Improving Your Hair Health

1. Eat hair-loss fighting power foods

Nutritional imbalances are often the cause for hair loss. Poor diet can lead to macronutrient (proteins, fats, carbohydrates) and micronutrient (vitamins and minerals) deficiencies which in turn can make your body unhealthy and cause hair loss. To support the health of your hair and your overall well-being, add some or all of the foods listed below to your diet:

Thinning Hair Can be Devastating. But Have Calming News.

You're not alone. Up to 60 percent of women experience hair loss at some point. The causes are multiple—genetics, hormones (too much thyroid, not enough thyroid, low estrogen, high androgen), or trauma (an allergic reaction, high fever, stress). The most common, and chronic, cause is a genetic condition called androgenetic alopecia. 

9 Causes of Hair Loss in Women (Part II)

Iron Deficiency Anemia

Women who have heavy periods or don't eat enough iron-rich foods may be prone to iron deficiency, in which the blood doesn't have enough red blood cells. Red blood cells transport oxygen to cells throughout your body, giving you the energy you need.

9 Causes of Hair Loss in Women (Part I)

Everyone loses hair. It happens during your morning shower, while you're blowing it dry, or when you give it a quick brush—and that's normal. On average, we lose fifty to a hundred hairs a day. "That's just hair going through its cycles, and there will be a new one to replace it." But hair loss may be a sign of a more serious medical condition that needs an evaluation by a dermatologist and possible treatment. Here are nine causes of hair loss and how to deal with them.

Hair Loss in Women: Treatments

    When it comes to drug treatments for androgenetic alopecia, women are in a difficult position. While many drugs may work to some degree for certain women, doctors hesitate to prescribe them. What's more, drug companies aren't falling over themselves to test drugs specifically for their ability to prevent and treat female pattern baldness.

Gene Therapy of Hair Loss

    An even more advanced technique for solving inherited hair loss in the future is gene therapy. Gene therapy is the process of changing genes of existing cells in the body, and thereby altering cell function. It is a medical treatment still in its infancy, and there have only been a few recent examples of gene therapy working. But it is a potential future baldness treatment method worth exploring.

Future of Medical Treatments of Hair Loss

    Most of today's medicines for treating hair loss have limited effectiveness. Today's medications prescribed to counteract androgenetic alopecia (genetic pattern hair loss), require ongoing use for the benefits of treatment to continue, and these medications have only a limited effect on some patients. And the cost of drugs that must be taken continuously adds up to a large lifetime expense. In the future, as physicians and scientists gain a better understanding of how the normal hair growth cycle is controlled, and how various disease conditions affect hair growth, new medicines will be developed that more effectively target the cause of the hair loss, and cause fewer side effects as a result.

Women's Hair Loss : Treatment

    Women are in a "Catch-22" position when it comes to drug treatments for androgenetic alopecia. While many drugs may work to some degree for some women, doctors are reluctant to prescribe them, and drug companies aren't exactly falling over themselves to test existing or new drugs specifically for their ability to prevent and treat female pattern baldness.

Causes of Women's Hair Loss

    Dihydrotestosterone (DHT), a derivative of the male hormone testosterone, is the enemy of hair follicles on your head. Simply put, under certain conditions DHT wants those follicles dead. This simple action is at the root of many kinds of hair loss, so we'll address it first.

Men's Hair Loss

    If you're experiencing hair loss, you’re not alone. About a quarter of all men begin to go bald by the time they're 30, and about two-thirds are either bald or have thinning hair by age 60.
While in years past, men were forced to cover bald spots with toupees or comb-overs, medical science now serves up a number of options that can reverse or counter hair loss. There are drugs that promote hair growth and transplant technologies that enable doctors to recreate a full head of hair.