What are the first signs of balding?
The very first signs of balding are dry, brittle hair. You probably remember that your hair used to be naturally shiny and healthy-looking. Before you start to go bald, your hair will become very dry and difficult to style. It could be several years or just a few months later that you start to notice your hair become visibly thinner.
How long does it take to go bald?
Once you’ve noticed your hair has become dry and unhealthy looking, hair loss may have already started. Depending on the cause of the hair loss the time it takes to go completely bald varies greatly. You could start losing your hair at 30 and not go bald for thirty years! You might not even go bald at all.
If you start losing your hair very young
If you start noticing your hair is getting thin at a very young age (below the age of 21) you will almost certainly go bald within 5-10 years unless you start treating the hair loss.
Fortunately there are lots of effective hair loss treatments available now and you could easily stop your hair loss and even grow some hair back. I’ve detailed some of the best ways to stop hair loss lower down on this page.
Hair loss can be stopped
If you take a few simple steps to increase the blood circulation in your scalp and increase growth factors in your scalp, you can prevent further hair loss and get your hair back to normal.
I strongly recommend starting out by following the below steps.
How to stop hair loss quickly
The quicker you treat hair loss the more chance you have of getting your hair back. To immediately stop hair loss you can do two really simple, quick things:
Use a topical Minoxidil product
I’d recommend you start using a Minoxidil based topical straight away. Minoxidil works for almost everyone because it increases blood circulation in the scalp by increasing a vascular growth factor called VEGF.
Hair only grows when it’s connected to blood vessels. When a hair stops growing it becomes disconnected from the tiny blood vessel in the scalp. VEGF helps to keep the hairs connected to the blood supply longer, reducing the rate of hair loss. Although this can stop further hair loss, it won’t make lost hair grow back. However, it’s still a really good thing to do straight away to prevent further hair loss.
View my list of the best Minoxidil productsRead next
Whats the best shampoo for hair loss?
Men: Reduce scalp DHT using a ketoconazole shampoo
DHT is the hormone that causes male pattern hair loss. An easy way to quickly reduce scalp DHT is to use a ketoconazole shampoo two or three times per week. That will help immediately. If you want a more powerful way to reduce scalp DHT, read my full guide here.
Use peppermint oil on your scalp every night
Using peppermint oil might not sound very sophisticated but believe me it is. I recommend using peppermint oil on your scalp because it reduces inflammation, which is strongly associated with hair loss, and it increases the growth factor IGF-1, which has been shown to increase hair growth.
How can you regrow lost hair
In order to grow back lost hair and increase your hair density you actually have to generate new hair follicles in most cases. This is because hair loss is often caused by ‘inflammation of the hair bulge’, which is thought to lead to irreversible damage to the hair follicles in the form of ‘perifollicular fibrosis’. When hair follicles have become too damaged they cannot be regrown. So the only way to regrow lost hair is to create new hair follicles in your scalp. This is called ‘hair follicle neogenesis’ and is probably the best-known way in the world to restore hair.
I can see my scalp: does that mean I’m going bald?
If you can see your scalp, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going bald. It might be that a new haircut, styling your hair differently, or seeing your hair in a strong light has made you notice your scalp through your hair. However, if you don’t remember ever noticing your scalp through your hair in the past there’s a good chance that your hair has become thinner and that’s why you’re noticing your scalp now.
If you think you’re going bald there are a few easy tests you can use to find out for sure. It’s really important you find out as early as possible because the sooner you know, the more effective any treatment you use will be. If you treat the hair loss quickly you could recover your hair very quickly. If you leave it too late it will be more difficult.
Step 1: Wet your hair
Soak your hair in water and brush it back with your hand. Can you see your scalp through your hair? How far can you see through your hair to your scalp? If it’s more than an inch you are almost certainly going bald. However, some people naturally have fine hair, so it’s possible your hair was always thin and you’re not actually going bald. Can you remember being able to see more than an inch through your hair to your scalp?
Most people who are going bald at the front will be able to see their scalp about an inch back (or more) through their hairline.
In the image on the left you can see about half an inch of scalp through her hair. However I would say her hair is not thinning and she naturally has fine hair. This doesn’t mean she’s going to lose her hair.
In the image on the right you can see the scalp through the hair for over an inch back. He is going bald and has been for some time.
Step 2: How to know if you have a receding hairline
This is very easy for most people. Most children have low hairlines, with no natural recession at the temples. Therefore if you notice any recession it’s likely your hairline has started receding. This can start at a very young age — as early as your early teens and is common. In fact, you may not notice your hairline has receded for many years and because it happens so gradually it could recede several inches back before you start to question whether it’s always been like that.
To check if your hairline has receded observe the Norwood Scale below and match your current hairline to one of the images in the scale:
Now observe a photo of yourself as a child. Has your hairline receded?
Step 3: How to know if your hair is thinning at the crown
This is the hardest area to check. In fact it’s unlikely you’ll notice a thinning crown until it’s very thin. Fortunately, it’s also the easiest part of the hair to regrow — with treatments like Minoxidil being most effective on the crown.
Because the crown is where a lot of people’s hair is parted, it can look thin because the hair is spread in every direction away from the crown. However, it shouldn’t look noticeably thin if you’re not starting to go bald.
Therefore, if you notice your hair starting to appear thin on your crown it’s likely you are starting to go bald.
Step 4: Use a camera flash
Take a photo of your crown using your phone or a camera with the flash on. This will reveal how thin your hair is.
Feed thin hair
If your hair is thinning all over I’d recommend using my hair growth smoothie, which contains a hormone balancing formula, all the vitamins your hair needs to grow and a special combination of amino acids that help your body grow new hair keratin.
Check out my full guide on how to stop hair loss and regrow your hair naturally.
Reverse a receding hair line
A receding hairline is almost certainly caused by DHT, the male hormone which causes male pattern baldness. However it can also affect a woman’s hairline.
Check out my guide on reversing hair loss caused by DHT and my guide on reversing a receding hair line.
Reverse a thinning crown
Since a thinning crown is the easiest area of hair loss to reverse you could start by using a Minoxidil product twice a day. This alone could work. But you need a really good product.
Check out my list of the world’s best topical hair loss treatments.
How to Trigger Rapid Hair Growth
To learn about the method I used to provoke new hair growth and significantly increase hair density, use the link below:
I’d also recommend using a natural DHT blocker supplement to reduce your blood DHT levels and supplement your body with nutrients that support hair growth. Also checkout this list of topical DHT blockers to reduce scalp DHT.
