Good Hair & Beauty Diaries - A South African Hair, Beauty and Lifestyle Blog!: Hair Loss

Understanding Hair Loss

By . - Tuesday, September 10, 2024

Hair Growth Cycle Source

Hair Growth Cycle

It may surprise you that a single strand of hair grows for about five years at an average rate of 1cm per month! This is followed by a relatively short rest period, usually a few months, when the hair is no longer growing. At the end of this rest period, the hair is shed and replaced by new hair. This is known as the hair growth cycle.

The average person – both male and female – has 100,000 hairs. Approximately 100 of these hairs are shed each day as part of the hair growth cycle. Similarly, 100 new hairs commence growing each day, resulting in a constant head of hair. Hair shed in this way is natural and is no cause for concern.

Problem Hair Loss

Problem hair loss occurs when either more than 100 hairs are shed each day or when the 100 hairs that are shed naturally each day are not replaced by new hairs. In both instances, hair loss exceeds hair growth, and if left unchecked, will eventually lead to thinning hair.

Genetic Hair Loss vs Behavioural Hair Loss

Genetic hair loss, also referred to as hereditary hair loss, is a natural condition caused by a combination of factors, including genetics, hormone levels, and the ageing process. Almost all men and women will notice this natural form of hair loss or hair thinning as they age.

Behavioural hair loss refers to hair loss and thinning as a result of behavioural factors such as stress, dietary deficiencies, illness, the side effects of medication, and the over-processing of hair. In such instances, the hair’s functioning has been temporarily impaired.

Causes of Behavioural Hair Loss

Stress

Up to 70% of hair can be shed after a major stress episode. Stress can cause nutritional deficiencies, which in turn starve hair of nutrients, halting hair growth.

Environmental Pollution

Environmental pollution places extra stress on your hair and scalp. Pollutants on the scalp may result in an unhealthy scalp environment. The build-up of debris could block follicles, resulting in thinner hair.

Dietary Deficiencies

Certain vitamins and minerals are essential for hair growth. Although these nutrients do occur naturally in various foods, poor eating habits often result in deficiencies that can disrupt the normal hair growth cycle.

Medication

Some medications can cause either decreased absorption or decreased availability of the nutrients necessary for normal hair growth, which can result in abnormal thinning of hair density.

Illnesses

Many infections or illnesses may result in a decreased availability of nutrients essential for normal hair growth. This may result in a decrease in hair density.

Over-Processed Hair

The over-processing of hair utilizing perming, straightening, bleaching, and dying, which usually involve the use of harsh chemicals, can lead to extensive hair damage.

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Are you suffering from hair loss?? Try this!

By . - Wednesday, January 06, 2021

There are some many things that can cause hair loss. Everything from our environment to our personal nutrition can be a culprit for hair loss, not to mention the hair products you may be using. A lot of people are not aware that you may be able prevent hair loss by using natural oils. Natural oils can also help your hair to grow stronger and thicker. Check out some of these oils.

1. Amla Oil – Amla oil nourishes the scalp and promotes hair growth. It also helps the hair to grow stronger and thicker.

Massage your head well with this non-sticky oil and leave overnight for the best results. I would do this twice a week.

2. Coconut Oil – I use this oil several times a week. For the past few years, it is said that coconut oil is the best when it comes to strengthening the hair and the roots. I completely agree since I believe this oil handles heat very well.

Applying coconut oil to your hair once a week before you have a bath is very essential and the best advice for hair loss. You can also mix lime with coconut oil and apply to the hair. Sounds yummy!

3. Mustard oil – I have no idea where I would find mustard oil, but apparently it is amazing when combined with a henna. This combination really helps to combat hair loss. The mustard oil has omega 3 fatty acids which help in hair growth.

To apply on the hair, first, you have to boil the henna leaves and mix it along with the hot mustard oil. Remove the leaves and then massage your head gently with this mixture. I would also try this with henna powder. I'm sure there would be a similar effect.

4. Castor Oil – We all know about Castor Oil. This stuff is truly amazing if you are consistent. Castor oil is also good for skin treatments.

To increase hair growth all you have to do is apply some Castor oil to the scalp of your head and not to the whole length of the hair as it will difficult to remove when you wash. Wrap your head in a towel and let it be overnight. Wash it off the first thing in the morning and you will see the difference in a few weeks when done regularly.

5. Fish Oil – This may sound a little bit weird, but it is said that fish oil, when applied to the head, helps to improve hair growth and is also known as the best hair loss tips around the world. However, the smell of this oil is unpleasant so taking fish oil tablets really helps to increase hair growth. Please take the tablets!

There you have it! Go grow some hair!

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Hair Loss

African women on the shame of hair loss

By . - Tuesday, April 23, 2019

By Aaron Akinyemi - BBC Africa

Image copyrightBANDILE

Image captionBandile says giving her hair a break could have prevented her baldness

Years of styling, braiding, pulling, relaxing and sewing in weaves have left a 31-year-old aspiring South African model with a balding head.

"Every time I took out my weave at the salon, I would have them chemically 'relax' my hair and would then put on another weave on the same day - I was never with my own hair," says Bandile (not her real name).

It is a form of hair loss called traction alopecia, and she was in secondary school when she first noticed her hair was falling out.

But the Johannesburg resident is not alone - the condition affects one-third of women of African descent, according to a study in the medical journal Clinical, Cosmetic and Investigational Dermatology.

A woman has her hair plaited in a salon specialising in afro textured hair — Image captionWomen of African descent are advised to rethink their hairstyling to avoid hair loss

A study three years ago of almost 6,000 women of African descent by Boston University's Slone Epidemiology Center found that almost 48% of respondents had suffered hair loss on the crown or the top of the head - mostly caused by traction alopecia.

Given the topic tends to be shrouded in silence, the true figure may be higher.

"If we all had to take off our wigs at work, eight out of 10 women would have hair issues. It's just something we don't and won't talk about. We are very ashamed of it," says Bandile.

"The doctor told me I'd pulled my hair from the root when I used glue to weave it. That glue wasn't removed and it damaged the follicle root of my hair."

'Misconceptions about natural hair'

Bandile blames the problem on the widespread belief that braids and plaits promote hair growth.

"The misconceptions we grew up with was that a weave is more manageable than your natural hair."

And some estimates suggest women across Africa spend an estimated $6bn (£4bn) on weaves, braids and wigs each year.

"Every woman feels more sophisticated with a weave. Half of us feel like when you've got a long weave and long hair, you look a bit more beautiful and you're accepted better in society," she says.

"Every black woman I know is obsessed with growing their hair long. They put thin plaits on the hairline, which pulls it."

BBC

Most of the women are using the wrong glue for their weaves or maybe they leave their braids or weaves in for extended periods of time"

Susan Magai
Tanzanian hair salon owner

It is a story that Susan Magai, who owns a beauty salon in Tanzania's main city Dar es Salaam, is all too familiar with.

"Most of the women are using the wrong glue for their weaves or maybe they leave their braids or weaves in for extended periods of time," she says.

"We advise our clients to leave weaves in for two weeks but some leave them in for three months and start to lose their hair."

Ms Magai's salon offers a steam treatment she says opens up the pores on the head to allow the hair to grow.

"The steaming is like baking the hair. We use coconut oil and apply it on to the scalp. Then we cover the hair and bake it using a machine," she says, adding that it can take several months before the effects are visible.

According to the Institute of Trichologists in the UK, steaming can be good for African hair because it adds moisture, which makes it more pliable and less prone to breakage. However, the association warns that steaming alone cannot stimulate growth after hair loss.

Going bald after child birth

Bandile tried a peppermint remedy to open up her scalp pores and after that failed, minoxidil - a blood pressure drug - which causes hair growth as a side-effect.

"The hair was re-growing but it was becoming expensive so I left it," says the model who plans to see a trichologist in June about a possible hair transplant.

Women make wigs with artificial hair in a wig shop in a market in Abidjan, Ivory Coast — Image captionThe hair industry in Africa is a multi-million dollar business

UK-based doctor Jumoke Koso-Thomas, who contributes to a blog focused on black women's health, says that while hairstyling contributes to the majority of alopecia cases, for some there is also a genetic component.

For example, hair loss can be a symptom of problems with the thyroid gland or iron deficiency, she says.

"Childbirth, being on the pill and stress can also make women lose their hair," Dr Koso-Thomas adds, though such hair loss can be temporary.

Boitumelo Monyaki, a 39-year-old financial management student from Johannesburg, went completely bald eight years ago - something she believes was linked to the birth of her first child in 2002.

Image captionBoitumelo Monyaki says that her hair is growing again but is still thin

"I've learnt that plenty of women in my family lose their hair after giving birth," she says.

It has been happening since my great-grandmother's time."

Ms Monyaki says losing her hair affected her confidence but she has learned to accept that her hair may never grow back to its previous fullness.

She wants to see more help available for African women dealing with hair loss: "Even salon owners and stylists don't know how to treat this problem."

'Embracing their Africanness'

Dr Koso-Thomas advises that a healthy balanced diet containing vitamin C, vitamin B and selenium, found in fresh fruit and vegetables, helps to nourish the hair root and can help combat traction alopecia - and avoiding stress can prevent hair loss too.

Image captionA vitamin-rich diet helps to promote healthy hair growth

Crucially, she believes girls and younger women need to reassess the way they style their hair.

"We need to be telling them: 'Try not to do too much to your hair. Don't put too many chemicals, don't continually braid your hair. Let it rest, give it time to recover and do different styles at different times.'"

Bandile says it is advice that may gain ground as more women are going for the "natural" look.

"They like their natural hair and are embracing their Africanness," she says, admitting that she is tired of "always hiding under wigs".

"I want to just be able to go to work with a full head of natural hair."

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Hair

Understanding the Basics of Hair Loss

By . - Tuesday, October 20, 2015

The Basics Of Hair And Hair Growth

What is hair? Hair is a made up of a protein called keratin, which is produced in the hair follicles in the outermost layer of the skin or scalp. As your hair follicles produce new hairs, they are continuously pushing out old hairs at an average rate of 15 cm a year. The hair that you are currently brushing, combing and braiding is dead. On average, you will lose around 100 hairs a day, so finding a few hairs in your brush or comb isn’t any reason to panic because approximately 90% of the hair on your scalp is in the growing phase at any given time. There are 3 phases for the life cycle of your hair:

Anagen Phase – Active hair growing that lasts between 2 to 6 years
Catagen Phase – Transitional hair growth that lasts 2 to 3 weeks
Telogen Phase – Resting phase that lasts 2 to 3 months. At the end of this phase you will shed hair and new hair will replace it. The growing cycle begins again.

Types Of Hair Loss

There a few types of hair loss, called alopecia:

Involutional alopecia - Hair thins with age. More hair is in the resting telogen phase and shorter.
Androgenic alopecia – Genetic condition affecting men as early as their teens or early 20’s, and women with noticeable thinning in the their 40’s. Men tend to show this type of hair loss with a receding hairline, and hairloss in the crown and frontal scalp. Women tend to have a general thinning all over the scalp and extensive hairloss in the crown.
Alopecia areata – Patchy hair loss in children and young adults. May result in complete baldness known as Alopecia Totalis. Hair returns for 90% of sufferers in a few years.
Alopecia universalis – hair loss all over the body, including the eyebrows, eyelashes and pubic hair.
Trichotillomania – Psychological disorder mostly seen in children where the person pulls their own hair out.
Telogen effluvium – Temporary hair thinning over the scalp where a large number of hairs are in the telogen resting phase at the same time.
Scarring alopecias – Permanent hair loss due to infalmmatory skin conditiones, hot combs, chemicals and tightly woven and pulled hair.

What Causes Hair Loss?

We actually don’t know exactly why hair loss happens, but there are a few factors that can contribute to it:

Hormones, such as abnormal levels of androgens
Genes, from both male and female parents, may influence a person's predisposition to male or female pattern baldness.
Stress, illness, and childbirth can cause temporary hair loss. Ringworm caused by a fungal infection can also cause hair loss
Drugs, including chemotherapy drugs used in cancer treatment, blood thinners, beta-adrenergic blockers used to control blood pressure, and birth control pills, can cause temporary hair loss.
Burns, injuries, and X-rays can cause temporary hair loss. In such cases, normal hair growth usually returns once the injury heals unless a scar is produced. Then, hair will never regrow.
Autoimmune disease may cause alopecia areata. In alopecia areata, the immune system revs up for unknown reasons and affects the hair follicles. In most people with alopecia areata, the hair grows back, although it may temporarily be very fine and possibly a lighter color before normal coloration and thickness return.
Cosmetic procedures, such as shampooing too often, perms, relaxers, bleaching, and dyeing hair can contribute to overall hair thinning by making hair weak and brittle. Tight braiding, using rollers or hot curlers, and running hair picks through tight curls can also damage and break hair. However, these procedures don't cause baldness. In most instances hair grows back normally if the source of the problem is removed. Still, severe damage to the hair or scalp sometimes causes permanent bald patches.
Medical conditions. Thyroid disease, lupus, diabetes, iron deficiency, eating disorders, and anemia can cause hair loss. Most times, when the underlying condition is treated, the hair will return unless there is scarring as in some forms of lupus, lichen planus or follicular disorders.
Diet. A low-protein diet or severely calorie-restricted diet can also cause temporary hair loa

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