Hair Growth

Archive for the ‘Your Questions’ Category

Is it possible to regrow hair that has turned fine and fuzzy?

Wednesday, July 21st, 2010

Hello. I am 26 years old. My hairline has been receding for about 6 years at the left and right temple areas. I still have the middle section of my hair (I’m not sure of the best way to describe it). Anyway, when I closely inspect my scalp, the entire receded area is still covered with VERY small, fine, fuzz-like hair. At a quick glance it looks bald, but upon closer inspection the hair is still there.

My question is, do I have a good chance of growing the lost hair back? I don’t know how long it takes for a follicle to completely die, but I would imagine that if that had occurred, there would be no hair visible in the area at all, right?

I look forward to hearing from you.

Hi and thanks for your question.

If you examine any part of your skin (except your palms and the soles of your feet) closely enough you will see tiny, almost invisible, transparent hairs. These fine hairs are known as ‘vellus hairs’.

A hormone by-product called DHT causes the tiny vellus hairs on the arms, legs, faces and other areas to grow thicker and darker during puberty. The same DHT has the reverse effect on the hairs on the head, later in life.

In order to save these tiny vellus hairs from total extinction you need to reverse the miniaturization process by reactivating the vellus hair follicles. In cases where the hairs have become almost invisible, your hopes of reactivating them are slim, but it is possible – providing you work fast; which is why starting a good hair regrowth regime before your hair loss gets too bad is always advisable.

How do you reactivate these dormant hairs?

In order to bring these hairs back to life you need to follow four important stages:

  1. Reduce DHT levels going to the scalp
  2. Remove DHT already present in the scalp
  3. Increase blood flow in the scalp
  4. Increase nutrient supply to the hairs

DHT is what causes the hair follicle miniaturization in the first place (in most cases), so that’s the first thing to deal with. Then it’s a case of getting the blood and nutrient supply to above and beyond the levels required for a terminal hair (normal thick hair) to grow healthily. Once DHT is eliminated from the equation and nutrient and blood supply are charged up, the hairs can begin to regrow.

There are a few other tricks that can help. The scalp needs to be shocked back into ‘hair growing mode’. It may have been in ‘hair loss mode’ for a while, so it needs something to spark it back into life. This is a fairly simple process that can be completed from home.

To learn how I reactivated my dormant hair follicles using my personal hair loss strategy, download my eBook today.

Does masturbation cause hair loss?

Monday, July 12th, 2010

There is some scientific evidence to suggest that masturbation can contribute to hair loss; however I don’t believe there is any 100% positive proof. In theory it does make sense that ejaculation can have an impact on the hair in men who have a genetically inherited sensitivity to DHT in their scalps.

During sex or masturbation testosterone levels increase and at the point of ejaculation, some testosterone is converted into DHT. If the DHT makes it to the scalp and the scalp is sensitive to DHT, the result could be increased hair loss.

What is the solution?

There are several ways of combating this problem. You can stop masturbating or having sex (at least to the point of ejaculation), you can inhibit DHT production using saw palmetto, prescription hair loss medication or with dietary changes, or ideally, you can stop the DHT from reaching your scalp by making your body’s hormonal processing system more efficient.

My personal approach is a mixture of the latter two options. I’m not a fan of the prescription medication approach and I feel that taking saw palmetto supplements everyday for the rest of your life is not a satisfactory solution to stopping hair loss, since it relies on continued use of a supplement.

I think that for the average person a saw palmetto supplement is an adequate short-term solution. However I would advise that if you want a more complete solution you should aim to solve the problem at it’s root, by improving the efficiency of your body’s hormonal processing capabilities.

To learn how to do this download my hair loss ebook today.

Is there a connection between acne and hair loss?

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010

This is a great question. There is a connection between acne and hair loss. Both are often caused by hormonal changes. Often this can mean that if you suffered from acne in your life you will also suffer from premature hair loss at some point in your life. Note that this is not always the case, but in cases where acne is predominantly caused by hormonal changes (the vast majority of cases), it is also likely that future hormonal changes may result in future hair loss.

What causes acne?

If you look at the causes of acne, you’ll see that they are very similar to the causes of hair loss:

  • hormonal changes
  • poor diet – too much of the wrong types of fat and sugar
  • stress
  • incorrect skin care
  • inefficient liver

I’d like to highlight the first and last points in the list above. All of the causes listed above are in fact interlinked, effecting each other, but I’d like to explain the points about the liver and hormonal changes further.

The liver processes hormones, fats and toxins. If the liver lacks sufficient levels of ‘coenzyme A’ (a fat metabolizing coenzyme), the body recirculates fat in the blood, which may then be secreted through the skin via the sebaceous glands. This oil (which causes greasy skin and the shiny scalp effect common in balding men) is known as ‘sebum’ and is thought to be a major cause of acne. In fact the evidence is so strong, that in a study, simply increasing coenzyme A levels in the body was shown to have a massive positive impact on acne, simply because skin sebum levels were reduced.

So we can see how by making a change in the liver, we can effect the skins surface. Clearly the liver is an important factor in both acne.

But what has sebum got to do with hair loss?

Well, if we can effect skin sebum levels by giving the liver a helping hand, you can imagine what we can do for your hair, if you just apply some more logical science along the same vein. Sebum contains DHT. DHT is by far the most significant cause of hair loss. So if you suffer from elevated sebum levels, you need to give your liver a helping hand. It’s likely that it was your liver’s inefficiency that caused your acne when you were younger. And now the same thing is a causal factor in your hair loss.

The answer is to get your liver working at optimal levels, to increase coenzyme A levels and to remove any impacted sebum from your scalp to clear the pores, allowing new hairs to grow.

However there are several other factors that effect the liver. After all, why do some people’s liver’s become less efficient in the first place, while other peoples liver’s don’t? Stress, poor diet and hormonal imbalance can overstress your liver. By fixing these problems you can have a positive impact on your liver and your hair.

There’s another twist to the story

Stress can have a massive impact on your physical health. It can effect your hormonal balance and the health of your liver. So if you are badly effected by stress, it’s likely that anything you do to improve your liver, will be a waste of time, until you properly deal with the route cause of your problem – the stress itself. Acne, like hair loss, is often worsened and even caused by stress, but the stress is strongly interlinked with hormonal balance. Both feed back on each other. In order to properly cure the acne or the hair loss both problems must be dealt with in a comprehensive manner.

To learn more about stress, the liver, hormonal balance, sebum, DHT, hair loss and how to properly eliminate each of these underlying causes, step by step, download my hair loss eBook today.