00:00I always say time is hair, so don't waste it.
00:07Hello, I'm Dr. Angelo Landrocena, and I'm a board-certified dermatologist.
00:13Looking for medical information online could be unreliable or anxiety-provoking,
00:19so today I'm going to be answering some of the questions that might be getting under your skin.
00:26Are there any products or treatments for thinning hair that are actually legitimate?
00:31Yes, absolutely. Hair loss is one of the most common conditions that I see as a dermatologist,
00:39and part of the reason for that is that everybody will experience it at some point
00:45if we're lucky enough to grow old enough. The primary condition in which we see hair thinning
00:51in most people is something called androgenic alopecia, and really it's more of a trait
00:58than it is a condition or a disease process. It is kind of complex because it does have to do with
01:05our genetics. However, the basis of it is that as we grow older, the actual hair shafts on our head
01:14become thinner and thinner and smaller and smaller and miniaturize until they become what we call
01:20vellus hair. That's like the peach fuzz that you might see on other parts of your body.
01:25Some of the products or treatments that may work for this kind of hair loss include minoxidil,
01:32which is available as an over-the-counter drug in the United States. It's also available as an
01:37oral drug by prescription, and part of the way that that works is by lengthening the growth phase
01:44of the hair, meaning that more of the hair on our head will be growing at any one time, and also it
01:51results in a thickening or a conservation of the diameter of the individual hair shaft. So
01:59essentially doing the opposite of what androgenic alopecia does. There are other procedures that
02:06could work, including something called platelet-rich plasma injection. That's when your
02:11provider draws some of your blood, extracts part of it that's rich in growth factors, and then
02:17injects it back into the scalp. However, what I would caution people about is automatically going
02:25for a treatment, a supplement, or an over-the-counter medication without knowing why their hair is
02:31thinning. There are some disease processes in which hair loss can be progressive or cause scarring,
02:39and once hair tracts are scarred over, there is no chance that hair will grow in that area
02:45again. There are also medical conditions like vitamin deficiencies or chronic inflammatory
02:51diseases that can cause hair loss. So what I always tell people is if you notice your hair
02:57thinning, definitely try to see a dermatologist if you can. Even discuss it with your primary
03:03care doctor because there may be some underlying medical condition that needs to be addressed.
03:09Also, time is of the essence. The earlier you get treated, the more likely you are to preserve your
03:14hair. I always say time is hair, so don't waste it. Stress-related hair loss, hair loss after
03:22giving birth, these are really common things that people do notice. This can quite often be due to
03:28a condition called telogen effluvium. I know that's kind of a mouthful, but essentially what
03:36it is is a mass shedding of the hair following a specific event. Now, it could be a stressor.
03:46This is something that we saw a lot during the pandemic because things like high fevers or
03:51severe illness could cause this, and usually what happens is after the stressor takes place,
03:57it takes a few months to notice the hair shedding. Other things that could cause it are obviously
04:02psychological stress, and the most common condition that we see it is in post-pregnancy. You know,
04:08that classic idea of having gorgeous hair during pregnancy, and part of the reason for that is that
04:14most of the hair stays in its growth cycle due to the hormones. So yes, during pregnancy, you may
04:20notice that your hair is thick and luscious, and then after you give birth, you may notice that
04:25your hair is starting to come out in clumps, and that is the hair cycle of the different hair shafts
04:31kind of normalizing. Are there treatments to help with this? Again, I don't want to sound like a
04:36broken record, but topical minoxidil is one of the great treatments that we have for this. I would say
04:43again, this is something to talk about with your specific doctor, and I always advocate that people
04:49talk to their doctor before starting any over-the-counter medications. If you're starting
04:54to see gray hair in your 30s, are you going to be completely gray by the time you're in your 40s?
05:01I wish I could tell you. Hair graying, just like a lot of other features of our skin, hair,
05:08and nails, is something that's partially genetically determined, and interestingly,
05:13as we're learning now, probably related to your environment too. For a long time, it's been
05:21suspected that stress could cause hair graying. There is new data, though it is kind of low-level
05:28data, showing that stress can be correlated with seeing gray hair. Decreasing your stress may
05:34reverse some hair graying, which is really interesting to me. I know that it's difficult
05:40to say, hey, decrease the stress in your life, but it may be a way to prevent more hair graying.
05:48I know a lot of people pluck their grays. However, if you over-pluck your hair, that hair may never
05:53grow back, and eventually when your entire head is gray, maybe you'll miss those hairs. Your hair
05:58will look a little bit thinner. Dyeing is definitely an option, but it does come with potential
06:05downsides, such as changes in your hair texture, damage to the hair, hair breakage. If you're not
06:11particularly sensitive to hair dyeing, it shouldn't be a problem. There are some new products on the
06:18market with peptides that have shown maybe a little bit of promise when it comes to turning
06:24back hair graying, but I'm not really convinced yet that that's an across-the-board solution
06:31for everybody. No wrong answers, except don't pluck them. How to work out regularly, keep your hair
06:41clean, not over-wash it. I wish there was one good answer I could give everybody, but there's not.
06:49It's going to be a little bit of a trial and error process. Depending on your hair type, washing your
06:55hair every day or after every workout may not be feasible. It could lead to dryness, breakage,
07:01and other issues with the hair. There are some tactics you can use to extend the life of your
07:08hair wash, even if you're working out regularly. The first is using something like a dry shampoo,
07:14which is going to absorb some of the oils on the scalp and help to keep the hair cleaner between
07:22true shampoos. Take a little bit of caution with that, just because overuse of dry shampoo
07:27can lead to some issues with hair dryness and breakage itself. Also keep in mind that you're
07:32supposed to be removing as much of that dry shampoo as possible. The way that you could do that
07:38is either brushing it out through the hair, or another way to do it that might be a little bit
07:43easier is using a blow dryer on the cool setting to just kind of blow it out of your roots. In
07:49addition to that, it is possible to actually just wash your scalp and not wash your hair.
07:55It is a little bit of a challenge, but if you're able to get in there with something like a
08:02tint bottle that's used for hair dyeing and just get some of that lather on the scalp,
08:08wash it out without really fully washing the lengths of your hair, that could be an option too.
08:14I hope this has been helpful. However, keep in mind everybody's different, so make sure to check
08:21with your own doctor, who knows you, before making any changes. You can find me on all
08:28social media at Dermangelo.
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