subject: 5 Hair Loss Myths - NOT The Reasons Your Hair Is Falling Out [print this page] 5 Hair Loss Myths - NOT The Reasons Your Hair Is Falling Out
There are many myths these days floating around in popular culture trying to explain what it is that makes people go bald. Some men when they first begin going bald look back on their past and try to figure out if they did something wrong that has led them to lose their hair. Here are 5 popular myths for the reasons behind hair loss.
1) Wearing a hat too much
To be honest, I guess this one is not as popular as it used to be as not so many men wear hats these days. Some men still do though and of course some men are required to wear hats for their work. Scientific studies however have shown that wearing a hat definitely does not cause hair loss. The only time a hat might lead to you losing your hair is if you happened to wear a hat so tight that it cut off all the circulation in your scalp. Even then you would have to wear it for more than a week non-stop. If you do that then you probably deserve to lose your hair.
2) Too much shampooing and drying
In fact most studies have shown that shampooing your hair too little is more likely to lead to hair loss than too much. Washing your hair too infrequently allows dead hair to build up easier without being washed out, and excess oil can build up, choking the already unhealthy hair follicle.
Blow drying is a little more complicated. Too much heat can certainly damage hair follicles, but as long as you are careful, the hairdryer will not hurt your precious locks. Make sure when you dry your hair, you keep the dryer at a good six inches or more away from your hair. If you have a heat setting, keep it on low. If you have a speed setting, put it on high as then the faster moving air will dry your hair without getting too hot. Keep the hair dryer moving and be sure not to keep it focused on one place too long, you should always towel dry your hair beforehand to make it easier to dry.
If you blow dry with care you will have no problems with the heat damaging your hair.
3) Hair Colouring
There are no scientific studies that show a definite correlation between colouring your hair and losing your hair. Excessive colouring with permanent chemicals i.e hydrogen peroxide etc can certainly damage your hair, even to the extent where the hair may break. This is not the same as hair loss though as the hair follicle is perfectly intact and the hair will grow back again as normal.
4) Severe Sunburn
Many people who begin losing their hair will look back to their past and remember a severe sunburn that they got on their scalp and attribute this as a cause for their hair loss. While severe sunburns certainly are not good for your health or your skin, and excessive heat can damage hair follicles, they will not lead to you losing your hair unless you happen to have a permanent sunburn everyday. An isolated case or two of sunburn on your scalp will not make you lose your hair.
5) Genetics
This may seem an odd myth to include as 'everyone knows that hair loss is passed down from one generation to another'. If you are losing your hair, it is true that someone in your ancestral family also had a problem with hair loss. The point here is that hair loss itself is not passed down genetically. If it were it would mean that there would be absolutely nothing you could do about it. What is actually passed down in the genes from one generation to the next is the hormone imbalance that causes hair loss. Just like if you have a genetic predisposition to diabetes, as long as you eat healthily and stay fit, there is a chance that you will never get diabetes. The same is true for hair loss. Yes, your body will suffer from the same hormone imbalance as your father or grandfather, and if nothing is done, yes you will lose your hair.
But it is not written in stone that you must lose your hair. All you have to do is redress the balance of your hormones and you can defy genetics and your ancestors and keep your hair.
