Losing Your Hair? Check Out the Major Causes of Hair Loss and Available Treatments
Why is my hair falling out? This was the question I kept asking myself when I noticed more and more hair in my brush and on the bathroom floor every day. I knew it was normal for everyone to shed some hair on a regular basis, but as time went by, I could no longer ignore my disappearing tresses. Even my hairdresser started commenting on how thin my hair was getting and how hard it was to style now.
Teasing only made things worse and soon, I had to resort to wearing a hair piece to cover the bare scalp areas that were now clearly visible. When my eyelashes and eyebrow hair fell out as well, I knew this was serious business…and I was only 68 years old. I decided to do some research and see if I could find some answers to the hair loss I was experiencing.
First, as so many of us do these days, I went to the Internet and looked up hair loss. I found that there could be several common medical explanations for this problem:
- Hormonal problems such as an imbalance of androgens and estrogens
- Hormonal changes due to pregnancy, childbirth, discontinuation of birth control pills, the onset of menopause
- Some medications, including blood thinners and antidepressants
- Diet deficiencies and poor nutrition
- Physiological stress such as a high fever or prolonged illness, sudden or excessive weight loss, surgery, or metabolic disturbances
- Male pattern baldness in men
None of these conditions applied to me and did not explain the continued thinning of what was once, my thick head of hair. However, in researching further, I read with alarm that hair loss (alopecia) may occur as part of a serious underlying disease such as diabetes, lupus or hypothyroidism. I decided that the sensible thing to do was to seek professional medical attention. I consulted several physicians including a dermatologist, a neurologist and an endocrinologist, who ordered many tests to make sure I did not have any of these diseases. Although I was quite delighted that all these tests were negative, I was still left with the same question, why is my hair still falling out?
I became sick and tired of having a hair piece pinned into my hairdo every time I went to the hair salon. The pins gave me a head-ache and what’s worse, my social life suffered for I couldn’t take the chance that my hair would be touched.
Losing my hair had caused me a nightmare of embarrassment, loss of self-esteem, fear of intimacy and exposure and great expense. If I could not find a way to reverse my hair loss, I would soon need a full wig. I could not face a future like this. In desperation, I even tried the colored powder that’s sprinkled on the scalp to fill in the bare spots. This was messy, temporary, and didn’t fool anyone.
While I felt somewhat better that I had ruled out all the serious causes of hair loss, I decided that I had to find some way to stop my hair from falling out and I was determined to re-grow the full, healthy head of hair I had always been so proud of.
I decided to look into the other hair loss solutions on the market and started with the “grow hair” lotions, shampoos, hair vitamin pills, selenium supplements, etc., products they advertised in mail order catalogues. These were a total waste of time and money.
I knew there was available the more drastic option of hair transplant surgery but I decided that this was not a possible solution for me. I dismissed it for I didn’t want to suffer through the numerous, painful surgical sessions that were necessary and besides, I couldn’t afford the extravagant cost involved.
I moved on to the medicinal products. You’re probably aware of the expensive brand name products that are advertised so much. These included dandruff shampoos, scalp treatments and the most famous products whose ingredients are fairly similar, with one half of the liquid consisting of propylene glycol, one third was alcohol (both inactive ingredients), and the same 5% minoxidil. These topical solution products were not for me because you have to apply them to the scalp twice a day, and can’t miss a treatment. Some you roll on and some you rub in but no matter how you apply them, they spoil your hairdo and make your hair feel nasty. Some even come with their own disgusting smell.
I’m glad that I did my research and followed the sensible course of action. If you are suffering from hair loss, make sure you check the list of common medical causes with your doctor and have all the serious diseases that may be responsible, ruled out.
To this day, I do not have a definitive answer to the question of why my hair was falling out. However, after months of searching and trials of all kinds of hair growing products, I finally found my hair loss solution and a way to re-grow my hair with effective and affordable Legitime Scalp Air Tonic!
Losing Your Hair? Check Out the Major Causes of Hair Loss and Available Treatments by Rosalind Alcana
