You’ve finished your nice, hot shower and—yikes!—there’s so much hair in the shower drain. Then you run a brush through your strands and try your best to ignore how much gets left behind in the bristles. Finally, you style your hair for the day and either attempt to strategically hide those thinning areas on your scalp or just pretend they don’t exist—denial is the first official stage of hair loss, after all.
Why is this happening to you? How severe is the hair loss going to get? And more importantly, what can you do about it besides embrace the hat lifestyle year-round or pay for expensive treatments from the dermatologist?
Below are some of the most common causes of unexpected hair loss, followed by several ways to help treat thinning hair naturally.
Disclaimer: If you’re experiencing a significant amount of hair fall and you can’t tie it back to anything on this list, we recommend you see a doctor. There are some health conditions that cause hair loss, so it’s best to rule those out early.
With that said, for many people, the culprit may be one of the following.
1. Genetics
Unfortunately, one of the most common causes of hair loss is one that you can’t really do anything about. If your parents, grandparents, aunts, and/or uncles have thinning hair, there’s a good chance you will, too.
There’s also another condition—androgenetic alopecia—that appears to be caused by both genetics and hormones.
Thanks, Mom and Dad.
2. Age
As you get older, your hair growth slows down. You might notice that it takes longer for your haircuts to grow out, and some areas appear to stop growing almost entirely. Over time, certain follicles stop generating new hairs, and your hair starts to look more thin.
Your hair will also start to lose color and go gray or silver, and women may experience receding hairlines after menopause.
3. Hormonal Imbalances or Medical Treatments
Hormonal hair loss can affect both men and women, but women often are disproportionately affected at younger ages. Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) in women and thyroid problems in both genders are common reasons for hormonal hair loss, but there could be other imbalances affecting your hair growth and retention.
Your primary care provider can do blood work to check your hormone levels. If your hormone levels are out of balance, your primary care provider or an endocrinologist may be able to help with medication and lifestyle changes.
Some medications can cause your hair to fall out as a side effect. Chemotherapy is an obvious example, but you should check the side effects of any medications you take to see if they might be contributing to your hair loss. Don’t just stop taking a medication because you think it could be responsible for thinning hair. Follow up with your primary care provider to see if there are alternative medications that won’t contribute to hair loss.
4. Lifestyle Factors
Do you wear your hair in tight ponytails, braids, or buns? Do you brush your hair vigorously, even when you feel it pulling? Do you use a lot of hair products and often feel scalp irritation or dryness? Do you wear tight hats or headbands?
All of these factors can cause your hair to fall out or break off near the root. If enough damage happens repeatedly, the follicles may become damaged and stop producing hair.
5. Nutritional Deficiencies
Your body instinctively knows that your hair isn’t vital to your survival. So when nutrients are scarce, your body will divert its energy toward your organs and muscles and stop fueling the “optional” features such as your hair and nails.
Your diet be deficient in biotin, iron, protein, or zinc. While these aren’t the only vitamins and minerals necessary for healthy hair growth, they are essential to the process. If any one of them is low or missing, it may be the reason for your hair troubles.
Supplements may help, but your best source of these nutrients is non-ultra-processed food.
If there were a surefire way to stop hair loss and regrow long, luxurious locks, everyone would be doing it. But don’t let that discourage you; sometimes you just need to find the reason behind your hair loss and correct it in order to see a positive difference.
If you’re not sure where to start, we recommend the following:
1. See Your Doctor
It’s always possible that you could have an autoimmune disorder such as alopecia or Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, or a hormonal imbalance from PCOS that’s making your hair fall out. Your doctor can order hormone panels and autoimmune tests that may help identify—or hopefully rule out—these conditions.
Once you know what you’re dealing with, you and your doctor can address the problem through lifestyle modifications, diet changes, vitamin supplements, or medications.
You should also ask your doctor to look for vitamin, mineral, or other nutrient deficiencies that could be contributing to the issue. Vitamin D and iron deficiencies are frighteningly common, but thankfully easy to treat with diet modifications and supplements.
2. Thinning Hair Products
With the right products, you can target the common causes of thinning hair and help replenish nutrients that may be missing.
Lazarus Shampoo, for example, provides phytonutrients that help improve scalp health and make hair stronger and more resistant to breakage, along with essential oils that help promote hair growth. Lazarus Leave-In Conditioner is the perfect pairing to the shampoo.
3. Try The Natural Approach
There are a number of essential oils—rosemary, chamomile, lavender, peppermint, cedarwood, and lemongrass, to name just a handful of options—that are known for helping promote healthy scalps and hair growth.
Adding products containing these ingredients may give your scalp and hair new life again. Lighter-haired people could try our Chamomile Shampoo and Leave-In Conditioner, while brunettes will love this Coffee and Cloves formula with a Deep Conditioner.
Additionally, we recommend ensuring your scalp isn’t suffering through layers of heavy, clogging products every day. To remove build-up from oil or heavy hair products, try a baking soda paste that gently strips residue away and lets your scalp breathe freely. Follow up the baking soda treatment with one of the shampoo and conditioner combinations listed above, and your hair will be squeaky clean and ready to do some growing.
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