Today, one of the most common things you’ll see around is people suffering from hair loss. If you’re worried your hairline might be receding a bit too much or fast for your liking, you’re not alone. Millions of men and women alike suffer from hair loss, more often than not hereditary, at different ages.

In general, people lose about 100 hairs per day. We’ve all seen a bunch of hair packed up on the drain after a nice warm shower. Ordinarily, this amount is not noticeable as we have new hair growing up to replace the bunch we lost. However, when the rate at which we lose hair is considerably higher than the rate at which we replace them, we may start to worry. It can affect just our scalp, or in some cases, our entire body. 

Causes of hair loss

Hair loss can be permanent or temporary. It can have a variety of causes. Some of the most common ones are;

1. Heredity: In the majority of the cases, the hair loss is hereditary; meaning it is in our genes to lose hair in certain areas, in specific patterns. If you have relatives who have gone bald, fully or partially, you are more likely to lose hair in that same way, though it does not mean you absolutely will. This kind of hair loss usually comes gradually with ageing.  

1. Stress: Stress often is associated, among other things, with hair loss. In an increasingly more stressful world, it is more and more common to see people losing unusual amounts of hair. Maybe we’re overwhelmed at our corporate job, maybe we have just suffered a loss of a relative dear to our heart, or maybe the city life is exhausting us a bit too much right now; whatever the cause, the good news is, this type of hair loss is temporary.  

1. Hormonal changes: When in our lives, we go through considerable hormonal changes such as pregnancy, menopause, childbirth, we might observe temporary hair loss. 

1. Medical conditions and medications: Certain medication might cause hair loss sometimes; the ones used for cancer, high blood pressure, depression and heart problems have been known to do this.  

Whatever the cause, though, it is never any fun to see our hair falling off. When we start to observe hair loss, we probably want to do something about it as soon as possible.

What can we do for hair loss? 

Doctors, as the first course of treatment, will usually prescribe medications that come in gel or cream for which you have to apply directly to the balding area daily to reduce hair loss. Though the problem with this is that medication might have side effects. We offer a safer and more direct approach to the problem in hair transplants. 

Getting a hair transplant 

There are also other procedures, like getting a hair transplant. Hair Transplant Surgery, in short, is moving small patches of skin that each contains a few hairs, to bald parts of your scalp, thus allowing hair to grow in those parts. This works well for people who lose hair on the top side of the head due to hereditary baldness. 

With this method, you would probably need multiple surgeries over time as your hereditary hair-loss progresses further in time. Although everybody is different and your specific type of hair-loss might require only one operation. 

There is also the option of getting an artificial hair transplant. The FDA banned artificial hair transplant procedure in 1983. However, some clinics offer this method in Turkey which has rapidly been growing to be the place to go to for hair-loss treatment. This process involves transplanting artificial hair fibres without using the patient’s own hair roots.  

Can we prevent hair loss? 

The most common type of hair loss is caused by genetics, and thus, can not be prevented fully. However to slow it down, to prevent losing any more than we need to, and to hopefully prevent the types that indeed are preventable, we can do a few things; 

• Avoid tight hairstyles such as ponytails, braids and buns that put a strain on our hair. 
• Avoid treating our hair harshly. Hot-oil treatments, permanents and curling irons can be too harsh for our hair and cause unnecessary damage.
• When washing or brushing, we want to be as gentle as possible, thus reducing the hair we lose during or after a bath to near zero.
• Some studies show a link between smoking and hair loss in men. So it is probably in our best interest to stop smoking.
• Stay away from dying products.

Before any of this, though, we would surely benefit from consulting our doctor about the specific cause of and the solution to our hair loss.