Beauty  

The Black Woman’s Guide To Avoiding Hair Loss

By Tariemi Oreoritse

10 October 2021   |   10:00 am

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If your hair is falling out in tufts, or your hairline is rapidly receding, you’re probably already wondering what’s causing it and how to stop it. Hair loss is often an indication of an even bigger problem. Sometimes it’s naturally associated with ageing; other times, your hairstyle might be responsible, and in some cases, it’s…

The Black Woman’s Guide To Avoiding Hair Loss

If your hair is falling out in tufts, or your hairline is rapidly receding, you’re probably already wondering what’s causing it and how to stop it.

Hair loss is often an indication of an even bigger problem. Sometimes it’s naturally associated with ageing; other times, your hairstyle might be responsible, and in some cases, it’s health-related.

Think of this as your guide to understanding hair loss; we’ll help you know when it’s time to change your hair cream/stylist or if you need to book an appointment with your doctor.

What Is Hair Loss?
Hair loss simply refers to the falling off of hair follicles. It could happen anywhere; on the skin, eyebrows, or head. It is most visible when it happens on the head. In this case, it manifests either as thinning or as balding/a receding hairline.

If your hair loss is caused by age or genetics, you can’t really stop it from happening. All you can do is buy time and slow the inevitable.

Although most people start balding at the age of 40, depending on your family’s genetic history, you may start seeing signs of balding as early as 25.

What Causes Hair Loss, And What Can I Do About It?
Your hair follicles are shed every day and are replaced by new ones, just like your skin cells. Hair loss happens when hair is being shed faster than you can replace it.
If you see obvious hair loss, then there’s most likely a trigger behind it. Uncovering this trigger is the key to unravelling the mystery that is hair loss.

The following are the most common reasons for hair loss, along with a couple of tips to prevent or arrest them.
1. Stress: Asides from the fact that you pick at your hair more often when you’re stressed, stress is known to cause men and women to bald early. Stress forces your hair follicles to enter a resting phase. This causes an imbalance in the rate of falling and the rate of sprouting of new hairs. Because this imbalance is in favour of hair loss, thinning occurs.

2. Hormonal Imbalance: Hormonal unbalance shows itself in many forms. Hair loss is just one of them. Hair loss is often associated with thyroid diseases, which will come with many other symptoms asides from a bad hairline. The good news is, once you treat the disease, your hair will bounce right back to its former glory.

3. Drugs: A common side effect of some medications is hair loss. Some may cause your hair to become dry and brittle and then break away; others just cause it to fall out gradually. If you notice that your recent hair loss episode coincides with a change in medications, you may just have found your culprit.

4. Pregnancy: Women worldwide experience varying degrees of changes to their bodies once they start to house a new life. Pregnancy causes the body to release pregnancy hormones like progesterone and estrogen. These hormones are secreted more than usual, leading to hormonal imbalance, manifesting as hair loss. Not much can be done to retard hair loss in this case, but you must take care to avoid worsening it.

5 Tips to Prevent Hair Loss
1. Eat More Greens: Greens are good for your health, and what’s good for your body is also good for the hair. Eating greens every day is said to slow the onset of natural, genetic baldness. The one sure hack to looking youthful in your 60s and 70s is to start eating right today.

2. Supplements: Vitamin D, Vitamin A, keratin, and the likes are the formula for strong, shiny hair.

3. Have A Hair Care Routine: Don’t leave your hair care out of your skincare. Take out time to wash your hair, and treat dandruff as soon as you notice them.

Conclusion
A bad hairline isn’t the end of the world. There are still are many options available to you. Instead of worrying about the aesthetic inconveniences balding may cause, be sure there isn’t a greater underlying condition.
If all is well, make sure you are well-rested, and you have a good diet plan. The results will show, not just in your hair, but you’ll feel much more alive!