If you’re looking for hair growing tips, remember this. There’s no magic pill that will make your hair grow faster. Or in places where the hair follicles are dead.
That said, you can take steps to manage the hair you’ve got, to maintain its texture and appearance. Healthy hair is a lifestyle commitment, of both knowledge and healthy habits. That may not mean locks down to your waist, and of their original color. But it can mean hair that’s manageable, and pleasing in appearance.
General Hair Growing Tips
The following hair growing tips are a set of guidelines that encourage healthy and vibrant hair:
- reduce smoking, caffeine and carbonated drinks
- eat a healthy, balanced diet, low in fats and sugar
- treat your hair gently and don’t style it too often
- avoid hot water – use warm water instead
- have a weekly scalp massage, to stimulate the follicles
- trim your hair regularly, to get rid of split ends
Gray Hair
Overview: Hair gets its color from a pigment called melanin, which is produced by melanocyte cells in the hair follicles. These cells get damaged over time and lose their ability to produce melanin. In addition, researchers believe that a build up of hydrogen peroxide in the follicles might reduce melanin production, and produce the gray, silver or white hairs that gradually invade the scalp.
While some people go gray as early as the teenage years, most people will, at some point, lose their original hair color. Gray hair is largely genetic, especially when it occurs prior to age 30. Having said this, some lifestyle factors, including smoking and vitamin B12 deficiency can hasten the process.
What you can do: First, recognize that most people eventually get gray, silver or white hair. That’s genetics and part of the journey of life.
If it bothers you, hair dyes are readily available that can hide aging hair. You can also reduce (or better yet, eliminate) your smoking habit, if you’re a smoker, and eat vitamin B-rich foods, including shellfish (clams, oysters and mussels), salmon, liver, cheese and eggs.
Hair Loss
Overview: A potentially traumatic health issue for men and women, roughly half of men experience noticeable hair loss by age 35 and two-thirds by age 50. Several factors can trigger hair loss, including disease, some medications and stress, but 90% of men lose their hair because it’s in their genes.
Androgenic alopecia, or male pattern baldness, occurs when a potent hormone, dihydrotestosterone (DHT) initiates follicle miniaturization. It’s during this stage that the scalp becomes visible, usually at the hairline or the crown of the head. When hair is gone from these areas, the follicles are dead, and the process is complete.
While women rarely experience hair loss with the same severity, roughly half of American women can expect to lose hair throughout their lifetime, although usually later than men. Women lose hair for a variety of reasons, but it’s usually genetic.
What you can do: There are several options to address hair loss in men and women.
If you’re a man with hair loss, and it bothers you, deal with it quick. As a general rule, it’s easier to maintain existing hair than to grow new hair. Visibility of the scalp means that the hair follicles are shrinking, but they’re still alive. Propecia, Rogaine, and more recently, Profollica, are reasonably effective, and well-known hair loss treatments. However, new evidence links the first two treatments to adverse, and in some cases, permanent side effects. Profollica might be safer.
Women with hair loss can also use Rogaine, although it’s rarely needed.
Both men and women can purchase wigs. These usually cost between $600 and $2,000 and while not a permanent solution, can hide hair loss and reduce anxiety.
Hair transplants are another option for both sexes. This surgical procedure involves transplanting existing hair (usually above the neck) to affected areas and costs between $4,000 and $15,000. Hair transplants are a permanent solution, and while they don’t grow new hair, can greatly increase hair coverage and increase self confidence.
Remember, hair loss isn’t just common, it’s likely, especially in men. The hair growing tips in this article may reduce hair loss to a degree. You can’t magically grow new hair, but you can preserve what you have, or redistribute hair, with hair transplants.
Hair growth is about management. Understand what’s beyond your control, and what is. You can’t prevent hair loss, or silvers or grays, if it’s in your genes. You can, however, encourage the hair you’ll keep, or its remaining natural color, to be healthy and vibrant, with proper diet and care. Commit to hair growth with the tips in this article, and you might do just that.
