Should you believe everything you read about hair loss?

Taking care of your hair is not always easy. In order to keep it healthy and shiny, you have to apply different routines, make sure your lifestyle doesn’t contain harmful habits and always explore new ways of improving your hair’s condition. Besides all this, you have to constantly filter a sea of rumours that attempt to educate the public about what is good and what is not for the health of the hair. In order to bring some clarity on this topic, Oxford Online Pharmacy’s chief pharmacist, Stuart Gale, talks today about certain things you have to look out for, when it comes to hair loss.

Some common hair loss myths:

1. Hair loss issues only come on a hereditary line

Yes, it is true that the hair loss gene can come from your family. Just like many of your features, hair loss is polygenetic and that means that your heritage is determined by an aleatory assortment of genes, from both your immediate and extended family. What is important for you to understand is that hereditary baldness doesn’t mean that your hair just starts falling out at a certain age, but that normal hair is gradually replaced by finer, thinner hairs. As you get older, the number of hair follicles on your scalp will progressively reduce. Therefore, if hair loss generally runs in your family, there is a probability you may experience it too but, at the same time, baldness cannot be predicted just by looking at your family tree. 

2. To fight against hair loss, stop wearing hairpieces

A very important factor that needs to be considered is that hair does not breathe from the outside. The roots are the living parts, not the entire length, thus they receive the necessary oxygen from the blood in the scalp. The only way wigs, hats and other hairpieces can damage your hair is if they are too tight and put excessive tension on the hair.  Therefore, you are not damaging your hair’s health if you accessorize your outfits, as hairpieces will never lead to baldness.

 3. Massage, exercise and other activities can reverse baldness

Even though the hair gets its oxygen from the blood that flows in the scalp, the blood circulation does not have any influence on hair growth. Therefore, do not let yourself be fooled by mysterious exercises that asks you to stand on your head for a long period or magical massages that promise to bring your hair back. Only medical treatments can help you cope with losing your hair. Nevertheless, too much combing or brushing may cause serious injury, which can lead to hair loss. 

4. Medicines can make the hair grow back
At this moment, there are only two hair loss medicines approved in the UK, topical minoxidil (Regaine) - for men and women and finasteride (Propecia) for men only, their main effect is to slow down or stop hair loss, but they cannot make the hair grow back. Therefore, you should always be alert with mysterious medicines that promise to have an extraordinary effect on your hair growth. 

5. It is not healthy to style your hair

There is no research that proves that there is a close connection between hair care products and hair loss. In order to make your hair look tidier, it is perfectly fine to use gel, mousse or spray. However, frequent bleaching, permanents or improper use of dyes can cause the hair to break, so make sure you use them right. As well, there are certain hairstyles that can have a damaging effect, such as ponytails, cornrows or tight plaits; blow drying can burn or dry your hair, which can cause some hair falling, but none of these elements will lead to permanent hair loss. 

6. Hair loss is all about being stressed

There is no doubt that stressful episodes like a surgery, accident or a big scare can have an impact on your hair’s health,  making hair production shut down for a short period of time. However, there is no proof that stress can cause baldness. The cases in which stressful situations have lead to baldness are an example of major psychological distress. You can imagine that if everyday stressful situations could cause hair to fall out, every single person would be bald by now. 

7. It is OK to wash your hair as often as you feel

Yes, it is totally fine. The only thing that shampoo does is to simply clean your scalp, which has no effect on your hair roots. Through washing, you only get rid of the hair strands that are already loose on your scalp, you don’t harm the roots. 

All these rumours can help you understand that there are only few things you can do to avoid permanent hair loss. Nevertheless, preventing or stopping hair from falling is something you can work on and it can be easier than trying to replace it once it is gone. Be an active reader every time you stumble across miracle cures for hair loss, because most of them are probably too good to be true. You can always talk to us if you are interested in more information or seek our help if you feel that you may have a problem with hair loss.