hair follicles. It slows down the hair growth, and produces thinner and shorter hair; sometimes it stops hair growth from the follicles completely. DHT level increases with age.

The progression of male pattern baldness can be stopped by reducing the DHT in both hair follicles and bloodstream. DHT blockers can be used to treat DHT level. There are various products available in market to decrease the level of DHT. Propecia Finasteride is the only FDA approved prescription medicine to treat male pattern baldness. It works by inhibiting the conversion of testosterone to DHT, thereby stopping the production of DHT.