Is My Hair Thinning Caused By Heat Damage or Male Hair Loss?'

Trok

Question: Hello.. My hair was generally thick at a stage, but recently I’ve been noticing my hair thinning. I have no receding hairline, but often find hair falling, and these hairs are falling from the roots, it’s been a while since I noticed this. One thing to take note of is that I blow dry my hair and iron it often, and thus this leads to confusion as to whether this could be hair damage, or hair loss. I’m 24 years of age, and I’m beginning to worry. Could this be male pattern baldness? My hair feels dead and thin, could it be hair damage instead? What could it be?

Answer: Hi, Trok. If you are certain that your hair is falling from the roots and not just snapping off near the roots then it sounds as if your hair loss is most likely caused by male pattern baldness. The fact that your hair feels 'dead and thin' may be a separate issue to the hair fall and that could definitely be caused by heat styling.

Excessive use of heated styling tools, or using hair straighteners and even hair dryers on a high heat setting, can damage the hair. This changes its appearance, making it more brittle, thin and lacklustre. When it is in this state hair breakage can occur which is where the weakened hair snaps along the shaft. This causes severe split ends and gives the hair a thin, frizzy appearance. Breakage is not a hair loss condition and can usually be dealt with by letting your hair rest from the heat styling, getting a haircut to trim off the damaged ends where possible, and giving your hair some TLC through intensive conditioning treatments.

Dietary support can also help your hair to recover its strength and shine from within and for those who do not feel their diet is balanced enough, a highly-targeted supplement such as Hair Vitalics can be beneficial in ensuring delivery of the correct nutrients needed for healthy hair.

When the hair falls out, rather than snaps off, from areas around the top of the scalp, this is a classic sign of male pattern hairloss. This can occur any time following puberty in men with an inherited disposition towards this genetic condition which causes gradually thinning hair, and is common in men your age. It is a permanent condition as the testosterone byproduct, DHT, which latches on to the hair follicles causing them to weaken and the hair to thin, is constantly produced. Therefore, hair loss treatment to prevent the formation of DHT and to help accelerate healthy hair growth is needed on an on-going basis to combat this effectively.

There are two primary male hair loss treatments which are both available to men aged 18 or over, as long as they are deemed medically suitable, and a hair loss specialist will be able to provide you with both a diagnosis of your condition and personalised treatment recommendations in order to get your hair back on track. In the meantime, try to avoid heat-styling as much as possible and when you do go down this route, always use a nourishing heat protection spray, and use the medium heat setting wherever possible to prevent further damage.