Hair is an important part of anyone’s appearance. Your hair style can reflect your social, sexual or even spiritual attitudes. Just think of a movie star, a rock musician, or even Samson from the Bible story. And, keeping your hair in tip-top condition is a billion dollar business in Canada.
You have about 100,000 hairs on your head. Redheads have slightly more and blondes have slightly fewer. Hair grows about nine inches each year with about a 10 per cent growth increase in the warm months of summer. You shed about 50 to 100 hairs each day, but they are usually replaced. The life of any particular hair is three to five months, then it regrows.
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Each hair grows from a follicle and is composed of fibrous proteins or keratin. The follicle or “hair root” is the part of your hair that is alive, but as the hair cells grow outwards and farther away from the circulation and the nutrient supply of the scalp, they become keratinized and die.
Each hair follicle has a sebaceous gland which secretes an oily substance called sebum onto the hair. Another interesting fact is that the shape of the follicle determines whether your hair is curly, wavy or straight.
A lush head of hair is desirable, but hair loss does occur with normal aging. Male pattern baldness or androgenic alopecia is characterized by a bald spot on the top of the head and/or a receding hair line. It is considered a genetic condition, so if your father was bald, you have a good chance of also being bald.
As well, women can be affected by hair loss or thinning as they age, and again there is a family tendency. Minoxidol lotion can help, but continual application is needed to maintain the hair. Interestingly, minoxidol started out as a blood pressure medication which had hair growth as a side effect.
Sometimes drugs can cause hair loss. Drugs used to treat cancer are the classic examples but other drugs include medications like allopurinol, bromocriptine, carbamazepine, ibuprofen, indomethacin, levodopa, lithium, metoprolol, propranolol, oral contraceptives, spironolactone, vitamin A and warfarin. As you can see the list is varied, and it’s a good idea to have your pharmacist check for offending drugs. An alternative drug or dose may solve your problem.
Exposure to toxic substances such as arsenic, boric acid and carbon monoxide can result in hair loss. Most often these chemicals are found contaminating work or home environments. Rough treatment of hair such as the use of curling irons, repeated hair dyeing and wearing braids or a pony tail can damage hair and lead to hair loss.
Hair loss can occur in conjunction with medical conditions such as rapid weight loss, poor diet, excessive dieting, high fever, pregnancy, thyroid problems, heart attack, stroke, blood loss and psychological stress or bereavement. Skin conditions, especially ones that affect the scalp such as eczema, psoriasis and fungal infections, can interfere with hair growth and lead to hair loss. Obviously, if you are experiencing hair loss, a medical checkup is a good idea in order to get your hair growing again.
Alopecia areata refers to a sudden hair loss with no known cause. It is thought that the condition is an autoimmune disease, meaning that your immune system malfunctions and destroys hair follicles. When all body hair is lost, the term alopecia universalis or totalis is used.
There is some bad news when it comes to hair care. There are no conditioners or shampoos that will enable you to stop hair loss. Conditioners can improve your hair’s appearance and texture, but have no effect on hair loss. They contain lubricants that can de-tangle hair and humectants that grab and hold moisture in your hair. There are both leave-in and wash-out conditioners, but the choice is based on personal preference.
Shampoos contain cleaning ingredients that lift dirt particles from your hair, but they also remove the naturally occurring oils. Medicated shampoos usually deliver an active ingredient to your scalp, not to your hair. And, substances like vitamins and botanical extracts only smell nice.
You probably wash your hair regularly, but some research shows that infrequent washing enables natural oils to make your hair softer and more manageable. However, the down side of infrequent shampooing is dirtier and smellier hair; something you may not like!
Marie Berry is a lawyer/pharmacist interested in health care and education.
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Skin infections are often in the news and can be deadly. These infections may occur in hospitals, nursing homes, or even in the community and they seem to be more serious leading to complications. Next month, we’ll look at some of these infections and talk about what steps can help avoid them.
