Every year, especially during the holiday seasons, people are searching for answers on “how to prevent hair loss.” According to The New York Times, Google searches on this topic have increased by 8% over the past 12 months alone.
On average, people lose 50-100 strands of hair a day. Considering that the average human head contains between 80,000 and 120,000 hairs, a loss of 100 strands isn’t too bad.
That is, it’s not bad if you have a healthy head of hair.
For those who are experiencing thinning, male or female patterned baldness, or are simply interested in natural hair restoration remedies, continue reading because we have the solution for you.
But first, we need to understand what causes hair loss in the first place.
Vitamin Deficiency and Hair Loss
What foods are you eating? What does your food lifestyle look like? One very common cause of hair loss is vitamin deficiency.
There is a reason shampoos include Biotin and Zinc on their labels. These are just two of the many well known vitamins essential to hair growth. But, did you know that vitamin D also plays a role in hair production? What about Vitamin C?
Vitamin D is usually known for balancing mood swings and for preventing disease. Many people associate vitamin C with immunity or collagen production. And yes, these are facts about both of these vitamins. But did you know that both of these vitamins are also closely related to the production of hair growth.
In fact, they all are. Many of the vitamins and minerals naturally found in healthy foods stimulate cell turnover and have multiple benefits regarding your hair.
When you fuel your body with nutrient dense foods, a positive side effect occurs– one of which is hair growth. We suggest taking a close look at the foods you eat and incorporating nutrient dense foods into your diet.
Shampoos for Hair Loss
A lot of major shampoo companies claim to be “the best shampoo to prevent hair loss,” but there is a major fallacy within this statement.
Everyone’s hair composition is different. The reasons behind hair loss are different and therefore, a universal shampoo for hair loss simply doesn’t exist.
Unless you have properly identified the cause of your hair loss, finding a shampoo that fits your specific needs will require some trial and error.
If you are looking for a less invasive way to restore your hair growth, Healthline.com has compiled a list of key ingredients that are beneficial to the hair restoration process. These ingredients include:
- Biotin- for reducing hair breakage
- Niacin- promotes fullness
- Phyto-Caffeine- suppresses excess testosterone (known to cause hair thinning)
- Histidine- protects from UVA and UVB damage
All of these certainly help as a supplemental way to prevent hair loss, though they are temporary and overtime, more expensive.
A more permanent and cost efficient solution to hair loss is to look into hair loss treatments.
Hair Loss Treatment
When we say hair loss treatment, we mean remedies that are backed by science and prescribed by professionals.
At an exploratory hair restoration appointment, you can expect a professional to look at your current medication (is hair loss a side effect caused by an underlying disease), conduct a pull test (pulling small sections of your scalp to see the amount of hair loss), blood test, and then a biopsy.
Once the cause of hair loss is identified properly, your treatments can begin. This can range from new medication to injections or transplants.
Treatments are long term and actually stimulate the growth of new hairs. The treatment we have found to be the most effective and safe is PRP Therapy.
What is PRP Therapy
PRP stands for Platelet Rich Plasma. Essentially, the patient’s plasma is separated from the blood cells and then injected back into the scalp. This regenerative medicine strategy is ideal for patients because it uses the patient’s own stem cells to promote healing within the body- aka autologous regenerative medicine.
Platelet Rich Plasma can be used for a variety of ailments varying from musculoskeletal pain to cosmetic surgeries.
So, how do PRP injections work?
Once the patient’s cells are injected back into the body, at the area requiring growth (in this case, your hairline) growth factors within the platelets of the plasma stimulate and enhance the reparative cells your body produces.
Your blood is composed of red blood cells,white blood cells, and plasma. Plasma is most commonly known for its ability to clot, however, the proteins found in plasma are rich in growth factors.
When used on the scalp, the plasma is used to stimulate new hair growth while reducing the fallout of existing hair. Once your plasma is injected into your hairline, there is some after care that will require patience– you need to allow time for your cells to reintroduce themselves and assign a new bodily task afterall!
Usually, treatments require one visit a month for the first 4 months, then trickle down to once every six months until you reach your desired results. This is the same for both men and women.
The greatest part about PRP Therapy is that it is a low risk treatment with very few side effects and even less downtime. Because it requires the use of your own plasma, there is zero risk of allergic reactions and it’s a natural way to aid your body in healing itself.
