The Best Way to Fight Hair Loss

According to Time magazine, hair loss affects more than 50 million Americans. If you are one of the millions who suffer from hair loss, you may wonder if there is anything you can do fight the loss of your natural hair. While mostly hereditary, hair loss can be combated by following a few guidelines.

Causes of Hair Loss

• Some hair loss is inevitable. Most people shed 50 to 100 hairs on a normal day. With the average person having 100,000 hairs on their head, this amount is probably not noticed. However, when that rate increases, baldness may occur. Hair loss is prevalent in several skin conditions such as lupus. It can also occur in autoimmune disorders including thyroid disease. Chemotherapy treatment will also cause hair loss, although the hair typically grows back when the treatment is stopped.

  Other causes of hair loss could include: inadequate protein and poor nourishment--fad diets, crash diets and certain eating disorders can lead to poor nutrition; hormonal changes and imbalances--this could be contributed to pregnancy, menopause or an improperly functioning thyroid gland; chemicals used in the process of dying, bleaching, tinting or straightening--excessive brushing and over-styling can also cause damage leading to hair loss.

Best Ways to Fight Hair Loss

• The first line of defense in hair loss is talking to your doctor. Sudden hair loss could be the result of an underlying medical condition that could possibly require medical attention.

  There is no cure for baldness. However, that doesn't mean you must accept losing your hair. Make sure you eat a nutritiously balanced diet, avoid tight hairstyles and compulsive twisting, pulling or rubbing your hair. Let your hair dry naturally vs. using a blow dryer.

  Over-the-counter medicines such as Rogaine promote new hair growth and prevent further hair loss in some people. However, the medicine must be used continuously as the positive effects cease when you stop using it.

  If the above methods don't help, there are medical options available. Prescription drugs such as Propecia can sometimes stop and even reverse hair loss in young men. Unfortunately, this is not an option for women.

  Those who cannot be helped by any other method and do not wish to live with baldness might opt for transplant surgery. Transplant surgery has come a long way in the past decade. Although this method is expensive--typically costing more than $1,200 initially and about $675 annually to maintain--it is a highly effective method for fighting stubborn hair loss.