10 Habits Causing Hair Loss...Reflect on Your Daily Life

Hair loss is a stressful event and I've experienced it before. It not only will affect your physical appearance, but also your mental health. If you are currently suffering from hair loss, don't panic, take a deep breath and read this article. You may find some hints about the cause of your hair loss... If you have healthy good looking hair, it also good for you look into this and prevent these bad habits!

The normal life cycle of hair has three stages:

• Anagen is the growth stage, during which the hair follicle receives nutrients and oxygen that allow the strand to grow. This stage lasts about 2-8 years.

• Catagen is the transition stage when the hair stops growing and is cut off from nutrients at the follicle. This stage lasts about 4-6 weeks.

• Telogen is the resting stage, during which the dead hair prepares to fall out. This stage can last 2-3 months before the hair falls out. This is also when the hair follicle prepares to generate a new hair and begin the cycle again!

Fact 1: At any given time, 90-95% of your hair follicles are in the anagen phase and actively growing.

Fact 2: Most people lose about 50-100 hairs a day as the small percentage of hairs in the telogen phase fall out and new hairs grow in their place.

Anti-Hair Loss / Hair Regrowth Products usually target to stimulate blood circulation in the scalp for lengthening the growth phase and shortening the hair regrowth.

10 Bad Habits Causing Hair Loss

1. Hot Showers

Hot water dehydrates hair, stripping away hair’s natural oil coatings, make them dry and brittle.

2. Hot Hairdryer / Styling Machine

Use hairdryer in hot mode or heated styling machine too often will damage hair and make them thinner.

Tips: I prefer not to turn my hairdryer into max speed, it will blow-dry my hair more gently.

3. Vigorous Combing

This will increase tension and damage hair follicles.

4. Brushing or Combing in Wet Hair

Aggressive toweling, brushing or combing your hair especially in wet hair will cause further damage.

5. Tight Hairstyles

Hair follicles are stressed and eventually damaged under excessive tension e.g. tight braid.

6. Stress

It can be a stressful lifestyle or tragic accident. Hair loss may occur 3 months or later after a stressful event in life.

7. Poor Diet

It's very common for people putting on a diet. Hair fails to receive sufficient nutrients due to lack of intake or an unbalanced diet.

8. Excessive Scratching

Whether due to itchiness or someone used to this under stressful condition. It can definitely damage your hair follicles.

9. Excessive Use of Hairstyling Product

High alcohol content in most of the hairstyling product makes hair dry and brittle.

10. Smoking

Smoking causes inflammation throughout the body which can worsen hair loss.

Others Causes

Use of Medication

Some medication will interfere with the normal cycle of hair growth e.g. statins, anti-depressants, anti-anxiety agents, anti-hypertensive, hormones, birth control pills

Hard Water

The most common effect of hard water on your skin is dryness. Much like with your hair, hard water makes it difficult to rinse away soap from the surface of your skin, leaving your skin dry and potentially irritated.

Also, calcium settles on the skin and changes our own oil chemistry which compromises the skin’s ability to moisturise itself.

The Takeaway

The most effective way to regrow your hair depends on how you lost it, whether the root cause is your diet, stress levels or dryness.

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