Fighting Hair Loss With These 5 Tips

Hair loss is caused by a natural androgen called dihydrotestosterone, or DHT for short. DHT is a byproduct of testosterone and is initially responsible for making a man who he is in the first place. The deepening voice, the increase of muscle mass, and (ironically) hair growth, are all caused by DHT. However, as men get older DHT levels decrease and therefore, so do their hair follicles. The age where this begins to happen can vary from man to man. It all depends on how genetically or hereditarily predisposed they are to male pattern baldness. 1 in 4 men begin to lose their hair by the age of 21, and half of men over the age of 50 have experienced some amount of hair loss due to DHT.

But don’t worry. There are plenty of ways to combat hair loss without dramatically changing your lifestyle.

Focusing Your Diet

Deficiencies in your diet can be a major factor in hair loss. If you were to go as little as 2 to 3 months without the necessary nutrients to stimulate follicle growth, you could start to notice thinning hair. Maintaining a high protein diet can help this immensely. Protein is the fuel in your organic tissue that allows your body to not only grow hair, but to also to make it stronger and better looking. Foods like eggs, seafood, chicken, and soy are just a few of the options on the table to help you keep your hair in your head where it belongs.

Maintaining Hydration

Keeping your body hydrated is, of course, a huge benefit to your overall health, but it also helps you prevent hair loss. Water keeps your circulatory system regulated, and your circulatory system is what nourishes your hair follicles. If you can manage to drink about 2 liters of water a day (that’s 68 ounces), you’ll see a number positive changes to not only your hair, but also your skin, your overall energy levels, and your metabolism.

Limit Stress Levels

Unmanaged stress can lead to so many mental and physical ailments. Whether it’s your job, your family, or your relationship, there are plenty of stressful situations that you can face in your everyday life; the culmination of which can lead to three different types of early hair loss. Telogen effluvium is when your follicles go into a resting phase, and eventually fall out. Alopecia areata happens in cases of severe stress and actually causes your immune system to attack your hair follicles. Trichotillomania is a mental disorder where you pull out your own hair as a way to deal with stress.

Regardless off your diagnosis, it’s important to be aware of your stress levels and make sure you’re giving yourself the time to decompress. It might be sports, music, exercise, or whatever works for you! Just make sure you find your own way to take a breath and relax.

There’s A Pill For That

If male pattern baldness is in your genetics, then eventually it’s going to catch up to you. So sometimes you may need an extra edge. Fortunately, there is now a generic form of Propecia available called Finasteride. Finasteride works to block the DHT in your body and stop hair loss in its tracks In some cases it can even regrow the hair that’s already gone! Men’s health brands like Hims even make Finasteride available online. So no awkward doctor appointments or embarrassing pharmacist visits are necessary.

Take Your Hat Off

It’s been proven that simply wearing a hat won’t directly cause hair loss, excessive hat wearing can do damage to your hair over time. The sweat you create while wearing a hat in warm weather, or while playing sports, can soak into the material of your hat, eventually causing irritation to your scalp. Wearing your hat too tightly cal also cause unnecessary friction with your scalp and lead to additional irritation. Again, these issues won’t specifically cause you to lose your hair, but keeping your scalp clean is one of the most beneficial things you can do to protect the health of your hair.

The best thing about losing your hair is that it doesn’t happen overnight. You have time to notice the changes in your hairline, and make whatever lifestyle choices necessary to make it happen. Fortunately, many of these tips are beneficial to your overall health as well, so you can put these habits in place now, before anyone else begins to notice that your forehead looks a little bigger than it did last week.