Hair Restoration - What You Need To Know

It can be pretty depressing to see your hairline receding into eventual oblivion. There are a lot of techniques for reducing or treating hair loss, but there’s no solid, surefire way to arrest it, especially if it’s a genetic condition. And if finding a one hundred per cent guaranteed way to stop your hair from disappearing is unlikely, imagine finding a way to get your hair to grow back! Now there’s a challenge. This is why a lot of people will turn to medical hair restoration techniques, like hair replacement surgery. Of course, not all hair restoration is as drastic as surgery.

What Is Hair Restoration?

“Hair restoration” is pretty much an umbrella term for the techniques and measures available for people who want the hair that they’d lost, back. Examples of non-surgical hair restoration treatments would include topical substances that contain the substance known as minoxidil –Rogaine is the commercial name for this- as well as oral hair-growth supplements that inhibit certain chemical activities in the body that might cause hair loss; like Finasteride –also known as Propecia.

Using special hair loss treatment shampoos can also help out a lot sometimes. There are also “natural” hair restoration techniques, which can range from massaging the scalp to increase blood flow to the area and encourage further hair growth, to using plant extracts such as saw palmetto and nettle root to nourish the scalp and remaining hair, as well as lower levels of certain hormones that encourage hair loss in men.

Of course, short of hair replacement surgery or simply getting a wig, most hair restoration techniques can’t completely guarantee your crowning glory’s glory. Depending on the conditions that triggered the hair loss in the first place, as well as a person’s unique body chemistry, there’s always a likelihood that the hair restoration won’t take.

How Do You Avoid Having to Go For Hair Restoration in the First Place?

Figuring out how or why your hair’s falling out can actually go a long way to helping you keep your hair. Sometimes, hair loss can be the result of something as simple as hair care or a diet deficiency. People who tend to wear their hair in tight braids, buns, or ponytails, for example, could be losing their hair because their hairdos tug too hard at their hair and scalps. Simply loosening your hairdo, or better yet, letting your hair down every now and then, can stop your hair loss altogether. Other possible reasons why you’ve got considerably less hair to brush in the first place, can be over-brushing, over-styling, and the harsh chemicals used for perms, rebonding, and coloring. If you haven’t been reduced to simply tamping down a few wispy strands left clinging tenaciously to your scalp, a solution to your hair-loss could be as simple as stopping and giving your hair and scalp a little TLC.

Iron deficiency can also be a big cause for hair loss. Consult with your doctor to see if you could be suffering from this little problem, and figure out what you might need to do to deal with it.

If you have certain kinds of medical conditions, like a thyroid disorder for example, hair loss can be a possible symptom. Medications can cause hair loss too; some of the medicines used for cancer treatment, for example, don’t just cause the hair on your head to fall out, but the hair all over your body, as well. Of course, in these kinds of situations, hair restoration can be a little complicated; for one thing, stopping cancer treatment just to keep your hair from falling out isn’t exactly the wisest move to make.

The commonest reason why people lose their hair is male or female pattern baldness, which is genetic.

What is Medical Hair Restoration?

Most people consider medical hair restoration to be pretty much any hair restoration technique that involves a prescription or a doctor’s appointment. Treatments like Rogaine and Propecia are often seen as medical hair restoration treatments. More often than not though, medical hair restoration refers to hair replacement surgery or hair transplants.

This particular method of medical hair restoration will usually involve transplanting hair from a “donor area,” or a spot on your head where the hair hasn’t thinned and is genetically and chemically less likely to lose hair, to the barer spots on your head. For men with male pattern baldness, this can usually mean that hair from the back of a man’s head will be transplanted to the front of their head. For the much less commonly understood female pattern baldness, instead of hair receding from the front to the back, hair loss is normally evenly distributed throughout the scalp, which can mean that finding a specific spot to get the donor hair from can be a bit more challenging, which is why hair restoration surgeries and treatments are often different for men and women.

Male pattern baldness is almost always hormonal, whereas the causes for most female pattern baldness still aren’t that well understood. Whether you’re a man or a woman suffering from pattern baldness though, it’s still a great idea to check with a dermatologist as well as a hair loss expert before going for hair restoration treatments that can sometimes do more harm than good.