Never fear; this can still be the case, even if your hair is thinning.

The first thing to do is visit the doctor. Your thinning hair may be caused by a number of different factors, some medical in nature.  Discuss both the possible causes and treatment options with a professional.

In the meantime, these helpful tips will help you feel better about yourself by making your hair look its best.

Volume Building Basics

Get a good cut that will properly frame your face and accentuate positive facial features, like your eyes. Pick a cut that complements your style and minimizes the appearance of hair loss. The classic short bob works for most people. A zigzag or side part can help build additional volume on the top.

Once you’ve chosen a cut, the colour is the next step. Although many people think hair colouring can further damage thinning hair, this is a myth! Hair colouring can actually give your thinning tresses awe-inspiring body and volume.

Out-of-the-box colours suit some purposes, but to make the most of a thinning hairstyle, go to a pro. A single hair colour, regardless of how well it flatters your skin tone, does nothing to hide thinning areas. In fact, it can draw attention to them.

Decisions, Decisions!

Carefully select a colour specialist by asking friends and family with fabulous manes for referrals. Consult with the stylist before taking the plunge.  Using colour swatches, select a base colour, as well as an additional complimentary tone (or even two) for highlights.  You could also choose a lighter overall colour, with a shade slightly darker for lowlights.  The idea is to create depth, movement and volume with a multi-tonal style.

While some people are tempted to pick a dark shade to accentuate their tresses or cover grey, the best choice is a colour close to your skin tone. This is especially true if you experience thinning around the scalp, as the lighter tone blends more naturally with your skin and reduces the contrast in a receding hairline.

Prevent Further Damage with Foils

Most professional stylists will recommend semi-permanent colour because it does not contain ammonia or peroxide, which can dry hair. If you choose to highlight, ask your hairdresser to use foils, not a cap. With caps, strands of hair have to be pulled through tiny holes. This can stress the hair and scalp. When using foils, sections of hair are simply painted and enveloped within foil strips.

You will find that a carefully selected new cut and exciting colour give you not only a new look, but greater confidence. This will definitely put the bounce back in your step!

Look Good, Feel Great!

Dale
www.vollumaforwomen.com

Now Mary is an attractive middle aged woman, immaculately dressed with beautiful make-up and her hair, what was left of it, was impeccably styled. She was obviously a professional woman who cared about her looks – why would she endure that? She obviously didn’t realize that she has cosmetic options and didn’t have to suffer.

It is because of women like Mary that I wrote the book “10 Styling Secrets for Women with Thinning Hair” because women, regardless of the reason and the degree of their hair loss, have many cosmetic and styling options to help them look great and feel more confident about their looks.

When my banking was done, I thanked her and gave her my business card and told her she might find my free e-book helpful. The look in her eyes seemed to vary between suspicion and hope.

Now, with on-line banking, I don’t get into the branch much any more but I’ll be back to see if she’s taken my advice – it’ll be obvious.

Look Good, Feel Great!

Dale
www.vollumaforwomen.com

I wondered to myself how she could justify trying to treat something she didn’t understand. Taking action is great but, consulting with experts, creating a plan and sticking with it is an even better solution. Ah, the impatience of youth!

I explained that the causes of hair loss for women are many and varied and that if her thinning hairline was simply the result of a regular, tightly pulled hairstyle (traction alopecia), then wearing her hair loose for a while could reverse the problem and allow a full, natural recovery.

I further explained that the abundance and quality of hair is an indicator of overall health and that only a doctor could truly determine the underlying reason for her specific situation, possible spotting something more serious. The cause could be relatively simple and resolvable over time, like diet, stress and medications but could also be more complex like heredity (androgenetic alopecia), hormonal fluctuation and disease or even some combination. Undiagnosed, her hair problem and potentially her health, could deteriorate further.

I asked her if she wouldn’t feel better knowing what the cause was and she agreed she couldn’t afford not to go.

Look Good, Feel Great!

Dale
www.vollumaforwomen.com

Telogen Effluvium is the second most common reason for hair loss and is usually caused by severe physical or emotional stress and sometimes due to the lack of dietary iron or protein. In this condition, an abnormally high percentage of hair enters the resting, or telogen phase, and often falls out in clumps. The reaction can be sudden or delayed and accompanied by “painful hair” but is fairly common and will usually resolve itself over time.

Crash dieters or inexperienced vegetarians can experience hair loss. For either, the intake of iron and protein should be examined and adjusted as necessary. The good news is that hair loss associated with either deficiency is reversible with corrective action.

Surgery places physical stress on our minds and our bodies regardless of whether the surgery is minor or major. As if nine months of the discomfort of pregnancy and the pain of labor was not enough, many women also experience hair loss! The shock, including the effects of the anesthesia, places our bodies under a great deal of stress that it may take several months to recover from.  In recovery, the body uses all of its resources and energy to recover from physical trauma and some of that energy is diverted away from hair growth and other less necessary bodily functions. Consequently, our hair may stop growing and begin to fall out during the recovery period. This type of hair loss is usually temporary and the hair will begin to grow back once the body has completely healed.

The mental stress of losing a friend or loved one, a marriage or even a job are some of the greatest mental stresses that we face in life. Additionally, facing an economic crisis may put us in panic mode and worrying about how we will support ourselves and our families also creates considerable stress. Economic crises are often accompanied by a job loss, a family medical emergency or accident, a double whammy which adds even more stress to the situation. Under these circumstances our bodies go into survival mode, marshaling all energy for recovery at the expense of those functions that are not vital to life. Hair growth may cease or slow and hair strands may fall out until our hearts and minds begin to heal.

If you have faced a mental or physical trauma like the ones mentioned above or something similar, the first thing you need to do is to take care of yourself. Adjust your diet, allow yourself time to heal physically, get emotional help from a professional or cry on the shoulder of a friend. Do whatever it takes to ensure your own mental and physical well-being. If you begin losing hair during times like these, try a hair thickening cosmetic to help you feel better about yourself and take heart, your hair will inevitably grow back once the trauma subsides. Treat your body and mind kindly keeping friends and family close to help you on the road to recovery.

We all know men who have thinning hair. They understand and accept it as part of their genetic makeup. Male pattern baldness is caused by the conversion of the male hormone testosterone to DHT (dihydrotestosterone), but genetics ultimately determines exactly what their hairline will be and how much hair density they will lose.

The first time any woman looks in the mirror and starts to notice her thinning hair, she can’t help but feel resentful, wondering what on earth happened and, why me? The answer depends on many issues as there are a wide variety of genetic, dietary and medical conditions that can cause hair loss in women, surprisingly many more than affect men.

Even though hair loss in women has multiple causes, many conditions are made worse by that same hormonal activity that kills male hair follicle. Testosterone is the male hormone which is responsible for aggression, whiskers, low voice, less body fat, muscle strength, and more. Men carry this hormone in their bodies in high concentrations, but women also carry it in smaller amounts. As men age, enzymes in the hair follicle convert normal testosterone into DHT, and in a process called miniaturization the hair follicles shrink and deteriorate, causing hair loss. The same process happens in women to a lesser degree and for women with a genetic tendency toward thin hair, DHT can cause their hair loss too.

For many women, this news comes as an unpleasant surprise. But here is the good news, if DHT and genetics are the root cause of your hair loss, your doctor can prescribe Minoxidil, one of the same medications proven to work against hair loss in men. So don’t wait to set an appointment with a doctor, genetic female hair loss responds best when treatment begins early. Results vary individually, and as these medications take time to work, try a hair thickening cosmetic for instant results.

The good news is that, with early and appropriate treatment, you may be able to slow down or stop further hair loss, even re-growing some of the hair you have shed.