Menopause-related hormone changes give us mood swings, insomnia, hot flashes, night sweats, vaginal dryness, weight gain, and to top it all off — hair loss. Our hair follicles are mini-organs that require constant blood supply and nourishment to continue producing hairs. Changes to our scalp and hair’s underlying biology can cause dryness, shedding, and hair loss. Thankfully, there are things we can do to stop hormonal hair loss.
You may have noticed that your hair grows faster or slower at different times throughout your life. Many factors can contribute to these fluctuations, and when we’re talking about slow hair growth, nutritional deficiencies, stress and hot styling tools are just a few of the culprits.
But before we dive into all the reasons your hair grows so slow, it’s important to understand the hair growth cycle and how it can impact how fast or slow your hair grows.
In the same way that not washing your hair enough can damage your hair, washing your hair too often can do much the same. In fact, shampooing your hair too often can lead to a number of problems with hair and scalp health—some of which you may not have ever even considered.
Though everyone’s hair—and hair routine—is different, there are a few universal truths to what happens to hair when it’s not properly cared for. No matter what type of hair you have, washing it too often can lead to hair loss. It can also make your hair brittle and vulnerable to breakage, which is especially concerning for thin, aging hair that is already so fragile.
There are a handful of signs to watch out for that’ll tell you that you’re washing your hair too often, and only one of them is hair loss. Your other hair concerns could actually be traced back to jumping in the shower too often, but it’s easy enough to fix your hair routine and find your way back to shiny, healthy hair in no time.
Flaky, dry skin is a common skincare issue for women. Especially as aging reduces sebum production, leaving us less oil to moisturize our skin and scalps. And this is even worse in the winter when the cold winds and hot showers converge to heighten skin dryness.
As skin cells build up on the surface and flake off, you'll likely experience itchiness, clogged pores and blocked hair follicles. Dry brushing is one method to rid your epidermis of buildup and has a wide range of benefits for your hair, scalp and body systems.
Hard water may look like regular water, yet it impacts your hair and scalp differently from soft water. It’s not considered dangerous to your health, yet it can cause problems for your scalp and hair.
After many showers or baths, hard water minerals in your hard water form a film on your hair, preventing moisture from entering. It can also cause scalp buildup and create challenges for your follicles, leading to dullness, dryness and if left unchecked, hair loss.
Getting yourself into a healthy lifestyle is rewarding for so many reasons. Not only can diet and exercise improve your physical well-being, but it can also improve your mental wellness. However, there are some downsides that can come along with a healthy diet that you may never have realized—including putting a damper on hair growth.
Cleaning up your diet and exercising frequently can actually hinder your hair growth goals in a couple different ways, which you may have already noticed if you’re currently dieting. Even if you aren’t actively trying to lose weight, your healthy lifestyle can still potentially hurt your hair. This means that your already aging hair can sometimes really take a hit if you’re a healthy eater. Seems wrong, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, it’s true, and we’ll give you all the details on how your diet could be causing hair loss and what you can do to counteract it.
We face new and sometimes unexpected hair-care challenges as we age: graying, dryness, brittleness. Worst of all? Most of us will have some degree of hair loss and thinning to deal with during and after menopause.
But just because age-related hair loss is common doesn't mean we have to accept it. Several potential solutions could help, depending on what's causing our hair to weaken and fall out. If nutrient absorption issues or a vitamin A deficiency are at the root of the problem, supplements containing retinol may be able help.