As some men grow older, they fear the prospects of male baldness. Some embrace the baldness, while some go to great lengths to save what they have left or turn to using a product that claims to reinvigorate their hair growth. On the other hand, no woman really wants to be bald and will go to the same lengths, if not farther to maintain their locks.
While creams and sprays have been on the market for some time now, hair loss vitamins are a newer trend. Of course, advertisements and “customer” testimonies, would have you believe they work wonders, but do they actually work?
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Why the Heck Is My Hair Falling Out?
First of all, we need to understand a little bit about hair loss. There’s a variety of reasons why someone might start losing their hair, and the more we understand about why we lose it, the more we’ll have a better understanding about restoring it.
Physical and emotional stress, is a common trigger for hair loss. Hair goes through 3 stages, growth, rest and shedding. Physical stress, like an accident, severe illness and pregnancy for women can cause more shedding. This type of hair loss isn’t necessarily permanent and can reverse itself. You need to physically and mentally get over your ailment, and you should see growth again.
Vitamin A, according to the American Academy of Dermatology, can cause hair loss if taken in excessive amounts. Many people take pills or supplements with Vitamin A, and it could be causing their hair loss. An adult is not supposed to exceed 5,000 IU a day, so if you are, you need to stop and you will see normal hair growth again.
A lack of protein or vitamins (B), can also be a cause of hair loss. When your body lacks protein, it can shut down hair growth as a safety measure. Ensuring you maintain a health diet of vitamins, mineral and protein can spur hair growth. Anemia is suffered by many women between the ages of 20 and 49. Anemia is a lack of iron and be a primary cause for hair loss.
Medical conditions, like Hypothyroidism, means you have an under active thyroid gland. Medication can cure that specific problem, but there are other culprits out there. Auto-immune hair loss, imbalanced hormones, anti-depressants, blood thinners, steroids and a variety of other medications can all cause hair loss. For women specifically, imbalanced hormones caused by birth control pills or menopause can also trigger hair loss.
Male pattern baldness, is perhaps the most common cause of hair loss for men. For women, female pattern hair loss is known as androgenetic alopecia. Both are mainly a genetic and hormonal imbalance that are the root causes for baldness. However, the follicles that grow hair stay alive on your head, meaning or at least suggests, that hair growth is still achievable.
The main point is that, if you want to grow new hair, you need to correct the problems that may have been causing the loss. No amount of pills, creams or hair loss vitamins that will help you if you’re still afflicted with the condition that’s causing the loss in the first place.
How to Deal with Hair Loss?
Most of the afflictions that are listed above can be solved. The true cause for most men experiencing hair loss is male pattern baldness, while for women, it varies a little bit more. As suggested previously, the hair follicles are still alive, which gives hope to many people.
One of the most popular and oldest solutions is, Rogaine. The main active ingredient in Rogaine is, Minoxidil. It basically help to stimulate the follicles and tries to promote new hair growth. For most people, it typically slows the hair loss and for some users, they will experience some new hair growth. Clinically, Minoxidil has been shown to be effective for most people with varying results, but is not guaranteed to work on all people.
There are a few prescription pills that have been used to treat male pattern baldness, like Propecia. The main active ingredient in Propecia is, finasteride. Within males, there is a form of testosterone that is linked with baldness. Finasteride interrupts the production of that form of testosterone, which slows hair loss and can promote hair growth. However, just like Rogaine, there’s not guarantee of its effectiveness. The worst part is there’s possible side effects, which aren’t very pleasant.
One of the other solutions that have been around for quite some time is, the hair transplant. It’s not a recommended procedure, as it can be expensive and again ineffective. There is also the possibility of scarring or infection.
What Vitamin Should You Take for Hair Loss?
A lot of new studies have been happening around, hair loss vitamins. Maintaining a healthy amount of the “classic” vitamins, such as zinc, vitamin B, calcium and so on, is just good nutrition. Some new studies are suggesting that, Vitamin D, might have some additional hair saving properties.
Aside from the “classic” vitamins, new research is being put into plant extracts, like Polygonum multiflorum and other vitamins, like Biotin. Some of these things are being packaged into pill supplements and hair loss vitamins.
Some of the research on the plant extracts, have yielded positive results. The problem is, those results were derived from test trials on mice. There hasn’t been any independently done tests on humans, that have been peer reviewed by the scientific community.
As for vitamins, we know some of them interact with the body and can help foster hair growth, in vitamin deficient people. If you’re completely health, having a couple of extra doses of Vitamin D, might not be an effective solution. In fact, there have been no studies to prove it would help at all.
Will Supplements Really Stop Hair Loss?
Ultimately, there aren’t any real cures, formulas or hair loss vitamins, that can reverse the hair loss process entirely. Some of them can help delay hair loss and some can grant potential regrowth, but there are no absolutes.
Scientists are going to keep looking for a solution, simply because there’s a profit to be made. There are continuing studies with plant extracts and new prescription drugs are always being tested by the independent scientists and the FDA. It may seem like a wild notion, that will never actually come, but stem cells are also a possibility to providing a permanent solution to hair loss.
Fact is, when looking at scientific trials and studies, minoxidil is the most successful product to help retain and foster new hair growth, for both men and women. While Rogaine, is perhaps the most well known mens hair loss product, the majority if not all of female products will contain the same active ingredient, minoxidil.
For men, there have even been trials using both, minoxidil and finasteride, with some pretty positive results. Unfortunately, finasteride doesn’t appears to be an effective form of treatment for women.
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If you’re looking for a solution to hair loss, there it is. If you’ve tried anything mentioned here or not mentioned here, please, leave a comment, share your positive or negative experience with the product you’ve tried.
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