Tips to Handle Hair Loss in Men

Hair treatments are more advanced now but that’s not to say it isn’t hard to come to terms with hair loss. As a teenager or young adult, your hair becomes a part of your identity for good or bad and when it starts to disappear this can lead to a whole world of self confidence issues. If you lose your self confidence your mental and physical health can suffer as a result.

Balding is associated with a loss of youth, attractiveness and strength. There are many different causes for men’s hair loss, some are temporary and others are permanent, but if you’re one of the many men out there who are unhappy with their thinning scalp you can do something about it. Hair loss solutions are out there ready and waiting.

It’s normal to lose 50-100 hairs from your head every day, this is the natural process of shedding, but when hairs don’t replicate themselves this leads to baldness.

You don’t have to prevent male hair loss, it’s not an illness and plenty of men out there manage just fine with less hair. However, one of the drawbacks other than feeling unhappy with your looks is that a thick head of hair not only looks great it’s also practical. Strong healthy hair helps prevent sunburn and lowers the risk of skin cancer. Men’s hair loss can lead to feeling the heat and the cold, so remember to use sunscreen or wear a hat if you have hair loss to protect against the elements.

If you want to fight male hair loss one of the first steps is to research what's out there and find the best hair loss treatment and the best hair loss products to boost your chances. The options to prevent male hair loss are as follows:

Shampoos

Hair loss men shampoos are a very easy to use treatment for hair loss because they can be simply integrated into your daily shower routine.

Stimulant shampoos such as caffeine shampoos and others that contain natural ingredients support male hair loss by stimulating the follicles to grow new hairs and are popular hair loss products. Hair loss shampoos promote healthy follicles, thick hair and fight against male pattern baldness.

Anti dandruff shampoos can also help stop hair loss by reducing the need to scratch or itch your scalp and damage follicles so it gives your hair a better chance of growing uniformly and vigorously.

Hair Loss Pills

Hair loss pills are also known as hair supplements. They aid hair growth by replenishing your body with the nutrients it needs to prevent thinning and helps to induce and maintain hair growth in male pattern baldness. Hair loss tablets support the appearance of thick, full hair making them a popular men’s hair loss treatment.

Topical Treatments

Topical treatments can boost circulation and metabolism to the hair follicles. Vitamins, minerals, growth compounds and herbs help remove built up sebum and other follicles dampeners to increase the hair’s blood supply and promote thickness in thinning hair.

Low Level Light Therapy (LLLT)

If you're looking for something a bit different but still a great treatment for hair loss then low level light therapy might be for you. Light therapy has been shown to stimulate hair follicles at the roots to improve cellular activity that promotes new, thicker hair growth from the follicles. You can try low level light therapy at home with a laser helmet that applies low level light therapy to the entire scalp. Diodes in a laser helmet deliver light therapy stimulation to the scalp to aid hair growth by energising the follicles. Sometimes it’s called photo bio-stimulation light therapy but either way helmets are easy to operate and can be adjusted to fight your signs of hair loss.

Prescription Treatments

A prescription drug can also be used to treat male baldness by preventing and potentially reversing hair loss in some men, but it comes with the risk of adverse side effects including erection difficulties. Not all men are suitable for prescription hair loss medications as the ingredients can cause a contraindication with current health issues and drugs. The treatments aren't available on the NHS and can be expensive when bought privately.

Surgery

A hair transplant is a surgical procedure that takes healthy follicles and grafts them to the areas of baldness on the scalp. It can help some men with small areas of balding but it's time consuming, expensive and comes with all the risks of surgery including infections and scarring.

Wigs

Wigs have come a long way in the recent year and they aren't the toupees your great uncle used to tape onto his scalp. Today’s wigs use natural hair and are styled to suit your face and lifestyle. However, they are expensive and unless you're ill they're not available on the NHS to treat male hair loss.

Hair loss in men can be tackled using the effective methods mentioned above including natural hair loss treatments such as hair loss supplements or topical solutions both of which can help prevent thinning and reverse hair loss. If you find your hair loss is severe you can combine methods such as taking a supplement and using a hair loss shampoo together.

Here are some other tips to help prevent men’s hair loss:

Don’t cover your head

You might be tempted to shy away and cover your thinning scalp to avoid embarrassment but this will make the problem worse. You need light and fresh air circulating your scalp to encourage healthy follicles. Vitamin D from sunlight stimulates hair growth and a damp shady environment under a baseball cap can introduce musty fungal conditions that are one of the causes of hair loss in men. Get as much sunlight on your scalp as possible but ensure you don’t sunburn or get chilly.

Improve Your Diet

When you eat poorly your body uses the nutrients it receives to support your vital functions like the heart, kidneys and brain first. Whatever's left is used to maintain good hair, nail and skin health so if you don’t eat enough iron, protein and calcium then your hair won’t look its best. If you're receding, make the most of what you have with a rich and varied diet. Eat more oily fish, nuts, low fat meat, cereals, leafy green vegetables and fruits to boost your nutrient level because a good diet is one of the best hair loss treatments for men.

There are many hair loss reasons. They include:

Some medical conditions like anaemia which is caused by a lack of iron from a poor diet or bleeding haemorrhoids means you won’t have enough red blood cells to carry oxygen. Oxygen help cells maintain normal function including promoting hair growth. Autoimmune diseases like lupus or a thyroid imbalance, ringworm and regular medications can all lead to poor hair health too.

Stress

Being stressed causes all kinds of bad reactions in your body. Your cardiovascular system is under pressure plus your mental health and ability to fight off colds will suffer too. This is reflected in your hair. Stress and shocks like bereavement, divorce or a particularly difficult time with your health can lead to hair loss.

Rough Handling

Hair grows from follicles on the head. These are small holes that let go of old hair, so if you treat your follicles roughly your hair will get damaged or fall out of the root of the follicles. Using harsh dyes or hot hair dryers contribute to damaged hair follicles as do tight hairstyles and contrary to what you may think, harsh brushing won’t stimulate your scalp but is more likely to damage or break the hair, so be gentle when brushing.

Smoking

Smoking prevents enough oxygen getting to your scalp because the arteries narrow and thicken in response to nicotine. This prevents enough oxygen reaching your hair and leads to brittle, damaged strands and eventually hair loss. Smokers should consider giving up cigarettes if they want to boost their hair health.

Male Pattern Baldness

The most frequent cause of men’s hair loss is male pattern baldness (MPB).

In MPB hair first recedes on the crown and the temples eventually joining up as more hair falls out to create the familiar M-shaped or horseshoe hairline. In time the front section falls out leaving just hair around the sides and back with an entirely bald scalp.

MPB happens as the hair follicles become gradually smaller, so emerging hair is thinner, weaker and falls out much faster. This can happen in a few months rather the average 3 years lifespan of a hair. It’ thought this happens when testosterone is converted into a substance called (DHT), which attacks the hair follicles. Arm, chest and leg hair remains unaffected by MPB.

If the reasons for your hair loss are medical then you can tackle them through the right medications but more often than not it’s a result of age and genes. Male pattern baldness is the main culprit when it comes to a bald head and wispy hair, but it can be addressed to help you feel more confident about your appearance once more.

The earlier you start the better. If you ignore the problem of hair loss it’s not going to get better. Simply wishing for more hair won’t get you far so you’ll need to take some steps to help yourself. Start stimulating follicles and roots, improve your diet and use hair loss products like shampoos, topical treatments and supplements to improve your appearance. There are plenty of products for hair loss that help stop male pattern baldness but the longer you leave it the more hair loss you’ll see.

Along with mediations, illness, rough treatment, diet, male pattern baldness and age, hair loss causes may be influenced by various forms of alopecia. Alopecia is when hair temporarily or permanently falls out. Here are some of its forms:

• Androgenetic alopecia is also known as male pattern baldness
• Alopecia areata causes patches of baldness often due to a poorly functioning immune system
• Alopecia totalis (no scalp hair)
• Alopecia universalis (no hair on the scalp and body)
• Scarring alopecia occurs when an illness or condition destroys the hair follicle.
• Telogen effluvium is widespread hair thinning caused by illness or shock but it often grows back after six months

Men aren’t generally encouraged to talk about hair loss or the emotional reactions that accompany it. Balding has been the inevitable result of age but this isn't necessarily the case anymore. Men that want to retain their hair and appearance can use modern hair loss treatments to help boost their hair growth and self confidence.