HAIR LOSS IN MEN

               Controlling Hair Loss In Men

These days, an increasing number of men are refusing to accept natural, male pattern baldness (or alopecia) and are opting for hair transplant surgery, medicines that can prevent and reverse male pattern baldness or herbal hair loss remedies, but why are so many men unable or unwilling to let nature take its course?

Until quite recently, the only options available to men who were losing their hair were to let it happen and accept their appearance, or to wear a toupee or other hairpiece in an attempt to disguise their balding pates. Naturally, despite the best efforts of wigmakers - many of whom use real hair to produce their pieces - most rugs can be spotted even by the untrained eye quite quickly, so it is usually the case that a man who wears a wig is only fooling himself.

Some men are affected by an acute paranoia or anxiety about their hair and the loss of it, to the extent that they become quite distressed and even depressed about their 'problem', and clearly for these men taking some kind of action about their hair-loss (even trying to disguise it with a wig or comb-over) is often easier and less stressful than attempting to come to terms with the fact that their biology has determined that they will lose their hair eventually.

Normal male pattern baldness is most frequently caused by one or both of two factors: an excess of the male hormone DHT; a scalp that is particularly susceptible to the effects of DHT. DHT has many important roles in the male body, but it does unfortunately have a tendency to bind to the hair follicles of the scalp. Over time, this weakens affected hair follicles by starving them of the oxygen and nutrients they need to support their hair fibers. This leads to a thinning and weakening of the affected hairs, and eventually the death of the affected follicles. Once a hair follicle has died it can only be replaced by surgery.

Hair transplant surgery is a painful and expensive form of cosmetic surgery that works by taking healthy follicles from one part of the body (often the neck) and transplanting them to the scalp. It has a high rate of success but does nothing to address the underlying problem that caused alopecia in the first place. The new follicles will still be susceptible (over time) to the effects of DHT.
Medicines to treat male pattern baldness work by either limiting the effects of DHT, reducing the amount that is produced, or both. There are many over-the-counter and several prescription-only products available, but they do often have significant side effects, notably headaches and nausea.

Many men these days are opting for herbal hair loss remedies. A typical hair loss remedy will contain a high-strength extract of Seronoa repens (aka Saw Palmetto), which has demonstrated strong DHT inhibiting properties. The advantages of choosing an herbal hair loss remedy over a hair loss medicine are that they tend to produce far fewer side effects and are often cheaper than medicines. The disadvantages tend to be that they have a slightly reduced chance of success and generally take several weeks longer to produce truly satisfying results.

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