
What’s more disconcerting than realizing you are losing hair? The moment you notice it, the stress of thinking about it will only lead to more hair loss.
Did you know that by the age of 50, half of all women will experience some female pattern hair loss. It’s a vicious cycle, but there are ways to stop, or at least slowdown, your hair from falling out.
- Avoid tight hairstyles.
Go easy on your hair. Your hair dislikes tight styles as much as kids hate having their hair pulled tight.
Avoid cornrows, braids and ponytails and other styles that pull on the delicate, thin hairs along your hairline as these are more prone to falling out. These styles also break the strands and are a common culprit of female hair loss. If you really have to style your hair, make it loose and use accessories that don’t have metal.
- Avoid heat-based hair tools.
Hair straighteners and curling irons? You’re crowning glory is better off without all these tools that use heat to achieve a certain style. You spend hundreds of dollars and several hours to maintain your hair—but you still use tools that only damage it and make female hair loss patterns worse.
The heat from such tools is never good for the hair, as they cause brittleness and breakage. Weak hair leads to hair loss. Instead, you can air-dry your hair or use a blow dryer on the lowest setting.
- Use natural and organic hair products.
If your body can avoid eating junk food, your hair can do away with unnecessary chemicals. The key is knowing what you put in your hair. Read the labels and ingredients, and don’t hesitate to ask your stylist what specific products they use on your hair.
The list of hair-damaging ingredients seems never-ending, but the most common culprits of hair loss include mineral oil, isopropyl alcohol, sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), chlorine, propylene glycol, and parabens.
Stick to all-natural and organic female hair loss treatment. Do a patch test first to ensure you’re not allergic to a certain product.
You can also use essential oils that are beneficial for the hair. Try making your own hair serum with oils like patchouli, tea tree or lavender, which help to prevent hair loss.
- Massage your scalp.
Never underestimate the benefits of a good ol’ scalp massage. Apart from its relaxing effect, massaging the scalp encourages blood circulation to ensure that each hair strand receives enough nutrients, preventing hair loss in the long run.
Massage your scalp using your fingertips, not your fingernails. Do this in circular motions starting from your hairline. Using sunflower or almond oil during massage helps decrease friction and at the same time gives a nice shine to your hair.
It is recommended to perform regular scalp massage on top of your regular female hair loss solutions to bring out optimal results.
- Consult a doctor.
If you perform all these solutions and many more—but you still suffer from female hair loss stress, you might have an underlying condition that causes your hair to fall out so fast. If hair loss persists even if you’re sticking to a safe female hair loss diet—consider going to a dermatologist for medical help.
Your health care provider will do a physical check and history-taking and may order some tests to rule out any conditions that cause extreme hair loss. Depending on the results, medications that target hair loss such as minoxidil may be prescribed.
You can also turn to alternatives such as wigs or hairpieces to cover thinning areas on your head and boost your confidence while you work on other treatment options to grow your own hair back.