Unveiling Several Myths and Misconceptions about Hair Loss
Differentiating between fact and fiction when it comes to hair loss can be tough. That’s why our hair restoration community works to uncover the many hair loss fallacies you may have heard or read about since you were young. Below, we expose several popular hair loss myths, their origins, and reveal the solid truth about hair restoration and treatments for baldness.
Wearing a Hat May Cause you to Go Bald
This popular hair loss myth often scares teenagers away from wearing their favorite hat or head covering. The reality is, hats don’t cause or contribute to genetic female hair loss or male pattern baldness. Genetics is the actual culprit.
Hair Loss is Caused by Stress
Are you afraid the daily stress of work and life will cause you to go bald? Don’t worry, it won’t. Only severe traumatic stress has been known to cause a temporary and sudden thinning hair known as telogen effluvium. However, once the stressor has been reduced or eliminated, in almost all cases, hair growth returns to normal. Learn more about stress and other non-genetic causes of hair loss.
Balding Comes from Your Mother’s Father
Traditionally, men were taught that they would follow after their mother’s father when it comes to hair loss. Conversely, women were taught to believe hair loss is linked to their father’s mother. And while this isn’t a total fallacy, the baldness gene is not linked strictly to only one relative. In fact, the genetic link is to any member or members of both your mother’s and father’s side of the family. Learn more about androgenic alopecia.
Cutting or Shaving Your Hair Will Make it Thicker
Though cutting your hair may make it appear thicker due to the removal of split ends and added volume, your hair will not become thicker. Once it grows back, it will appear as it did before. It’s also a popular belief that shaving will cause more hair to grow. Though, this fallacy has often been applied to a man’s face, many have applied the same principle to the scalp as well. Sadly, this is a myth.
Showering, Towel Drying, and Brushing Causes Hair Loss
Those suffering from hair loss usually experience excessive hair shedding, more than the normal hair growth cycle. And though men and women may see more hair in the shower drain and in their towel than most other places, showering and towel drying don’t cause or expedite baldness. Even though many hairs may have already dislodged from the follicles beneath the surface of the scalp, they often remain attached to other living hair until they’re somehow shaken loose. Thus, hair shedding is typically more noticeable in areas like the shower where hair is touched and/or combed through.
Hair Loss Cannot be Treated
Though there is no cure for hair loss to date, it can be treated in several ways. Proven non-surgical solutions such as Propecia (finasteride) and Rogaine (minoxidil) are typically pretty good at slowing down, stopping, and even reversing genetic baldness. Today’s state of the art surgical hair restoration techniques can restore natural looking hair in completely bald areas. Hopefully future treatments such as hair multiplication will get us closer to being able to restore a full head of hair.
Also, become familiar with the top 10 hair loss myths and the truth behind them.
Bill Seemiller
Managing Publisher
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