Making Lifestyle Changes
1. Maintain a balanced, healthy diet
The right diet will provide you with the vitamins and minerals needed for healthy hair. Unbalanced diets (sometimes seen in vegetarians or people with eating disorders) often result in hair loss. To prevent this, work the following into your diet:
- Iron and zinc: These minerals, found in lean red meat, soybeans, and lentils, help your hair follicles to grow.
- Protein: Meat, fish, beans, nuts, and yogurt promote cell growth and healing in your hair.
- Omega-3 fatty acids: Fatty fish like salmon improve hair’s strength and shine. Additional benefits include depression relief and improved heart health.
- Biotin: This B vitamin, found in eggs, is important for healthy growth of all cells, including hair.
2. Round out your diet with vitamin supplements
Some vitamins, like vitamin D, help with hair growth but are tricky to get through eating. Vitamin D supplements (about 1,000 IU a day) can help improve your hair. Take B vitamins such as biotin, vitamin E, zinc, and magnesium supplements once a day to ensure you are consuming these vital vitamins and minerals.
- Though there is no direct correlation between vitamin supplements and the prevention of hair loss, supplements will help maintain your current hair and body health.
3. Address any stress triggers in your life
Hair loss can be connected to prolonged stress or highly traumatic events like accidents or surgeries. In such cases of "telogen effluvium," you may lose 1/2 to 3/4 of your hair and see it come out in handfuls when you wash, comb, or run your hands through your hair. It's usually temporary and should return to normal in six to 9 months, but it can become chronic if you don't address your stress. Once stress has been managed, hair growth usually returns.
- Take up a stress-releasing activity like yoga, meditation, or running. Make room for things you enjoy in your daily routine, and focus on bringing calm and peace into your life.
- If the stress feels unmanageable, talk to a therapist or counselor to help you release tension and recover from stress.
Seeking Medical Treatment
1. Take over-the-counter hair loss medication
Over-the-counter medications like Rogaine work well with consistent use, but aim to stop hair loss, not regrow hair. However, regrowth can occur in some cases. You may see new hair growth that's shorter and thinner than your normal hair, but it will slow down if you stop taking the medication.
- Do not take Rogaine if you are or plan on becoming pregnant.
2. Speak to a dermatologist if you display extreme symptoms
Rapid hair loss at a young age should be addressed immediately by a medical professional. Hair loss in an unusual pattern, like many patches or loss in just one area, can also be a sign of a serious problem. Pain, itching, redness, scaliness, or noticeable abnormality should all be reported, as should hair loss when accompanied by weight gain, muscle weakness, or getting cold or tired easily.
- The dermatologist will review your medical history and do an exam of your hair and scalp to diagnose the cause of your hair loss.
- She may also run other tests like a blood test to rule out disease; microscopic examination of a plucked hair; or a skin biopsy.
3. Provide the dermatologist with accurate information
During the examination, your dermatologist will ask a series of questions. Be prepared to provide the following information:
- Are you losing hair only from your scalp or from other parts of your body as well?
- Do you notice a pattern to the hair loss, like a receding hairline or thinning on the crown, or is the hair loss throughout your head?
- Do you dye your hair?
- Do you blow dry your hair? If so, how often?
- What kind of shampoo do you use on your hair? What other hair products, like gels or sprays, do you put on your hair?
- Have you had a recent illness or high fever?
- Have you been under unusual stress lately?
- Do you have any nervous habits like hair pulling or scalp rubbing?
- Do you take any medications, including over-the-counter drugs?
4. Ask for prescription medication to treat pattern baldness
A dermatologist will be able to prescribe finasteride (brand name Propecia). It comes in pill form and should be taken daily. However, the purpose of this drug is to stop hair loss, not regrow hair.
- Propecia is usually prescribed to men, as it can pose risks of birth defects if used in women who become pregnant.
5. Speak to your doctor about changing medication if necessary
If your hair loss is a side effect of a medication you're taking for another condition — like acne or ADHD — your doctor may be able to change your treatment options.
- Never simply stop taking your medication, as this could cause your underlying condition to worsen.
- If you suffer from a condition like diabetes or thyroid disease, taking proper care of your disorder should reduce or prevent your hair loss.
6. Look into corticosteroid to treat alopecia areata
If your dermatologist diagnoses you with this autoimmune condition, talk to her about corticosteroids. These powerful anti-inflammatory drugs suppress your immune system and treat alopecia areata. Your dermatologist may administer corticosteroids in three ways:
- Local injections: injections of the steroids directly into the hairless patches. Side effects may include temporary pain and temporary depressions in your skin that usually refill on their own.
- In pill form: Side effects of oral corticosteroids include hypertension, weight gain, and osteoporosis. Because of this, pills are rarely prescribed for alopecia, and only for short periods of time.
- Topical ointment: Ointments or creams containing steroids can be rubbed directly on the hairless area. These are less traumatic than injections and are often prescribed for children and teens. However, steroid ointments and creams are less effective than injections. Your dermatologist may also prescribe other topical medications to apply to the affected area of your scalp.
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