Who hasn’t heard this before? We’ve all been taught to believe that if we just give it time, hair will do its one job—grow. And yet, bad haircuts can be borderline traumatic, and shedding a bunch of hair in the shower or a brush feels, TBH, kind of freaky. While it’s easy to assess your parents’ and grandparents’ head of hair (or lack thereof) and accept the same fate, family genetics aren’t the only factor in hair loss or thinning strands. Numerous systems in the body can affect hair loss, but on the bright side, peer-reviewed research published in the Journal of Drugs in Dermatology on women with self-perceived thinning hair has revealed that by targeting multiple root causes, hair growth is possible (and not just longer, but thicker, healthier, more voluminous hair). It’s why Nutrafol’s hair growth products for women and men, which are some of the leading products on the market that take this multi-targeting approach to hair health, are being recognized by the scientific and medical communities. Read on below for some of the lesser-known factors that can cause your hair to shed, thin, and show you more of your scalp than you care to see: Ever heard of dihydrotestosterone? This hormone (DHT for short) is a byproduct of testosterone that causes hair follicles to shrink, and it’s the primary hormone responsible for hair loss in both men and women. Having high levels in the scalp or a sensitivity to it can cause a form of hair loss called androgenetic alopecia, or male or female pattern baldness (though for women, it’s more like hair thinning than a receding hairline). And it’s fairly common, affecting 50 million men and 30 million women. This five-minute hair wellness quiz over at Nutrafol can help determine if you should be concerned about DHT—among evaluating other triggers that might be causing your hair to thin or shed—to give you an idea of what might be going on beneath the surface. Like every other aspect of our well-being, hair care should be holistic. By addressing the multiple health factors that are known to cause hair loss or damage, with time, the right building blocks, and some TLC, our hair may just actually do its thing: grow.
