Halloween is here again. Getting up and down to answer the door to tiny tots dressed as witches, ghouls, ghosts and devils may not be your idea of fun, but don’t let the stress levels get you tearing your hair out.
Talking of hair, let’s get a few facts out into the open and bust a few myths about pattern baldness:
There are NO pills, creams, tablets, vitamins, sprays, tonics, oils or any other bizarre concoctions that can cure hair loss. There is NO CURE for male/female pattern baldness. If there was, baldness wouldn’t exist. These so-called ‘remedies’ exist for one reason only, and that is to convince you to part with your cash. Sadly there are lot of unscrupulous companies out there pushing bogus lotions and potions and convincing an already vulnerable group of people that they need to spend thousands to have their hair grow back.
Nothing will cure your male or female pattern baldness. Nothing. You have the option to undergo surgery for a hair transplant/laser therapy, choose a wig or customise a hair replacement system. Each option can provide you with a new head of hair that hasn’t magically grown back following a 21-day course of eye of newt and toe of frog tablets.
But what about vitamins and the various assertions that they can assist with hair growth? With so many studies, surveys and reports, surely there must be some hair related benefits to taking supplements?
Hair loss or pattern baldness has many causes, but the primary culprit is genetics, which can obviously not be avoided; you can’t cheat your genes. Changes in hormone levels; thyroid conditions, auto-immune disorders, stress and severe malnutrition are also responsible for pattern baldness but cannot be simply fixed with a vitamin B supplement. If you are seriously vitamin deficient, to the extent you are losing hair, you will no doubt be very poorly also, and should therefore seek medical advice.
Unfortunately, despite all the claims, there is no conclusive evidence that supplementing with vitamins can thicken your hair, halt the shedding process or help hair to re-grow. There are a handful of studies claiming hair-regrowth success on mice, but as yet, no test has proven successful on a human head!
A healthy nutrient rich diet containing B vitamins, vitamin A, E, D and C, plus omega-3 and 6 could contribute to your overall well-being and probably improve the look of your hair, skin and nails, but such factors cannot change your genetics. However, if you suffer with male/female pattern baldness, improving your diet will probably make no difference to your hair loss.
This Halloween don’t get fooled by the snake oil salesmen plying their trade to the vulnerable: who you gonna call?
For help and advice on hair loss and pattern baldness contact us