People always said I’d lose hair from forehead (probably due to the u-shaped hair, heredity from Dad).
Most of these people were either troubled by their own hairloss and doing something to prevent it .. and predicting that other’s will lose hair seems to comfort them (The Oh! I’m not alone.. so its good as long as everyone has same issues!.. attitude of making yourself feel good) 😀
Fact is, I’ve known that my overall hair density has been reducing (and not from forehead unlike the ‘predictions’) and I didn’t care balls about it.
A week ago, I went to get a hair cut and noticed in the barber shops back to back mirrors that I’m actually losing more hair from the center and spreading.
(Earlier, there was just a tiny patch where hair would be less dense due to an injury I had in 9th grade, by falling off bicycle pillion seat and landing head first on a granite stone)
I decided I do something about it now (just like I’m doing with some other aspects of my life)
Problem Facts list:
1. I don’t comb my hair, I care a fuck about hairstyle .. dont even have a habit of looking at mirror 😐
2. I don’t massage my scalp (unless I’m pulling my hair in frustration) and I dont use hair oil.
3. I wash my hair daily during bath (only water) – This should go in Good Facts list but it’s here because the water is hard-water from shower and not soft drinking water.
3.1 but don’t use shampoo (may be once a month or once two months)
4. My diet includes mostly meat (bizarre foods, people close their ears/faint/run for life when they hear what I eat) and very very less of good food(micro-nutrients) that we will discuss later in this post.
5. I worry too much about stuff in life, keep thinking of past issues, and constantly keep worrying about my life goals.
6. I don’t sleep/rest enough due to (5) above
Good Facts list:
1. I wear helmet compulsorily and with a hairwrap/balaclava in it (no matter how small the distance of drive is) – protects from dirt.. although my primary reason is to survive longer and do something better with my life.
2. I don’t have to travel in traffic to office daily – luckily. (benefits of running in-home startup – thankyou life for that.. touchwood)
3. I like to keep hair as short as possible .. so there is less sweat residue sitting in the hair daylong. (but I keep forgetting about haircut, until someone reminds me)
The geek within took some time off work and studied bunch of articles / case-studies to learn what works.. and compiled a list of do’s/don’ts …and knowledge is wasted if not shared….. So here goes:
My small study (couple of hours) on Preventing Hair Loss and Regrowing hair Naturally.. Let’s get it on.
————-
Foods to Eat
————-
1. Nuts, Soybeans (Try replacing cow milk intake with soymilk – Folic Acid)
2. B3 / B complex syrup or tablets (check with your physician before buying tablets)
3. Eggs (vitamin B12, B7, iron, Zinc, Omega6 fatty acid)
4. Walnuts (zinc, iron, B1, B6, B9, protein)
5. Carrots, Tomatoes, Peppers, Salads, Eggs, Liver (Warning: Read in vitamin A section below)
6. Leafy Greens, Lettuce, Spinach, Whole grains (Warning: Read in vitamin E section below)
7. Red and green Peppers, Citrus fruits, Oranges, Lemon ( Eat as much as you want – makes hair follicles stronger)
8. Green Peas (group B vitamins)
9. Oats/Oatmeal (zinc, iron, omega6 – find the ones that are not processed and packed if you can.. they are much better than the ones that come in shiny packets/boxes with stickers of fat-free and health and other balls)
10. Shrimp (vitamin B12, iron, zinc – Dammit, I’m allergic to shrimp.. it cause me red rashes on skin about 30 mins after eating… if you’re good with shrimp njoy 😀 )
11. Low Fat Dairy products – Skim milk, Yogurt (Calcium)
12. Water – The hair shaft is comprised of one quarter water. Drink at least 4 to 8 cups of water a day to stay hydrated and grow healthy hair.
————————————————————————————————-
Reasons for people who are in good habit of asking ‘Why’ rather than blindly accepting stuff:
————————————————————————————————-
– Complex B-Vitamins / Folic Acids
Folic acid promotes healthy cell growth which in turn produces healthy skin regeneration, and of course hair regeneration or hair regrow. Taking folic acid vitamins for hair loss prevention can not only greatly decrease your chances of experiencing hair loss to begin with, as well as help to prevent future hair loss.
– Vitamin A ( Warning: Eat in Moderation)
Vitamin A is plays a vital role in maintaining healthy hair, skin, and vision. But A word of caution, too much vitamin A can actually cause hair loss by increasing the sebum in your hair follicles. Sebum is a substance produced by cholesterol which in normal amounts is conducive to healthy skin and hair, but too much can encourage the growth of bacteria at the follicle level and thus actually cause hair loss.
– Vitamin E ( Warning: Eat in Moderation.. little more than Vitamin A intake is fine)
Vitamin E is essential for promoting healthy blood flow, it contains valuable antioxidants that help to keep the immune system up and encourages blood circulation to the scalp area.
– Vitamin C ( Note: Eat fully)
Vitamin C is an antioxidant vitamin, it isn’t directly associated with hair loss. However, low intake of vitamin C can result in dry or splitting hair, it may make your hair prone to hair loss.
—————
Stuff to Do
————–
0. Include food listed above to your regular diet (See Warning lists)
1. Scalp Massage: Massage stimulates blood circulation. Good circulation in the scalp keeps hair follicles active.
A few minutes of daily head massage by hand. Circulation through massage may be improved by using a few drops of lavender or bay essential oil in an almond or sesame oil base with massage.
(I was surprised none of the sources said ‘coconut oil’ which I believed since childhood to be THE thing; FSCK)
Heat it up so that it is “warm but not too hot”. The important thing is to massage it into your scalp, then put on a shower cap for about an hour, then rinse or shampoo out the oil.
Massage scalp thoroughly with oils daily – olive and lavender oil are excellent – then using a palm held short bristled brush – soft natural boar bristles for non straight hair and stiffer for straight hair.
Do it quite vigorously so you really feel it stimulating scalp. 90 /100 strokes or even more each day focusing on where loss is.
After scalp adjusts you can increase brushing. Will unplug blocked hair ducts indicated by painful small spots like pimples and a cause of hair loss and It will grow faster, thicker and It will force the new growth.
Try rubbing your scalp with garlic juice, Onion Juice or Ginger Juice atleast once a week(you can either of one out of three, Do not mix any of two or three.
2. Meditation: Most of the times, the root cause for hair loss is stress. Meditation can help in reducing that and restore hormonal balance.
ok, now for some pure gyan from me 😉
Stop thinking of ex-girlfriend/wife or past that causes tension; if you have a current one may be better to lose a big headache.
Other ways of taking stress out include
– open a pic of harassing boss and show it the middle finger like 10 times.
– Shout out in lonely places whatever you couldn’t say to morons on their faces.
– If you have a boxing bag, take your stress out on it.
– There are other..a’hem .. ways of taking stress out, which I don’t need to mention here 😉
– Listen to soothing stress relieving music once in a while other than rocking/screaming songs. (more the better)
Being honest and Upfront Attitude: Most tensions in human life comes when you have to manipulate things between lot of people, something like a small harmless looking lie/hiding actually grows bigger and people need to keep covering their asses again and again for the same stuff.
Be frank, honest and do good… that way you dont have to keep thinking of “what if” questions, keeps conscience clean and hence no tensions.
Stop thinking of what/how others think about you, and stop shaping(read: badshaping) your life for others .. when your brains stops thinking of pleasing morons around you.. your cpu load comes down, hence the stress.
Practise Benevolence, it help attain inner peace.
3. Prevent Dust on Hair: Stay away from road dust / construction dust by tying a kerchief / cloth to hair .. Wear helmet when you drive, Roll up car windows when you notice slow moving traffic/jam or dust in air, Stop rolling in mud if you have the habit of 🙂
—————–
Mistakes to Avoid:
—————–
Here are a few common mistakes that severely damage hair
1. Excessive stress and some medication are conclusively known to retard hair growth and promote hair loss.
2. Cut down on the use of hair spray, hair gels, and styling creams that contain harsh chemical ingredients, which can dry out the scalp and cause the formation of flakes. Also harsh treatments such as perms, colours, relaxers etc take a toll on the health of your hair.
3. Avoid changing your shampoo and conditioner constantly. Stick to one good mild cleansing shampoo for six months before changing.
Try using hair cleaning powders like brand “Meera”; if it suits you.
4. Excessive exposure to the sun, pollution, rain water and dust without proper protection makes the hair dry, brittle and limp. Use a live in conditioner during the rains to protect it from the humidity and wash and oil it regularly to maintain a healthy scalp.
5. Smoking and Drinking Causes Hair loss; so if you are .. might wanna cut down.
Hope this helps people facing hair loss issues; feel free to let me know if it worked/didnot and of any other solid/scientifically backed tip you have in comments. Please refrain from adding stupid tips like “wear a ring with this stone / perform this puja or ritual / any other superstition”.
Disclaimer: I’m not a specialist in Medicine nor have a Medical Degree. I am an Engineer who asks a lot of “why” and “why not” and took biology classes seriously during High School.
Consider my advises on your own risk. Consult your physician. Don’t force yourself to intake something you have side effects to, just to grow hair.
Study on “Preventing Hair Loss and Regrowing hair Naturally” by Srikrishna Das (a.k.a krish – facebook.com/das.srikrishna) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at Multiple Sources on Internet/Doctors/Yahoo answers of people who have actually achieved it.
Like this:
Like Loading...
