Everyone loses a small amount of hair each day, but you may notice that it worsens during certain times of the year. Seasonal hair loss is a very real thing, leading to more excessive shedding during different times of the year.

Many people find they shed more hair during the winter season. So, why is this and will you definitely lose more hair this winter.

Understanding seasonal hair loss

Seasonal hair loss is a temporary form of hair loss and thinning, caused by the changing seasons. There have been a number of studies which have shown seasonal hair loss exists and it tends to occur most in autumn.

When you start noticing more hair coming out on your brush in the lead up to winter, it is most likely caused by a change in season. According to research, the hair tends to be thickest in the spring. Then, it starts to shed more in summer, peaking during autumn.

While it isn’t possible to prevent seasonal hair loss completely, there are things you can do to minimise it. Understanding its causes is key to treating the problem. So what exactly is the reason behind seasonal hair loss?

Could it be down to a Vitamin D deficiency?

There are a number of theories as to why the hair sheds more in the winter season. The first is that the dry air causes the scalp to lose a lot of its moisture. This leads to a dry scalp, which makes the hair more prone to breakage.

Another theory is that it is down to a lack of Vitamin D. We get most of our Vitamin D levels from the sun. As natural sunlight is hard to come by in winter, it reduces our Vitamin D levels, potentially leading to a deficiency. Vitamin D is one of the crucial macronutrients required by the hair to keep it healthy. It helps to produce new hair follicles. Therefore, if it is in short supply, you may not grow as much new hair as you would during the summer.

These are just some of the potential causes of winter related hair loss.

Ways to prevent losing more hair this winter

If you are concerned about losing more hair this winter, there are a few things you can do to prevent it. Topping up your Vitamin D levels is a good idea, especially if you aren’t getting out as much during the day.

You should also aim to ramp up your hair care routine. Avoid having hot showers and use leave in conditioners once a week to keep its moisture levels topped up. These are the top prevention tips you can follow, but they don’t guarantee you won’t shed more than usual.

Overall, seasonal hair loss is a thing and it can cause you to start seeing excessive shedding in winter. However, if you are experiencing hair loss, it is best to seek a diagnosis from a specialist. There are a lot of different causes of hair loss and it is crucial to identify the exact cause before starting treatment.

Book a consultation with a hair expert at Hair Loss For Women, or call us on 07884 808552 to check whether seasonality is the only cause of your hair loss.

If you could walk into a clinic one day and leave an hour or so later with a flatter stomach and the promise of hair growth, with 50% more hairs on your head in a few month’s time, would you do it?

It sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it. But according to a piece in the Mail, it might not be far off from becoming reality.

It’s all about the stem cells

Stem cell treatment for hair loss has long been considered to be the ultimate goal. But while research into the subject continues apace, we have yet to see a stem cell hair loss treatment become widely available.

However, a team of researchers in Spain performed a 2017 study using a treatment called Kerastem. This treatment harvests stem cells from fat taken from the patient’s abdomen and uses them to boost hair growth.

The study showed some pretty impressive results, with one patient seeing the number of hairs on his head almost double during the trial. In early 2020, an American doctor performed another trial of the treatment, which also produced promising data.

The treatment is now available in the US (although final trials have not yet been concluded), priced at the equivalent of £8,000.

An unofficial study

Intrigued by the sound of this new treatment, journalists from the Mail on Sunday took it upon themselves to launch their own study. A year ago, it recruited both a male and a female candidate for treatment, both suffering from significant hair thinning.

According to the Mail, three and a half months after treatment, both patients saw their hair volume increase by 20%. After a year, the volume of hair at the crown, temples and back of the head had almost doubled. Pretty impressive stuff!

A few caveats

Before you go beating down the door of your nearest hair loss clinic to demand this new treatment, there are a few things to consider.

The ideal candidate should be at the early stages of hair loss. While it will still work on people whose hair loss is more advanced, it’s not going to provide you with the luscious locks you might hope for.

You also need to be carrying at least a couple of extra pounds around your stomach. Experts advise they need to be able to remove around ‘a coke can’s worth’ of stomach fat in order to harvest the stem cells.

Whilst the treatment does look very promising, it is worth noting that final trials have not yet been concluded. When a procedure involves a degree of surgical intervention, it is always a good idea to be certain that it is safe as well as effective.

If you’d like to explore some hair loss treatment options that are already available, why not contact us today to book a consultation with one of our hair loss experts.

There’s no denying this has been a tough year for families with young children. The pressures of working from home, whilst simultaneously trying to homeschool and entertain multiple children, has impacted on our mental and physical health.

But while we’ve talked before about the impact Covid and lockdown-related stress is having on adult’s hair, we haven’t discussed is the effect it is having on children.

One little girl, nine-year-old Tabitha from Totnes in Devon, holds lockdown and the lengthy school closures early this year to blame for her recent hair loss.

Alopecia areata

The specific type of hair loss Tabitha suffers from is known as alopecia areata. This is an autoimmune condition which causes patchy hair loss across the scalp and sometimes on the body too.

Tabitha first noticed a patch of her hair was missing earlier this year, just a few weeks after the start of lockdown. By the end of June 70% of her hair was gone and she decided to take drastic action.

Along with her mother, Becca, Tabitha decided to shave her head and, in doing so, raise money for the charity Alopecia UK. Between them, they raised nearly £500 to fund research into alopecia areata. But Becca also donated her hair to The Little Princess Trust, a charity that makes wigs for children undergoing chemotherapy.

Stress and hair loss

Alopecia areata is an autoimmune disease, where the body’s immune system decides to go into attack on normal, healthy cells. In this case the hair follicles. But we still don’t know for sure what causes it.

Many alopecia sufferers report that the condition has affected them at times of particular stress in their lives. Other hair loss conditions, like telogen effluvium, can be triggered by stress. So Tabitha’s hypothesis, that her hair loss was caused by the stress of lockdown and not seeing her friends, might be right.

It is worth reminding yourself, though, not to get into a vicious cycle where stress and hair loss are concerned. As Amy Johnson from Alopecia UK explained to the Mirror:

“It is important to remember that while stress may be a trigger, and we just don’t know, hair loss can be a difficult thing to go through and it’s OK to feel stressed about it.”

Children and hair loss

Hair loss is difficult at any stage of life, especially in extreme forms like alopecia areata. And it can be particularly hard for children. In Tabitha’s case her mum decided to support her by shaving her head as well, providing a sense of solidarity.

If you’re worried your child might be losing their hair, for whatever reason, there are people you can talk to. Either, to help try to resolve the hair loss, or to provide emotional and psychological support for both you and your child.

For more information, please call us on 07884 808552.

We all lose hair on a daily basis, and generally this is just a normal phase of the hair’s natural growth cycle. You can expect between 50 and 100 hairs in a day to fall out, while some more grow in. And a few strands clogging up the hairbrush in the morning would not normally be a cause for concern.

However, when it starts to be a bit more than 100 hairs a day, or thinner patches start to become visible, it can become quite worrying. Even more so when you are still in your 30s. We all expect to lose a bit of hair as we get older, but not before you’ve even hit middle age!

Sadly though, hair loss among women in their 30s is all too common. So if you’re one of the unlucky ones, you can take some comfort in the fact that you’re not alone.

We’ve rounded up three of the most common reasons women lose their hair in their 30s.

1. Female-pattern hair loss

We’ve all heard of male-pattern baldness. But unfortunately women don’t get off scot free either. In fact, androgenic alopecia (that’s the official name) affects up to 40% of women by the age of 50.

It’s unusual for it to become pronounced in your 30s, but not unheard of. In fact, if you’re losing your hair and don’t fit into any of the categories listed below, this is the most likely reason.

How to recognise it: female-pattern hair loss tends to present as a diffuse thinning across the whole head. So rather than losing all the hairs in a particular area, as happens with men, you may not notice the loss until it becomes quite extreme.

2. Postpartum hair loss

This is a particularly common form of hair loss among women in their 30s. When you are pregnant, your body experiences a surge of hormones which help to keep you fit and healthy, and that includes your hair.

You may even notice that during pregnancy your hair looks thicker and shinier, and you are losing fewer hairs than usual. “Great news!” you think to yourself. Sadly, though, what goes up must come down. Once the baby’s out, all those hairs that have been clinging so gleefully to your scalp for nine months will start to fall.

How to recognise it: this kind of hair loss tends to be a bit more sudden than androgenic alopecia, and hair sometimes falls out in clumps. However, the good thing about postpartum hair loss is that it is almost always temporary, so often the first thing you notice is actually the new hairs coming in. A ‘fringe’ of shorter strands growing around your hairline is a sure sign that the worst is over.

3. Stress-related hair loss

In these days where women are expected to have it all, stress-related hair loss is becoming more and more common. It’s often women in their 30s, that are juggling small children with a career, who suffer the most. Not to mention the additional stressors of trying to get on the property ladder. And it’s not uncommon to be dealing with aged and increasingly decrepit parents at this age too.

How to recognise it: Like postpartum hair loss, stress-related hair loss tends to be a bit more obvious than female-pattern baldness. A large number of strands are shed every day, and sometimes as much as double the natural hair loss amount. Another tell-tale sign is a thinning around the temples.

If you’re concerned about hair loss and would like to book a consultation with one of our hair loss experts, please contact us today at our Birmingham (0121 809 2747) or London (0208 159 9067) clinic.

Low carb diets have slowly risen in popularity over the past few decades. Whether it’s the Atkins plan, to the ketogenic (keto) diet, or the blood sugar diet, most weight loss plans require you to either reduce your carb consumption, or in some cases cut them out altogether.

Removing bread from your life might seem like a step too far for many of us. But what if we told you that by following a low carbohydrate diet, you could lose weight as well as reduce your hair loss?

Too good to be true?

Well, for most of us, yes it probably is. But if your hair loss is linked to a condition like polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) or type 2 diabetes, then this could be for you.

Low carb diets generally work on the principle that in lieu of burning off carbohydrates to use as energy, our bodies will start to burn off fat instead. But there’s another factor at play when it comes to PCOS or type 2 diabetes patients.

As you probably know, diabetes is caused by a lack of insulin, or an inability to use it properly. In type 1 diabetes, this problem is present from birth, but in type 2 diabetes it often occurs later in life, and can be a result of certain lifestyle factors.

What you may not know is that PCOS can also lead to insulin resistance. And both PCOS and diabetes can cause hair loss.

How can a low carb diet help with insulin resistance?

When the body converts carbohydrate into energy, it forms glucose, and the body then needs to use insulin to take the glucose to the cells. So limiting your carb intake can help to deal with insulin resistance, but only for as long as you keep up the diet.

However, some studies have found that by following an intermittent fasting plan, where you lower your carb intake for one or two days a week, you can improve insulin resistance in the long term.

So if I have PCOS or diabetes, will a low carb diet reverse my hair loss?

Probably not, but it could certainly prevent any further damage from being done.

Diabetes-related hair loss usually takes the form of alopecia areata, which tends to be temporary anyway, so you may well find that restricting the amount of carbohydrate you eat does help you to maintain a full head of hair long term.

With PCOS, the hair loss is usually related to hormonal surges, and tends to be permanent, so you may need to investigate other options if you want to improve the appearance of your hair.

However, it certainly seems like following a low carb diet might not be the foolish fad it once appeared to be.

For more information about treating either PCOS or diabetes-related hair loss, please call us on 07884 808552!

It seems like every week a new ‘all natural’ remedy for hair loss is being announced, with Facebook ads insisting that this or that essential oil is the real deal when it comes to preventing hair loss and stimulating new growth.

But the latest big thing in the world of natural hair loss treatment comes from an unlikely source: bee pollen.

Pollen? Isn’t it honey that’s supposed to be the wonder product?

It’s true that honey has always taken centre stage when it comes to bee-related produce (with beeswax coming in a close second, of course), but while honey can work wonders for a sore throat or a patch of inflamed skin, most of us would shy away from using it topically on our hair for obvious (sticky!) reasons.

Bee pollen, however, has been touted as a miracle product. It’s rich in amino acids and can help with immunity, digestion and energy levels, as well as boosting hair and nail growth.

How do I use bee pollen for hair loss?

The most common way to use bee pollen for hair growth is to take it orally, either in capsules or in its natural, powdery state, which can be mixed into smoothies or just taken on its own if you prefer.

You can also apply the pollen topically. Mix it with hot water to make a hair growth mask, or add it to your normal shampoo to give hair a boost with every wash.

Will it actually work to prevent hair loss?

The jury’s out on that one. As with so many of these things, there is doubtless some truth in it. The amino acids will support healthy hair growth, so that the hair you have will be stronger, shinier and healthier looking.

Whether it will actually work to prevent further hair loss is less certain, and probably depends to a large extent on the type of hair loss you are experiencing. Hair loss conditions like alopecia areata are autoimmune diseases and so are unlikely to be affected by supplements, however effective they purport to be.

And it is very unlikely that bee pollen will work to reverse any hair loss that has already occurred. Big pharma companies the world over have been competing for years to create a drug that will restimulate dead hair follicles, so if there was a natural product that would do it, they’d probably have worked that out already.

So what can I do about my hair loss?

The good news is that although you might not be able to reverse the damage, there are treatments that will work to disguise hair loss, such as SMP or hair replacement systems, and there are also procedures you can undergo to prevent further thinning.

For more information, or to book an appointment with one of our women’s hair loss specialists, please contact us.

We talked last month about hair loss associated with ‘long haul’ COVID patients, but now doctors are saying they have noticed an increase in the number of non-COVID patients seeking hair loss treatment over the past few months.

So how can COVID be causing your hair loss if you haven’t even had the virus? Well, sadly the answer could be to do with stress.

The lockdown stress factor

Even if you haven’t had COVID and don’t feel particularly concerned about the virus itself, chances are 2020 has been a difficult year for you.

Some of us have lost our jobs, or been furloughed on minimal pay. Others have been trying to juggle childcare and homeschooling with holding down a full-time job. Or maybe you live alone and have felt isolated, unable to participate in the activities that would usually provide a social lifeline.

Whatever your personal situation, lockdown has been hard on all of us. You might be one of the lucky ones with no financial concerns and a relatively non-challenging homelife, but even so, just the knowledge that you can’t go out and socialise with others outside of your household can add a background tension that you perhaps aren’t aware of.

Stress and hair loss

Stress has long been known to be a major factor when it comes to hair loss. Major emotional or physiological trauma can cause sudden, dramatic balding, but more insidious, day-to-day stressors can also have an impact.

There are three types of hair loss that are most likely to be caused by stress:

• Telogen effluvium – where large numbers of hair follicles are pushed into the “resting” phase of the hair life cycle early, causing the affected hairs to fall out. Although usually temporary, the condition can be devastating
• Trichotillomania – a compulsion to pull out your own hair, eyelashes or brows
• Alopecia areata – although this is an auto-immune condition, it is thought that it can also be stress induced. Alopecia areata can present as patchy or complete hair loss. It’s usually temporary but can recur and in rare cases the hair loss can be permanent

Lockdown hair loss

Although the likelihood is that COVID stress has sparked all three of these hair loss conditions, the main ones doctors have been reporting are telogen effluvium and alopecia areata.

Alopecia is more likely to occur suddenly at the time of a major stressful event and can be very obvious, with specific bald patches appearing on the scalp.

Telogen effluvium, on the other hand, often doesn’t become apparent until a few months after the stressor, and presents as more of a diffuse thinning of the hair. Although it is usually temporary, ongoing stress can produce ongoing thinning, so you can see how this year could be causing some pretty serious hair loss issues for some.

If you have noticed bald patches, or an unusually large amount of hair shedding over recent months, it’s probably advisable to contact a doctor or hair loss specialist to find out what you can do about it.

For more information or to book a consultation, please call us on our COVID Hair Loss Advice Hotline 0121 809 2747‬.

As if COVID-19 hadn’t given us enough to worry about already, new reports are starting to suggest that the virus could also cause hair loss in those patients who suffer from longer term problems.

A facebook group, Survivor Corp, was set up to unite these patients, who refer to themselves as ‘long haulers’. After the group had discussed ongoing symptoms among themselves, they decided to put out a survey to try to get an idea of the most common long-term problems for COVID survivors.

With help from The University of Indiana School of Medicine, the survey results were compiled into a report, which showed some startling figures.

Whilst the top ranked symptoms were to be expected – fatigue, muscle weakness and other issues associated with coronavirus – hair loss fell in 21st place, with 27% of respondents to the initial survey reporting hair thinning. A revised report suggests it could even be as high as 34.3%.

Why would COVID cause hair loss?

According to medical experts who have treated these patients, the type of hair loss most frequently seen in COVID survivors is telogen effluvium. This is a condition whereby hair in the ‘telogen’, or resting, phase of the growth cycle sheds suddenly – usually due to a shock to the system.

This ‘shock’ can be psychological or emotional, but can also be brought on by surgery or major illness, as in the case of COVID-19.

The good news is that telogen effluvium is a temporary condition, and the hair will grow back by itself in time. But if the hair loss is causing you distress, there are some things you can do to help:

1. Consider a change of hairstyle

A hair cut can help disguise the thinning areas – shorter hair has more volume, as it weighs less. Your hairstylist will also be able to offer tips on how to style your hair to best hide the hair loss.

2. Think about how your diet affects your hair loss

If you want to help your hair to grow back quickly, it might be worth thinking about what you are putting into your body. Some foods are much better for hair growth than others. Things like whole grains, fruits, vegetables, proteins and healthy fats are all great for your hair. And, the good news is that a healthy diet can only help with some of the other long-term COVID symptoms too.

3. Avoid overstyling your hair

We all know that bleaching and heat-styling our hair causes damage, but if you’re suffering from telogen effluvium, now really is the time to knock all that styling on the head. Your hair will thank you for it!

At the end of the day, there is sadly no miracle treatment for telogen effluvium – in this case, time really is a great healer. But these tips could help to make that time more manageable for you.

For more personalised advice on how to deal with COVID-related hair loss, why not contact us to book a consultation with Ranbir Rai-Watson, our hair loss expert.

With all the misery being heaped upon us as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic, both to our health and finances, a new consequence is emerging: hair loss.

New information on the effect that Coronavirus has on the body is coming to light almost weekly, as scientists learn more about the physical manifestation of the virus. The list of symptoms associated with COVID-19 is constantly being updated, along with the understanding that they can last far longer than the initial infection period.

A persistent cough, shortness of breath or breathing difficulties, muscle and body aches and fatigue are all being reported anecdotally as the long-term side effects of COVID and now significant hair loss can be added to the list.

COVID and hair loss

It seems that two to three months after the initial COVID infection, sufferers are experiencing a sudden and marked hair shedding and we have seen this pattern in a number of our female hair loss patients recently. The hair loss is typically diffuse in that it presents across the scalp and is therefore very different in appearance to male pattern hair loss, for example.

Due to the timing of the hair loss, this is likely to be a type of hair loss known as telogen effluvium.

Telogen effluvium is a form of hair loss that is the result of a shock to the system that prematurely forces more hair follicles that usual into the shedding stage of the hair growth cycle. Surgery, trauma, serious stress, extreme weight loss due to crash dieting can all be causes of telogen effluvium, but one of the main culprits is often an illness or infection.

As our founder Ranbir Rai-Watson explains: “Regarding COVID, it is the fever and associated increase in temperature that is the main cause of loss however the other effects on the body will add to the cause of loss too.”

Sufferers can experience up to 50% hair loss, but the good news is that it is usually temporary. However, there are treatments or products that can help stimulate your hair regrowth.

Getting the correct hair loss diagnosis is always essential though to rule out any other potential causes. At the Hair Loss for Women, we can assess your blood results and we ask for patients to either bring their most recent blood test reports or we can refer you to a diagnostic centre.

Call us on 0121 809 2747 to arrange a consultation.

Results from the work of a team at the Rockefeller Institute have unveiled a revolution in hair loss understanding. A new grasp of how hair growth works, one that will undoubtedly bring the day of the cure nearer. We take a closer look at some cutting edge science.

Rockefeller University Researching Hair Loss

Professor Elaine Fuchs, at the Rockefeller University, led an international team through a journey of discovery. They were examining the activity and role of stem cells around the hair follicle. During the journey, they made some astonishing discoveries, discoveries that have led to a revolution in hair loss understanding. It seems entirely plausible that this new understanding might very well lead to a technique that can cure hair loss. Or potentially outdo that and give us access to hair we had only dreamed about.

Revolutionary Understanding

Professor Fuchs’ team knew that stem cells resided in niches, ready to go to work when required. Deciding exactly when to go to work and, just as importantly, when to stop is critical. Those niches are microenvironments, somehow the stem cells inside knew when to begin producing new hair. At the other end of the growth cycle, they also needed to know when to stop growing and allow the hair to die.

The team discovered a lymphatic network of capillaries associated with the niches for the hair follicle. This was key to unlocking the mystery. Now they had a mechanism with which the stem cells could coordinate their activity, doing all the right things at all the right times.

By producing mice with transparent skin the team was actually able to observe this mechanism in action. They identified the individual switches, in the form of stem cell secretions, that the system uses for its various functions.

Bright Future For Hair Loss?

The work is at its earliest stages. The ambition would be to exert precise control over these switches. It is when that messaging system is disrupted that the instruction to grow new hair becomes distorted and does not get through.

There are two angles of investigation here it would seem. The first is to control those stem cell secretions. These, in turn, alter the microenvironment around them using that lymphatic network to send their messages. So the health of that lymphatic system is just as vital to the process. Learning to sustain and repair it will be essential too.

Hair Loss For Women

The sudden discovery of an entirely new mechanism involved in hair growth is a remarkable moment. One that teases the possibility of scientists developing stem cell-based tools to cure hair loss. It is still impossible to predict when that might be exactly, but it feels like it just got a whole lot closer.

Ranbir Rai-Watson

Here at Hair Loss For Women, we have our very own hair loss heroine.    We would like to offer you the opportunity to discuss your hair loss situation with a friendly, globally recognized, expert. Ranbir is a qualified trichologist and a full member of The Institute of Trichologists. A committed hair professional, Ranbir has years of experience and a well-earned reputation for thought-leadership and innovation in the industry.  Discuss your hair loss situation with an expert, sympathetic and experienced ear. Use the contact form to get in touch.

You can read more about Ranbir here.

Many of us, battling against thinning hair, are turning to supplements. Combining the use of supplements with the prescribed treatments delivered by a hair professional can make a lot of sense. But a warning has been issued in regard to one increasingly popular supplement. We look closer.

Hair Tonic

A hair tonic was the name given to any product aimed at improving our hair. As science brought a deeper understanding of the complexities of the hair growth cycle we were able to study these hair tonics more closely. Identifying the compounds within some that were actually of benefit, and dismissing others as red herrings. Today, there are countless remedies on the shelves, but we have news on a health warning for a popular hair supplement.

Iron is a great example of a nutrient that many of us need to be keeping an eye on. Iron is a vital component of haemoglobin, which carries oxygen in red blood cells. Without sufficient iron in our system, we lower the amount of those red blood cells. This means your muscles, tissues, and many imperative functions do not receive the necessary supply of oxygen. This condition is called iron deficiency anaemia, and it is extremely common in women.

Hair Supplements

There is a range of vitamins and minerals that can be recommended for women suffering from hair loss. Vitamins A, B, C, D, and E all play a role. Iron, zinc, and protein are all important in your diet too. Most of us will get most of what we need from our regular diet, though vegetarians need to pay particular attention to theirs.

Our increased awareness of hair nutrition has spawned an industry. As an adjunct to the established market for health supplements, we now see entire shelves dedicated to supplements for hair. That long list of potentially required supplements is really the tip of the iceberg, You will find recommendations to increase consumption of everything from mushrooms to ‘nutritional yeast’ in the hope of improving the health of your hair growth cycle.

One supplement has become extremely popular in a relatively short space of time. Turmeric has been popular in Ayurvedic medicine for centuries. Turmeric is a potent analgesic, capable of reducing pain from arthritis and inflammation. It is also used to treat skin diseases, wounds, digestive problems, and liver conditions. Increasingly, it is being taken by women with hair thinning… and that could be a problem.

Health Warning

An American doctor was suffering from osteoarthritis following steroid therapy. At the same time as undergoing radiation therapy for recurrent prostate cancer he began to self-treat with turmeric capsules for the ‘crippling inflammation’ he was having to endure. He dosed at around 7g a day, against a reported safe level of up to 12g.

While taking the turmeric supplement, his iron levels were low. Adding iron to his supplements was expected to resolve the problem but subsequent levels of iron continued to drop. The doctor read some literature on turmeric-related iron deficiency and dropped it from his intake. Within a fortnight his iron levels began to rise.

Hair Loss for Women

This is, it should be noted, the first documented case of iron deficiency linked to turmeric. But the anecdotal evidence suggests that turmeric does inhibit the uptake of oxygen into your blood. A health warning on a popular hair supplement is never welcome news. Nevertheless, it is one we would do well to heed.

At the heart of this article is an important warning. Self-prescribing supplements can be a fraught business, even if, like the subject of this article, you are a medical professional. If you have concerns about the health of your hair you should be putting yourself in the hands of a trichologist. These highly trained, scalp and hair focussed, professionals will take a holistic view of your health and lifestyle. Using all the available evidence to make a diagnosis and recommend an appropriate course of treatment.

Ranbir Rai-Watson

Of course, here at Hair Loss For Women, we have our very own hair loss heroine.    We would like to offer you the opportunity to discuss your hair loss situation with a friendly, globally recognized, expert. Ranbir is a qualified trichologist and a full member of The Institute of Trichologists. A committed hair professional, Ranbir has years of experience and a well-earned reputation for thought-leadership and innovation in the industry.  Discuss your hair loss situation with an expert, sympathetic and experienced ear. Use the contact form to get in touch.

You can read more about Ranbir here.

A revolution has happened in hair loss research over the last decade with the work of one woman at its heart. Dr. Angela Christiano is that woman. We take a closer look at our favourite hair loss heroine and her remarkable story.

Dr. Angela Christiano – Hair Loss Heroine

In 1995, she was working as a geneticist studying skin diseases at Columbia University. She would probably still be studying skin diseases, and no doubt making her mark, if it had not been for a trip to the hairdresser that year. Her stylist told her that she had a small bald patch at the back of her head. It came as a terrible shock to this Jersey girl, who took great pride in her wonderful locks. It would be the moment when she set out on the path to becoming our hair loss heroine.

She was diagnosed with a type of alopecia. Regular readers will know this to be an autoimmune disease that attacks hair follicles. Usually affecting the scalp the condition can affect all hair on the body in extreme cases.

A New Direction

Dr. Christiano made the momentous decision to switch the focus of her work. On discovering that the only treatment available involved steroid injections she decided to study alopecia. Something she describes as ‘a short leap’ from her work on skin diseases.

In hindsight, it was a sliding doors moment from which the whole hair loss community would benefit.

Focussing her work on Alopecia Areata (AA), the condition she herself suffered from, would turn out to be anything but easy. To start with, simply applying for grants would prove a challenge. She became used to getting turned down for funds on the grounds that the problem was cosmetic. Knowing it to be linked to physical and psychological effects including suicide, Christiano persevered.

Hair Loss Hope

In 2010, Dr. Christiano and her team made a monumental discovery. One that was so fundamental it has implications beyond hair loss. They identified a group of genes that create immune cells that destroy unwanted invaders to the follicle.

Four years later, with colleague Raphael Clynes, she published a follow-up paper. This time they described details of another discovery, every bit as remarkable as the first. They had identified a class of drugs, Janus Kinase (JAK) inhibitors, as effective against AA.

Today, JAK inhibitors are the basis of several drugs being developed by some of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. Pfizer is already at Phase III testing on 700 patients worldwide. If successful, the last step is to apply to the FDA for approval to take it to market.

Hair Loss For Women

Dr. Christiano fits the bill as our hair loss heroine. That sliding doors moment in the hairdressers may yet turn out to be one we are all grateful for. The prospect of an FDA approved drug, based on her discoveries, is truly exciting. We don’t suppose a Nobel prize will ever be awarded for hair loss research, but if it is then Christiano should be at the front of the queue.

She has also been responsible for some exciting work on men’s hair loss. In 1998,  she discovered a gene for hair loss. With British biologist Colin Jahoda, she developed a technique for removing hair follicle stem cells and culturing them in a lab. With the promise of limitless grafts.

Beyond alopecia, Christiano’s work has been the basis for other research that might change the treatment for melanoma. Using the same killer immune cells and targetting the malignancy with them.

Her work has been revolutionary and there is surely plenty more to come. We will be watching closely, as we have done for years.

Ranbir Rai-Watson

Of course, here at Hair Loss For Women, we have our very own hair loss heroine.    We would like to offer you the opportunity to discuss your hair loss situation with a friendly, globally recognized, expert. Ranbir is a qualified trichologist and a full member of The Institute of Trichologists. A committed hair professional, Ranbir has years of experience and a well-earned reputation for thought-leadership and innovation in the industry.  Discuss your hair loss situation with an expert, sympathetic and experienced ear. Use the contact form to get in touch.

You can read more about Ranbir here.

The last decade has seen an explosion of modern techniques and treatments available for hair loss. Despite this and for different reasons, many of us prefer to trust our scalp and hair to more traditional practices. We take a closer look at complementary medicine for hair loss.

Complementary Medicine

Alternative medicines are treatments that are considered non-standard but used instead of standard. Chinese medicine would be an example. Complementary medicine, on the other hand, does not preclude standard treatments. They are, as the name suggests, aimed at either helping the standard treatment to do its work or lessening the side effects of that treatment. Acupuncture and massage therapy would be excellent examples. Complementary medicine for hair loss is better understood than ever before.

Here we take a look at some of the more popular natural hair loss remedies. Some are available because of modern science, others have been with us for millennia.

Natural Hair Loss Remedies

Amino Acids

Essential ingredients in the hair and notable for having been the subject of clinical studies. Available in oral form and best used in combination therapies.

Vitamin B

Or Biotin as it is often referred to. Nearly 40% of healthy women are believed to have a biotin deficiency. Only for them is this a required supplement.

Vitamin D

Needed for healthy hair growth, vitamin D can be delivered as a lotion.

Zinc

If you are identified with a zinc deficiency it is a valuable supplement. Oral zinc achieved positive results in 67% of patients taking it daily.

Onion Juice

Make no mistake, this is definitely to be taken seriously. The high levels of sulphur make it a potent treatment.

Pumpkin Seed Oil

Known to reduce the conversion of testosterone to DHT. The form of testosterone linked to hair loss. It is high in zinc, vitamin B, iron, and protein.

Rosemary Oil

While it lacks clinical study there is a lot of faith in rosemary oil. An ancient remedy trusted for it’s anti-inflammatory and antioxidants agents.

Caffeine

A hair loss supplement that has established itself. Caffeine is a good example of how modern science has explained the function of a compound. It inhibits a very specific chemical interaction. Basically, it helps fight off the immune system which is trying to destroy your hair follicle.

Curcumin

The active ingredient in turmeric. It has been taken as a tonic for centuries and extravagant claims are made for its many and varied perceived benefits. From a scientific point of view, it seems to increase the uptake of minoxidil. Minoxidil is the only FDA approved hair loss drug for women, so that is excellent news.

Hair Loss For Women

This review of natural remedies is far from comprehensive. But it does give a glimpse into the toolkit of a fully trained trichologist. With the benefit of consultation, they are ideally equipped to offer therapy advice. Taking into account a holistic view of your broader health and lifestyle on which to base that advice. Therapy is often a combination of more than one treatment.

It is clear that complementary medicine for hair loss has a role to play. It is best used in conjunction with other remedies, modern and ancient. It needs an expert to find exactly which remedies are right for you in your situation.

Ranbir Rai-Watson

We would like to offer you the opportunity to discuss your hair loss situation with a friendly, globally recognized, expert. Ranbir is a qualified trichologist and a full member of The Institute of Trichologists. A committed hair professional, Ranbir has years of experience and a well-earned reputation for thought-leadership and innovation in the industry.  Discuss your hair loss situation with an expert, sympathetic and experienced ear. Use the contact form to get in touch.

You can read more about Ranbir here.

A genuine breakthrough in hair loss research is a rare and wonderful thing. This particular breakthrough was so rare, and so wonderful, the three men who came up with it have been rewarded with a Nobel Prize. Best of all, it has implications for research into hair loss. We had to take a closer look.

Hair Loss Research

Research results into the causes of, and possible new cures for hair loss regularly make the news. A genuine breakthrough in hair loss research is It is a problem that will affect billions of people alive today, so little wonder.

The last decade, with all the benefits of modern bioengineering, has seen some remarkable leaps of understanding. Advances in genetics have led to a completely new picture of the underlying processes in our biology. As if we have suddenly found the manual. As we turn the pages of that manual we have made some stunning discoveries.

Stunning Breakthrough

This latest breakthrough is up there with the best of those discoveries. It has improved enormously our grasp of how oxygen levels affect our metabolism and physiological function. An understanding that is at the cellular level.

The three, William G. Kaelin Jr., Sir Peter J. Ratcliffe, and Gregg L, Semenza have unlocked an important secret. We have understood for centuries that oxygen was vital in converting food into energy. But just how cells can adapt to different levels of oxygen had always remained a mystery.

Their work began by looking at the EPO gene. EPO has become associated with athletes looking to improve their condition. A rise in the production of EPO is a response to low oxygen. It sees the body produce more red blood cells. From there they realised the oxygen sensing ability of the EPO gene was there in virtually all tissues.

Hair Loss Cure?

Not quite. But the fact is that the most common form of hair loss, pattern baldness, is brought on by an error in the immune system. The work of Kaelin Jr., Ratcliffe, and Semenza has given us a true understanding, for the first time, of how the immune system is fine-tuned using the system for sensing oxygen levels.

The breakthrough came as the culmination of years of work. The depth and scale of that work was such that the three have been awarded a Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. You can see the details of their award here. Of course, Nobel Prizes are not awarded for effort alone. Their results will benefit research teams all over the world working on almost any part of our biology.

Hair Loss For Women

What has been achieved is an entirely new toolkit. Much work will now need to be done to fully appreciate the value of this new knowledge. The promise of greater control over our immune system is a great teaser. The possibility of a cure for so many immune disorders including hair loss just became much more real. It is a story at its very beginning and one we will continue to watch closely.

Ranbir Rai-Watson

We would like to offer you the opportunity to discuss your hair loss situation with a friendly, globally recognized, expert. Ranbir is a qualified trichologist and a full member of The Institute of Trichologists. A committed hair professional, Ranbir has years of experience and a well-earned reputation for thought-leadership and innovation in the industry. If you would like to discuss your hair loss situation with an expert, sympathetic and experienced ear, please use the contact form to get in touch.

You can read more about Ranbir here.

For a variety of reasons, hair transplants can be a challenging option for women. But news from a research team in the USA suggests they might be on track to evolve the process and offer a new hair transplant for women. One that ticks all the boxes, we take a closer look.

Hair Transplantation for Women

The evolution of hair transplant techniques has been an interesting one. Early versions gave us the term “plugs” to describe the relocated clumps of hair. The less than kind description alluded to the apparent inability of the relocated hair to grown in a uniform direction. Along with the fact that they were planted like a row of shrubs, it gave a less than satisfactory outcome.

For a long time, developments were occasional and slow. The general direction of travel was to constantly reduce the size of each individual transplant. This gave the surgeon more precision when relocating them, allowing them to be placed closer together for an improved outcome. No less important, to the patient, were the improved scars. Early transplants left some huge, disfiguring scars which only became a problem later.  Sometimes years later and invariably when the patient’s hair continued to shed. Eventually, the hair would have to be cut short and expose the scars.

For men, transplantation is fairly predictable. Hair is taken from the back of the head and moved to the hairline or the crown as required. However, for women, the story is more complicated. Women lose hair, typically, across the top of the head in a general thinning which makes using transplantation a challenge. To achieve a great outcome requires many grafts to cover a large area of thinning. But we are all limited by the availability of donor hair. This can make it almost impossible for a surgeon to help a woman get back to an appearance they would be happy with.

New Transplant Technique

News from an American team based at Colombia University, headed by Dr. Angela Christiano, should have women excited. In fact, it is great news for hair loss sufferers, male and female, the world over. But a new hair transplant for women is required and one that addresses their needs.

They have been looking into the issues surrounding growing human hair in the laboratory. They have grown everything from sheep to beefburgers in a laboratory, but it turns out human hair is a special challenge. Techniques used to successfully grow hair with cells taken from mice and rats do not work. For some reason, not fully understood, human hair simply won’t sprout using exactly the same techniques. This is why the clinical trials process that any new drug goes through has to involve a study on humans, regardless of how good results were on rodents.

Dr. Christiano’s team came up with the inspired idea of using a 3D printer to create the matrix to place the cells into. This gave them a chance to design the wells, that the cells are put into. to an incredibly small scale and with a specific elongated shape with a half millimetre ridge at the top. Once the cells have been placed into these wells before keratin is added. This is the protein the hair will be made from. They then add growth factors and sit back to watch hair grow. Which it does! It’s a remarkable achievement and one with profound implications.

Hair Loss Hope

The most obvious application for the new technique is in hair transplantation. It could remove the need entirely for a surgeon to be cutting out follicular units, of any size, for relocation. Instead, they would simply need to take a few cells from the base of a few hair follicles. They could then culture as many new hairs as are required. So new limitations would need to be learned, around how many of these grafts could be placed in a single surgical session. This would not be a change, it would be a revolution. One making the most modern techniques look as dated as those very first attempts.

Beyond transplantation, the technique promises to help every research team in the world looking into hair loss. For the first time, they have access to unlimited amounts of laboratory cultured hair follicles with which to test.

Hair Loss For Women

The progress of female pattern hair loss has always meant transplantation was not the option it is for men. A new hair transplant for women is most definitely needed. If the work of the Colombia team, read more about them here, opens the door to it becoming a meaningful choice it is to be celebrated. For us, the impact it is likely to have on the wider hair loss world is even more exciting. There will be champagne corks popping all over the world with teams understanding the positive impact this will have on their work. Removing the need to find human volunteers, with all their variables, and test on cultured hair follicles it truly a leap forward.

Ranbir Rai-Watson

We would like to offer you the opportunity to discuss your hair loss situation with a friendly, globally recognized, expert. Ranbir is a qualified trichologist and a full member of The Institute of Trichologists. A committed hair professional, Ranbir has years of experience and a well-earned reputation for thought-leadership and innovation in the industry. If you would like to discuss your hair loss situation with an expert, sympathetic and experienced ear, please use the contact form to get in touch.

You can read more about Ranbir here.

With so many possible factors affecting the health of our hair, it can be hard to isolate the problem when we have one. Early intervention through expert help for hair loss is absolutely key, but who should you turn to?

Hair Loss

The key message when it comes to hair loss, any form of hair loss, is that early intervention is essential. Getting expert help for hair loss will help identify and appropriately treat the condition quickly. Returning you to your original state as soon as possible.

Our hair is a remarkable bell-weather for our wider health. It is affected by just about anything you can think of. Lifestyle and diet play a major part of course, but also our environment, levels of stress, and whether or not we smoke, Accidents, illnesses, and the medications to treat them, along with traumatic events, can all trigger bouts of hair loss. Above all of these, however, and responsible for the vast majority of all hair loss, are our genes. That preordained fate we inherit from both our parents, forget anything you might have been told about inheriting hair from one parent or the other.

Types Of Hair Loss

Androgenetic Alopecia

This inherited, and by far the most common, reason for hair loss will affect 50% of all people in their lifetime. For men, that 50% will be reached by the age of 50, while women will take till 65.

Men will lose hair in a predictable path, initially, from the temples and crown, followed by further recession, that might take months or years and will see some ending up with just a thin strip connecting the ears around the back of the head.

Women can expect their hair to thin generally on the top of the head, though the hairline itself usually remains intact.

Alopecia Areata

This autoimmune condition sees, in its early stages, small disc-shaped patches appear on the scalp. In a few cases, it can go on to become Alopecia Totalis or Universalis, where all hair is lost from the scalp or even the entire body. Follicles are not destroyed by the condition and there is always hope for regrowth.

Scarring Alopecia

This is an unpleasant range of conditions with a slightly misleading name. The scarring occurs under the skin, so invisible to the onlooker, and sees the follicle destroyed, replaced with scar tissue below the surface. It may or may not be accompanied by pain, burning, and itching.

Telogen Effluvium

This is a catch-all name for a range of conditions. At any time, around 10% of our hair follicles are in the ‘rest’ phase, called Telogen. A number of triggers can see this proportion rise to 30% or above. These triggers include a number of everyday events like childbirth, trauma, illness, bereavement, sudden weight-loss, medication, and hormonal changes. In about one case in three, it is impossible to isolate the trigger. Hair will normally regrow once the trigger is removed, though plenty can be done to help with that recovery.

Expert Help

The importance of early intervention, for anyone using the NHS, can be frustrating. Access to dermatologists invariably involves a long wait, due to their priorities understandably lying elsewhere. Current targets mean it is all they can do to see all possible skin cancer cases in time.

While some GP’s will refer patients to a trichologist, a referral is not needed. If you are not familiar with the work of dermatologists they are experts on scalp and hair. In the same way that chiropodists are experts on feet. While you might ask your GP about your corns, you would probably be better heading straight to the chiropodist.

A fully qualified trichologist is able to identify your problem and guide you to the appropriate treatment. During your consultation, a holistic view of your wider health is taken. Any medications you are using are considered, any blood test results looked at, along with any other products you are using. Diet and lifestyle are also discussed. The aim is always to return you to your best condition in the shortest time possible.

Ranbir Rai – Watson

Ranbir has been working in the hair loss industry and providing that expert help for hair loss for nearly two decades. In that time, she has established herself as a thought-leader and innovator. Ranbir actually co-invented the technique of scalp micropigmentation (SMP). SMP, in fifteen short years, has become a popular treatment from its home in Birmingham, England to the USA and Australia. A google search for scalp micropigmentation now returns over a million pages, a testament to Ranbir’s insight and determination.

Hair loss in women has always been a passion for Ranbir, one she recognised as under-served and under-discussed. You can read more about Ranbir here.

Ranbir went through her own hair loss experience some years ago. She used all her experience of dealing with hair loss sufferers to research and identify her problem and its solution. Successful in treating herself she was inspired to become a fully qualified Trichologist and is today a highly-respected full member of The Institute of Trichologists. Visit their website here.

Hair Loss For Women

Hair loss for women has been a subdued issue for countless generations. Recently, there have been encouraging signs that the social media generation are having that discussion. With the result that an older generation of celebrity women are beginning to appear in mainstream media discussing their own hair loss issues.

The flip side of that increased conversation on social media is the amount of information available to answer questions. Not that there is not good advice out there, but it is swamped by the snake oil miracle cures and even misleading adverts on otherwise legitimate sites.

A Trichologist can steer you through that maze and take you to the bespoke treatments needed to get you back to your best. As quickly as possible. It is worth repeating that early intervention is important, vital in some conditions. If you are experiencing hair loss, do not delay, book yourself in to see a trichologist at the earliest opportunity.

There is a range of efficacious remedies available through an experienced trichologist that can help a woman suffering from hair loss. We take a closer look at one treatment showing great results.

The Problem With Hair Loss

More than 50% of all women are destined to experience noticeable hair loss during their lifetime. Some forms of hair loss are temporary, “post-partum” for example, where a new mother might experience some shedding for a while as their hormones return to normal. But for the vast majority, the cause will be androgenetic alopecia. An unavoidable destiny inherited through your genes that give us all a date by when our own hair loss journey will begin.

It is now possible if caught early enough, to defer the start of that journey. Minoxidil remains the only FDA approved treatment on the market, which we know is effective for around half of people, and considered “very effective” by around 15%. But beyond minoxidil, there is a universe of respected treatments with great track records that have simply not passed through the various trial stages for FDA approval. We take a closer look at one such treatment.

Improve Growth Cycle, Body and Density

Research goes on into every aspect of hair growth, with over 200 genes associated it is proving a challenging complex story. Just the same, our understanding of the processes, along with the hormones and proteins which drive them, improves all the time.

A great example of an innovative treatment, which takes advantage of this improved understanding, comes in the form of a cream. Applied regularly it can make a substantial improvement. The science behind it is based on the revolutionary use of liposome encapsulation in specialized medical environments like cancer treatment. Here, the medicine is “wrapped” so as to be more potent when it reaches the affected area.

A similar process is used to deliver vital nutrients exactly where they are required, and the results can be startling. It works by increasing the number of scalp hairs which, at any one time, are in their growth phase (anagen). This is achieved by stimulating the stem cells to increase the rate at which cells divide, tests have shown that the improvement is not just measurable, it can almost treble that rate of division.

The difference after a few months of regular application can be profound, with over double the amount of anagen hairs present. Enough to provide a visible improvement to both density and body.

Hair Loss For Women

While this cream is never going to enter the lengthy and costly process of applying for federal approval, it is a trusted solution for trichologists and adds to their substantial arsenal in the battle against hair loss.

We would like to offer you the opportunity to discuss your hair loss situation with a friendly, globally recognized, expert. Ranbir is a committed hair professional with years of experience and a well-earned reputation for thought-leadership and innovation in the industry. If you would like to discuss your hair loss situation with an expert, sympathetic and experienced ear, please use the contact form to get in touch.

A young Australian journalist was not taking it lying down when she lost 70% of her hair. She wanted to know why it had happened and what she could about it. We look closer.

Kellie Scott

Today, Kellie is happy go lucky 33 year old journalist from Queensland in Australia. But 7 years ago she experienced a terrible bout of sudden hair loss. Kellie blames the hair loss on a switch of contraceptive pill she made that year, a change she made due to potential health risks associated with her previous pill. Aware that the contraceptive pill was a potent medicine Kellie performed research which supported her theory that the hair loss was triggered by that switch of contraception.

While she might be right, she speaks of seeing a series of endocrinologists, trichologists, and dermatologists in an attempt to identify the problem and find a solution.

Diagnosis

It would take fully 5 years before Kellie would receive a diagnosis. Of androgenetic alopecia. That inherited form of hair loss that affects the majority of people the world over.

She speaks eloquently about how low the experience left her. Describing crying to sleep watching hair loss cure miracle videos on the web. “So much of our femininity is tied up with our hair, we’re told as little girls that men prefer long hair,” Kellie tells her Instagram followers. Of which there are many. “But this is 2019 and that is bullsh*t,” she added.

For Kellie, the fight with her own hair loss would end in 2017 when she discovered the simple pleasure of the clip-in hairpiece that added hair to the top of the head. An experience she found transformative, though not without its challenges. One of the hurdles would be how to tell friends and family, and wondering what their reaction might be.

As a journalist the answer was obvious. Kellie started out by sharing her diagnosis on Instagram, followed by the declaration that she had chosen to go the route of “fake hair.” It put the truth out there and saved countless awkward moments. It also created her profile as a role model and inspiration to many other women in the same position. Today she boasts 9000 followers to her Instagram account.

Hair Loss For Women

It seems strange that it took so long for Kellie to receive her diagnosis, it seems to have been the catalyst that drove her toward accepting her condition and turning her attention to finding her solution. If you would like to see more about Kellie’s story click here to see her Instagram account.

We would like to offer you the opportunity to discuss your hair loss situation with a friendly, globally recognized, expert. Ranbir is a committed hair professional with years of experience and a well-earned reputation for thought-leadership and innovation in the industry. If you would like to discuss your hair loss situation with an expert, sympathetic and experienced ear, please use the contact form to get in touch.

We all know that there are styling choices we make, some of us daily, that damage our hair. But as a hair loss sufferer what are the key facts around hair care. We look closer.

Hair Health

Keeping our hair in top condition is always a serious challenge. Busy lives and pollution would be examples of challenges that are outwith our control but which have a profound effect on the health of our hair. But there are choices we make, around the products we use and don’t use, or around the styles we select, that can aggravate a problem… or even be enough on their own to cause one. Heated styling tools are a primary cause of hair damage. For hair loss sufferers, even before the search for a hair loss solution that works begins, there are a few simple changes to routine that could make a significant difference to the quality of your hair.

Rules For Engagement

First on our list is the importance of using a heat protectant. There is a range on the market but you should be on the lookout for something containing silicone, which forms an effective barrier prior to any styling using heat.

When it comes to styling tools, flat irons and curling tongs or rods for example, there are some necessary steps to take to avoid damage. Your hair is made of hydrogen bonds and keratin proteins, both vulnerable to heat. Broken down they will change the condition towards dry and unmanageable.

Never ever us heated styling tools on wet or damp hair. Always dry the hair first, either with a blow dryer or by allowing it to dry naturally. Also, use the lowest heat setting appropriate for your hair, the thinner the lower.

Finally, we would point out that when it comes to styling tools, you get what you pay for. Do not skimp on quality when you are buying something that is going to be used frequently and will have implications for your appearance and for your hair health.

Hair Loss For Women

Heated styling tools are an essential part of the modern woman’s kit. We recognise that our modern work and social lives demand that we use them. But it is also important to recognise their potential for harm if used incorrectly, or without the heat protectant. Following these simple steps has the potential to make a palpable difference to your appearance in a short space of time.

We would like to offer you the opportunity to discuss your hair loss situation with a friendly, globally recognized, expert. Ranbir is a committed hair professional with years of experience and a well-earned reputation for thought-leadership and innovation in the industry. If you would like to discuss your hair loss situation with an expert, sympathetic and experienced ear, please use the contact form to get in touch.

Microblading has grown out of Scalp Micropigmentation (SMP) as an alternative to the tattoo needle for replacing or enhancing eyebrows. But what are the risks? We look closer.

Jami Ledbetter

Jami Ledbetter is a pretty typical American mum. At the age of 42 she was delighted to receive, from her daughter, a Groupon voucher entitling her to a treatment at a local clinic.. Instead of the maybe more traditional spa day or massage, her daughter opted for a microblading session with a certified practitioner.

For Jami, the prospect was enthralling. Having been born without eyebrows she was looking forward to finally owning a pair. She was booked in for her treatment with a “certified” microblader and, she thought, had only to turn up and endure some minor discomfort, to realise her dreams of eyebrows.

Unregulated Industry

The reality is that microblading, like SMP, is a largely unregulated industry. One where anyone can set up in practice with, in theory, no training or experience. Similarly, anyone can set up to provide “training” for others to become “certified” as microbladers.

Microblading is an unlicenced treatment in Jami Ledbetter’s home state. For her, the result was a disaster. As soon as she saw the results she was mortified, she had been left with what looked like four eyebrows. The botched treatment saw her trying to hide the problem with make-up and restricted her time out of the home to supermarket visits and going to work. She told the American news outlet WDAF, “I would never wish this on my worst enemy. What it’s done to my self-confidence, it’s been hard.” She went on “I was devastated. I was even dating a guy, and he stopped dating me at that point.”

Remedial Treatment

Efforts with make-up to mask the problem proved ineffective. Fortunately, Jami found her way to tattoo artist Kara Gutierrez who was able to help. Using a pigment lightening solution Kara has created scabs over the tattooed region, which pull the pigment from the skin. The process is a slow one, with a series of treatments needed, eight weeks apart. The cost is not insignificant either, at a total of $1000 it is several times what she originally paid for the microblading.

Hair Loss For Women

Jami’s terrible story should remind us all of the importance of due diligence. This is true even when you are dealing with a regulated industry. But when dealing with an unregulated one, like microblading, it is essential to do your homework and ensure you are being treated by someone with experience. Ask to see references and pictures of their work would be a good starting point. During the consultation take notice of your surroundings, are they suitably hygienic? What are the aftercare instructions, and, more importantly, what is the policy if things do not go to plan? It is not enough to simply google for hair loss solutions that work, you will need to examine not just the treatment you are opting for, but the clinic where you intend to receive the treatment.

We would like to offer you the opportunity to discuss your hair loss situation with a friendly, globally recognized, expert. Ranbir is a committed hair professional with years of experience and a well-earned reputation for thought-leadership and innovation in the industry. If you would like to discuss your hair loss situation with an expert, sympathetic and experienced ear, please use the contact form to get in touch.

A sulphate-free hair care routine has crept into the public consciousness as sensible. While there are many women who would benefit from the switch away there are many more who benefit from their use. We tell you what you need to know.

Sulphates in Hair Care

Sulphates have some admirable qualities. Qualities which have seen them become a go-to ingredient for shampoo and body wash manufacturers. They are both detergents and foaming agents so tick two very important boxes. The word “detergent” can be emotive and confusing in this context. There are many types of detergent, and the sulphates found in shampoo are very different and much weaker than the ones you will find in detergents used for more industrial practices.

Those qualities have made them an important ingredient. For shampoo, there are two which are typically used, sodium lauryl sulphate (SLES) and sodium laureth sulphate (SLS). They both help remove dirt and, as previously mentioned, make the product pleasant to the touch and capable of luxuriously foaming.

Rules For Use

There has been something of a whispering campaign advising against the use of products containing these ingredients. Consumers have been warned that using them might be bad for their health, and counterproductive for good hair care. But that is a massive simplification. While using shampoos containing SLS and SLES will strip away everything bad on your hair and scalp, it will also take away natural oils and sebum. So the theory has it that we should all be using sulphate-free products… we have lost count of the number of female hair loss treatment reviews that offer this as advice. The truth is more nuanced.

Avoiding sulphates certainly makes sense for some, many even. If you use colour in your hair you would do well to avoid sulphates as they will strip away the colour. Anyone with dry or frizzy hair, which is prone to damage, would be well advised to opt for a gentler sulphate-free regime. If you go to the gym regularly, or travel on crowded public transport systems, or simply choose to wash your hair three or more times a week, using sulphate free shampoo makes perfect sense.

If, however, you wash your hair a couple of times a week or have oily skin or dandruff, or an itchy scalp, sulphates can do a great job of reducing the effects. Indeed, if you suffer from any of these conditions you may find sulphate based shampoos will be your very best friend.

Hair Loss For Women

It is always important to understand fully the details of any new health fad. While there is invariably some truth in what you are hearing, it is rarely the whole story. The noise around sulphates is a great example of advice which, if followed, would be of benefit to some. But if followed universally would create more problems than it would solve.

We would like to offer you the opportunity to discuss your hair loss situation with a friendly, globally recognized, expert. Ranbir is a committed hair professional with years of experience and a well-earned reputation for thought-leadership and innovation in the industry. If you would like to discuss your hair loss situation with an expert, sympathetic and experienced ear, please use the contact form to get in touch.

This month has seen a momentous advance in the treatment of cancer. The US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA, or plain old FDA) has approved a drug combo to treat a type of breast cancer, the first approval of an immunotherapy drug in this space.

Immunotherapy

As a branch of medicine, the idea behind immunotherapy was that the body’s own defences might be enhanced through the use of drugs. That the immune system could be amplified or suppressed has led to two classifications for this type of research. Activation and suppression immunotherapies.

The new branch of research was of particular interest to the vast industry that is cancer research. Hair loss through chemotherapy is a tragically common event, so we have always followed new developments in the field of cancer therapy with a great and vested interest. The last year we saw figures for, 2013, witnessed US government spending of nearly $5B alone. A single charity in the UK spent the best part of £650M last year. Stand Up To Cancer, a relatively young charity in the mix, raised over $100M in a single telethon.

Little surprise then that most immunotherapy research has focussed on cancer treatments, to no small amount of success. 2018 saw a wonderful array of treatments expected to make a significant difference, to treat cancers as diverse as lung and skin. They were variously replacing a proven medicine, by essentially performing the same job in a more natural way. Or they were genuine new treatments for which these specific types of cancer were previously underserved.

Breast Cancer

Tecentriq is just such an immunotherapy. It is already in use in a couple of treatments. It was previously approved for use against a certain type of bladder cancer and for non-small cell lung cancer. The FDA has now approved it for use against a type of breast cancer, using the remarkable efficacy it has shown during trials as a basis for that approval. The FDA can, in certain circumstances, approve a drug under an “accelerated program” for drugs that show promise against a serious disease. In the case of Tecentriq, the trials provided clear evidence of the drug combo’s ability to both slow progress of the disease, and to extend the life of the patient.

Hair Loss for Women

Side effects of the treatment are listed as nausea (unremarkable as the trial featured its use alongside a chemotherapy drug), peripheral neuropathy, low blood counts, and fatigue. While none of these are pleasant the list is remarkable for what is not in it, rather than what is. The warning of hair loss, which we think most women would be willing to endure the entire list of those given side effects.

The long term hope for hair loss sufferers, beyond those touched by cancer and chemotherapy,  must be that immunotherapy research turns its attention towards hair loss itself. It is, after all, in its most common form, androgenetic alopecia, just another type of autoimmune disorder.

We would like to offer you the opportunity to discuss your hair loss situation with a friendly, globally recognized, expert. Ranbir is a committed hair professional with years of experience and a well-earned reputation for thought-leadership and innovation in the industry. If you would like to discuss your hair loss situation with an expert, sympathetic and experienced ear, please use the contact form to get in touch.

Neem oil has been trusted for centuries in India where it used as a treatment for an incredible array of ailments. We take a closer look at its use to combat hair loss.

The Neem Tree

A member of the mahogany family this fast-growing tree grows across the Indian sub-continent. It possesses a seemingly endless list of useful attributes and is used in a surprising range of applications. It is widely used as a natural pesticide for example, but the twigs have been shown to be as effective as toothpaste in treating plaque and gingivitis. It has been used for centuries as a key ingredient in construction as wall plaster. The tree is also effective at anti-desertification and is credited with being a highly effective carbon sink.

Most notably, for us at least, is its use in Ayurvedic medicine. The long list of its attributes includes anthelmintic, antidiabetic, antibacterial, antiviral, sedative and even as a contraceptive. In Ayurvedic medicine, it is used to improve liver function, detoxify the blood and to treat skin diseases like eczema and psoriasis.

In 1995, western medicine took an important step in recognising its validity when they granted a patent to an American company using it as an anti-fungal product. The Indian govt objected on the basis that they had been using it in this way in India for over 2000 years. When the American company appealed, on the basis that the Indians had never written it up in a scientific journal, they lost and the patent was rightly revoked.

Hair Loss

So Neem oil, derived from the fruits and flowers of the tree, has a range of medicinal benefits all of which can be shown to benefit our hair. The antifungal and antibacterial properties ensure the hair and scalp are clean, with pores and follicles unclogged with sebum… which can negatively affect the natural growth cycle and lead to hair thinning. It is also highly effective against conditions like dandruff, which can also have a damaging effect on our hair.

How To Use

Neem can, these days, be purchased in health food shops as tablets. For treating your hair you are better applying it as a paste, which is made by boiling the leaves in a mixture of water and honey. Apply it to the hair and leave for 1 – 2 hours before washing thoroughly as normal.

While Neem is perfectly safe in tablet form it is not recommended, especially for women, to take the paste form orally… so stick to applying the paste to hair and scalp.

Hair Loss For Women

This remarkable tree and its fruit would make a sensible adjunct to your hair and scalp care routine. One recommended for millennia by medics across Asia and one we heartily recommend as a natural alternative to some of the chemical options available.

We would like to offer you the opportunity to discuss your hair loss situation with a friendly, globally recognized, expert. Ranbir is a committed hair professional with years of experience and a well-earned reputation for thought-leadership and innovation in the industry. If you would like to discuss your hair loss situation with an expert, sympathetic and experienced ear, please use the contact form to get in touch.

Shikakai is a flowering, climbing shrub found across India, it is credited with possessing a wide range of benefits for hair care, up to and including fighting hair loss. We take a closer look.

Shikakai

Indian medicine has provided a number of treatments for our hair. Many of which are ancient, used for centuries or even millennia, and which have had their efficacy borne out by modern investigative methods. We have identified the basis for their abilities, whether as a source of important nutrients or for their medical value as anti-inflammatory or fungicides. Time after time we establish that the old wives tales that accompany the treatment are based on fact, not fantasy.

Shikakai is one you may not have heard of before but is another of these well-established treatments. The Skikakai plants, also known as Acacia Concinna, to possess a complete suite of properties to help improve the condition of our hair.

It is a climbing shrub, common across India, with simple fern-like leaves, small purple flowers, and brown seed pods. The pods can be crushed down into a powder, which is then mixed with water to produce a brown paste.

How To Use Shikakai

Once you have the Shikakai mixed into a paste it is applied to the scalp, and then to the hair. Leave on for 30 minutes before rinsing thoroughly with water. It should be left on for 30 minutes… so maybe a good time to settle down and watch an episode of your favorite TV program.

Repeating this procedure twice a week is sufficient. You might consider adding some Reetha powder into the mix, Reetha is incredibly high in iron, which the elevated levels of vitamin C in the Shikakai can help absorb.

You will notice that the Shikakai treatment is deliciously cooling, a pleasant experience. So that its claims on efficacy include dealing with frizzy and dull hair or an itchy scalp, it can clear up dandruff and split ends. It is a long list of claims, backed up by medical analysis of its contents. Shikakai is rich in vitamins, with A, C and E  all present. It also possesses anti-microbial, anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties.

Hair Loss For Women

Shikakai in powder form is easily available through the web, or quite possibly at your local store. Ayurvedic medicine uses it extensively and has done for a very long time. Maybe its time to jump on this bandwagon and see how it works for you? Click here to see some hints on preparation and usage.

We would like to offer you the opportunity to discuss your hair loss situation with a friendly, globally recognized, expert. Ranbir is a committed hair professional with years of experience and a well-earned reputation for thought-leadership and innovation in the industry. If you would like to discuss your hair loss situation with an expert, sympathetic and experienced ear, please use the contact form to get in touch.

Most of us will have our preferred shampoo but are we doing our hair any favors with our choice. We take a closer look with our guide to best practice to caring for our hair and scalp when selecting a shampoo.

Shampoo

Some Native American tribes were known to use plant extracts as shampoo. The Costanoans in California still use the extract of woodfern for this purpose.

In Europe, the practice of shampooing was introduced to Britain by a visitor from Bengal in India, from where the word shampoo itself was adopted. Sake Mohamed and his Irish wife, Jane Daly, opened the “Indian Medicated Vapour Bath” offering to cure a range of diseases as well as providing full relief from the pain of arthritis and rheumatism.

The early days saw shavings of soap boiled in water containing herbs but by 1914 magazine adverts were beginning to appear for brands like Rexall and Harmony.

In 1927 the whole game was to be reinvented by Hans Schwarzkopf when he introduced his self-branded liquid shampoo to Berlin, and from there to the rest of Europe.

Modern shampoos were first seen in the 1930s when synthetic surfactants replaced soap as the principal ingredient.

Modern Shampoo

In the decades since the end of the second world war the development of shampoo has seen products aimed at specific issues, so we have fungicidal properties that are either chemical or made from herbal extracts. But there are dozens of potentially included ingredients all credited with their own benefits, be it enhancing color or reassuring that your baby’s eyes will not be irritated.

Hair Loss

Some of those ingredients are there purely to create a rich lather, on the grounds that the experience is luxurious. Unfortunately, those bubbles are overkill for the job. These detergents will strip away the oils that form a protective barrier on hair and scalp, damaging both as well as the cuticle beneath, that fine outermost layer of hair. Intact and healthy the cuticle gives hair a natural sheen as the light reflects… for onlookers that shine equates to healthy hair.

Hair Loss For Women

Stick to anything from the great range of gentle shampoos on the market to give your scalp and hair the best care. Shampoos developed for babies avoid a couple of the common surfactants and are typically PH balanced at 7.

We would like to offer you the opportunity to discuss your hair loss situation with a friendly, globally recognized, expert. Ranbir is a committed hair professional with years of experience and a well-earned reputation for thought-leadership and innovation in the industry. If you would like to discuss your hair loss situation with an expert, sympathetic and experienced ear, please use the contact form to get in touch.

Sharing her experience became a mission for Australian one cancer sufferer. We are delighted to share her story, along with her great list of tips and coping mechanisms.

Briony Benjamin

Briony’s story starts with a cancer diagnosis, to which her first question to the doctor was “Will my hair fall out?” She was quickly reassured by the medic that her hair would return, but she goes on to describe the prospect of hair loss as the single thing that upset her the most about the news she had been given. A fact she recognizes as crazy given the very real threat to her life… but all too common a reaction.

Coping

With her highly supportive sister she planned a series of strategies aimed at helping her meet the challenges as they arose. The first thing was to find a better place around the hair loss, for which they came up with a mantra: “The treatment is working.” The aim was for Briony to greet every lost strand with the certain knowledge that this was a sign the chemotherapy was doing its thing and attacking the cancer cells, with the unfortunate hair a casualty of that war.

As so many of us do in times of high stress, the pair, with Mum in tow, hit the shops. Purchasing a selection of cute headscarves, headbands, and wigs. The wig, in particular, was daunting for Briony. Until she found one that matched her hair and color, one she loved and enjoyed wearing. Superheroes wear capes she told herself, and some wear headscarves.

Shaving Down

The first time was bound to be traumatic. She credits events like World’s Greatest Shave, the Leukaemia Foundation’s annual event to raise funds for research into blood cancer (and lymphoma), for reassuring her that there were many others out there going through the same thing.

Briony extolls the virtues of a shaved head, “I’ve saved a mountain of time washing and drying my hair this year” she says. And with no more getting long hair blowing in your face she goes on to say “In many ways, it’s been really liberating.”

Staying Positive

The first thing Briony points out in this regard is that it is perfectly OK to be sad. A hospital psychologist told her that it was important not to feel that this was anything other than a normal part of the reaction, in no way silly or vain. In fact, she was advised not to attempt to find the positive and to mourn her hair, letting the sadness out in other ways.

For Briony, Instagram gave her a valuable tool to communicate her own story and to follow other inspiring women and accounts. Briony went a step further, grabbing images and quotes to print for a giant board at home. She kept it beside her bed where she could see it every morning. She also kept a folder on her phone where she stored all her “lovely” messages of support to reflect on during treatments.

Meditative Routines

Briony used a couple of meditative techniques. The first is what she calls “the morning pages.” The idea is that first thing in the morning you sit and write two or three pages of whatever comes into your head. No right or wrong here, it is an exercise in clearing your head and organizing your thoughts.

The other was real meditation. Briony used an app called Headspace. She describes it as great for beginners and was inspired to learn that the founder, Andy Puddicombe, was himself someone who had been through treatment for testicular cancer. He developed a series of meditations on coping with cancer which she tried to do daily.

That’s about it, though she signs off with “Take it one day at a time and remember that you are stronger than you know. You’ve got this.”

Hair Loss For Women

It was great to find Briony’s story and we sincerely hope many others will benefit from her experience and appetite for sharing. We loved her take on the “Alien” image, reprising Sigourney Weaver’s shaven-headed character in the film was a stroke of genius, and gives us a little window into how she, with her family, determined to have fun regardless. You can see that picture, and the rest of her wonderful Instagram account by clicking here.

We would like to offer you the opportunity to discuss your hair loss situation with a friendly, globally recognized, expert. Ranbir is a committed hair professional with years of experience and a well-earned reputation for thought-leadership and innovation in the industry. If you would like to discuss your hair loss situation with an expert, sympathetic and experienced ear, please use the contact form to get in touch.

In an interview with Extra, John Travolta explains his decision to come clean about his hair loss and finally go bald.

A Life With Hair

John Travolta, far more than just about any other actor we can think of, was a man for whom his hair was key. It is simply unimaginable that he could have got the early roles he did without his magnificent mane. Grease required him to comb his hair in almost every scene. In Saturday Night Fever his character constantly preened and admired himself in any available reflective surface.

It is therefore entirely understandable that he chose to don a hair system. At which precise point he began wearing the system is less clear, though rumors suggest it was early on.

A Change of Heart

Travolta shocked his legions of fans with a tweet at new year. The picture showed him with his daughter at a black tie event, sporting no system and exposing his bald crown officially for the first time with the caption “I hope everyone had a great New Year!”

In his interview with Extra, Travolta talks about his close friend and singer Armando Perez, known as Pitbull.  He shared that Pitbull would send pictures of Travolta in which he had superimposed a bald head onto Travolta’s hair system with a note saying “I prefer this.” Along with friends, family and people in his employ, Travolta decided he had enough people around him “championing this whole idea…” that he decided to take the plunge and ditch the wig.

Reaction

The reaction to his tweet was amazing. “The biggest fun has been just the response to it, I felt like Zoolander or something – I came out and suddenly, my new look became headline news.” Travolta himself describes his new look as a lot easier… “Life’s simpler.” Wife Kelly Preston, he also tells us, loves it… “She has always loved the idea,” he said. Family and friends are delighted.

Hair Loss For Women

We are delighted to see him embrace his natural look. He is of an age, at 64, where the majority of his peers will be in the same situation. It is hard to believe there is any threat to his career since he can always slip the system back on for a role. Not least though, because he remains a very handsome man without the hair. You can see the original interview on Extra here.

We would like to offer you the opportunity to discuss your hair loss situation with a friendly, globally recognized, expert. Ranbir is a committed hair professional with years of experience and a well-earned reputation for thought-leadership and innovation in the industry. If you would like to discuss your hair loss situation with an expert, sympathetic and experienced ear, please use the contact form to get in touch.

There are numerous sources of vitamin D, including sunlight, but millions of us do not get enough and a recent study suggests it is key in the fight against hair loss.

Vitamin D

Vitamin D has long been understood to regulate the levels of calcium and phosphate in our body. A lack of it can lead to conditions such as rickets in children and painful bones in older people… pain in the bones is sometimes a simple sign of a vitamin D deficiency which, left unattended, can lead to osteoporosis.

However, the effects of the vitamin appear to go beyond healthy bones and teeth. A team in Saudi Arabia has recently published a report, the result of looking at the evidence from hundreds of earlier studies, pointing to a direct link between levels of vitamin D and androgenetic alopecia.

In fact, vitamin D has become associated with a range of unwelcome symptoms. Drowsiness, excessive sweating or muscle pain can all be signs that you need a boost.

Hair Growth

The latest study, while far from definitive, clearly saw a link between low vitamin D levels and alopecia areata. Given the requirement for a range of vitamins and other micronutrients in the hair follicle growth cycle, they recommended large scale double-blind clinical trials to achieve a clearer understanding of the processes.

Are You Getting Enough?

During summer months we should be getting all the vitamin D we need from sunlight. Of course, there are those who won’t, people in institutions, or hospital for example. For them, and all of us during the winter months it can be a struggle, which means many of us will be suffering from an in witting deficiency. While it does occur in a small range of foods supplements are recommended. The national health service in the UK recommends an adult take 10 micrograms daily between the end of summer and late March or early April.

Hair Loss For Women

Against that backdrop of symptoms, including osteoporosis, it would seem obvious that our vitamin D levels are something we should all be more conscious of. And protecting ourselves against at this time of year. Not many of us will get enough from our diet given the limited range of foods that it appears in.. oily fish, red meat, liver, egg yolks. There are also fortified foods, spreads and cereals. But a supplement should definitely be a consideration in the winter months.

We would like to offer you the opportunity to discuss your hair loss situation with a friendly, globally recognized, expert. Ranbir is a committed hair professional with years of experience and a well-earned reputation for thought-leadership and innovation in the industry. If you would like to discuss your hair loss situation with an expert, sympathetic and experienced ear, please use the contact form to get in touch.

As we look ahead to the challenges cold weather brings we offer our list of home remedies for taking better care of your scalp, vital in the battle against hair loss. Simple treatments that take little or no time and provide visible results.

Scalp Care Is Hair Care

As we head into winter it is definitely time to take a little more care of ourselves. We would go so far as to say vital if you are suffering from hair loss, in which case taking care of your scalp should be a high priority. While there are over the counter solutions available the popularity of home remedies is understandably appealing to anyone wanting to reduce their exposure to medications.

So as the cold weather begins to bite we will all experience the gamut of factors that can lead to a scalp with poor condition, central heating and wearing hats for starters. Dandruff is endemic with up to 50% of people suffering, other rarer conditions like psoriasis can be debilitating and hard to manage. Effectively managing these conditions is vital if you want to give your hair its best chance of growing strong and looking healthy. One of the benefits of going the home remedy route is that anything on our list can be used in conjunction with any medication prescribed by your doctor or dermatologist.

Tea Tree Oil

You were possibly expecting to see it but the anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal, and anti-microbial make it an old-fashioned no-brainer. Great for reducing greasiness and itching but a fantastic accompaniment to any other treatment you might be using.

Aloe Vera

Of all the home remedies you can grow on a shelf this is our stand-out favorite. It is a wonderful salve for anything from burns to cold sores, applied to the scalp it delivers on all fronts. Like the Tea Tree Oil, it offers control of inflammation and fungal infections.

Apple Cider Vinegar

The much-vaunted health properties of the apple go beyond keeping the doctor away. Taken orally it is credited with aiding the metabolism and helping to keep weight off. Applied to the scalp the acidity helps the process of removing dead skin while balancing the pH level.

Omega-3

These fatty acids are essential, they help build cell membranes but are also important for the healthy function of vital organs like the heart and lungs. A deficiency is keenly felt by the hair and scalp and the effects are visible. Available in a range of foods, primarily fish, sardine salmon trout or mackerel, as well as walnuts, soybean and chia seeds. Also available as a supplement.

Hair Loss For Women

We would like to offer you the opportunity to discuss your hair loss situation with a friendly, globally recognized, expert. Ranbir is a committed hair professional with years of experience and a well-earned reputation for thought-leadership and innovation in the industry. If you would like to discuss your hair loss situation with an expert, sympathetic and experienced ear, please use the contact form to get in touch.

Based on stories told her by her grandmother, a young doctor from Guyana is working on developing a hair loss cure based on ancient wisdom. We take a closer look.

We report regularly on the progress of research teams from all over the world working on a deeper understanding of hair loss. From that research emerges a raft of programs all aimed at producing a product or technique aimed at improving the lot of hair loss sufferers. The sheer complexity of the challenge has become more obvious as we delve ever deeper into the workings of hair growth… we now know that there are well over 200 genes involved in the process.

Such is the emerging complexity that sometimes it feels as though we might never get there. That miracle treatment which can return, or deliver for the first time, anyone to a full head of hair.

A Herbal Approach

Growing up in the valleys of the beautiful Pakaraima mountains in Guyana, Sevanie Williams as a young girl would listen attentively to her grandmother’s stories on the benefits of local herbs and other plants. Among them a few that were used to treat their hair. So as a young girl Sevanie developed a fascination for plant-life, organisms, and chemicals… which would see her, even as a young girl, examining the entrails of slaughtered cows in her village. It would predicate a life of study as she earned a scholarship to Cuba where she would study medicine and become a doctor. But her first love was and remains research.

Herbal Cure For Hair Loss

Dr. Sevanie Williams is these days to be found working on developing some of those herbal remedies into a meaningful hair loss cure. Her initial experiments have been conducted on members of her own family, including a bald for years grandfather. Results have been encouraging, though it is not a sample size that can be used to prove any sort of efficacy. Grandfather sprouted new hairs from the barren plain that had been the top of his head. Interestingly, grey hairs have begun to show pigment at their roots.

Hair Loss For Women

Today, Dr. Wiliams is working alongside Dr. Emmanuel Cummings, Dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences and a local lab where she is conducting tests and additional research. We will, of course, keep a close eye on her progress.

We would like to offer you the opportunity to discuss your hair loss situation with a friendly, globally recognized, expert. Ranbir is a committed hair professional with years of experience and a well-earned reputation for thought-leadership and innovation in the industry. If you would like to discuss your hair loss situation with an expert, sympathetic and experienced ear, please use the contact form to get in touch.

There is broad concensus that hair loss is on the rise, so with more women affected than ever the question of what you can do to stave off the problem is essential.

Hair Loss

There is a seemingly never-ending list of potential issues that might trigger hair loss before we even get to the most common… age-related hair loss, better known to the medical world as androgenetic alopecia.

To start with there is a list of conditions that can spark a hair loss event which include some that many of us will experience. Pregnancy is a great example, postpartum hair loss can begin straight after pregnancy as the body readjusts, and take many months to resolve completely. Thyroid disorders and hormone imbalances can play havoc with our hair, as can any illness or accident. Many of us will know of someone who lost color in their hair or even lost their hair, following a traumatic event like a death or break-up.

While all of these might be triggers, the sad truth is that the vast majority of us discovering hair loss will have to face the fact that it is of the hereditary variety. Our genes will ultimately dictate the point on our path at which our hair begins to thin dramatically. Though we can all look forward to a slow decline in the thickness and luster of our hair as we age. In our twenties the average woman will have a little over 600 follicles per square centimeter, this number drops to under 500 by the time reach our fifties. While you might notice that decline it is unlikely to draw unwanted attention unless you are actually suffering from androgenetic alopecia, this results in a highly visible lack of hair across the top of the scalp.

Must-Have Routines

While there is no cure for androgenetic alopecia, it is absolutely essential to give your hair the very best chance. Some simple lifestyle changes will help with that.

Ensuring that your diet is balanced is a must, identify any areas of weakness in your current diet and either make the changes necessary or, at the very least, reach for some supplements.  Iron of course, but also the fatty acids that you might be lacking if your diet does not include much meat, eggs or oily fish.

Never, ever, ever skip breakfast. Your hair gets its nutrients last, while you might dispute it your body regards hair as pretty much non-essential. So it lives on leftovers, best to make sure they are decent by eating regularly and enough, consistency of supply is a factor for the second fastest growing cell in your body – so try to eat something every four hours to keep it well supplied.

Beyond that, you are urged to take your health seriously and exercise regularly. Combine that with a sensible approach to getting enough sleep and a good hair care routine, which should include a regular scalp exfoliation, and you are well on your way to optimizing your chances of hanging on to your hair for the maximum time.

Hair Loss For Women

We would like to offer you the opportunity to discuss your hair loss situation with a friendly, globally recognized, expert. Ranbir is a committed hair professional with years of experience and a well-earned reputation for thought-leadership and innovation in the industry. If you would like to discuss your hair loss situation with an expert, sympathetic and experienced ear, please use the contact form to get in touch.

Abby Clancy, the popular model and footballer’s wife, has spoken candidly to OK Magazine about her experiences as a three-time mum and the perils to her appearance she suffered every time.

Abby Clancy

Abby is well known to her UK audience since 2006 when she was the runner-up in reality TV show, Britain’s next top model. She followed up that appearance with a successful modeling career that would see her, by 2010, gracing the pages of Sports Illustrated… something of a pinnacle for any young model and by the following year she was on the books of Elle Model Management in New York.

But Abby always had much more about her than simply stunning good looks. A winning personality saw her picking up work presenting shows and as a talking head on a range of matters affecting women, particularly young women. As if all of this was not enough she entered and won Strictly Come Dancing in 2013.

Abby began dating England footballer Peter Crouch in 2006. As much as Abby is an unusual model, Peter is that rare thing too… an erudite and genuinely funny footballer. The couple tied the knot in 2009 since when they have proved any doubters, who might have suspected the ability of such a glamorous couple living in the public eye to stay the course, very wrong indeed. The still happy couple are now proud parents to two daughters and a son and Abby, in a recent interview, has spoken, with her usual insight, about the mini-traumas those three pregnancies presented.

Perils in Pregnancy

As a busy model, Abby’s appearance was pretty much top of her list of things to take care of. Pregnancy turned out to be an enormous challenge, bringing a host of issues that would all make her working life more difficult. As Abby puts it “everything that could go wrong with her appearance did.”

She admits to struggling with acne and bad pigmentation as issues that “got her down.”  But hair loss was a  particularly unwelcome and difficult to manage problem. “Every time I brushed my hair, it would fall out. It happened throughout my pregnancy, and after giving birth, I was just thinking when is this going to stop? Am I going to be left with any hair?” It was scary, but the things we go through to have our lovely babies, You’d give your whole head of hair to have a healthy baby. But for anyone, hair loss can be a very scary thing.”

Hopefully, women will take comfort in her reporting that the problems began clearing up as soon as she delivered her baby. She shares that the spots cleared up almost immediately, though the hair loss, due to the glacial nature of hair growth, did take a little longer.

Hair Loss For Women

We would like to offer you the opportunity to discuss your hair loss situation with a friendly, globally recognized, expert. Ranbir is a committed hair professional with years of experience and a well-earned reputation for thought-leadership and innovation in the industry. If you would like to discuss your hair loss situation with an expert, sympathetic and experienced ear, please use the contact form to get in touch.

Scalp cooling caps burst onto the scene a couple of years ago, for the first time offering hope to patients that they might hold on to their hair during chemotherapy. We look at one woman’s personal account.

Scalp Cooling

For years women facing cancer treatment were forced to face the fact that the harsh chemicals used during chemotherapy would see them lose their hair. As if fighting cancer wasn’t enough they had to go through the inevitable trauma of disfiguring hair loss. For some women, the prospect is simply too much with a shocking percentage declining the chemotherapy on those grounds alone.

Of course, it is not just the hair loss. It is the impact that hair loss has on their family and friends, children in particular. It is a stigmatizing visual sign that they are undergoing treatment which might as well be a neon banner for all its lack of subtlety. Combine that emotional trauma with the need to decide on how you want to deal with the hair loss, be it a wig, hat or a more brazen approach, and it is perfectly understandable why hair loss is always at the top of most people’s list of undesired and unpleasant side-effects… and there are plenty of others.

Lesley Boyce

Meet Lesley Boyce. Lesley was diagnosed with stage 2 cancer in her breast and had to endure a series of 15 chemotherapy treatments. Lesley had actually worked in the oncology department of her local hospital in the north of England so had a better idea of what to expect than many of the patients there. When she was offered scalp cooling, using a cap donated by the charity Walk the Walk, she spoke to a former colleague for advice.

It was explained that the device simply cooled the scalp prior to treatment, and again for a while after, with the aim of reducing blood supply to the follicles and hopefully reducing the damage done to them by the chemicals used. As the mother to a young boy of seven Lesley had been worried about her appearance upsetting him if she did lose her hair and so had bought a wig just in case.

Lesley described wearing the cap as like having a refrigerator on your head and referenced how difficult it became to think while wearing it. She also pointed out that the need to wear it for an hour before and another hour after would turn the session into a 3-hour appointment from the 1-hour it takes for the actual chemo. The investment of all that time was rewarded as she managed to keep the wig in the drawer and the hair on her head.

Hair Loss For Women

Scalp cooling was and is an important weapon in the fight against hair loss, not least because before they came along there was literally nothing, they filled a void with something that works, as it did for Lesley, successfully in many cases. It is not a guarantee, but in life there are few of those.

We would like to offer you the opportunity to discuss your hair loss situation with a friendly, globally recognized, expert. Ranbir is a committed hair professional with years of experience and a well-earned reputation for thought-leadership and innovation in the industry. If you would like to discuss your hair loss situation with an expert, sympathetic and experienced ear, please use the contact form to get in touch.

Iron deficiency, the lack of healthy red blood cells, is breathtakingly common and a cause of hair loss. We look closer.

Anaemia

Red blood cells fulfil a vital role, ferrying oxygen-carrying haemoglobin around the body. So fundamental are they to the rest of everything else that any sort of deficiency can lead to a  multitude of problems. Untreated it can lead to serious health issues, organ damage chief among them – The heart, for example, must work harder to make up for the lack of oxygen.

Oxygen And Your Hair

As you might expect, those red cells carry that essential oxygen to hair cells too. A reduction in that oxygen supply can, in turn, trigger a type of hair loss called telogen effluvium. This is the often stress-related condition that is characterized by greater than usual shedding, sometimes quite dramatic. It can be brought on by an emotional event or a shock to the system, pregnancy is a good example.

Telogen effluvium occurs when a greater proportion than usual of your hair follicles go into a resting phase. The result is usually a diffuse thinning of the hair, though it can affect the hairline itself in some cases.

What To Do

If you think you might be suffering from anaemia related hair loss you will need to get along to your doctor. They will need to do some analysis to rule out other possibilities with similar symptoms, like alopecia areata.

The good news is that a full return to health is the typical prognosis, though because of the glacial rate of hair growth it can take several months to get back to your full crowning glory. In the meantime, if you are an appropriate candidate, Scalp MicroPigmentation might be your saving grace with its ability to camouflage thinning hair through the appearance of increased density.

Hair Loss For Women

We would like to offer you the opportunity to discuss your hair loss situation with a friendly, globally recognized, expert. Ranbir is a committed hair professional with years of experience and a well-earned reputation for thought-leadership and innovation in the industry. If you would like to discuss your hair loss situation with an expert, sympathetic and experienced ear, please use the contact form to get in touch.

A respected doctor told a medical audience that Frontal Fibrosing Alopecia has become a serious problem. We look closer.

Lichen Planopilaris

This rare inflammatory condition results in patchy and progressive hair loss which is permanent and thought to be an autoimmune disease.

Frontal Fibrosing Alopecia is what the medical world calls a pattern variation of this condition. In fact, it takes a doctor to spot the difference. The variation was only reported for the first time 30 years ago but, according to dermatologist Jerry Shapiro M.D., it is increasing in epidemic proportions.

It presents as a band of alopecia at the front of the scalp, it can appear above and behind the ears as well as sometimes forming a complete band around the head. Another symptom, which can occur before or after the hair loss, can be the loss of eyebrows… it occurs in between 50% and 95% of cases. Follicles are permanently destroyed by the condition in a scarring process that leaves

Typically, the condition affects post-menopausal women, like we didn’t have enough to worry about, but Dr. Shapiro told the American Association of Dermatology, at their summer meeting, that fully 20% of cases are seen in pre-menopausal women and that it can occasionally be seen in men, though they only represent between 1 & 2% of cases.

The Causes

Exactly what triggers the autoimmune reaction which causes the disease is not known for sure, but there would seem to be a strong suggestion that the culprit has been identified.

Dr. Shapiro told the meeting about one study, based on questionnaires investigating lifestyle, social and medical factors, discovered that twice as many women with FFA used a sunscreen when compared with the control groups. Also that they used facial moisturizers and foundations more often, though this just failed to reach the level of statistical significance.

The possibly implicated sunscreen ingredients were approved by the FDA in 1988, just 6 years before the first ever case of FFA was reported.

The Cure

Yes, well. At the moment there is no cure. Present with the condition to your Doctor and you may be prescribed any one of a number of tiered solutions to managing FFA. They include some you may expect, like minoxidil, to antimalarials and cortisone.

Hair Loss For Women

FFA is a terrible condition, causing the sufferer to lose hair, and usually eyebrows. Worse, hair is lost from an ultra-visible area usually immediately behind the hairline at the front of the scalp. The scarring nature of the condition means that it is irreversible.

It strikes us as all the more cruel since it is almost certain that most sufferers will only hear about it when they are given it as a diagnosis. Not difficult to empathize with anyone getting that news. We can only hope that the increased attention due to the efforts of Dr. Shapiro will bring a greater understanding and, in time, some bespoke and efficacious treatments for it. Though it might be quicker and cheaper to do the required research, identify the harmful ingredients causing the epidemic, and ban them.

We would like to offer you the opportunity to discuss your hair loss situation with a friendly, globally recognized, expert. Ranbir is a committed hair professional with years of experience and a well-earned reputation for thought-leadership and innovation in the industry. If you would like to discuss your hair loss situation with an expert, sympathetic and experienced ear, please use the contact form to get in touch.

It came to us in the form of an advert, not always the best introduction. But this one claims to fill a new niche in the market, we look closer.

Brittle Hair Issues

Keeping your hair in tip-top condition is an essential part of the battle against hair loss. It’s an issue that is particularly relevant at this time of year when we see an increase in issues like breakage due to the seasonal conditions. The reduction in vitamin D, supplied through the summer in vast quantities in sunlight, combines with your body’s natural cycle, which goes into winter mode, and makes it that much more challenging to keep your hair and skin healthy.

There is no shortage of products on offer from the pharmaceutical firms looking to separate you from your hard-earned cash in return for the hope of achieving more shine, or thickness, or luster (whatever that might be when we are talking about hair). Usually, in the form of shampoo or conditioner, they come with a bewildering array of promises based on some special ingredient.. a plant you never heard of, or a chemical they have just come up with, who can forget “Look out girls, here comes the science” in one shampoo advert – a warning that was followed by some utter nonsense in terms of anything scientific.

A New Angle

One company claim they have found a completely new angle of approach. We hadn’t come across them prior to seeing their advert but a Californian firm called David Alain Life Science lay claim to some experience in the hair loss industry. Under 4 brand names that we found, they develop their own products. The latest of which is called INTACT (their TM is in block capitals) Root Securing Complex.

The idea is, according to their website, that it can protect the user from what they term mechanical stress..; which includes washing, drying, and styling. The website does devote an entire paragraph to the “Science of INTACT.” Unfortunately, we didn’t learn much there – apparently, it contains a patent-pending formula, one they describe as unique which is just as well if they are hoping for a patent. It is called PiliLock Complex and offers to protect your hair during these mechanical stress events. Being a Californian product you might expect the claims of being vegan-friendly and free of parabens and phthalate… and they are all there. What is not there is what is in it.

Hair Loss for Women

We are far from sure the niche they describe even exists. It seems more likely that any deterioration in the condition of your hair and scalp due to environmental conditions might be better addressed by improving your diet. We are, just like your mother told you, what we eat.

Ranbir is a committed hair professional with years of experience and a well-earned reputation for thought-leadership and innovation in the industry. If you would like to discuss your hair loss situation with an expert, sympathetic and experienced ear, please use the contact form below to get in touch.

In the beauty industry, we have seen many times that history ends up repeating itself. Last year many fashion runways attempted to bring back one of the biggest beauty styles from the eighties – tightly slicked back hair. As New York Fashion Week takes off, judging by the first few days we can assume that nineties hair fashion is now making a comeback.

Nineties Hairstyles Seen On The NYFW Runways

One of the most prominent hairstyles seen on top models such as Bella Hadid was the stretch comb. These are an alternative to headbands and keep hair slicked back all the way around the hairline and can be partnered with high tight ponytails.

Tom Ford models were seen wearing thick elastic headbands which were made of leather, like the stretch comb these headbands also hold back hair from the hairline.

Alex Wang took its take on powerful women, models wore collar fitted office shirts and had hair tightly combed back with gel, held in place with a redesigned custom clip which resembled banana clips and claws.

The Dangers Of Traction Alopecia

Traction alopecia is a form of hair loss which is caused by prolonged pulling on the hair follicles; this condition can develop if hair is repeatedly worn in the same tight hairstyle. Unfortunately, all of the hairstyles described above rely on pulling the hair back away from the hairline and can cause hair breakage and inflammation in the hair follicles.

The best way to treat traction alopecia is to prevent the condition from developing altogether. Those who have long hair are advised to stick to loose hairstyles or to change their hairstyles on a regular basis instead of making the same style daily. If the condition is detected early enough, hair loss can be reversible. However if the condition has progressed, the only treatment available would be a hair transplant as the hair loss is permanent.

Our hairline is made up of some of the most fragile, finest and shortest hairs on our head however it is also where many women end up doing the most damage. As we style our hair and slick down the edges of our hairline with gel, braid these baby hairs back, brush and straighten them with heat-styling tools, we put our hairline at an increased risk of developing traction alopecia.

Traction alopecia is hair loss which occurs over a prolonged period of time, the hair begins to thin out as a result of prolonged stress on the hair follicles. This kind of damage is commonly seen on the hairline on our forehead. Figures suggest that one third of African American women alone are suffering from traction alopecia as they use styling techniques such as tight hair braids, extensions, chemical relaxers and wearing weaves which can put significant pressure on the hair follicles.

Traction alopecia is not just limited to black women, other habits such as pulling hair back tightly into ponytails and updos on a daily basis can also contribute to the development of this condition. Even if you think you’re avoiding hot tools or using wigs instead of extensions and weaves, habits such as wearing a hair wrap to bed can also be bad for your hairline as they can rub against the front hairline and weaken hairs.

Signs Of Traction Alopecia

This condition develops slowly therefore patients may not notice hair loss immediately. It can take time for changes in the hairline to become noticeable, be alert if you begin to see thinning in the hairline on your forehead and around the ears.

Sometimes warning signs for traction alopecia can be felt by the patient as tenderness in the affected areas. Other early signs can include short broken hairs by the balding area and small blisters or bumps on the scalp. Rarely small pustules which look like whiteheads can also arise around the balding area on the scalp.

How To Stop Traction Alopecia From Developing

The best way to stop traction alopecia from developing is through preventive measures. Avoid wearing your hair in the same tight styles on a daily basis; allow your hair to rest by wearing it open and natural.

Treatment with medications such as Minoxidil applied topically could help to regrow the hair if it is not too late. If traction alopecia is not treated early on, hair loss can be permanent.

Hair loss is a complicated condition; it can be triggered by numerous different factors which can be confusing to understand. Most women find that their hair has become an important part of their femininity and they perceive it to play a crucial role in their beauty. Therefore it can be emotionally trying when women suffer from hair loss or reduced hair growth. Fortunately Jessica Sepel, an Australian nutritionist and best-selling author has recently shared in a blog post online, ways in which you can protect your hair and potentially stop hair loss.

What To Eat To Improve Hair Health

Sepel talked about one of the main possible factors behind hair loss being low iron levels – possibly as iron deficiency is more likely in women who are of reproductive age due to monthly menstrual blood loss. To boost your iron intake, opt to eat leafy greens and red meats more often. If you are still concerned, you can ask your doctor for a blood test to ensure that your iron levels are within the normal range.

Zinc and silica are both minerals which play an important role in promoting hair growth; Sepel suggested that if you are noticing hair loss you could consider taking a multi-vitamin supplement to combat the condition.

Hair is primarily made up of proteins; therefore getting proper nutrition increases your chances of achieving a full head of hair. ‘Good’ fats are responsible for nourishing cells and can make hair appear shiny.

Other Factors Causing Hair Loss

It is important to remember other factors such as low thyroid levels, stress, genetics, medicines and underlying medical conditions can all contribute to hair loss.  The truth is that a good diet is always going to be recommended for your general well being but it’s generally unlikely that that will deal with the problem without other treatment. If you are worried about hair loss, it is advised that you speak to a doctor or contact us to discuss the condition in confidence with one of our team of friendly experts.

A former star from the reality show The Only Way Is Essex has opened up about her experience of post-partum hair loss. Ferne McCann who is only twenty seven years old recently gave birth back in November; however soon she felt that her hair was beginning to fall out. McCann shared her concerns on social media as her hair loss worsened and she decided to lighten her hair colour from brunette to blonde. As a result she is now taking hair vitamins and uses vitamin enhanced shampoos and conditioners in hopes that they will have a restorative effect.

Postpartum Hair Loss

Having a baby is an extremely stressful and traumatic event for every woman’s body. Hormones are responsible for many of the physical changes, including the increase in hair shedding after birth. The condition is perfectly normal yet temporary and affects a majority of women typically three months after birth. Most women find that they return to their regular hair cycle six months to one year after they have had their baby.

During pregnancy, women experience elevated levels in oestrogen which prolong the growing stage of the hair. This means that fewer hairs will be in the resting phase and less hair falls out, leading to thicker looking hair overall. However right after birth, levels of oestrogen dip and more hair will come out of the growing phase and re-enter the resting phase, which means that there will be an increased amount of hair fall during the postpartum period.  Think of it as the price to pay for the hair being so healthy during pregnancy.

Other Factors Which Can Cause Hair Loss

Of course hair loss is not just limited to hormones, there are multiple other factors which can affect the health of your hair and how well and strong it grows. McCann mentioned that she also lightened her hair colour which possiby involved some form of bleaching treatment. Bleach and hair dye on a frequent basis are both bad for your hair as your hair is unable to rebuild and protect itself unlike the skin.

Recently, the tabloid newspaper The Sun reported that Amanda Barrie had struck a deal with the producers of the reality show Big Brother, so that they would not show her wig on air. However they were mistaken as Barrie does not wear a wig, nor suffer from hair loss or any hair-related issues. The Sun has since issued an apology for their misunderstanding and made clear that Barrie is in good health and has a full head of hair.

Although they were mistaken, The Sun has actually inadvertently raised some awareness around female hair loss. Many women do suffer from hair loss yet choose to conceal it, often for reasons relating to self-confidence and wanting to normalise their appearance to others.

Some effective hair loss treatments

Asides from wearing wigs, there are actually many effective female hair loss treatments and solutions which are available including;

• Minoxidil, this is one of the most popular hair loss medications and has been FDA approved. Minoxidil has successfully undergone clinical trials and changed the lives of many hair loss patients by reversing hair loss. Studies found improvement and hair regrowth in over eighty percent of females, the best results are seen when the treatment is started in the early stages of hair loss. Currently in the UK and the USA, Minoxidil has been licensed as a treatment for androgenic alopecia, however can be used for treating other hair loss conditions also.
• Hair transplants, these procedures work by taking healthy hair follicles from a donor site on the patients head and transplanting them to areas of the scalp which are balding. Unfortunately as female pattern baldness presents as thinning of hair all over the scalp, transplants can be a little more difficult. To find out whether you are a suitable candidate for a hair transplant, speak to a hair transplant surgeon for more information.
• Scalp Micro Pigmentation (SMP), this procedure has become popular amongst women as it is quick, more cost-effective than a hair transplant or lifelong medications and results are instant. SMP works by reducing the contrast of thinning hair against the scalp and gives the illusion of more volume and density of hair.
• Hair loss products, there are countless effective hair loss products available in the form of shampoos, tonics, supplements and hair oils available over the counter. Keep in mind however for best results; these products should be used along with other treatments such as topically applied Minoxidil.

To learn more about female hair loss treatments don’t hesitate to call us or complete the form on the right to speak to one of our team of experts for free and in confidence.

Blogger Kristina Francisco shared her heart breaking story on The New York Times website about her experience of hair thinning. Francisco last met her mother when she was four years old; since her parents divorced she has had no contact with her birth mother and only has a few pictures to hold onto instead.

Francisco is the Hawaiian-born daughter of two Filipino immigrants and was blessed with long and straight thick Asian hair in her young age. She said that her hair was so thick she had trouble styling it and her stylist used to take more than one hour using thinning scissors and cutting her hair so that it was more manageable. However now at thirty six years old, Francisco is suffering from female pattern baldness and mentioned she is in and out of the stylists chair in less than twenty minutes.

What Is Female Pattern Baldness/alopecia?

Female pattern baldness does not affect women in the same predictable pattern seen in male pattern baldness, in fact hair loss is more diffuse and women end up experiencing thinning of hair all over the scalp. Medically however, both conditions are referred to as androgenic alopecia.

Hair loss in women although still a slightly taboo topic, is actually perfectly normal and the American Hair Loss Association estimates that women are accountable for up to forty percent of hair loss sufferers. Many women end up experiencing hair loss after they have reached menopause – most likely a result of the change in hormone levels.

Is Female Pattern Baldness Genetic?

It’s very likely that Francisco did actually inherit her hair loss condition from her mother, especially as she claims in her article that her paternal grandmother still has thick healthy hair. As numerous different genes are involved, the genes can be inherited from either parent. Women are more likely to inherit female pattern baldness if a close family member also suffers from the condition.

For more information on female pattern baldness you can call us on +44 (0)845 359 2915 for a free confidential consultation with one of team of friendly experts or complete the form on the right

A forty six year old woman who has suffered from hair thinning since she was in her twenties has undergone a hair loss solution procedure and has finally gained her confidence back. Mehtap Francis spent a seemingly endless amount of money over the years in an attempt to conceal a large circular patch of hair loss on the top of her head.

Francis previously relied on hair patches that her hairstylist would glue onto her scalp every month. Yet these caused her scalp to itch and even a constant dull ache began to develop, making her balding worse. The hair piece even affected Francis’s lifestyle as washing hair became difficult, leading to Francis giving up going to the gym and consequently putting on weight.

Unfortunately, as she was so self-conscious of her hair loss that she refused to even tell her partner in the beginning of their relationship that she was suffering from androgenic alopecia. as her partner would suggest that they go on a holiday somewhere, Francis even contemplated breaking up with him so that she would not have to reveal her condition and true appearance to him.

Eventually Francis discovered Scalp Micro Pigmentation (SMP) and is finally feeling confident in the way she looks after twenty years.

What is SMP?

Scalp Micropigmentation SMP is a non-invasive technique which works by using a fine needle to implant pigment in tiny dots into the upper later of the skin on the scalp. This imitates the appearance of a freshly shaved head, suggesting that the individual has natural hair growth.

In the case of Francis, SMP made her hair look thicker and denser as her scalp no longer showed through from the hair growth she did have. The technique has become increasingly popular amongst women also in the last few years for this particular reason.

For more information on SMP and whether it would be right for you don’t hesitate to call one of our friendly experts for a free consultation on +44 (0)845 359 2915

Getting married is a huge and stressful life event, with so much to plan and organise in a set period of time, it can be easy to forget about taking care of you. Make sure that you don’t lose any hair from stress related hair fall!

Everyone ends up losing a small amount of hair on a daily basis, this is natural and in fact a positive sign that your body is growing healthy new hair to replace old hair. By keeping track of how much you hair loss is normal for you, you will be able to easily spot any unwanted increase in hair fall. there can be numerous reasons as to why your hair is falling out, for some it is an indicator of an underlying medical condition – usually genetic, but for others it can be ‘telogen effluvium’.

Telogen effluvium is caused by hormonal changes and health problems leading to a temporary increase in hair shedding. Cortisol is one of the body’s most important hormones, it is also known as the stress hormone, as cortisol is produced as a result of high levels of stress. As cortisol production increases, other hormone levels can fall and this in turn can negatively affect the growth of healthy hair.

How To Counter Hair Loss

The best way to counter stress related hair loss is by decreasing the amount of stress you are taking on. No other hair loss method will be effective if your stress levels are still high, therefore make sure you are eating and sleeping enough and ask for help when you need it.

You can also try the following methods to improve your hair health;

• Eat foods which are rich in proteins as every one of your hair strands is made up of cells which contain protein
• Avoid brushing wet hair, your hair is much more vulnerable to breakage when it is wet therefore allow your hair to dry naturally first.
• Use a hair treatment, you can soak your hair in some previously boiled green tea for up to one hour to absorb some it’s the antioxidants and beneficial properties
• Massage your hair and scalp once or twice a week with oil to promote hair growth and good blood circulation in your scalp.

To learn more about stress related hair loss and how you can counter hair loss with natural remedies and good habits please call to speak to one of our friendly experts in confidence on +44 (0)845 359 2915

Hair loss is a common condition for both men and women and there are multiple reasons why this occurs. Simple daily habits such as how you style your hair, the food you eat and the kind of shampoo you use could be damaging your hair.

Over half of men are expected to experience male pattern baldness by the time they reach fifty years old. Male pattern baldness is often down to genetics where the hair loss happens in a typical and predictable pattern. Men tend to lose hair from the crown of their head and the hairline recedes upwards from the temples. Whereas in women, a common cause of hair loss is pregnancy. Postpartum hair loss is a  condition which affects many women three to six months after they have given birth.

Damaging Habits For Your Hair

However there are some everyday habits which may be triggering hair loss and breakage that many of us are guilty of doing on a daily basis. Some damaging habits include;

• Tying your hair up in a similar tight hairstyle daily. By repeatedly tying your hair up, the hair follicles are placed under excessive strain and the hair follicles become weakened. Although most of the time this is temporary, if you do this on a long term basis, the strain can cause permanent damage to your hair roots.
• Tying up or brushing hair when it is wet. As the hair is especially fragile when it is damp, you can cause unnecessary hair breakage by brushing or styling wet hair.
• Using shampoos which contain damaging ingredients. Harmful ingredients such as sodium lauryl sulphate (SLS) is present in some shampoos which helps them bubble and lather up, however can actually strip hair from its natural oils and break down protein in the hair. SLS can also lead to a dry and itchy scalp which can contribute to hair loss.
• Not eating a well-balanced diet, by restricting your diet your hair can suffer by thinning out and become prone to breakage.

If you are unsure as to why your hair may be falling out, it is recommended that you speak to a doctor or hair loss expert for more information.

Hair loss is difficult enough for adults to come to terms with, but imagine losing your hair at just 11 years old. That’s exactly what happened to American Emma Dye, right as she was about to start junior high. Now, she’s helping to raise awareness of Alopecia areata and is proving bald can definitely be beautiful.

Emma’s inspirational story

It was during the summer 11-year-old Emma started noticing clumps of hair on her pillow. Both she and her family were confused as she was an otherwise healthy girl. Her father even suspected she had cut her own hair with scissors, or potentially burnt the hair off with straighteners. However, after taking her to the doctor, it was revealed she was suffering with Alopecia areata.

Although it largely affects adults, alopecia areata can develop at any age. It’s the most severe form of hair loss and as of yet there is no cure. It occurs when the body’s white blood cells start attacking other cells, such as those found in the hair follicles. While it varies in severity, some sufferers like Emma, do end up completely bald.

The diagnosis affected Emma’s confidence and self-esteem. Initially she started to wear hats to cover the issue, but thanks to the encouragement of a friend, she gained the confidence to start ditching the wig. Now, she’s helping to spread awareness of the condition and showing other young girls that going bald doesn’t need to negatively impact your life.

Can alopecia areata be treated?

Although there is no cure for Alopecia areata, there are some treatments which may help. It all depends upon how severe the condition is and how much hair has been lost.

Some treatments can block the attack from the immune system, as well as stimulate new regrowth. However, before seeking treatment, it’s important to see a doctor to determine whether treatment is likely to prove effective.

If you have been suffering from a lot of stress lately, it’s possible that you will have noticed that your hair is shedding more than usual. Stress can actually cause all kinds of physical symptoms which are completely unexpected and this can include hair loss.

There is nothing wrong with worrying about how your hair looks, as many of us want our hair to look its best. If you think that your hair has suddenly changed in more than one way, consider it to be a wakeup call. Stress can wreak havoc on your hair through the following few ways;

1. Hair Loss Has Increased

Hair loss which is caused by extreme stress is called telogen effluvium. There can be numerous reasons as to why this kind of hair loss is triggered, from a new job, giving birth or a long bout of flu could all be to blame. You will know that you are losing too much hair if it feels abnormal to you and also has been occurring for more than two weeks.

If you’ve found that you are losing hair in what appears to be small and coin-sized patches, it could also be stress related hair loss. Although this symptom is actually a characteristic of alopecia areata, the condition can flare up when the individual is under increased amounts of stress.

2. Hair Growth Slows Down

Stress can make it more unlikely that you will make healthier food choices; therefore if you find that emotional eating has become a habit it can even slow down hair growth. Poor nutrition can be to blame for weaker hair and increased hair breakage.

3. Your Hairline Has Started To Recede

If you are regularly pulling your hair back into the same tight ponytail or bun, this can pull the tiny hairs which grow along your hairline. Over time, this increased force on these hairs can damage the hair follicles leading to gradual thinning and weaker hair. Stick to a loose ponytail or open hairstyles, making sure that you leave your hair open when you go to bed.  If you find you’re pulling at your hair to help deal with stress then you may be suffering from trichotillomania.

If you feel you are suffering from stress related hair loss, speak to a doctor or hair loss expert for more information and advice on how to treat the condition.

American model and actress Emily Ratajkowski has faced a backlash after posting an image on Instagram and announcing that she is the new spokesperson for the luxury hair care company, Kérastase Paris. The trouble came as she captioned the image with “Hair is a fundamental part of beauty, femininity, and identity. So excited to announce that I am the new face of @kerastase_official!”,

Many of her fans and people who had viewed the caption online expressed their anger and shared comments about how it could be negatively interpreted towards women who have lost their hair as a result of illness and genetic medical conditions.

Others felt that the model meant no harm and was simply trying to promote the product and luxury hair care brand. Yet shortly after sharing the image and receiving divided comments from her social media followers, Ratajkowski changed the image caption to read “So excited to announce that I am the new face of @kerastase_official ! Welcome good hair days!”

How The Brand Responded

Kérastase Paris also spoke out and responded with a public apology clarifying that they did not mean to suggest that beauty is defined by your hair. They stated that they feel that beauty is much more spiritual, coming from within and that everyone is uniquely beautiful in their own way. The brand concluded by thanking the public for speaking out and challenging the idea that ‘hair is a fundamental part of beauty’.

Although the move was initially quite insensitive coming from Ratajkowski, she did respond to public outcry immediately and respectfully which has no doubt reclaimed some of her fan following.

What Is Beauty?

Remember, beauty is not something which can be so easily defined or attributed to a particular feature such as hair, skin colour, body size or facial features. Beauty is definitely something completely unique to each of us and comes in multiple variations and is much deeper and more complex than what meets the eye.  If you are suffering from hair loss and would like to talk in confidence to an expert about the problem then please don’t hesitate to call us on+44 (0)845 359 2915  for a free consultation.

A team of researchers from the South Korean Yonsei University, have claimed to have found a new hair loss treatment . In a recent study, the researchers managed to develop a biochemical agent which they claim can stimulate hair growth in patients who have already gone bald.

So, could this really be the cure we’ve all been waiting for?

Understanding the results

In the breakthrough study, the researchers discovered the CXXC5 (CXXC-type zinc finger protein), can ultimately block a pathway which is responsible for hair regeneration and growth. By disrupting the CXXC5 using a peptide competitor, it activated the pathway and accelerated hair growth.

They also carried out an experiment on mice, where they were able to stimulate new hair growth using a PTD-DMB biochemical agent.

The results of the study have been published within the Journal of Investigative Dermatology.

Could it work?

Although the breakthrough is exciting, it’s worth noting that the new potential biochemical treatment isn’t likely going to be suitable for all causes of hair loss. It appears the study largely focused on hair loss caused by trauma. So, it could be a good treatment option for specific types of hair loss such as traction alopecia.

There’s still a lot of work which needs to be done in order to turn this discovery into a cure. So, for those suffering with hair loss right now, it’s worth visiting a hair expert to see which treatment options are available.

For traction alopecia, current treatments include Minoxidil, Finasteride and SMP. If the hair loss has only just begun, you could even simply alter the way you style your hair. It’s really important to seek a correct diagnosis before starting any treatment however, as different types of hair loss will respond to different types of treatments.

Overall, this breakthrough in hair loss treatment could bring a potential cure for specific types of hair loss. However, it’s likely to take a long time before it can be turned into an actual treatment. So, if you’re worried about hair loss right now, it’s best to seek advice from a doctor or hair specialist.

Hair loss can be triggered by a wide range of factors, but did you know it could be down to something as simple as your diet?

Nutrient deficiencies can have a significant impact on your hair. Protein deficiency in particular, is one of the leading causes of dietary related hair loss. Here, you’ll discover how a low carb/high protein diet could be good for your hair health.

The link between protein and hair health

The hair is largely made up from a protein known as Keratin. Therefore, if there’s a protein deficiency within the body, the hair isn’t going to be getting the amount it needs to grow and stay healthy.

When there’s a lack of protein, the body tries to conserve the levels, limiting the amount used for non-essential functions such as hair growth. So, it places the hair into the resting cycle, where it eventually sheds in large quantities. The result is thinning and possible patches of hair loss depending upon the severity of the deficiency.

So, if you’re looking to improve the health of the hair and prevent hair loss, digesting a diet which is high in protein and low in carbs can help.

The importance of seeking a proper diagnosis

Although nutrient deficiencies can lead to hair loss, they actually account for very few cases. Hair loss can be triggered by a huge range of factors so it’s really important to ensure you’re getting a proper diagnosis.

If the hair loss is caused by a medical issue for example, changing your diet isn’t going to do anything to combat the problem. Instead, you’d need medication to treat the condition before the hair loss will subside.

If you are suffering from hair loss, the first step is to visit a doctor or specialist hair loss clinic and determine the actual cause. If it is down to a nutrient deficiency, switching to a high protein diet could prove useful.

Post-partum hair loss is a common, yet often surprising side effect of giving birth. What makes it even harder to deal with is the fact that throughout the pregnancy, the hair is thicker, healthier and shinier than it’s ever been. So, when it starts to fall out after the birth, it can come as a real shock and often look worse than it really is.

The severity of post-partum hair loss differs from woman to woman, but the good news is it’s not a permanent condition. The hair will start to grow back eventually and in the meantime, there are ways to treat it.

What is it?

Post-partum hair loss is a temporary form of hair loss, triggered by changing hormone levels within the body. Pregnancy causes an increase in Oestrogen levels, which triggers a lot of the hair to enter the resting phase of the hair growth cycle.

There are three phases in the hair growth cycle including growth, resting and fall-out phases. Usually, you’ll lose up to 100 hairs each day during a normal hair growth cycle. However, the increased Oestrogen forces the hair into the resting phase, while at the same time halting the shedding phase.

When you give birth, the hair cycle starts to return to normal, but first the hairs that were resting enter into the shedding phase. This can result in large clumps of hair falling out at the same time.  It’s the inveitable downside to the healthy glorious hair that most women enjoy throughout the pregnancy.

Treating the problem before it’s even begun

Although post-partum hair loss cannot be prevented, it can successfully be treated. Some hair stylists and hair loss experts even recommend starting treatment before the hair starts to fall out in the first place.

As 90% of women experience some degree of post-partum hair loss, starting treatment before it begins to fall out can be a really effective solution. So what treatment should you opt for? Well, the best solution for post-partum hair loss is a topical treatment known as Minoxidil, or a prescribed medication known as Finasteride; both of which are FDA approved. Cutting the hair into a shorter style can also cover up post-partum hair loss.

Besides the treatments above, you can remind yourself that the hair loss isn’t permanent. It’s also highly unlikely you’ll go completely bald. So, if you’re worried about the condition, seek advice from your doctor or visit a hair specialist to start temporary hair loss treatments as soon as possible.

If you’ve started to experience hair loss, you’re no doubt desperate to find a solution. Any amount of hair loss can be worrying, but before you panic, it’s worth getting to the bottom of the issue.

There’s actually a lot of different causes of hair loss. Each requires a very different form of treatment so it’s important to establish the real cause before you can start to combat it. Here, you’ll discover more about just some of the different causes of hair loss.  It’s not an exhaustive list but it covers some of the main areas.

Genetics

Perhaps the most common cause of hair loss is genetics. Responsible for male pattern baldness and female pattern hair loss, genetics play a large role in whether you’ll retain a full head of hair as you get older. Unfortunately, nothing can really prevent genetic related hair loss, but there are some great treatment options available to minimise the condition.

Stress

It’s absolutely true that stress can make your hair fall out. However, it’s only significant levels of stress, or a physical trauma, which can lead to stress related hair loss. It’s entirely possible for the hair to start falling out after a stressful event such as moving to a new house or getting divorced. However, it is a temporary form of hair loss and the hair will grow back eventually.

Medical

Sometimes, hair loss can be triggered by another underlying medical condition. Thyroid problems for example, are known to trigger hair loss. Autoimmune diseases such as lupus can also trigger the hair to start falling out, and some can even cause permanent baldness. In order to treat the hair loss, the medical problem needs to be dealt with first.

Diet

Although it’s actually really unlikely for diet to lead to hair loss, it isn’t impossible. Nutrient deficiencies can cause all kinds of problems for the hair cycle. Iron, protein and Vitamin C deficiencies can all lead to hair loss and hair thinning. So, if no other cause seems possible, it could well be related to your diet.

The above is just some of the causes of hair loss. Before treatment can be prescribed, the actual cause will need to be fully diagnosed. The majority of hair loss conditions are only temporary, but the earlier you can start treatment, the less noticeable it will become.  If you’re concerned about hair loss then don’t hesitate to get it contact with our friendly team of experts for a free and confidential consultation on  +44 (0)845 359 2915

There’s been a lot of famous women sharing their experiences with post-partum hair loss over the past year and the latest is Hollyoaks star, Jennifer Metcalfe. In a recent interview, Metcalfe revealed how she dealt withit and the things sufferers can do to tackle the problem.

losing her hair sent her into a panic

The Hollyoaks actor revealed when she became pregnant, her friends warned her about post-partum hair loss. While the star was perfectly happy to deal with sleepless nights and potential weight gain, the thought of losing her hair sent her into a panic.

So, to combat the problem before it even began, she decided to look for a treatment. She discovered a product known as Regrowz, which she claims took effect in just a few weeks. However, could the product really work, or could there be another reason Metcalfe managed to maintain her thick luscious locks?

Understanding Post-partum hair loss

Metcalfe’s story is a little different to the one shared by many famous women. In her interview, she appears to be largely advertising the product she claims helped her retain her hair. The trouble with this is, it may not have been down to the product, but rather the star may not have suffered from the condition at all or it just cleared up on its on which is normally the case anyway.

Approximately 90% of women experience post-partum hair loss, but that means 10% don’t. The severity of the hair loss can also differ significantly between women. So, even if the product did work for Metcalfe, it may not work for everyone.

Instead, it’s better to turn to trusted, proven treatments to stop the hair loss in its tracks. There’s a lot of hair loss treatments available but Finasteride and Minoxidil tend to be two of the best. They’re specifically designed for temporary hair loss conditions and are both FDA approved.

Overall, as tempting as it might be to try out unproven, recommended hair loss products, it’s a much better idea to opt for a proven, reliable treatment. It’s also worth seeking a proper diagnosis to determine whether your hair loss is brought on by your pregnancy. There are a lot of causes of hair loss and diagnosing the problem is essential before the right treatment can be prescribed.  Bear in mind that most post-partum hair loss is only temporary anyway

A Korean beauty brand has released what is being dubbed as a “anti-aging potion for your scalp”. Featuring Vitamin C as it’s main ingredient, the product is said to work wonders for thinning hair.

Vitamin deficiencies are known to link to hair loss, but can they really be an effective cure?

Can Vitamin C deficiency lead to hair loss?

The hair needs a number of different vitamins in order to grow and Vitamin C is one of them. Therefore, a deficiency in this could certainly lead to hair loss.

The body is unable to create the vitamin, so it relies upon your diet to provide it with sufficient levels. The vitamin is required for many different functions within the body and the body will distribute it to the most important areas first.

As hair growth isn’t considered essential, if there is a deficiency of Vitamin C, it will first be sent to support your important bodily functions. Add to this, the fact that it’s also important in the absorption of iron, another nutrient essential for healthy hair growth, and you can see why a deficiency can lead to severe hair loss.

However, the likelihood of hair loss being caused by a Vitamin C deficiency is extremely low. You would need to have a significant deficiency for it to cause the hair to thin or fall out. Therefore, Vitamin C treatment is unlikely to solve the majority of hair loss cases.

Actual cures for hair loss

There’s a lot of different hair loss treatments on the market and the one that’s right for you will depend upon the cause of the problem. Medications and topical treatments such as Minoxidil for example, can work wonders for temporary hair loss conditions. SMP or hair transplants on the other hand, are recommended for more permanent hair loss conditions.

As there are many different types of hair loss, it’s really important to get the condition checked out before seeking treatment. If it is caused by a Vitamin C deficiency, then Vitamin C treatments could prove effective. However, for most cases you’ll be much better off using actual proven hair loss treatments like the ones mentioned above.

As a woman, losing your hair can be a traumatic experience, even if you simply notice the hair is thinning, rather than leaving behind bald spots. It’s linked to a woman’s identity so it’s understandable hair loss can cause a drop in self esteem and confidence.

There’s actually quite a lot of causes of hair loss in women and one which you may be experiencing is seasonal based hair loss. This tends to cause more hair to fall out in the summer and autumn months and it can range drastically in severity. However, some experts claim the right diet could help to prevent and treat this type of temporary hair loss. Here, we’ll look at the top foods experts recommend and whether a change in diet could be the best option.

What super foods should you eat to prevent hair loss?

According to some experts, foods rich in fatty acids are a good option to prevent hair loss. This is especially true if you notice your scalp is scaly or dry. Essential fatty acids are known to play a vital role in ensuring the hair and scalp are healthy. Some of the best foods to add to your diet which are rich in fatty acids include avocados, flaxseed oil and oily fish. You could also take an Omega-3 supplement for best results.

Fruits and vegetables are also recommended, but largely it’s advised you eat a balanced diet packed full of different nutrients. But could diet alone really help to prevent baldness?

Can diet alone help?

Making changes to your diet to ensure you’re getting plenty of nutrients can certainly help reduce the risk of some types of hair loss. However, it’s highly unlikely this alone will stop you from suffering from hair loss at some time in your life. This is because there’s so many different causes of hair loss and diet isn’t going to affect any underlying issues you may be experiencing.

Therefore, it’s better to seek advice from a hair specialist or a doctor, as they will be able to point you in the direction of the best hair loss treatments. There’s a wide range of treatments available such as medications, topical treatments, laser therapy and even SMP. So, don’t rely on diet alone to fix your hair loss issues – book a free and confidential consultation today to find out which type of treatment will work best for you.

You may not know this, but on a daily basis we all lose up to one hundred strands of hair. hair shedding can be triggered by multiple factors, such as genetics, stress, poor nutrition, hormonal imbalances and pollutants which are present in the environment.

If you want to prevent and deal with hair thinning, the following natural tips could help you to regain your crown;

• Increase your protein intake. Hair is made primarily of protein, so by including an adequate amount of protein-rich foods into your usual diet you’ll improve your hair growth.

• Avoid crash dieting, these kinds of diets may be able to help you shed pounds quickly but it’s very likely you’ll also end up shedding your hair. This is because crash diets can result in vitamin and mineral deficiencies, a lack of essential nutrients can cause your hair growth to slow down and may even stop new hair from growing altogether. Also when you are not taking in enough fat, sebum production is negatively affected and the scalp and hair can become dry, making it prone to damage.

• Don’t comb hair while it is wet, ideally you should detangle your hair before you enter the shower to avoid large clumps of hair getting tangled up in your hairbrush.

• Give your hair a break from hair colouring; allow your hair to ‘rest’ for at least seven to nine weeks before you expose your hair to chemicals again.

• Avoid tight hairstyles, hairdos which require you to pull your hair back into a tight ponytail or by wearing hair extensions regularly can place stress on hair follicles and damage the hair shaft.

• Minimise heat-styling tools, heat can weaken the hair proteins which can make hair more prone to breakage and cause hair to fall out or break easily.

Sometimes hair loss can’t be fixed by natural approaches alone and treatment may be required so it’s always best to speak to a hair loss expert if you’re worried that you’re shedding more hair than ususal.

It’s true.  It’s not just men who face the trauma of hair loss. A large number of women experience female pattern hair loss, while children can also be affected by alopecia.

Although it is a common problem, women who do experience hair loss can understandably be devastated. While it’s somewhat accepted with men as a natural occurrence, for women and children there’s a strong social stigma involved which can make it especially difficult to deal with.

Many turn to ineffective, fake products for help

Many women end up unknowingly investing in fake, ineffective hair loss treatments to try and resolve the issue. There’s a staggering number of fad products available on the market due to the sheer amount of profit to be made. The trouble is, when you’re unfamiliar with the market, it’s easy to fall for scams and, after falling victim to these bogus hair loss products, women are left feeling frustrated and believing there are no effective treatments out there.

Effective hair loss options for women

The good news is there’s actually quite a lot of  treatments available for women and many have proven to be effective. The key is to make sure you’re seeking treatment from a reliable and respected hair clinic.

One of the most common effective, FDA approved treatments is Minoxidil, which is best suited for temporary hair loss conditions and it’s a topical treatment which needs to be applied directly onto the scalp.

Non-medication treatments include SMP, which is a specialist tattoo procedure aiming to cover up balding spots and provide an illusion of a thick head of hair.  It’s particularly helpful to women with thinning hair to give the impression of vlume.  Laser treatment could also prove effective, along with specialised hair loss products such as thickening shampoos.

Before you try out any treatment, it’s important to undergo a consultation with a hair specialist. They will be able to diagnose the cause of the hair loss and advise the best course of treatment.  Please feel free to fill in the form or give a us a call to book a confidential and free consultation on +44 (0)845 359 2915

At some point, we all dream of thick, long healthy model-like hair. Luscious hair is closely associated with ouridentity for many of us and is traditionally considered a significant part of our physical beauty. Although society seems to be accepting of hair loss amongst men, for women the topic of hair thinning and balding is much more complicated and carries some kind of taboo with it. Many women end up feeling alone and pressured to spend large amounts of money as an attempt to conceal the problem.

Unfortunately, hair loss is something that affects all a majority of us at some stage of our lives. Some of the major causes of shedding include stress, hormone imbalances, poor diet, personal health and the most common cause which is genetics and hereditary conditions. There are multiple factors we need to consider in order to be able to begin to treat hair loss and a healthy, well-balanced diet is critical for optimal hair growth. Our diet should be rich in proteins, complex B-vitamins and minerals, meaning that we need to eat a varied and healthy diet.

Nourkrin, A Vitamin Supplement To Support Hair Growth

A new supplement Nourkrin has been developed and is specially formulated to help women who need support for normal and well-nourished hair growth. The manufacturers claim that the special blend of ingredients in Nourkrin works alongside the natural hair growth cycle and helps to normalise and optimise the overall function and life of hair follicles.

Clinically Proven Hair Loss Treatments

Currently, there are two clinically proven treatments available; Minoxidil and Finasteride. Minoxidil is a medication which is topically applied to the scalp and Finasteride is an oral medication. Both must be taken on a daily basis for results to be sustainable. Some sufferers of hair loss may be suitable to use both treatment methods together for optimal results.

For more information on using supplements for reducing hair loss and other clinically proven hair loss solutions, speak to a hair loss expert or your doctor for professional advice and guidance.

A recent news story claiming Khloe Kardashian is suffering from post partum hair loss has been revealed to be false according to Gossip Cop. The original article supposedly came from a source close to Khloe, claiming she was worried she was going bald.

Now, Gossip Cop claims to have got to the bottom of the story, insisting it’s completely false. Although they admit post partum hair loss can, and does occur in many women, the star isn’t actually at the stage where it would usually occur.

When does post partum hair loss occur?

Post partum hair loss occurs after giving birth. It can take a few months for the hair to start falling out and it’s all linked to changing hormones. As Khloe is currently pregnant, she should actually be noticing fuller, thicker and healthier looking hair. It’s extremely rare for the hair to fall out during pregnancy.

When you become pregnant, the body produces a significant amount of estrogen. This pushes the hair into what is known as the resting phase, meaning it doesn’t fall out like it normally would. This gives the hair a healthy, full appearance. However, after giving birth, the hormone levels return to normal which means the estrogen levels drop. This triggers the hair in the resting phase to start falling out.

As it had a bit of a break during pregnancy, there’s now a lot more hair which needs to shed. So, it’s common for women to notice either significant thinning of the hair, or potentially even bald spots. It is only temporary though and the hair will return to normal eventually, but it could take up to a year.

Can anything be done for post partum hair loss?

While it’s not really possible to prevent post partum hair loss, there are temporary treatments which can help lessen its effects.

Topical treatments such as Minoxidil are fantastic. Applied straight onto the scalp, this treatment stops hair loss in its tracks and encourages healthy regrowth. If the hair loss is significant, a medication such as Finasteride could be a better option. Many women also choose to cut the hair shorter to create a more voluminous effect.

So, it seems Khloe Kardashian isn’t suffering from post partum hair loss after all. However, women who do experience the condition do have treatment options available. Above all else, it’s important to remember it’s only a temporary issue.

Green tea has long been associated with numerous health benefits, including potentially helping to prevent hair loss. As hair loss is something a lot of women experience these days, the news that a cup of green tea each day could prevent the condition is obviously fantastic. The question is, can it really prevent hair loss?

Is green tea an effective hair loss solution?

According to some experts, the high nutrient and antioxidant content of green tea can successfully prevent hair loss. This, combined with caffeine is said to stimulate the follicles of the hair and encourage new hair to grow.

The tea is also said to be high in panthenol which is commonly used in strengthening hair products such as shampoos. Its benefits don’t just stop there either. The amino acids known as theanine contained within green tea work alongside the panthenol to strengthen hair and additionally prevent split ends.

When you look at its impressive list of ingredients, it’s easy to see why it could potentially help prevent hair loss. However, it’s important to realise that it will not prevent all types of hair loss.

Why you shouldn’t rely on green tea alone to treat hair loss

It certainly won’t harm you to start drinking more green tea, but it’s unlikely to solve your hair loss worries. This is because the majority of hair loss experienced by women, isn’t down to nutrient deficiency.

There’s a substantial number of causes of hair loss and some are caused by medical conditions and underlying health issues. Therefore, medications would be a much more suitable treatment.

Even if your hair loss is only temporary, there’s still much more effective treatments available. Minoxidil is one of the best topical treatments available for temporary mild to moderate hair loss and it’s even FDA approved.

So, while green tea won’t harm your health and it could actually provide many health benefits, it’s not a great treatment option for hair loss. Instead, you’d be much better off seeking actual treatment from a hair specialist.

Stefanie Hodgson, a twenty year old sufferer of alopecia opened up and shared her story about how she spent her childhood suffering from hair loss and attempting to hide her baldness. Hodgson, who is originally from Melbourne, Australia, was diagnosed with alopecia when she was just six years old and admitted that she spent several years grieving over what she thought was the loss of her femininity and identity.

At just six years old, Hodgson’s mother noticed a bald patch in her daughter’s hair as she was getting her ready for school. By the time she was twelve; Hodgson had slowly lost all of her hair over the years and found it a painful and torturous process.

She found the process was particularly difficult for her mental health, as we often associate our hair with our personal identity and femininity. As Hodgson was so young, she found it particularly difficult to see photos of models with long hair in magazines and mainstream media, whereas she was noticeably different.

Now a beautiful and confident young woman and entrepreneur, Hodgson shared that she doesn’t feel obliged to be ashamed or to keep her alopecia a secret. In fact, she feels that her alopecia has been a blessing in disguise for her.

How Hodgson Turned Her Life Around

By the time she was fifteen, she put on a presentation about alopecia to share with her classmates. Alopecia comes with medical anxieties, which Hodgson has readily harnessed and chosen to turn into a career – a successful motivational speaker and storyteller in which she can speak about confidence. She feels that by accepting herself for who she is; has given her a stronger sense of purpose in life.

She has now embraced her appearance and loves that she has an entire wardrobe for her hair, full of scarves, wigs and hats as a way to openly express herself.  The young entrepreneur is planning on launching a business gathering in which a collection of speakers and other inspirational members of the community can come together as a way to empower young people.

Hair loss can have all kinds of psychologically damaging effects on women.  First of all, there’s the realisation that you’re losing your identity and then there’s the isolation, often self-imposed because of feelings of shame and worthlessness. On top of all this there’s the feeling of lack of control that comes with a condition like alopecia areata for which there is no known cure.

Wigs are high maintenance

Alopecia areata is an autoimmune condition that can strike at any age and the symptoms range from patchy bald spots to a complete loss of hair.  At this stage the condition turns becomes known as alopecia universalis.  Many women at this stage opt for a wig as the only way of covering up the problem and fitting into the societal norms but wigs are high maintenance and always run the risk of sudden exposure when doing sports etc.

There’s an increasing trend however for women to refuse the imposition of a hair piece and literally take back control of their own body by accepting their baldness.  This was the case for one Texan bride to be, Makenzee Meaux who made the plucky decision mid engagement photo shoot to remove her wig and let the world see her as she really is.

“This is the true me”

Whilst she acknowledged that it was one of the most difficult things she’d ever done in her life she attributed the decision to the support of her future husband Bryan Ballard, “He has shown me that the people who love you do not care whether or not you have hair and the ones who do are not worth your time or your love. So this is me, the true me.”.

Whilst there’s no cure for the condition the wig does still remain an option for women who just can’t accept the bald look.  Another alternative is to consider scalp micropigmentation which creates a realistic illusion of closely cropped real hair.  This is becoming increasingly popular as a treatment with men and won’t suit every woman but it does convey the impression that the bald style is a choice at least.  Two find out more about the options for alopecia areata or universalis why not call us to arrange a free confidential consultation on +44 (0)845 359 2915

An Irish blogger known as the Make Up Fairy has recently shared her experience with hair loss. After being praised for her openness, Joanne Larby shared an emotional post thanking those who responded in a positive manner.

Blogger admits to cropping her photos to hide hair loss

Although Larby posts a lot of pictures to social media such as Facebook and Instagram, she’s admitted most of them are cropped. Due to insecurities about her hair loss, the blogger tends to crop off the top of her head where the problem is largely visible.

She also claims to cover up the problem by wearing extensions. Admitting she doesn’t think she will ever share a photo without the extensions, it highlights just how devastating hair loss can be for women.

Larby shared her experience to let others know she does have insecurities and problems like thousands of other women. She also hopes it will inspire others, as she has been inspired herself, to own their flaws, rather than be owned by them.

Hair loss is a common problem for women, but help is available

Hair loss may have once been solely linked to men, but a staggering number of women also suffer with the condition. While it can have a significant impact on confidence and self-esteem, there are many treatments available which can help.

One thing women should be wary of is wearing extensions. Although they are currently helping Larby to cover up the problem, they can actually make hair loss worse. Instead, it’s worth looking into the many treatments out there which can effectively reduce, slow down and cover up hair loss conditions.

For mild hair loss, topical treatments such as Minoxidil can prove beneficial. There’s also medications available which have proven to work. For more sever hair loss, hair transplants or SMP could be a great option.

It’s important to establish the cause of your hair loss before seeking treatment. Different causes require different treatments, so getting a diagnosis first will ensure you end up with the right treatment to help combat your hair loss.

Women losing their hair could soon benefit from a new alternative hair loss treatment. Intralace is a prosthetic system which is described as being life-changing for women. Developed in America, the system is already available in selected parts of the country, and has recently found find its way into the UK.

What is it?

The Intralace system was developed in America and it was brought over by Brit, Priyanka Guha. In her early 20’s, Guha started to develop female pattern baldness. Like many women, she tried everything to try to cover up the problem including powders, extensions and tonics.

She then stumbled across the Intralace system which works by integrating strands of human hair, with the patient’s real hair. To do this is a very fine mesh is used. The strands of hair are pulled through the mesh individually, before strands of human hair are braided and glued to the real hair. The system is then secured to the head.

Once in position, the wearer can swim, shower, brush the hair and do everything they would normally do without worrying about damaging the system. It provides dramatic, however it is pretty expensive.

SMP – a better alternative?

While the Intralace system could prove beneficial for those seeking a realistic look, there are other alternative, cheaper treatments available.

SMP is especially worth looking into as unlike the intralace, it doesn’t require any maintenance. While it will not help you regain long, luscious locks, it can be extremely good at covering up bald, thinning spots. So, if you’ve still got most of your hair and it’s largely thinning, SMP can provide a cheaper, easier cover up option.

If you are concerned that you’re suffering from female pattern baldness and would like to find out more about available treatments why not call us to arrange a free and confidential consultation on +44 (0)845 359 2915

Locs or dreadocks are created when people with naturally afro-textured hair choose not to comb it, causing strands to coil around themselves into fused units.

Some people choose to stop combing their hair so that ‘freeform’ dreadlocks appear, whereas others choose to cultivate their look with neat and even partings between each of the locs. These cultivated locs have a uniform size whereas freeform can be a variety of sizes and thickness.

Locs can be styled in multiple ways, such as in braids, twists, curls, up-do’s or simply cutting their hair into shorter lengths. Some loc wearers choose to exhibit their creativity in their hairstyles by incorporating hair jewellery and even shells into their usual style.

How To Take Care Of Your Locs

Tashele McLean, a fourth year medical student, vlogs her experiences with locs on YouTube and said that locs can be as fun and as versatile as you want them to be. However when it comes to caring for them, she says that essential oils are crucial for healthy hair growth. McLean usually recommends applying castor oil, often mixed with other oils such as coconut, olive or lavender oil, three times weekly. By keeping your locs and scalp moisturised, you can ensure a healthy scalp and shiny beautiful hair.

McLean also talked about the importance of not going overboard with hair products, as this can cause unnecessary build-up. by washing your hair regularly, you will be keeping your locs healthy and clean. This advice doesn’t just apply to locs, of course.

Don’t over-maintain your hair

Also make sure that you don’t attempt to over-maintain your hair. You can allow your hair to loc naturally, however if you interlock or re-twist yourself ensure that you don’t over-do it or loc your hair too tightly. By adding unnecessary extra pressure and tension to your hair, it can lead to unwanted hair thinning and even hair loss.

If you have bleached your locs, then like with any other hair texture you need to be conditioning your hair regularly. Bleaching and dying the hair can dry out the texture of the hair, therefore oiling is again recommended for healthier, shinier hair.

It’s never long before a natural remedy for hair loss hits the headlines. The latest implies that guava leaves could be the answer to stop hair loss in its tracks.

The leaves are packed full of beneficial components known to link to good health. It’s said they’re an excellent source of tannins, tritenoids, saponine and eugenol. This means as well as helping to prevent hair loss, they could also help reduce the risk of heart disease and treat diarrhoea.

What hair health benefits do guava leaves have?

The main reason guava leaves are suspected to help prevent hair loss is because they’re packed full of nutrients. Just the Vitamin C content alone in the leaves is said to play a part in strengthening hair roots.

They’re also an anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial which means if the extract of the leaves is massaged directly onto the scalp, it can ensure maximum scalp health, while also eliminating dandruff.

Another benefit is they’re known to fight off free radicals which have significant links to hair loss. So, logically, they could work to reduce the likelihood of hair loss. However, it’s highly unlikely guava leaves alone could adequately treat hair loss.

Why other treatments should be sought

Women who are experiencing hair loss should seek a professional diagnosis before attempting to treat the condition naturally. There’s a lot of reasons hair loss can occur, and it could be linked to an underlying medical issue. In these cases, natural remedies such as guava leaves aren’t going to prove beneficial. Instead, they could actually make the problem worse as it goes untreated.

Getting to the root cause of hair loss is required before any treatment can be sought. So, if you’re looking to treat existing hair loss, it’s vital you seek effective treatment. Any delay could end up with a permanent problem that could possibly have been avoided.   If you’re at all concerned a all about hair loss then don’t hesitate to give us a call on +44 (0)845 359 2915 to arrange a free consultation.

After giving birth, you’re likely feeling relieved all of those nasty pregnancy symptoms are behind you. Finally, your body can start getting back to normal! However, there’s one more surprise that many women experience once baby has arrived – hair loss!

Known as post-partum hair loss, the hair can start to shed excessively a month or so after giving birth. This is all thanks to hormone changes in the body. Most women experience an all-over thinning of the hair, but some are shocked to discover complete bald patches on the scalp. The good news is, post-partum hair loss is usually only temporary and it’s very rare to lose the hair permanently.

There’s a lot of ways to get through this difficult stage and one way to get things off your chest and share the pain is to reach to reach for the phone and text your friends.

Texts you may find yourself sending

While post-partum hair loss affects every woman slightly differently, there does seem to be a common pattern of emotions. First comes shock as you notice the hair starting to fall out at an alarming rate. This leads to texts such as “OMG, I think I need to see a doctor, my hair is falling out!”.

Next comes the frustration and witty phase. You know what’s happening but that doesn’t make it any less frustrating and embarrassing. So, you’ll find yourself sending texts such as “Do you need a wig, I’ve got plenty of hair here to make one”, or “Well, looks like we’re out of drain un-blocker, could you pop some round for me?”.

It’s common to experience a rollercoaster of emotions over the coming months from frustration and anger to desperation and finally acceptance. It’s even more devastating as during pregnancy, your hair becomes luxuriously thick and hardly falls out at all. It’s worrying, but is it something you should go to the doctor about?

When should you seek advice from a doctor?

Post-partum hair loss is natural and common, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go to the doctors. There’s a lot of reasons you may be experiencing hair loss so it’s always a good idea to get checked over.

The majority of the time, no medications or treatments are needed and a simple shorter haircut can help cover up the problem. The hair will also regrow and get back to normal in its own time. However, if it is negatively affecting your life, there are topical treatments and medications which may help. Talk to a hair specialist or your GP to find out more.

Hair loss is a natural part of aging for women, at different stages of life you are likely to end up suffering from some degree of hair thinning and hair fall. By understanding the causes behind the hair fall throughout your life, you can improve your chances of minimising the damage and holding onto healthy thicker hair for longer.

• During your twenties and thirties

These two decades of a woman’s life are when she is most likely to have a baby. Sadly postnatal hair loss is a thing, it is related to the drop in the levels of oestrogen and losing the hair you didn’t lose in the last six months almost in clumps. Hair loss in menstruating women during this age can also be a result of low levels of ferritin (the stored iron within your body). Women should ask their doctors for a blood test to check for low iron levels and are advised to eat a well-balanced diet for optimal hair growth.

• During your forties

The most common cause of hair fall in women in and around their forties is female pattern hair loss; it is thought to affect one in four women. In post-menopausal women, female pattern hair loss is due to a reduction in oestrogen levels. Topical solutions containing Minoxidil are recommended as they can help to be successful in hair regrowth; experts also suggest ensuring that you are consuming enough zinc and vitamin B.

• During your fifties

Menopause can create a decline in oestrogen levels which leave hair follicles vulnerable in those people who have a genetic predisposition to hair thinning. If you are sleep deprived this can have a major impact on your energy levels, as your energy is directed towards keeping your body and essential organs functioning optimally and not your hair. Women are advised to see a doctor when there are sleep or hormone issues and also to take multi-vitamin supplements. Women can also wash their hair on a daily basis if required to improve hair texture, scalp condition and to resolve dryness.

For more information on hair loss throughout your life, speak to your doctor or a hair loss expert.

A new study led by researchers from Cairo University and Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt suggest that a combination of light therapy and Minoxidil may help treat female pattern hair loss. Millions of women who suffer from androgenic alopecia may be able to finally regrow their hair much faster by using the iGrow Hair Growth System which is FDA approved and contains Minoxidil (5%).

Study Methodology

The study had forty five adult female participants who suffered from female pattern hair loss and randomly divided these women into three separate treatment groups. The first group of participants were asked to apply Minoxidil on a twice-daily basis, the second group received three separate twenty five minute iGrow low level laser therapy per week and the third group were treated combining the two therapies.

Study Findings and Conclusion

The patients who used a combination of therapies ended up experiencing the fastest and most significant differences in hair regrowth and had the highest level of self-reported satisfaction. This group had a significant increase in the number of new hair follicles within two months, which were two months sooner than the other two groups using one treatment only. After four months, the hair follicles in the combined therapy group were analysed and observed to be at a deeper dermal level than the hair follicles of participants in the other two groups. This meant that the hair follicles were more firmly anchored and had a much higher chance at sustainability.

The study concluded that as a treatment on its own, low level laser therapy appears to have a slight upper hand over Minoxidil. It also suggests that using these two therapies in combination speeds up hair growth for those who are suffering from a genetic hair loss. This evidence is able to bring comfort to women that there are other hair solutions which allow them to look and feel at their best.

An eight year old girl from Wisconsin America took to Facebook to ask for a new wig for the start of her new school year. The story went viral and was instantly picked up by a local TV news station that aired Jimena Diaz-Vazquez’s story. As a result, there was an overwhelming response from the community with kindness, compassion and offers to help out the young girl who had lost her hair at the age of five due to alopecia areata.

People have cut and donated their own hair

One local wig business has now even offered to donate a wig to Jimena, where she initially went for a fitting and is now waiting for the wig to be cut to a style that she is wanting. Meanwhile many people have even cut and donated their own hair, which Jimena says she will donate to other children who are suffering from hair loss like her.

Jimena was only five years old when she lost all her hair to alopecia areata. Due to this condition, Jimena will need wigs for the rest of her life. However thanks to the outpouring of financial support from her community, her family have set up a donation site for her. The money raised from the donations will go towards Jimena’s wigs in the future as she grows older.

What Is Alopecia Areata?

Alopecia areata is an autoimmune disorder which can cause patches of hair to fall out. Although rare in children, it can affect both male and female children as young as eighteen months old. The condition is due to the body’s immune system attacking its own hair follicles causing hair to fall out. It is characterised by round or oval patches of hair loss which are completely smooth but the severity of the condition differs from person to person, it is also impossible to predict whether hair regrowth will occur and whether it will be permanent.

Popular BBC presenter, Victoria Derbyshire, has opened up about the devastation of losing her hair. The star was talking about her experience with fighting breast cancer and revealed losing her hair was actually worse than losing her breast.

In a series of videos, Derbyshire documented her journey and said losing her hair due to chemotherapy made her feel powerless.

Highlighting the devastation hair loss can cause

Derbyshire isn’t alone with how she felt when she started to lose her hair during chemotherapy. There have been surveys carried out in the past which have revealed some women would even go as far as choosing a less powerful dose of chemotherapy to keep their hair even though it may not work.

While many women choose to shave their head once the hair starts to fall out, Derbyshire revealed she couldn’t bring herself to do it. She was determined to hold onto what little hair she had left, even though it made her feel grotesque.

Although she admitted losing her breast was traumatic, she revealed losing her hair was worse because without hair, you simply don’t look like you anymore. Her hair has since grown back and thankfully the chemotherapy did work. However, it does highlight the trauma women go through when they lose all of their hair.

Are there treatments available for chemotherapy related hair loss?

The majority of women who undergo chemotherapy do lose their hair. The severity does differ depending upon the type and strength of the chemotherapy being used. It’s very rare this type of hair loss is permanent; however it can take a long time to grow back.

There aren’t really any treatments available, but there are ways to cover up the problem until it grows back. Wigs are the obvious cover-up solution, but some women also turn to SMP. This creates a shaved head look, which for some is better than total baldness.

Overall, the cancer diagnosis itself is devastating enough so it can come as a real blow to lose your hair too. If you are experiencing chemotherapy related hair loss, there are ways to cover it up and regain your feeling of positive self-worth.

A woman’s hair is often closely linked to her sense of identity and confidence. So, it’s unsurprising that developing a condition such as alopecia can be absolutely devastating. In recent years, there’s been a lot of headway made to help raise awareness of the condition, helping women to realise they’re not alone. However, despite this, it can still have a really negative impact on a woman’s confidence.

Here, we’ll look at the causes of alopecia and how it impacts a person’s life.

What causes alopecia?

The exact cause of  will depend upon the type. Many people are unaware that alopecia is a term used to cover a number of hair loss conditions. There’s alopecia areata, universalis and totalis. All are autoimmune conditions where the body’s immune system starts attacking its own cells, including the cells within the hair follicles.

The most common type is alopecia areata which can vary significantly in severity and it can also affect numerous parts of the body. The rare forms of the condition, totalis and universalis tend to be much more severe and can result in permanent total baldness. The cause of these conditions isn’t known and as of yet, there is no cure available.

How can it impact a person’s life?

The majority of alopecia sufferers experience significant emotional distress. Many avoid going out completely due to feelings of shame and embarrassment. Self-esteem can take a dramatic hit and many women report feeling like they’ve lost who they are.

Many do go on to accept the condition, but only through help via friends, family and their GP. The good news is that although there isn’t a cure, there are treatments and solutions which can help to make the condition easier to live with.

Overall, the key thing to remember is that help is available. So, if you are worried you’re suffering from alopecia, it’s important to seek advice from your GP or a specialist hair loss clinic as soon as possible. They’ll be able to give you a proper diagnosis and point you towards the best treatment.

A popular fitness blogger with over 7 million followers on Instagram, has recently opened up about her struggle with hair loss. After being constantly asked about her hair by young girls, Kayla Itsines decided it was time to reveal her struggle with female pattern hair loss.

By speaking out, Itsines hopes to set a positive example and let young girls know that thinning hair isn’t something they need to be embarrassed about.

What is female pattern hair loss?

Australian based Itsines, who is most commonly pictured on Instagram with a long ponytail, revealed her hair is actually really short. The long hair seen in the photos is credited to a clip-in ponytail to hide her naturally thin, short locks.

She also went on to reveal she suffers with genetic female pattern hair loss. Although the majority of women are uncomfortable and embarrassed by their thinning locks, it’s actually a very common problem which affects millions of women across the globe.

It’s medically referred to as androgenetic alopecia and although it shares the same genetic link as male pattern baldness, it presents itself very differently. Instead of going completely bald, women with the condition tend to develop more of an overall thinning of the hair, with the parting also becoming wider with age.

Although it is more common in older women, it can actually start to develop in puberty. Many women who develop female pattern hair loss are ashamed and too shy to talk about it, especially young girls. So, the fact Itsines is openly talking about her own experience is a positive step to raising more awareness.

Is treatment available?

Hair loss treatments have come a long way over the years and these days women have numerous options to combat the effects of female pattern hair loss.

A treatment plan is typically created which first involves topical treatments such as Minoxidil. This will usually be used alongside hair booster treatments to maximise the results.

However, if the problem is more severe, there are other more permanent treatments out there. SMP (Scalp Micropigmentation), laser treatment and hair transplants can all be used to provide long-lasting results.  SMP can be particularly effective in creating the illusion of more volume by reducing the contrast between the pink scalp and the natural hair colour.

Overall, it’s important to note that there are many reasons hair loss can occur in women so it may not necessarily be down to genetic female pattern hair loss. Therefore, it’s important to get checked out by a doctor and have the cause diagnosed before seeking appropriate treatment.

Geordie Shore star Sophie Kasaei, has become the latest female star to open up about her experience with hair loss. The brave 27-year-old posted a video of her significant bald patches, which she claims have been caused by extensions. She’s hoping her devastating experience will help her fans avoid making the same mistakes.

Give your hair a break

Kasaei is well-known for her long, luscious locks; something she’s been really proud to show off. Like many women, she turned to extensions to give her hair a thicker, fuller appearance.

These days, there’s a lot of pressure placed onto women to look their best. It’s all about fake hair, fake eyelashes and fake tan. However, it’s no coincidence that the rise in hair extensions has also seen a significant increase in the number of women suffering from hair loss.

The video Kasaei released is shocking, but it’s all too familiar for many women. Sadly, there just isn’t enough information out there to highlight the dangers of hair extensions. So, the star is hoping her young fans will take notice of the dangers and avoid experiencing the same devastation.

Hair loss caused by hair extensions is referred to as traction alopecia. So, what exactly is it and how can it be treated?

Understanding traction alopecia

Traction alopecia occurs when the hair shafts are placed under constant pressure. As the shaft is pulled, it can end up causing damage to the hair follicles. Over time, if the problem isn’t addressed, it can lead to permanent hair loss.

Tight-fitting hairstyles, extensions, heated appliances and strong chemicals such as hair bleach, can all contribute to the condition. It usually affects the hairline, with hair loss occurring around the temples, or the front of the scalp. If caught early enough, the hair loss may only be a temporary problem. So, the earlier you seek treatment, the more chance you have at combatting the condition.

So, what treatments are available? Most commonly, Minoxidil tends to be used for early stage traction alopecia cases. This is a topical treatment which is applied directly onto the scalp. Later stage traction alopecia however, often requires slightly more drastic treatment such as laser treatment, SMP or a hair transplant.

Overall, it’s great to see stars from programmes like Geordie Shore opening up about their hair loss struggles. More awareness is needed to let girls know about the dangers of popular, modern hairstyles. If you are suffering from traction alopecia, the earlier you seek treatment, the higher the chance you have of stopping the hair loss in its tracks.

Hair loss comes in many forms but it is always unwelcome.  For some women, it occurs after pregnancy as the body rebalances its hormones but thankfully this is usually temporary and short lived.  In others alopecia areata can strike at any time, sometimes causing bald patches and even occasionally total loss of body hair.  Many women suffer from Female Pattern Baldness or Androgenic Alopecia which generally strikes in middle age but can also affect younger people too.

“Blogger’s burnout” caused hair loss

In the case of Kimberly Nissen, 31 she found that she was shedding hair as a result of “Blogger’s burnout” as she described it to the Daily Mail.  Initially thinking she had traction alopecia brought it on by heat, vigorous brushing and tight hairstyles she changed her grooming habits but it didn’t seem to make any difference.

After speaking to her GP she realised that the condition could actually be related to an underlying medical condition, anaemia where the body has a lack of iron.  In Nissen’s case she blamed the iron deficiency on the stress of her work which became unbearable. “When I had my mental breakdown, I stopped eating appropriately,” she explained “Actually, I stopped eating altogether for long periods of time. The result was my anemia coming back and I ignored it.”

A word of caution

In her case a simple iron supplement, taken daily over the course of a month resolved the problem and her hair quickly returned to its pre-stressed state.  A word of caution though, iron supplements will only help with hair loss if the body is low in iron.  In most cases the cause will be something completely different. This is why it’s essential not to self-diagnose and speak to your GP or a specialist hair loss clinic who will be able to diagnose and hopefully treat the condition.