10 Effective Ways to Reduce and Stop Hair Loss

Here are 10 things you can do to slow, stop, or even reverse the hair loss from happening.

It doesn’t matter your age or gender – all of us want to keep a nice, healthy, thick head of hair. If that ideal seems to be slipping from your grasp, you’re not alone. Many people struggle with hair loss due to genetics, age, habits, and more. Luckily, there are many things you can do to slow, stop, or even reverse this from happening. Read on to learn our top ten tips to do just that.

1. Ditch the Heat

   If you’re someone who constantly uses heat tools or will only take a shower if the water is the equivalent of lava, you might want to think again. Repeated exposure to high heat is only bound to hurt your hair, causing it to become brittle and break. One of the best ways to reduce (or even stop!) hair loss is to avoid this. Try to embrace more natural hair styles, air/towel dry your hair, use heat protectant sprays, and cool it on the hot showers for a healthier head of hair.

2. Look at Your Diet

   Our diet affects practically everything about our bodies and that includes our hair. If you’re constantly seeing your strands fall or are seeing the dull lifelessness that is often a precursor to it, check in with yourself and see if you’re eating the right things. Since hair is mostly made of protein called keratin, ensure you’re getting the amino acids you need for a healthy mane. This means you need to eat plenty of high-quality lean meats and fish! Don’t forget to include plenty of leafy greens, nuts, beans, and fruits as well. Proper vitamins and minerals are essential to keeping your hair where it belongs.
   Photo by kyle smith on Unsplash

3. Go Easy on the Bleach

   No one would blame you for wanting a little color in your life, but you have to be careful with how often you’re chemically altering your hair. Bleaching and lightening can cause major damage to your hair shaft, leading to serious breakage and texture issues. Chemically straightening your hair or perming it also has similar problems as you are actually breaking and rearranging the bonds in your hair. With that in mind, limit how often your hair undergoes any chemical treatments and don’t do any double or triple processing – especially by yourself! Always try to go to a professional and use plenty of deep conditioning treatments to restore some of the strength and shine you’re stripping away.

4. Embrace Scalp Massages

   Yes, a good scalp massage feels great, but did you know that it could actually be the answer to your thinning woes? Well, it is. Regular massages are great at improving circulation, which allows your hair follicles to receive all the blood, oxygen, and nutrients they need to promote a healthier head of hair. Luckily, it’s easy to incorporate this. Next time you’re in the shower, devote a few minutes to rubbing your scalp in small, circular motions to de-stress and potentially stop and/or reverse hair loss.

5. Try Hot Oil Treatments

   Sometimes hair loss can be chalked up to something as simple as a moisture deficiency. One great way to moisturize your hair and scalp is hot oil treatments! It may not be the miracle cure that social media tends to perpetuate, but creating a hair mask with oils like coconut or argan oil can ultimately increase your hair strength, reduce dryness, promote blood flow, tame frizziness and dandruff, improve shine, and potentially even help regrow hair. For best results, apply your choice of warmed oil to freshly washed hair and let it sit for 20 minutes before rinsing with cool water.

6. Be Gentle with Your Hair

   It seems obvious, but it’s something few people really think about on a day-to-day basis. If you’re dealing with any kind of hair woes, you should be gentle with your hair. That doesn’t just mean to avoid the heavy bleaching and heat. It also means you should be careful when drying, styling, brushing and touching. Treating your hair roughly by vigorous towel drying or constantly tugging on it when stressed is a surefire way to lose more of your hair. Instead, opt for patting it dry rather than rubbing, using gentler hair products, and avoiding over-brushing. Your hair will thank you.

7. Try OTC Remedies

   Simple fixes can make a huge difference in the quality and amount of your hair, but sometimes you need something a little bit more aggressive. Why not try out some over-the-counter fixes? There’s a wide variety of hair loss-oriented shampoos, conditioners, and masks that could prove beneficial to you. Of course, you can also always give Minoxodil (better known as Rogaine) a try! By and large, this drug works for more people than it doesn’t, helping to not only stop hair loss but also regrow your strands. Just keep in mind, that it can be accompanied by side effects such as scalp irritation, acne, and in rare cases, vision problems and irregular heartbeats. It is also extremely toxic to cats, so use with caution!

8. Reduce Stress

   Stress creates drastic chain reactions to the chemicals in our bodies and can influence everything from our metabolism to our sleep to our hormone levels and beyond. It can also impact the quality of our hair and even lead to hair loss and patchiness is severe cases. For your hair health and your overall health alike, try your best to reduce chronic stress. Some great ways to do this can include exercise, meditation, and journaling. If those aren’t your cup of tea, don’t worry. Just try to find some kind of activity that can help you relax and de-stress.

9. Stay Hydrated

   We are made primarily of water, so it only makes sense that most of our body processes require adequate hydration. Hair growth is also partially bound up in this, so pay close attention to how much water you’re drinking. If you’re dehydrated, your hair might be more easily breakable leading to preventable loss. To keep that from happening, keep water close to you whenever possible and take frequent sips. The eight-glass rule isn’t actually accurate, so check in with how your body feels to know if you’re getting enough.

10. Reach Out to a Doctor

    If you suspect your hair loss is caused by something deeper than diet, stress, etc., it’s worth reaching out to a trusted doctor. Any number of conditions serious and not can create hair problems and a professional can help address this. In addition to solving the root problem, they might also be willing to prescribe Finasteride, which is a medication that can slow loss and promote healthy hair regrowth. Make sure to discuss side effects with your doctor prior to taking it, though.

This article was taken from Cherie to make it available to all.