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Hair Loss: How To Handle It And What Your Options Are
By Steve Glide | February 9, 2010
Hair loss can be a sensitive subject for many men and women. Women especially may have a hard time dealing with a lack of hair since it can be a sign of their femininity. Many women view their hair as their crowning glory, and men may see hair loss as a sign they are growing older before they want to, or that they are less masculine or virile than a man with a full head of hair. If you are someone who is having a hard time dealing with hair loss, you can relax and know that there are different options you can choose from to deal with the situation.
Many men find that they are suddenly dealing with male pattern baldness. It starts innocently enough, with a slight thinning at the top of the head. It may begin with widow’s peaks, where the forehead extends up into the hairline on both sides of the face. Then, one day, you wake up and discover that the hair on the top of your head is completely gone and you are left with a strip of hair around the back and sides of your head. Men often feel that a loss of hair may affect their attractiveness but this is not the case. A woman is more likely to look at a man’s confidence and personality as signs of attractiveness rather than whether he has a full head of hair or not.
If you do have male pattern baldness, a short hairstyle is actually much better at dealing with the problem than a comb over. There have been so many bad jokes made about men with a few strands of hair covering a large bald patch. The last thing you want is for your hairstyle to be the butt of jokes and teasing. You want to show how thick and full the hair is on the rest of your head rather than how sparse and fine the hair on the top of your head has become.
If you are female, you should know that you are not free of hair loss. Many women suffer a loss of hair after giving birth. This is because hair goes through a growth stage, a latent stage where it stays on the head, and a period where the root will die and a new hair will grow. When a woman has a baby, hormones cause the hairs to stay in the head longer, leading to thicker hair during pregnancy. After the baby is born hormonal changes can cause large amounts of hair to grow out. While worrisome, this does not normally lead to baldness. Alopecia is a medical condition that can lead to more noticeable hair loss all over a woman’s head. A woman may also experience hair loss as a result of medical treatments such as chemotherapy or radiation therapy.
There are medicines that have been proven to help stimulate hair growth and can reverse hair loss. It is important to know that men and women need different products. Women can become very ill if they try to use a hair loss medication that is designed for men. It is a good idea to discuss any medication with a pharmacist as they will be able to give you advice about which is best for you. Some people believe that blocked hair follicles can cause hair to stop growing and that by performing scalp cleansing it can unblock the follicles and cause hair to grow back. There is some debate about how effective this actually is.
Plastic surgery can also be used to disguise or reverse hair loss. With male pattern baldness, hair grows thickly in a ring around the outside of the head. It is possible to extract individual hair follicles and transplant them in bald areas of the head. You can actually fill in bald spots over time. It is an expensive process but it can be worth it since it looks so natural. There is also a more radical hair transplant where a flap of skin is transplanted. Hair, blood supply and skin is all transplanted. You need to make sure that if you go with this approach the blood supply is undisturbed so that the tissue continues to grow well. There have been cases of men dealing with gangrene on their heads after a hair flap has died. This is dangerous as well as extremely unpleasant.
Hair creams and surgery will not work in some cases. If you suffer from a medical condition such as alopecia, there may not be enough hair to work with to transplant. If the hair has suddenly stopped growing, creams and lotions may not work. If hair loss is temporary due to medication use or medical treatments, you should look at a hair piece. This can be a toupee designed to cover a bald spot in a man, or a full wig for a woman. A hairpiece should look natural and be comfortable to wear since you will be wearing it for extended periods of time. You can buy human hair wigs that are comfortable and look more like real hair. You should know that they can be expensive, but if you are dealing with hair loss from cancer there are organizations which provide wigs to women undergoing radiation or chemotherapy.
If you are fighting hair loss, you should know about the different options available to you. Whether you choose a cream, hair replacement surgery or a hair piece, dealing with your hair loss has never been easier and the options keep increasing as medical research continues.
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