Otherwise known as androgenetic alopecia, female pattern hair loss is one of the three most common forms of hair loss affecting women. One out of five women in their mid-30s suffer from this condition and it worsens with age.

Although men also suffer from androgenetic alopecia, it manifests itself differently in both sexes. Nonetheless, both male and female pattern baldness are predictable in reference to the Norwood-Hamilton Scale and Ludwig Scale, respectively.

In women, pattern hair loss is characterized by a diffuse hair thinning. In other words, hair loss is spread throughout the scalp. The central parting of the scalp would then widen, creating the appearance of a less dense and sparse mane.

What causes it?

Many women would blame the unlucky draw of genes and hyperandrogenism for their hair loss. Experts believe that genetic predisposition causes the hair follicles to become sensitive to the hormone metabolite of testosterone, which is dihydrotestosterone (DHT).

Women also produce testosterone in the ovaries and adrenal glands. In some cases, the rise of DHT levels results from the decreasing production of estrogen, which is said to stunt the excessive production of androgens in the female body. This is a common phenomenon during menopause.

Follicular sensitivity to DHT leads to gaps in between phases of the hair growth cycle, consequently leading to hair loss and hair thinning.

What is a proven hair loss treatment for FPHL?

Widely used in the management of several health conditions including carpal tunnel syndrome, musculoskeletal disorders, and wound healing, low-level laser therapy is proven safe and effective in the management of FPHL as well.

Low-level laser is a cold or soft coherent light that renders photobiostimulation, a natural process comparable to photosynthesis, and vasodilation, the expansion of the blood vessels. Both of these processes stimulate hair growth.

Studies show that LLLT is very effective against diffuse hair loss, which is characteristic of FPHL. However, it only shows effectiveness in treating mild to moderate cases of FPHL. Nevertheless, it does not put anyone at any significant risk.

A proven hair loss treatment, LLLT is now widely practiced around Europe and America for this purpose. Its popularity paved the way for the development of handheld devices that integrate the technology. With these devices, LLLT has become even more accessible and efficient.

Unfortunately, no existing product has been able to treat everyone’s hair loss. In other words, there is no cure for baldness yet. However, there is a safe, effective, and drug free hair loss treatment derived from nature at the same time a product of modern science: Leimo.

The most conventional method to treat hair loss involves the use of drug-based medications. Even doctors prescribe them. However, the risks of these drugs can be alarming.

Finasteride is a classic example of the potentially harmful drug because it can cause sexual dysfunction. Early this month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration adds new side effects to the hair loss drug Propecia (finasteride) after discovering that it has severe effects on fertility, among its other potentially permanent sexually related side effects.

Minoxidil is another drug that can produce weird side effects such as swelling and shortness of breath.

A Powerful Drug Free Hair Loss Treatment

Leimo is science’s and nature’s best shot at treating hair loss in men and women. Leimo is a DIY system that features a professional range of topical products that work synergistically in conjunction with the Personal Hair Laser.

Topical Products

Leimo’s topical products utilize the highest-grade natural essences from saw palmetto, rosemary, grape seed, nettle, castor, and camellia.

These ingredients contain essential fatty acids (gamma linolenic acid, alpha linolenic acid, linoleic acid, oleic acid, and azaleic acid); vitamin B6; zinc; beta-sitosterol; and procyanidin oligomers. All of which have been scientifically tried, tested, and proven to treat hair loss due to the hormone, dihydrotestosterone (DHT).

The topical products include the following:

1. Leimo Bio Cleansing Shampoo
2. Leimo Thickening Conditioner
3. Leimo Scalp & Body Scrub
4. Leimo Scalp Therapy Day Treatment
5. Leimo Scalp Serum Night Treatment

The Leimo topical system is a drug free hair loss treatment that works to prevent further hair loss due to dihydrotestosterone (DHT) formation in the follicles. DHT is the key to hair loss, with the sole aim to kill the hair follicles slowly and gradually. Leimo reduces DHT levels by significant levels, thus ceasing the course of hair loss.

Leimo Personal Hair Laser

The Leimo Personal Hair Laser is designed to restore hair and induce new hair growth at a cellular level. The device is non-invasive, non-chemical, and has no documented side effects.

Combining the powerful potential of Low Level Laser Therapy (LLLT) and Light Emitting Diode Technology (LEDT), this laser device will reverse the miniaturization of the hair follicles by delivering extra boost to the cells and improving the circulation to the scalp. Thus, the Leimo Personal Hair Laser restores hair, complementing the Leimo topical system.

Image Credit: jupiterimages.com

According to Charles Darwin, we humans were, once upon a time, dressed in hairy coats like apes. But as the body glove soon lost its importance, hair ceased to spring up in areas where it is unwanted but staying in areas where it is most needed, particularly in the scalp. This is the good news.

The bad news is that scalp hair is prone to recession. As we age, the hair on the scalp gradually stops growing, with total or diffuse baldness as an end result.

Hair loss in the scalp is a major issue for many modern men and women. Where the importance of beauty is conflagrated, society simultaneously puts so much pressure on people to maintain a full head of hair.

This explains why hair loss is a totally depressing event. Hair loss often leaves a person so devastated that he would readily resort to corrective hair transplant procedures.

The popularity of hair transplantation seemed to have skyrocketed when high-profile names including Wayne Rooney, Jason Alexander, and Jason Donovan admitted to have gone under the knife.

Surgical hair restoration remains the only available option for people with severe baldness. Basically, it involves the transplantation of non-balding hair follicles to replace balding follicles. There are two widely practiced techniques: strip harvesting and follicular unit extraction.

The former involves the extraction of a donor strip that contains hair-bearing follicles while the latter is more intricate as it involves extraction of follicles by their natural groups of one to four. Unlike the former, the FUE is a hair transplant procedure that leaves less visible scars (no linear scars).

High-quality hair restoration promises good long-lasting effects. Although cheap procedures would indeed most likely cause problems not only during the procedure itself but also in the long run, high-quality hair restoration techniques can still falter.

Rugby player Kryan Bracken finds himself very disappointed after seeing his transplanted hair and even naturally existing hair fall out. Bracken is not the only one to have suffered this. Many patients have already reported a failed hair transplant procedure without regard to the cost.

This is to say that not all high-quality hair restoration ensures long-lasting effects. In some cases, transplanted hair follicles would produce thinner, shorter hair. Patients should be open to this possibility.

No one can deny the importance of hair in women’s lives. A study finds it that a woman spends about 2 years checking herself in the mirror and part of that mirror routine concerns hair.

Hair is elemental to the overall beauty. This is why hair loss is simply devastating. Unfortunately, some physicians do not realize the seriousness of the effects of hair loss to a woman’s morale: that the psychological damage of hair loss is just as severe as any disease could produce.

At certain points in her life, a woman may experience hair loss. Hormonal changes, stress, medications, illnesses, and poor nutrition—these factors can trigger a hair loss condition called telogen effluvium which fortunately is reversible.

Here are two simple hair loss tips that may prove useful:

1. Hairdressing

Even if you are using hair loss treatments, improving the look of your hair is still very important. It is all the more useful when no product or amount of money could seem to successfully reverse your condition. There are certain hairstyles and styling techniques that may help hide the appearance of hair loss or thinning hair.

For instance, you can get a new haircut. A short, wavy bob can do the trick for most women. The style still depends on what suits your face shape.

A bob not only eliminates the weight that may have been dragging down your hair, it also gives the appearance of a fuller head of hair. It only takes a good hairdresser to do the magic and perhaps give you more hair loss tips so you can be confident about yourself when you go outside and socialize.

2. Wigs and Hairpieces

Hair replacement systems are good instant solutions to conceal what’s missing on your head. Unlike decades ago, hairpieces, hair extensions, and hair systems today possess so much quality using human hair, synthetic hair, or a good combination of both.

Hair replacement systems can aid you particularly when your treatment doesn’t seem to be working at all. Find a good hair replacement specialist who should not only give you additional hair loss tips but will also compromise to meet your personal needs and capacity.

Traditionally, surgical solutions to baldness were introduced as a hair loss treatment for men alone, particularly when the condition no longer responds to medical intervention. However, with modern technology, people’s evolving creativity, and women’s increasing demand for it, prompted hair loss experts to offer hair restoration to women.

Hair restoration has become a mainstream corrective treatment option for women with alopecia. Because most women with alopecia only experience diffuse hair thinning, hair restoration was not really an option for them. Aside from that, women only mostly experience temporary forms of alopecia; therefore, treatment may not be necessary at all.

Take for example the case of a new mother who underwent traumatic child delivery. She can experience a temporary form of hair loss called telogen effluvium. This is also possible when a woman experienced severe stress.

Nevertheless, women may also experience permanent balding such as female pattern baldness. Those who are predisposed to balding can avail of hair transplant services.

The procedure can entail a degree of discomfort and complications. Some of the aspects that doctors will take into consideration include the hair characteristics, the amount of available donor hair, and even the patient’s personal goals.

Doctors can make special considerations to non-ideal candidates like curly-haired patients of African descent. Some of these considerations include knowledge of the current hair-grooming practices, concomitant medical treatment, test sessions in scarring alopecia, selection of appropriate instrumentation for donor harvesting and recipient site creation, and the prevention of keloidal scarring.

Experts can attest perfect candidates for a hair transplant may obtain the most dramatic aesthetic results with minimal complications.

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Hair systems have been used ever since recorded history. Until today, they remain as invaluable options for people seeking solutions to cope with hair loss which no form of treatment can get rid of for the time being.

Here are some advantages and disadvantages of hair systems:

Advantages of Hair Systems

Instantaneous Results

Hair replacement systems offer immediate results—which is the best thing about them. Non-surgical hair replacement systems, in particular, provide the most instantaneous results. The better part is that anyone can have them customized and wear them for long periods of time, depending on its quality.

A Patient’s Best Friend

For those who are only suffering from temporary hair loss due to  a serious medical problem such as cancer or thyroid problems, hair systems are the real deal. They are also the best choices for people who can’t undergo a surgical hair replacement due to their lack of donor hair. Likewise, it is the best option for people with other forms of alopecia such as alopecia areata or alopecia totalis.

Lower Cost (Initially)

Maintaining a hair system can be a financial burden overtime since they require replacing, repairing, washing, etc. In fact, its maintenance costs can be higher than getting a hair surgery. However, because of the initially lower cost and absence of risks (as compared to a surgical hair replacement), many people get their own customized hair system. Aside from that, hair systems can be easily let go especially as a person ages, that is, when self-consciousness no longer matters.

Disadvantages of Hair Systems

Fear of Discovery

For wearers, it can be difficult for them to admit to other people that they are wearing a wig or a toupee. Even if hair systems nowadays are of great quality, there is no assurance that a hair system can go completely undetected by probing eyes. With high quality, a hair system can look very nearly natural on the wearer.

Keeping Up with Existing Hair

As the natural existing hair grows, there might arise a need to constantly get a hairstyle so that the hair system can blend well, and thus look natural. As the patient ages, he or she may have to adjust to gray hairs as well.

Requires Maintenance

Giving a wig or a toupee a constant upkeep is costly but essential. It requires frequent retightening, washing, and cleaning.

Disguising the Odor

Because hair systems must be vacuum-fit on the scalp, bacteria on exfoliated skin and excess sebum can increase, causing an unpleasant odor that the scalp will eventually emit. With frequent cleaning, however, this can be avoided.

Nearly half of the world’s adult population suffers from a condition called androgenetic alopecia. This type of hair loss can be a degenerative condition, but when a person is predisposed to it, he or she can suffer baldness at an early stage in life.

Hair loss can rob away one’s beauty and youth that it can be the source of poor confidence or self-esteem that leads to social anxiety.

People with alopecia admit how hair loss taunts their self-esteem. They feel less secure about themselves and think that hair loss has diminished their attractiveness to the opposite sex. They become socially withdrawn while getting the constant feeling that people judge them because of their baldness. Of all the stress that could be borne by baldness, those who experience it can truly appear old but if and only if, they allow it to pull them down or hold them back from enjoying life’s pleasures.

How to Cope

People with hair loss can fight hair loss and its devastating effects on their self-esteem. Correcting hair loss requires a well-planned hair loss management scheme. There is no better time to start intervening with permanent baldness than now, but that is, until the underlying cause has been fully understood.

In cases of temporary hair loss, patients need not resort to any kind of treatment unless if its effects on the appearance can be truly unbearable. In cases of permanent hair loss, on the other hand, they have a variety of options (some can also be used for temporary conditions).

There are anti-androgen therapies that can reverse DHT-induced hair loss while non-surgical hair restoration techniques (i.e., laser therapy) to regrow lost hair. Added to a hair loss treatment, a well-balanced diet also helps. Vitamins B, C, A, and E; and minerals such as zinc, iron, copper, and iodine will be beneficial to the hair.

While there are conventional products that can treat these conditions like anti-dandruff shampoos, deep conditioners, hair growth shampoos, etc., there is a natural remedy which you can just probably find in your kitchen cabinet or simply buy at a store. This is apple cider vinegar.

ACV is a versatile home remedy that has many cures. ACV’s high acidity and enzymes kill the germ called bottle bacillus which causes dandruff, scalp itch, thinning hair, and sometimes baldness.

Bottle bacillus can diminish the oil production as it clogs the hair’s oil can. As a result, the scalp accumulates dandruff and becomes itchy.

Hair that lacks natural essential oils loses moisture and eventually falls or breaks off. Worse, this can lead to hair thinning and baldness.

How to Use ACV

For dandruff:

Use ACV before every shampoo. Create sections on your hair. Simply apply 3 tablespoons of ACV with the use of a sponge on the scalp. Cover your head with a dry towel or a shower cap. Let it stand for a few minutes and then rinse with your regular shampoo. In this way, ACV is restoring the pH balance to the scalp.

For dry hair:

There can be a variety of reasons for a dry hair including the hair care products or the hairstyling tools you use. ACV can restore the moisture in your scalp.

For your hair, use either castor or olive oil. Use ACV to the scalp. Cover your hair with a towel or a shower cap for at least 30 minutes to 3 hours. Finally, rinse it with a shampoo.

For hair regrowth:

Add cayenne powder to 2 tablespoons of ACV (cayenne stimulates better blood flow to the scalp by irritating it). Apply this mix directly onto the scalp. Let it stand for at least an hour. Then, rinse.

But how do people who suffer from this condition cope with it? There are actually a range of commercial treatments that can reduce stress-related hair loss. But if you opt to avoid them, then you can just resort to the following methods. The main idea is to reduce your stress levels.

Exercise

Exercise can relieve your body from too much stress. It can reduce anxiety as well as increase oxygen supply in the body. Do this for at least thirty minutes for at least three times a week. In case of higher stress levels, then you can increase the frequency of your exercise in a week, say, by adding two days more in a week.

Relaxation or Meditation

This is also a great way to soothe stress. A few minutes of relaxation three to four times a week can do the job. The best time to do it is after your exercising so you can loosen up more easily. Relaxation starts from the mind which will then help your body do the same and consequently improve your physical and mental health.

Take a few deep breaths slowly as you count to five every time you inhale and exhale. Repeat this three to five times. To relax your muscles, lie down on a flat surface. Then, tense and loosen up your arms and legs one at a time to soothe the muscles. Then try raising and lowering your legs one at a time as your arms relax on the floor.

Through exercise and relaxation, you are reducing your stress levels significantly. Until your body finally recovers, you must keep doing these simple routines as much as possible, and before you know it, you will find that consistent exercise and relaxation have already improved your overall health as they become a normal part of your life.

There are several types of shampoos, each are classified according to function, to wit: anti-dandruff, medicated, 2-in-1 shampoo, mild baby shampoo, basic beauty shampoo, premium condition shampoos, etc.

But whether you are using regular hair loss products or specialized shampoos, do you know that these can contain potentially harmful ingredients? Check the label and be wary of the following ingredients in a shampoo before buying it.

Sodium Lauryl Sulfate

Sodium lauryl sulfate is a potent washing surfactant, more exactly a foaming agent that may cause certain health risks and is potentially carcinogenic. There is a variation of SLS called sodium laureth sulfate (SLES) which is often said to be similarly harmful as SLS. The OSHA, NTP, and IARC, however, had already said that the statement is exaggerated.

In the manufacturing of SLES, there is a chance it is contaminated with 1,4-Dioxane, the unwanted by-product. However, only the exposure to large amounts of this compound can cause health risks.

Phthalates

Phthalates are plasticizers which are also classified as potentially carcinogenic. They are often present in perfumes to provide fragrance. However, aside from being potentially carcinogenic, they can also intoxicate the immune system and cause birth defects, liver cancer, and hormonal disruptions.

Formaldehyde

This chemical is a volatile organic compound that has always been suspected to be carcinogenic. When inhaled or ingested, it can be seriously toxic to the respiratory system. Oftentimes, it can be present in ingredients such as DMDM hydantoin, diazolidinyl urea, imidazolidinyl urea, quaternium-15, and bronopol.

Diethanolamine (DEA) or Triethanolamine (TEA)

DEA and TEA are wetting agents so that the shampoo can create richer soapsuds. DEA and TEA can react with nitrites which are used as preservatives. The reaction results in the formation of a carcinogenic compound called nitrosamines.

It’s always precautionary to look at the ingredients of your shampoo or any other product you use, for that matter, since what you don’t know might harm you.