How To Battle Baldness
In today’s society a person's hair and their sense of self are inextricably linked. So much so, that the first signs of any potential loss can wreak havoc on a man’s confidence. The fact of the matter is, by the time you reach your late twenties, most of you will start to experience some sort of hair thinning. By the age of 60 at least 60% of men will have suffered hair loss to some degree. The irony is It’s actually more uncommon to not experience hair loss as a man. With that being said, it still causes an immense amount of distress, challenges people’s self-esteem and is strongly linked to anxiety. So in this article we’ll cover some of the ways that you can fight back to baldness.
Male pattern baldness - which is thinning hair at the crown and hairline, is the result of a common genetic condition caused by the inherited sensitivity to the testosterone by-product dihydrotestosterone (DHT). It sucks to say, but short of rewriting your DNA, there are only a few things you can do to stop the hair thinning outright, particularly if you’ve already started to go bald. So a combination of lifestyle changes, treatments and savvy styling are what we’ll discuss to slow down the loss and help make the most of what you have left.
What you can do straight away is take steps to ensure your lifestyle isn’t accelerating your hair’s demise. Managing stress is a big one, as difficult as that may be. Definitely quit smoking as this will reduce blood flow to the scalp not to mention shave years off your life but that’s besides the point. Another one you've heard before is to eat a healthy and balanced whole food diet - a lack of vitamins A, C, D and E, Zinc, B vitamins, iron, biotin and essential fatty acids have been shown to contribute to hair loss. Gym monsters be warned, a diet and training regime focussed on gaining muscle has the potential to make things worse. High intensity muscle building workouts and supplements such as whey protein and creatine have been linked to higher DHT levels in men. Which could contribute to a faster rate of hair loss.
It is also important you don’t stop washing your hair. A lot of men stop washing their hair when they notice it’s thinning because they think the two things are linked. Washing the hair helps to keep the scalp in a good condition and avoids any product build up blocking the pores and limiting the ability for new hair to grow. When you're drying your hair - try not to rub with the towel as it can damage the follicle and damage weak hair. Gently scrunch the hair to dry it with a towel.
The next thing you can do is focus on treatments, such as asking your doctor to prescribe a course of Finasteride (a once a day tablet that inhibits DHT) or Minoxidil (a cream or liquid applied to the scalp that works by boosting blood flow to the hair follicles). These will not be without their side effects though so please do your research. If this doesn’t sound like the right approach for you then you could book in to see a trichologist and start a PRP plan. PRP stands for platelet rich plasma. They prepare the platelet rich plasma solution from your own blood. The blood is drawn and then spun at a high speed. By spinning it you can seperate the blood into its different parts. The layer of plasma that contains a high concentration of platelets is then drawn off and injected into the scalp. The potential result is healthier hair follicles and new or stronger hair growth.
Of course you always have the option for a hair transplant but as with anything related to health and well being - prevention is always better than cure. So the above tips are worth your attention but we also have to accept not all is in our control. If you’ve reached the stage in which you’re considering a transplant then as long as the hair loss has begun to stabilize then it is a very effective solution. Hair is removed from the back of your hairline and placed individually into the areas which need a boost. The average cost of a hair transplant will vary depending on how much hair you need to have transplanted. For moderate hair loss, you can expect to pay between £3,000 and £8,000. However, if you have more extensive hair loss, you should expect to pay between £5,000 and £15,000.
Whether or not you decide to tackle your thinning hair with medical solutions, it’s still important you look your best in the meantime. Firstly, you need to know it’s foolish to pretend nothing is happening. A common mistake made by men losing their hair is that they try to stick with the style they had when they were fuller on top. As your hair thins you need to adapt your hair to where you currently are and not where you wished you were. With a receding hairline anything that pushes the hair back will make the problem look worse and make the forehead look wider. It’s best to establish a style that’s shorter on top and pushes the hair forward, covering the weaker areas. If you find yourself thinning on top, mainly in the crown, and you’re developing a bald spot then usually the opposite is true. Keep the front and top longer and style the hair up and back in a quiff or pompadour style to help with the coverage. If you’ve been thinning for a while and your recession is deep or the crown is almost completely gone then the best option here is very tight, short sides and a shorter, rounder shape on top. This creates balance and draws the eye away from the weaker areas.
As we age we deteriorate. It isn’t the most pleasant thought to contend with but one we must all face nonetheless. Male pattern baldness is just one example of this. Some of you may win the genetic lottery and never face it but unfortunately the majority of us will. The secret is to embrace it and adapt your image along the way. And as I said earlier, prevention is better than cure when it comes to managing hair loss.
Words by Josh O’Callaghan