Hair care seems like it should be simple. B ut as you age, so does your hair.  Over time, your hair becomes less dense. Individual strands get thinner and break more easily. Sunlight, climate, and pollution also exact a toll on your hair.  And the way you style your hair – blow drying, colouring, overusing gels – can all damage your hair. Sometimes, the only way to repair the damage is to cut the hair off and wait for healthy hair to grow back.  But if the damage hasn’t progressed too far, there are new hair care products that manufacturers claim will restore glossy, full-bodied hair.  Many of these products, according to dermatologists, work at least for a short time… read more

Are you losing more hair than you should, and what can you do about it? The best way to think of the way hair grows is to picture a garden.  How well it grows is completely a result of what is happening “underground.” “Like a garden, a normal hair cycle should lead to a product, which is your hair,” says Wendy Roberts, MD, a dermatologist at a private practice in Rancho Mirage, Calif.  “Growth cycles are important because when they go awry, that is one of the reasons we have hair loss.” And things that interfere with the cycle — like medication, illness, infection, or chemicals — have the potential to stop hair from being formed properly. “It’s a very… read more

The ever-widening parting or the ever-more-visible scalp:  They’re probably not imagined. “The number of actual hair fibers you have on your head starts decreasing in your 20s,” says Thomas, “and may shrink 30 to 35 percent by age 60.” There’s another, subtler kind of thinning going on, too:  “Recent research suggests that in your early 40s, the actual diameter of each strand starts to shrink,” says Thomas. “This shrinkage is believed to be linked to hormonal changes that happen with perimenopause and menopause, as hair growth is such a hormonally driven process.” Thinning hair is no fun. To fight back, first reconsider the shampoo and conditioner you use. A common impulse is to wash with a clarifying formulation (women often… read more

1. Hair Loss is a Common Problem About 85% of men will have significant hair thinning by the time they’re 50, according to the American Hair Loss Association.  Some men begin to lose their hair before they even turn 21. 2. Uncovering Hair Loss Myths Does wearing a baseball cap cause baldness?  Nope.  Someone running their fingers through your hair won’t cause it either. Neither will combing, brushing, twisting, or styling.  But avoid being too rough to prevent hair breakage. 3.  Quit Smoking and Save Your Hair? Several studies show a significant relationship between smoking and how fast male-pattern baldness gets worse.  So if you need one more reason to quit smoking, add early hair loss to your list. 4. … read more

Silver Fox Salt and pepper, silver, pewter, charcoal.  Whatever you call it, grey hair happens to all of us at some point. But why do some people go grey in their 20s, while others don’t see the first sign of silver until age 50? And if you’re going grey early, what should you do about it? What’s ‘Premature’ Hair goes grey when color-producing cells stop producing pigment, says Jeffrey Benabio, MD, a dermatologist at Kaiser Permanente in San Diego. Naturally occurring hydrogen peroxide can also build up in the hair, bleaching the color. Typically, white people start going grey in their mid-30s, Asians in their late 30s, and black people in their mid-40s. Half of all people have a significant… read more