1. Can we make hair loss zero? Stop my hair loss?
Hair growth is a natural cycle with phases. Growth phase or anagen, breakdown phase or catagen and resting phase or telogen followed by fall phase or exogen. A fix number of hair regularly complete the growth cycle and are ready to fall. The percentage is fixed by birth. This is usually 10 – 20% of the hair. If hair loss is more than 20% we can reduce it to less than 20% but we cannot make it zero. Hair loss less than 10% becomes unnoticeable. Our treatment ensures that fallen hair keeps getting replaced with new hair. If left untreated all the hair may not grow back and you gradually become bald.
2. Do blow dryers cause hair loss?
Yes any exposure to excess heat or cold causes hair loss. But with treatment these hair can be regrown and replaced with new hair.
3. Do visits to other countries cause hair loss?
Yes visit to places of extreme heat and cold cause hair loss. Change in water and weather both cause hair loss.
This hair loss will typically occur 3 months or more after the exposure.
4. Does AC environment cause hair loss?
Apart from extreme cold temperature, air conditioners release VOCs volatile organic compounds in the air which settle on the scalp causing sensitive scalp, pain in the hair roots, hair damage and hair loss.
5. Does working in pressurized cabins cause hair loss?
Yes working in air craft cabins does cause dehydration of the scalp and easy hair loss. It is important to keep sipping something when in flight. Have good amount of water.
6. Does pollution, dust, sun exposure cause hair loss?
Yes it is proven through a scientific study by Fabio Renaldi in the city of Milan, that air pollution causes 1.5 – 2 times more contamination to settle on the scalp and hair leading to hair loss and sensitive scalp syndrome with irritation, itching and pain in the hair roots. Exposure to dust and UV rays causes photo damage and changes similar to aging in the skin leading to poor hair growth and hair loss.
7. Cap or helmet can make you go bald.
Wearing a cap continuously in hot climates can lead to sweating and unhygienic scalp causing hair loss. Best to remove the cap once in 45 minutes or an hour and have good ventilation for the hair to dry.
8. Baldness can always be traced back to the mother’s side of the family.
Baldness is controlled by a recessive gene sequence which may not manifest the same in all siblings and may also skip manifestation in generations, showing no effect at all. It can be transferred from mother’s side or father’s side.
9. Heredity hair loss is untreatable
If heredity diabetes, heredity blood pressure, heredity asthma is treatable why not heredity hair loss. Heredity only means that you can get hair loss more easily than others, but this is 100% treatable. We have regularly treated heredity hair loss with very good results using vitamins, laser, without the use of any anti hormonal medicines. Results are seen within 2-4 months.
10. Losing 50 to 100 hairs a day is NOT normal.
It is normal to lose 20 – 100 hair a day as 10% of your hair is always in resting OR fall phase. If you lose full length hair with a small white end denoting the root, this is telogen shedding which can grow back in the next 4 months cycle. If you get multiple small strands falling all over, this is hair breakage due to weak hair shafts. Hair breakage commonly occurs in nutritional deficiencies and hair abuse, perming, straightening, curling, use of chemicals, frequent coloring, exposure to excess heat or excess cold.
11. Split ends must be repaired or you’ll go bald!
Split ends do not lead to baldness, they lead to poor quality hair. Split ends are result of dryness and hair abrasion during brushing, styling, detangling, handling of wet hair, use of blow dryer or harsh rubbing while towel drying. Weak hair cuticle can also lead to easy damage and split ends. Vitamin deficiencies, iron, calcium, protein deficiencies, fat soluble vitamin A,D, E, K deficiencies weaken the cuticle and take away the shine, bounce, luster in the hair. Use of hair serum OR good hair oil can coat the hair shaft and reduce abrasive damage. Do not handling the hair when wet, use a wide toothed comb, trim your hair regularly, use hair shaft repair treatments, have good nutrition to avoid split ends.
12. People experiencing hair loss aren’t brushing their hair enough.
Brushing the hair allows the natural oil secretions from the base of the hair to spread all along the hair shaft and impart a healthy look. There is damage from hair pulling and friction during brushing. Excessive or more frequent brushing can cause hair breakage and hair loss. Brush your hair 2 times a day.
13. Trimming your hair will cause your hair to grow faster.
Trimming the hair does not increase hair growth. But trimming can get rid of split ends. Trimming can make you appreciate hair growth as it grows back. After a certain length the hair tends to coil up into a curl and does not to gain additional length. Trimming removes the curls making you feel the hair is growing once again.
14. If you shave your head, less hair will grow back OR better hair and thicker hair will grow.
Shaving the head does not change the rate of hair growth. Few weak follicles in sleeping phase may not grow back immediately but would sure come back in the next 4 months. New growing hair looks thicker due to an optical illusion. Anything that is short in height looks thick, stout or fatter. In fact this new hair is the same thickness as the old hair.
15. You should pluck all of their gray hair, as two hairs will grow back for each!
Many such miss beliefs are propagated about hair loss and grey hair.
16. If you start coloring grey hair, rest of the hair also becomes grey?
Once you start having grey hair, further graying continues irrespective of whether you would color the hair or not. But when you begin to color the progressive graying cannot be seen and suddenly one day you realize that practically all the hair has become grey.
17. Over-shampooing can cause you to go bald.
The hair that falls during the shampoo is not loosened or broken during the shampoo. This is the hair broken over the past few days that comes out when we clean the scalp. If we shampoo once is 3 days, the hair broken over 3 days will come off at that time. If we shampoo once in 7 days, hair broken over 7 days will come off at a time. If we do not shampoo, it does not stop the hair from breaking or becoming lose. Hair loss will stop when you strengthen the hair roots from within by using applications and vitamins. Regular shampoo to maintain the scalp clean is an important part of growing the hair better.
18. If hair fall continues we will go bald in the next few months?
Hair has a fall phase and a growth phase. As the hair is falling there are many more roots that are growing. You never go bald because the hair is falling. You go bald when fallen hair is not replaced with new hair. In fact all our hair treatments are focused on accelerating natural regrowth of the lost hair in addition to controlling hair loss.
19. I can see hair falling, means hair growth has stopped and nothing is growing?
Hair growth and hair fall are two different cycles. If some of the hair roots are in fall phase, there are other hair roots which at the same time are in growth phase. You will still continue to get new hair roots even you see hair loss. The treatments ensure that more hair will grow back to replace the lost hair.
20. Minoxidil once used needs to be used lifetime?
Hair is an unusual organ. Every 3-4 months it automatically goes in a sleeping or resting phase. This hair should naturally come back to growth phase. However, due to influence of various factors the follicles continue to remain sleeping, stop producing hair and then finally become dead leaving behind a bald area. Gradually more and more follicles are affected leading to progressive baldness. Minoxidil wonderfully stimulates the follicles to remain in the growth phase, with external application and very low concentration of 2-5%. Not only Minoxidil but any mode of stimulation will have to be used continuously for a sustained effect. LLLT Laser, peptides, Capaxil, meso injections, growth factors, PRP, all are effective only until they provide the support. Hair loss is not a disease like cough, cold, fever that can be treated with a cure. Hair loss is a slow down or failure of the natural body systems. Hair loss management is a care program to achieve good growth. As long as we take care the hair growth is excellent if we do not continue to care the hair growth gradually becomes weak again.
21. Oil can grow hair?
Coconut oil has is a Lauric acid derivative. The long chain polymer structure of the coconut oil matches with the structure of the hair. The oil soaks and occupies the spaces between the cuticle scales and does not allow the dust, dirt, chemicals, shampoos, detergents, soaps, pollution etc to enter the hair shaft. Coconut oil can protect the hair. In hot climates coconut oil can help in keeping the scalp and the hair soft, manageable. Coconut oil gets absorbed in to the hair upto 76-80%. Other oils are far below. The next helpful oil for good absorption in the scalp is Sesame oil. All ayurvedic herbal preparations are recommended in Sesame oil which is an excellent medium of delivering actives through the skin.
22. Why do we need to continue the hair care program?
Our body feels we can survive without growing a single hair on the head. We have evolved from hairy monkeys to humans by losing the hair. By evolution the hair growth suppression is stronger than the growth program. All other systems in the body have a natural repair and restoration, but hair loss has no natural attempt for repair. If we want the hair to grow, we have to send a special invitation to the hair to grow. Once we invite the hair into growth phase we feed it with iron, calcium, amino acids, minerals required for formation of new hair. Create a toxin free environment for the growing cell to divide and produce new hair by using antioxidants. If we do not invite the hair continues to sleep and never come back to growth phase. A low dose care program is thus continuously required to maintain hair growth.
23. Only vitamins or only Minoxidil can grow hair?
Use of only vitamins without Minoxidil will provide nutrition to other cells in the body and hair cells will be sleeping. Use of only Minoxidil will keep pushing the hair in growth phase without any nutritional support to grow. The two therapies work together with each other and cannot achieve hair growth individually.
24. Stem cells can grow hair?
Stem cell is a multipotent cell which can differentiate into any cell in the body. Once injected in the body, how will it know if it has to form a nerve or tendon or cartilage or lung or liver? Wherever any natural repair or restoration is in progress, the tissue secretes a signaling wnt protein, which indicates the stem cell to create new cells and help in the repair. Hair has no natural repair and no identifiable wnt protein. Hence the stem cells injected around the hair follicle, may or may not induce some villus new hair and then may go and repair a smoker’s lung rather than grow hair. Stem cells have not succeeded in achieving any hair growth and are not FDA approved for clinical use.
25. Growth factors and PRP are final solution for hair loss?
If we use PRP or growth factors to grow hair, These are a onetime effect. Once they combine at a site to induce growth the factors are used up and consumed. How will we ensure continuation of the hair growth? Repeated such injections are thus required every time to propagate the hair growth. We must look at sustaining the growth with the use of Minoxidil or Laser and vitamins which are cost effective, pain less and non-invasive, easy to maintain.
26. Hair cloning can give you a head full of hair
Hair cloning is more appropriately called tissue engineering. There has been some success in growing hair out of cultured Dermal papilla cells in mice but such potential could not be demonstrated in humans. The difficulty is that, human hair follicles have a dual, dermal as well as an epidermal component, unlike mice hair derived only from epidermal cells. The cultures cells were found to grow haywire in all directions like weeds in the jungle without any pattern or direction or pigment, as all white hair. As of now the future seems to be completely grown human follicles made to be implanted by a surgeon to create good density and a natural pattern.
27. Hair Transplant is a permanent solution to hair loss problems.
Transplanted hair is not permanent. The hair selected from donor area is less sensitive but not completely unaffected by the reasons for hair loss. This hair may become thin weak slow growing without adequate nutrition to grow. It can suffer gradual aging. It will fall if hair from the location of the donor area is affected by progressive baldness. Plus the surrounding natural hair can continue to fall and create thinning or further baldness. Factors like stress, pollution, improper hair care, hormonal imbalance continue to affect the transplanted hair.
28. What is shock loss after hair transplant? How can we prevent shock loss?
When hair roots have become thin, weak, slow growing due to continued hair loss, doing transplant within the weak roots causes a shock to the hair follicles leading to excessive or complete hair loss after the hair transplant. This hair loss that happens after a hair transplant is called shock loss. Most of this lost hair can grow back with use of vitamins, lotions, lasers over the next 4 months. Shock loss can be prevented by strengthening the hair roots and bringing them in good growing phase with the use of antioxidants, iron, calcium, amino acids, Minoxidil, for 2-4 months before the hair transplant. Follow the same immediately after the hair transplant.
29. In Hair transplant we can replace every lost hair with new hair.
All hair loss patients desire to replace maximum or all of the lost hair with new hair. There is a simple calculation to understand. We are born with approximately 120,000 hair follicles on the scalp. About 60,000 of these are on the top of the head and 60,000 on the sides and the back of the head. By the time you reach grade IV of baldness you have lost 40,000 of these follicles from the top. We cannot remove 40,000 from the sides and the back and replace all the lost hair on the top. We will end up creating baldness on the sides and the back. We can borrow 10 – 15% of available follicles without causing apparent deficiency on the sides and the back. So, 5000 – 7500 grafts can be done in all within 1, 2 or 3 sittings. These are all that can replace the 40,000 lost hair follicles. So we are replacing less than 10% of the loss. Hair transplant is never done for replacing all the lost hair. Hair transplant aims at creating an illusion of fullness over the bald area to take away the sudden bald look. New hair follicles containing 1, 2, or 3 hair each are placed in alternate staggering or brick wall pattern to allow partial overlap and achieve more coverage of the bald area.
30. Hair transplant can thicken eyebrows and eyelashes.
A completely lost eyebrow or eyelashes are best recreated with a hair transplant. But it is not a good plan to thicken the eyebrows or eyelashes with hair transplant. The new hair taken from the scalp does not match the thin fine eyebrow & eyelash hair quality. It will look different and unnatural.
31. Hair transplant is a quick way to increase density in women.
Women have generalized hair loss, thinning and poor growth, all over the scalp. Unlike men women do not have defined sensitive and non sensitive hair roots which can be selected for transplant. Hair becomes weak all over the scalp. The weak hair has higher chances of shock loss. Women also respond better to the medical regrowth of hair. One should not advise hair transplant in women unless they have tried 2-4 months of vitamins and laser. Then if required, plan a limited hair transplant for selective areas of maximum concern.
32. You can do hair transplant and solve the problem if you do not have time to take vitamins or apply lotions?
It is common for patients to say that they have no time to follow the hair care programs, take vitamins and apply lotions, so they suggest it is best to do a hair transplant and solve the problem forever. However this is cannot be done. Even transplanted hair requires scalp care, vitamins and promotion of growth. Improper care can convert good follicles into thin weak slow growing hair. Specially good care is required during the first few cycles when the growth of the transplanted hair starts.
33. High protein diet, helps in hair growth
It is a recent misleading promotion to have high protein diet. Balanced diet with proper proportion of all nutrients is the best way to have healthy hair. All protein foods make the blood acidic. The raised acidity leads to reabsorption of calcium back into the blood to buffer this high acidity. Acidic blood does not favor hair growth. The calcium being bound in the blood is not available to the bones and hair for utilization. The liver and kidney too are over worked to clear all extra nitrogenous waste from high protein diet.
34. Whey protein, fat burners, creatine, gym supplements, all cause hair loss.
It is a general misunderstanding that whey protein can help in hair growth. Whey protein is made from spoilt milk, which is chemically split to yield the whey. This whey is then separated from rest of the milk components through further chemical processes. The isolated whey is purified and dried into a powder. Fungus, bacteria can immediately feast on this protein, thus, anti fungal, anti bacterial, pesticides are added to stabilize the protein and increase the shelf life to more than a year. All these additives, preservatives, anti fungals etc. play havoc with sensitive hair roots causing hair loss. You can have friends who take whey protein and do not have hair loss because they are born with different kind of hair roots. If you have hair loss, you must avoid whey protein, creatine, fat burners, gym supplements and fad diets.
35. Salon treatments can grow better hair and strengthen the hair?
The nails and hair that grow out from the body are dead. You cannot apply anything on the dead hair shaft to make it grow better from the inside. The external treatments can make your hair look better for few days till the effect lasts but they do not strengthen the hair or prevent hair loss.
36. Yoga head stands can improve hair growth?
Only head stands will not grow hair. Any yoga or exercise involving deep breathing which improves oxygenation and blood flow to the face, skin and scalp, is good for hair growth. Yoga for improving digestion, detoxification, improving functioning of liver, pancreas, internal organs, will all help in hair growth.
37. You need medicines, steroids or anti hormone treatments to grow hair?
Hair growth can be achieved either by fighting the damage or improving the natural growth. We focus on accelerating the natural hair growth. Hormones cause hair loss by miniaturization and reversal of hair growth cycles. However there are many more factors that affect hair growth by causing disregulation of the growth cycles or through inefficiency or lack of nutrients essential for hair growth. Only if all other growth factors are perfectly in place the hormones are responsible. But if factors for general hair growth and wellness itself are disturbed there is no requirement of holding the hormones responsible. First we should ensure adequate stimulation for hair growth, hold the hair in growth phase, supply the essential nutrients required for formation of the hair, then lastly prevent the damage being caused to good growing hair. Adequate hair regrowth can be achieved and maintained without the use of any medicines, steroids or anti hormone treatments, just by using vitamins, minerals, lotions, applications and Low Light Laser Therapy, LLLT, once a week.
38. Hair medicines have side effects?
Since hair loss is not a disease, there are no medicines that can be used to cure hair loss. We promote hair growth using vitamins, minerals, amino acids, choice of Minoxidil or Bio-mimetic peptides or Herbal hair stimulants and Laser therapy. No steroids, enzyme blockers, anti hormones are required. Blocking DHT with enzyme inhibitors is one of the many ways to grow hair and we have always achieved assured results without the use of Finasteride. Our treatments are medicine free and Finasteride free. With no possibility of side effects.
39. Hair growth lasers are harmful?
Hair growth lasers are Low Light Laser Therapy. LLLT which is only half watt power, as low as a night lamp. These cannot cause any harm. The US FDA has issued a new classification for the LLLT Lasers and approved them to be safe. In addition to the growing hair all patients have at least 30% more hair follicles that are sleeping. The laser induces photo stimulation of the mitochondria in the sleeping hair follicle cells and recruits them back into growth phase, adding new hair without a transplant. Laser also displaces the nitric oxide out of the cells and allows more oxygen to diffuse in. Plus the NO released has angiogenetic potential leading to formation of new blood vessels in the scalp.
40. Alternative therapy medicines have no side effects?
In alternative therapies the side effects of their formulations have never been tested. It would be correct to say that the side effects are not known instead of saying there are no side effects.
41. What are side effects? Side effects are studied for safety of the patient, not to give them to the patients?
Side effects are recorded as a study for creating the safety profile of a drug. Animals are given 50- 100 times higher doses of the drugs to find out what can go wrong. If nothing goes wrong, 500 times higher doses are given. Finally the effects on all systems are recorded and a safe level or dose is established which does not give any such effects to anyone who uses the drug. This tested safe dose is the dose permitted for everyday use. So the study of side effects if for the safety of the patients and not to give side effects to the patients. At this confirmed safe dose there may still be a rare person one in few hundred thousand who could get an allergy or adverse effect at the normal safe dose. Then since the side effects are known, we can stop the drug and save further damage. If the effects were not studied neither the doctor nor the patient know that the problem is due to the drug and can be corrected by stopping the drug. Once again let me emphasize that side effects are studied for safety of the drug and to save you from getting the side effects not to give you the side effects.
42. Alternative therapy treatments are slow acting and will show effect after 6 months or 1 year?
Hair growth from sleeping follicles is a 4 months biological cycle. It is like taking 9 months to have a baby. In all therapies the baby comes after 9 months. This is the body cycle. The doctor and the patient or the type of therapy used cannot decide the time taken for the outcome. Hair has a resting phase of 4 months, we attempt at growing back the sleeping roots. Any therapy that works effectively for hair growth must show results within 2 – 4 months. If a treatment is not effective in 2-4 months it will not be effective sometime after 9 months or 18 months or 24 months.
43. There are super treatments for hair which can show immediate improvement in days or weeks?
Hair growth is a biological cycle of 4 months. We cannot make anything work before 4 months. Any promise of results within days or weeks is a false promise. Please refrain from being mislead by claims of instant results, unlimited hair growth and dream results.
44. Grey hair can be treated with medicines?
The hair follicle has two kinds of cell systems. One for creating new hair and second for supplying pigment to the growing hair follicle. Greying results when the pigment cells have died or stopped functioning due to UV exposure, pollution, accumulation of free radicals, stress, nutritional deficiencies and these cannot be regained with any known medicine to date. Many imperical treatments are tried. One is as ineffective as the other.
The hair follicle has two kinds of cell systems. One for creating new hair and second for supplying pigment to the growing hair follicle. Greying results when the pigment cells have died or stopped functioning due to UV exposure, pollution, accumulation of free radicals, stress, nutritional deficiencies and these cannot be regained with any known medicine to date. Many imperical treatments are tried. One is as ineffective as the other.
Scalp hair and body hair respond in two different ways. Androgens and all other factors that cause hair loss on the scalp cause excessive growth on the body. Therefore all patients having hair loss on the head have excessive growth on the body. We achieve good hair growth on the scalp because we stimulate the hair growth with laser, Minoxidil, lotions etc. Then the stimulated cells are supported with vitamins. We do not use any such stimulation for the body hair, thus scalp treatments do not grow body hair.
46. Hormonal hair loss cannot be treated?
Each person has a unique hormonal balance which may be a few units higher or lower than the set standards. Unless the hormones levels are extremely high or low affecting important body systems, we do not think it is rational to try and change hormones only for affecting hair loss. Weak hair becomes sensitive to effects of the hormones which slow down the hair growth and cause hair loss. We can strengthen the hair roots, provide adequate stimulation for growth, prevent the damage and achieve hair growth without the need of manipulating any hormones in the body.
47. Women today have early hair loss like a male pattern, the hormones are changing?
We are seeing male pattern type of hair loss frequently in women. This is due to the change in the social role and lifestyle of women. Today women are working like a male. They take up responsibilities, have stress, have physical exertion just like a male. They are going more and more to gyms, they exercise like men, do weight training, they smoke, have exposure to pollution, dust, chemicals just like men. A women’s body always secretes small amounts male hormone, just as men secrete small amounts of female hormone. Due to demand and lifestyle the women are secreting more male hormone and no surprise show hair loss like a male pattern. We also have examples of boys with girlish body language and behavior.
48. The role of restricted eating?
All of us today are weight watchers. We never eat full stomach like our ancestors. It is very common to find hair loss patients saying their grandparents still have thick black hair, well they were eating better. Body has lowest priority for hair growth. Body feels we can survive without a single hair growing on the head. Only after meeting all the body requirements any leftover reaches the hair. Any event of fever, surgery, injury, travel, physical exertion, stress, disturbance of lifestyle, first thing to be shut down is hair. Body concentrates resources towards other systems and then the sleeping hair follicle may not grow back until the conditions are most favorable for hair growth.
49. Importance of fat soluble vitamins, omega 3, omega 6 in diet?
Vitamins are of two kinds. Water soluble and fat soluble. The fat soluble vitamins A, D, E, K, come only from fat source. If we restrict fat or have fat free diet to remain slim. We easily get deficiencies of fat soluble vitamins leading to hair loss. Fat soluble vitamins are required for the shine, bounce and luster of the hair. In deficiencies the hair look dull dry and lifeless.
50. Chicken in the food causes hair loss?
Today chicken is become the most loved food of the world. Unfortunately it is no more natural but is manufactured artificially like a pack of chips. A chicken that should grow and get ready for consumption in 1.5-2 years is artificially fattened in 4-6 months by injecting growth hormones, steroids to ensure weight gain. To prevent the chicken from falling sick, un-sick chicken are injected with antibiotics, anti-fungals. Tranquilizers and oral contraceptives are added to chicken feed. Regular consumption of chicken is not advisable for patients having hair loss.
51. Role of antioxidants
All metabolic processes in the body create toxins or free radicals. These need to be nutralized to ensure cell division and healthy hair growth. Additional free radicals enter the body through air pollution, water pollution, insecticides & pesticides in farm products, contaminated fish, preservatives and additives in processed foods and packed foods, smoking, artificial flavored drinks, frozen foods etc. Antioxidants also fight stress inducing chemicals releasesd in the body.
52. Excess vitamins
Hair is an unusual organ it grows when the body cells die. No other organ exhibits such pre requisites in the body. Epithelial cells gradually get filled with keratin protein to such an extent that ultimately the cell becomes dead and is pushed out to appear as a nail and hair growth. Excess vitamin A, E, Omega 3 can interfere with the deposit of keratin in the cells and prevent the cells from being converted to nail and hair. Patient who indiscriminately pop vitamin pills start getting hair loss instead of hair growth. In our program we use vitamins in low dose once in 3 days, Each vitamin is administered only 2 times a week and not all seven days a week.
53. Early age of onset of hair loss and baldness
We are seeing hair loss and baldness starting at a much early age. Hair loss in teenagers it is due to lack of proper food selection, erratic lifestyle, lack of sleep, high consumption of salt and sugar, nutritional deficiencies and stress. Male pattern baldness starting in the 30s is an early response of the biological clock. The hair growth control genes are set for a gradual slow down and auto shut off after the age of 45 – 50 years, But today the same amount of stress, competitive life, and exposure to pollution has been completed in 30 years of living leading to early aging and early shut off of hair growth. Scientifically it is termed as apoptosis of the cells.