Is Serum Good for Preventing Hair Loss?

Thinning hair may be a natural part of the aging process for many women, but it does not have to be for you. Take your first step in a targeted attack on preventing hair loss by choosing a quality hair serum formulated for your evolving needs.

Hair often plays a central role in a woman’s overall appearance and self-confidence. It is deeply rooted in her identity and self-esteem and when she finds telltale clumps in the shower drain, she may feel a profound sense of despair. This is especially true for women over 40, for whom hair loss may seem like an irreversible and inevitable sign of aging.

Haircare products can work wonders strengthening your hair, stimulating your scalp, and fortifying your follicles, but is serum good to prevent hair loss? To answer that question we should first understand hair loss and why it happens.

What Is Hair Made of?

Your hair is constructed from a type of protein known as keratin. An isolated hair consists of the hair shaft (the part you see), the root beneath the skin, and the follicle. The hair root grows from the follicle. Located at the bottom of the follicle is the hair bulb where the hair’s melanin is produced. Melanin is the substance the determines your hair color.

The average woman loses nearly 50 to 100 hairs from her head each day. Normally, those hairs are replaced by new ones from the same follicle. If they fail to grow back or you are dropping more than 100 strands a day you may be experiencing a form of alopecia.

Causes of Hair Loss

Alopecia is the medical term for hair loss and is attributed to genetics, haircare practices, or immune system disorders. There are four main types of alopecia:

• Androgenetic alopecia — Androgenetic alopecia is the leading cause of hair loss in women and can begin between the ages of 12 and 40 years old. It involves hormones called androgens, essential for sex drive and hair growth regulation, and is sparked by genetics or family history.
• Alopecia areata — Alopecia areata occurs when your immune system turns traitorous and attacks your hair follicles, precipitating in round patches of lost hair from the body or head. The round patches may or may not overlap and some people may lose all the hair on their bodies. Doctors are unsure what brings about alopecia areata.
• Cicatricial alopecia — Cicatricial alopecia refers to a rare disorder where scarring occurs in the follicle and leads to irreversible hair loss. The cause of cicatricial alopecia is unknown; however, researchers observe heat, pain, swelling, or redness developing at the top part of the hair follicle, destroying oil glands and specialized cells that are necessary for hair growth.
• Traumatic alopecia — Traumatic alopecia is a unique hair loss condition occurring more often in women than in men. Compulsive hair pulling, twisting, or plucking hair (trichotillomania) may lead to this condition; however, chemical straighteners, tightly wound rollers, compact braids, and other hairstyles and styling practices can inflame hair follicles and trigger this condition.

Hair Loss and Aging

As you age your hair and scalp begin to change. Your follicles narrow causing replacement strands to emerge thinner, hair growth to slow to a trickle, and some follicles to quit generating new hairs altogether.

For women, age-related hair loss does not usually involve the receding hairline experienced by men. Female pattern baldness is more likely to be an overall thinning, causing wispy, lifeless hair, and areas of exposed scalp.

Female pattern baldness will vary in degree from woman to woman due to the dissimilarity in hormone levels and genetics. If the women in your family experience female pattern baldness you may be more susceptible to it.

How Does Serum Combat Hair Loss?

There are two strategies you can utilize when battling hair loss:

• Preventing it in the first place
• Stimulating dormant follicles into functioning again

Hair serum can be used for one or both of these strategies depending on whether it is formulated to target the hair or the scalp.

Serum and Your Hair

Some hair serums work to prevent hair loss by protecting the hair you have. Often, they do this by shielding hairs from heat, humidity, chemicals or UV rays with antioxidants, keratin, silicone, or other ingredients.

Other hair serums deliver powerful nutrients including biotin, folic acid, and vitamins to the hair shaft making tresses stronger, healthier, and more elastic. When hair is appropriately nourished it is stronger and less likely to fall out.

Serum and Your Scalp

Hair serums massaged directly into your scalp’s follicles can bolster hair health and vibrancy by:

• Feeding your skin — Vitamins and minerals in hair serums work to replenish nutrients your scalp needs to produce healthy hair and prevent strands from dropping out prematurely. This is especially important for aging or sun-damaged skin, which is less able to retain nutrients and repair itself.
• Invigorating the follicles — Caffeine and ginger are natural stimulants used in serums like Better Not Younger’s Superpower Fortifying Hair & Scalp Serum. They work by boosting scalp blood flow and promoting hair growth.
• Suppressing DHT— Dihydrotestosterone (DHT) is a hormone that spurs hair loss in aging women. Topical serums containing oleanolic acid can impede DHT, activating healthier and stronger hair growth.

Choose a Quality Serum Formulated for Preventing Hair Loss

As a woman in your 40s and beyond, your hair loss issues are unique to your maturing physiology. Hormones change, follicles narrow, your body begins to lack essential oils and nutrients needed for healthy hair. All of this coalesces to wreak havoc on your once-beautiful tresses.

Choosing quality shampoos and conditioners designed for maturing hair and a powerful serum formulated for age-related hair loss can bring back the vitality and luster of your hair. Better Not Younger’s Superpower Fortifying Hair & Scalp Serum galvanizes yet nurtures your scalp, restores and repairs your damaged hair, and replenishes and infuses your strands with essential oils and vital nutrients.

Visit our product page to learn more about our full line of Better Not Younger haircare solutions.