Facts and Myths About Hair
The Hair Facts:
- A normal person has between 100,000 and 150,000 hairs on their scalp.
- Redheads have the least hair at 80,000; brown and black haired persons have about 100,000; and blondes have the most at 120,000.
- One hair can support the weight of 100 grams.
- Keratin is the main component of hair. Keratin is also responsible for the elasticity of finger nails.
- Hair is the second fastest growing tissue in the body, only after bone marrow.
- A hair grows 0.3-0.5 mm per day.
- A single hair has a thickness of 0.02 – 0.04mm, so that 20 – 50 hair strands next to each other make one millimetre.
- In any particular time, approximately 10% of the hairs are resting and 90% are growing.
- Between a third and two thirds of all women experience thinning hair during some stage in their life.
- Common reasons for thinning hair in women include: postnatal, menopause, HRT, contraceptive pills, stress, diet and trauma.
- Great looking hair makes you feel good – it also attracts the attention of the opposite sex.
- Hair gives us key information about someone’s health. Healthy hair tends to indicate a healthy person.
- Your hair and the way you wear it is part of your personality.
- Everyone loses about 100 hairs a day.
- Thinning hair will be visible only after you have lost more than 50% of the hair on your head.
- More than 50% of men above the age of 50 suffer from thinning hair.
- Many common drugs can cause hair loss.
- Thyroid imbalance and iron deficiency are reversible causes for hair loss.
- Crash dieting can trigger temporary hair loss.
- The trait for baldness can be passed down through paternal or maternal genes.
The Hair Myths:
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- Hats and wigs cause thinning hair – they don’t – people who hold this myth believe that a hot or wig prevents the scalp from breathing; however hair follicles get the oxygen from the blood and not from “breathing” the air.
- Permanent thinning hair is caused by perms, colors and other cosmetic treatments – it isn’t
- 100 strokes of the hair brush daily will create healthier hair – it won’t – brushing has no influence on any hereditary causes of hair loss, nor will it solve any underlying medical condition affecting the follicle.
- Only men suffer from genetic baldness - not so – even though baldness is often thought of as a male problem, the fact is that over 40% of women suffer from hair thinning at some point in their life.
- Seeing large amounts of hair fall out means you have genetic baldness – not true - going bald occurs as a result of gradual thinning of the hair; if large patches of hair fall out rapidly, it might be time to see your doctor, quickly I might add!
- Shaving one’s head will cause the hair to grow back thicker – it won’t – you will still have the same number of hair follicles, and will grow the same number of hairs.
- Decreased blood flow to the scalp causes hair loss – not true – when hair is growing a larger amount of blood flow is required, but once you start losing hair, a smaller amount of blood is needed, hence decreased blood flow to the scalp is the result of hair loss, not the cause of it.
- Hanging upside down will stop hair loss, as all the extra blood will rush to your hair follicles - it won’t – but it will give you a pounding headache
- Bald men have high levels of testosterone – not true - hair loss occurs as a result of sensitivity of hair follicles to DHT, not increased testosterone levels
- Hair loss is caused by clogged pores – not true – if normal baldness was caused by clogged pores, then rigorous and frequent shampooing would be all that is needed to maintain a full head of hair; clogged pores actually cause acne not baldness.
- Vitamins deficiencies cause hair loss – not true - in most cases vitamin deficiency is not to blame, especially in the US where deficiencies are rare
- Hair loss lessens when you get older – not true – once the hair loss starts, it tends to continue and progress throughout your life, never completely stopping. The younger you are when balding starts, the more likely you are to become more bald as you get older.
- Hair loss medicines only work in the crown, not on the whole scalp – not true – the main benefits of one of the FDA approved medications, Rogaine is to slow down or halt hair loss, rather than to regrow hair. Although initial studies for Rogaine were done on the crown, there is no reason to doubt that the medication will work equally well on other parts of the scalp as well.