Before starting any treatment, it is very important to understand the cause of your condition. Hair loss is no different. Among, the common causes of hair loss, male pattern baldness, or Androgenic Alopecia, is the most prevalent, affecting up to 70% of men and 40% of women at some point in their lifetime. This condition is mostly acquired genetically, but environmental factors also play a crucial role.
If you are a male, having hair issues like hair thinning and hair fall then you are most likely to be suffering from this condition.
In addition to Androgenic alopecia, Female Pattern Hair Loss and Alopecia Areata also cause hair fall. Alopecia Areata is a rare and temporary condition that causes patchy hair loss.
Female Pattern Hair Loss though doesn’t cause much hair loss, however can lead to substantial thinning of the hair in females. In addition, like male pattern baldness, it is also known to be related to genes.
In addition to genetic factors, there are a number of other ways that can make hair fall out; often a combination of two or more of these factors:
Therefore, if you’re suffering from any of the above mentioned non-genetic conditions, then it is better to treat those conditions, rather than going for actual hair treatment.
Treatments:
There are two treatments available for hair fall: herbal and pharma based.
The herbal Treatments
Herbal tonics and massage oil are used for this purpose. They work by increasing nutrition to the hair follicles, thus promoting hair regrowth. They have no side effects, being all natural hair regrowth products.
The Pharma based treatment for male pattern baldness
The only pharmaceutical treatment available is to take drugs like finasteride (or its variants). Finasteride is theoretically (though not very effective, practically) considered as the most effective treatment for male pattern baldness because it not only treats the hair loss condition on the surface but also from inside. Finasteride basically treats androgenic alopecia at the hormonal level by preventing or limiting the production level of dihydrotestosterone (DHT), a hormone that shrinks the hair follicles through a process called miniaturization, resulting in follicle death and hair loss.
The side effects
The DHT is produced from testosterone, the male sex hormone. This drug works by inhibiting the production of DHT which can lead to a reduction in sex drive. In addition, these types of drugs also have many other side effects, and their hair gain effects subside as soon as intake stops.
Why go herbal?
Herbal hair loss treatments do not cause additional health risks and are based on a totally non-invasive approach, being naturally occurring, they are extremely safe to use. They may not look as good on paper as pharma based medicine, but they are equally if not more effective for hair loss and on top of that, they have no side effects.