Q: I brush my hair 100 times a day to stimulate the circulation. Will this help prevent my hair from falling out?
A: Vigorous brushing is more likely to injure that can cause breakage, making your hair loss problem worse. Gentle massaging during daily shampooing stimulates your scalp.
Q: I wear hats quite a bit; do hats encourage hair loss because the hair cannot breathe?
A: Hair does not breathe. Only the root of the hair is alive. The hair receives oxygen from the blood in the scalp.
Q: I wash my hair twice a week. Frequently shampooing makes my hair fall out more!
A: Would you wash your face twice a week? Washing helps remove any oil built-up, which clogs the hair follicles and worsen your hair loss. The 50 to 100 hairs we lose each day often become tangled with the rest of the scalp hair. When we wash our hair, it seems like a lot of hair is coming out, but in reality these hairs have been shed earlier.
Q: Does blowing drying worsen hair loss?
A: Extreme heat damages the proteins in the hair, making them fragile and liable to break off. Your hair dryer should be set on the cool to warm setting, not hot.
Q: Does coloring, perming my hair and using hair spray worsen my hair loss?
A: Hair coloring, perming and hairspray do not affect thinning hair. Perms and hairsprays (done properly) can help disguise the problem. These products do not reach the hair follicle that produces the hair, which is located beneath the skin. Chemical treatments can damage the hair but cannot affect the follicle.
Q: Is it true ‘Baldness means that you are more likely to have a heart attack’?
A: This statement is partly true. In 1999, doctors at Harvard Medical School found that men who had lost hair at the crown of the head had a 32% increased chance of coronary heart disease. Hair loss at the front of the head (a receding hairline) hardly increased the risk at all. So if you have baldness at the top of your head, you should stop smoking, eat healthy, have your blood pressure checked and do some exercise.
Q: Is it true “If your father has a full head of hair, you will not go bald’?
A: This statement is false. A tendency to baldness is inherited and probably involves a combination of genes. So you are not automatically in the clear even if your father has a full head of hair. It is not true, as sometimes claimed, that only genes from the mother’s side are involved.
Q: Do certain hairstyles such and weaves, braids, extensions cause hair loss?
A: A lot of these styles may place too much tension on the hair follicles causing tension alopecia. Meaning, the constant pulling and tugging on the hair causes your already stressed hair follicles to weaken and clasp on itself and not able to grow hair again. There are several types of hair extension using adhesives that do not place any tension to the scalp that produce great results achieving great hairstyles.
