10 Hair Loss Prevention Tips For Women With Thinning Hair
Being a go-getter career woman, you know what you want and how to get it. You have everything sorted out—from the toughest challenges like managing your team to the simplest details like deciding what to wear for work. In the middle of all this busyness, you might be neglecting your crowning glory and missing the early signs of hair loss.
Starting to lose hair in your 20s? Hair loss is an issue that you have to nip in the bud. Because the longer you wait, the more hair you will lose. While it’s early and you’re still young, you can keep your thinning hair from getting worse.
Save your tresses from falling out and your self-esteem from falling apart. Read on to learn the expert-proven advice on how to prevent hair loss in women.
Spot the early signs of hair loss
Awareness is always the first step to solve a problem such as hair loss. Catching its early signs allows you to start finding the best treatment for thinning hair and know how to stop hair from falling out.
Here are the telltale signs that you’re starting to suffer from hair loss:
- Widening of the part in your hair
- Noticeable thinning on the top of your head
- Handfuls of strands falling out when brushing or washing your hair
- Hair looking flatter or sleeker
- Thinner ponytail
- More skin visible on the scalp when your hair is pulled back
Get to the root of the problem
As soon as you detect the early signs of hair loss, the next thing to do is to book a consultation to find out the possible cause of your hair thinning. Stressful life events, anemia, thyroid disorders, and sudden weight loss are among the main culprits of hair loss in women. Genetics may also make you susceptible to female pattern baldness. During your consultation with one of Svenson’s trichologists, you’ll be able to learn the cause of your hair loss and know the true state of your scalp.
To know how to prevent hairfall in women, it is important to learn the factors that are usually associated with hair loss:
- Heredity or family history: The most common cause of hair loss happens with aging and genetics plays a major factor. This condition is called androgenic alopecia or female pattern baldness. It typically occurs gradually and in predictable patterns. For women, it starts with hair thinning along the crown of the scalp.
- Medical conditions and hormonal changes: Various conditions can cause temporary or permanent hair loss, including hormonal changes due to menopause, thyroid problems, pregnancy, and childbirth.
- Supplements and medications: Hair loss can be a side effect of certain drugs used to treat cancer, depression, arthritis, gout, heart problems, and high blood pressure.
- A traumatic or stressful event: Many women experience hair fall or a general thinning of hair after an emotional or physical shock. While this type of hair loss is temporary, it causes stress for many.
- Hair treatments and certain hairstyles: Hair rebonding, and bleaching can cause hair to fall out. Excessive hairstyling or hairstyles that pull your hair too tightly can also cause a type of hair loss called traction alopecia
Manage your stress and your hair
Stress alone can trigger common hair loss disorders such as alopecia areata (hair loss in round patches), trichotillomania (impulsive hair pulling), and telogen effluvium (increased hair shedding).
So if your hair is thinning and you’re often stressed out, hair loss prevention for women is as simple as taking steps to manage stress. Having a quick scalp massage once or twice a week is a great way to beat stress and promote hair growth by increasing blood flow to your hair.
Keep your plate full with foods that fight hair loss
You—including your hair—are what you eat. One of the ways to prevent hair loss in women is eating foods rich in protein, iron, zinc, omega-3 fatty acids, and other nutrients that keep the hair strong and less prone to shedding.
If you want to know how to stop receding hairline in females, here’s a list of good-for-hair food items that are readily available anywhere:
- Eggs and dairy products: eggs, milk, and yogurt are good sources of biotin, a mineral that helps boost hair growth and fight hair loss. They’re also loaded with essential nutrients such as iron, zinc, Vitamin B12, and Omega 6 fatty acids.
- Walnuts: the only nuts known to contain biotin, Vitamin E, and magnesium – all of which nourish the scalp and strengthen hair cuticles.
- Guava: contains lots of Vitamin C, which prevents your hair from becoming fragile and brittle. Vitamin C also helps boost collagen activity required for healthy hair growth.
- Carrots: work wonders for your hair as they’re packed with Vitamin A. Vitamin A acts as a natural conditioner that helps prevent your hair from breaking off.
Don’t misuse or overuse hair products
Hair color, sprays, gels, and other hair styling products won’t make you go bald, but using them too frequently or incorrectly can damage the hair follicles that are responsible for hair growth.
Follow these tips on how to prevent hair loss in women caused by hair product overuse or misuse:
- Test a small amount first to ensure you’re not allergic to the chemicals. A 41-year-old woman lost 90% of hair and had severe scalp itching after using a dye containing para phenylenediamine (PPD). The hair loss and itching were allergic reactions to the chemical.
- Apply the hair color about ½ an inch from your roots. Avoid contact with the scalp.
- Don’t leave the hair color in for too long. Otherwise, chemicals will build up on your scalp and cause itchiness and hair damage. Follow the product manufacturer’s recommended time.
- After the recommended time, wash and blow-dry your hair properly. Then to ensure that the color stays longer, don’t wash it again for 24 hours.
Go easy on heat styling tools
Hair irons, curlers, and blowdryers can give you that gorgeous, fresh-from-the-salon look. But because high heat can make your hair brittle and prone to falling out, opt for ceramic or ionic blowdryers or those with heat control features to ensure your hair stays safe.
If you can’t avoid using those tools, keep these tips in mind to lessen hair damage and thinning:
- Use a heat-protecting spray or serum before styling your hair to hydrate and protect it from heat.
- Set your tools at the lowest temperature setting possible. If you see smoke, hear sizzles or burn your fingers while using a styling tool, lower its heat setting.
- Don’t leave the curler or iron on just one area of your hair for too long. Move it constantly every few seconds.
Keep your hair chemical treatments to a minimum
The more you can avoid hair relaxing, rebonding, bleaching, and other chemical treatments altogether, the better to prevent hair loss or keep it from getting worse. The harsh chemicals used in some products can damage and weaken your hair. If you need to do these treatments, space them out every 6 months or longer to give your hair time to recover.
Avoid tight hairstyles
Tight buns and ponytails, braids, and cornrows pull on the hairline, causing excessive tension on the scalp that leads to hair thinning. Avoid these hairstyles as much as you can, and use loose styles instead.
Use the right kind of hair brush
A natural-bristle brush that’s less likely to damage your hair is better to use than one with plastic bristles. This type of hair brush is good for preventing hair loss in women as the natural bristles reach gently to your scalp, stimulating circulation while distributing natural oils down the hair shaft. This makes your hair more resilient to damage. Also, the natural bristles cut down on static that are caused by plastic hair brush bristles.
If you prefer plastic-bristle brushes, make sure to choose ones with ball-tips to protect your scalp from stiff and pointy bristles. Make sure they’re molded, not simply glued. Additionally, look for a good-quality hair brush with a cushioned base. A cushioned base helps avoid pulling and breakage in case hair strands get stuck.
If your hair is wet, using your fingers or hair to detangle is safer than using a brush. Using a brush will pull tangled hair. Instead, use a good conditioner in the shower to detangle hair and then gently press on your hair with a towel to dry. You can use your fingers to separate hairs and then detangle with a wide-tooth comb. The wider the teeth of the comb, the less harsh and damaging it is to your hair.
Consult a trichologist to know the best treatment for thinning hair
Hair loss can be embarrassing for women. But they choose to remedy the problem on their own by buying all sorts of topical products and thickening shampoos. Instead of experimenting with different products or suffering in silence, seeking help from a hair and scalp expert is still one of the best ways to stop hair loss and prevent it from worsening
“It’s important that a woman suffering from hair loss see a specialist who can find out what is wrong and recommend the best treatment for thinning hair,” said Michael Bernstein, Svenson’s Chief Trichologist.
The sooner you visit a trichologist, the more likely you can prevent your hair loss from worsening. Book a free hair and scalp consultation with Svenson today and discover how to stop your hair from falling out and thinning. #TheHairLossAuthority.