As hair loss has no age limit, it can be embarrassing for clients (that's you) to cope with – we spoke to industry professionals who reveal what signs to look out for, tips on managing the problem and how to avoid any hair loss at all.

Leading trichologist Sally-Ann Tarver from The Cotswold Trichology Centre has plenty of experience at the cutting edge of diagnosis, treatment and advice on all aspects of hair loss and scalp problems. 

Sally told us it is estimated that one in four women suffer with hair loss and over half of men suffer significant hair thinning before the age of 40. 

She said: “Today I notice that a lot more people are becoming open to talking about hair loss, especially since the growth of the internet and social media. It is becoming easier for us to seek help, find out what we can do and to talk about it with trained professionals, supportive friends and family.

“When I began in Trichology, I did so because I recognized there were so many people suffering with hair loss who didn’t know where to go or what to do if they noticed something wrong. Most people would just speak to their hairdresser and it often felt like a much more of an embarrassing and sensitive subject back then.  As no one really talked about it, anyone who suffered from hair loss thought they were in the minority as the issue was not as widely discussed and accepted as it is today.”
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Sally provided us with the first 6 signs of hair loss and her top 6 tips on how to deal with these:

International brand Hairdreams specialise in professional hair lengthening and thickening systems. They told us that in line with the increasing average age of the population, the number of women and men suffering from hair loss is growing as well. According to recent studies, every other salon client currently suffers from hair loss already. Hairdreams is already very familiar with this growing segment and the client concerns with hair loss. In the face of enormously growing demand in this sector, Hairdreams has been working on innovative solutions for more hair volume for many years. 

Hairdreams’ technical advisor and trainer Sarah Sullivan told us most of the world-wide population will lose more hair than they ever imagined and will need professional services to help them restore their hair. She said: “Many people are unaware of the treatments and systems available to them, so awareness is key.”

Sarah explained that hair loss is a problem in both males and females and that diet – lack of vitamins required to aid hair growth, stress and the pressures of life in today’s current climate are all responsible for the problem. We asked Sarah if she sees hair loss as a problem only amongst the older generation or is it varied, to which she told us: “Both male and females are losing hair at a much younger age due to many environmental factors. The main reason stems from genetically predisposed hair loss and other influencing factors are stress, illness and malnutrition just to name a few. In all of these cases, the hormone DHT (Dihydrotestosteron) which is produced by our body causes the active roots to become dormant which decreases the production of growth.”

Hairdreams Stop & Grow and Microlines system is targeted at both male and females of any age, from 18 to 80 who are suffering from various types of hair loss.
For your clients to look after their hair as much as possible to try and prevent thinning/loss, Sarah suggested: “They should eat a well-balanced, healthy diet. Take supplements including vitamin B12, Iron and vitamin D, use good quality, professional hair care products to care for their hair and scalp and a good quality brush is important and always brush from the ends working your way to the roots to avoid breakage.”

Iain Sallis is one of the leading Trichologists in the UK. He is the director of the Hairmedic Trichologly clinics and co-founder of the International Trichology Congress. We picked his brain on hair, hype, health and the right hairbrush!

According to Iain, 1:3 of women suffer from hair thinning at some point in their life (diffused shedding or a general diminishment of the hair volume). Approximately 40% of women will suffer from a genetic form of hair thinning after the menopause.
Iain told us that he doesn’t think the problem is increasing: “I think we are becoming more aware of hair loss and we are at a position where there is more to help, so people will complain about it more. So, it’s not increasing, just a greater amount will seek treatment.”

Iain revealed that his clinic demographics show the main complaints for hair loss in men happen in their 20s and for women he has equal numbers of females in every decade from their 20s all the way to their 70s. He said: “For women it doesn’t matter when it happens, hair loss is devastating. For men, there is a tailing off in the 30-40s where there is a resignation and an acceptance that they are going thin on top.”

Iain gave us some tips for those in the early stages of hair loss: Get a diagnosis and seek advice from your GP, dermatologist or registered Trichologist. Iain said: “Hair loss isn’t just ‘one thing’ it is a multi-faceted health issue and so you need to find out what it is and correct or treat that issue.”

Iain spoke about Tangle Teezer’s new Fine & Fragile hairbrush which causes less stress and breakage on more fragile hair. He said: “This concept that you can ‘take care of what you have’ as part of the hair health regime is really important for the person with fine or damaged hair as they really try to do everything they can to help. If they are using the wrong brush daily (several times a day) this may cause unnecessary breakage and damage to the hair, inadvertently making their situation worse.”

Hayley Jennings and Jessica Patrick, Co-Directors at Unlimited Hairloss Solutions, explained that the most common form of hair loss is Androgenetic Alopecia (male pattern baldness), a genetic condition which can commence in men at any age. However, they also added: “8 Million women in the UK suffer from hair loss and one in eight is under the age of 35.”

Hayley and Jessica told us that a deficiency in certain nutrients and an imbalanced diet can lead to bad scalp health, poor hair growth, thinning brittle and damaged locks, and even hair loss. Jessica said: “Of course there are so many other factors that affect hair growth and can cause hair loss – from medical reasons to emotional factors – but it’s important to recognise the role that diet can play to and it is one of the things that we frequently discuss with our clients suffering from a range of hair loss symptoms at Unlimited Hairloss Solutions.”

The co-directors touched on the fact that a vegan lifestyle (plant-based diet) has surged in popularity, with the number of vegans in the UK rising by approximately 360% over the past decade.

Jessica and Hayley told us: “While there are many proven benefits to adopting a plant-based diet and removing certain animal-based products from a diet, cutting out major food groups can often have a negative impact on the hair’s overall health. For example, vegans sometimes fail to maintain a good balance of certain minerals such as zinc. Zinc is hugely important for hair growth, and a lack of it could lead to hair loss. 

We asked the directors at Unlimited Hairloss Solutions for tips they would offer to those who are in the early stages of hair loss. They explained: “If your client’s hair loss or thinning is not overly visible and is likely to be temporary, such as post-partum hair loss, you may wish to advise on a new cut or style that will help to hide the thinning areas. A change of colour can also be incredibly effective at disguising hair that has become finer.

“You should also advise on any professional treatments they could try to help boost the condition of their hair in order to make it appear fuller, as well as which products to use in order to help the hair look thicker. If the loss is very visible, or shows no signs of slowing down, then a new style may not be enough to create the appearance of a fuller head of hair. In that case you may want to recommend that your client speaks to a hair loss expert for advice on hair replacement methods and techniques. This would be particularly advisable if you notice that your client is becoming affected emotionally by the situation.”

Jessica and Hayley explained that as a result of the above, approaching the subject of hair loss with a client is something that shouldn’t be delayed. They said: “While it may be a sensitive subject, armed with useful information and the correct approach you will be helping your client step in the direction of hair restoration that can truly transform both how they look and how they feel. As their stylist, that should be your ultimate goal.”

It is clear from the experts we have spoken to that there are varying figures on the amount of people suffering from hair loss. Importantly though, these figures show that it is an issue that needs to be addressed sooner rather than later and there are ways to combat and overcome it. As your clients’ most valued advisor when it comes to their hair, you have a duty to know the tell tale signs of hair loss and advise them accordingly.
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This article is from The Salon Magazine

An article I shared with you a while back on balding and hair loss caught the attention of Kayla from Tuck, an organization devoted to promoting sleep health awareness.  They recently discovered that by the age of fifty, 50% of men and 40% of women will experience androgenetic alopecia.  They put a very comprehensive report together examining the connection between sleep and hair health and asked if I would share it with you.  Of course I said yes. 

Here are a few take-aways from their report:

• Most people have about 100,000 hairs on their head.
• Healthy hair falls out at a rate of about 50-100 telogen strands a day.
• Men and women are impacted differently by androgenetic alopecia, which is why the resultant hair loss is categorized as “male pattern” or “female pattern”.
• There is a significant three-way link among hair loss, stress, and sleep loss.
• Sleep deprivation causes people to anticipate the worst in situations, increasing stress through excessive worrying.
• There’s a connection between sleep apnea and hair loss.
• There is some evidence that melatonin also helps control the circadian cycle (the sleep-wake cycle that repeats roughly every 24 hours) of hair follicles.
• All medications come with side effects, and many hair loss drugs have challenging ones.
• Not everyone is a candidate for surgical hair loss treatment.  There are also side effects associated with these procedures, despite their relative safety.
• Create excellent sleep hygiene and achieving better sleep.
• Relaxation techniques such as mindfulness and meditation are useful skills to learn.

 
Below is the link to their full report on...

Can Sleeping Better Slow Down Hair Loss?

By the age of fifty, 50% of men and 40% of women will experience androgenetic alopecia (male and female-pattern hair loss), while many others every year suffer from some other form of hair loss.

The emotional toll is enough to make some people want to do nothing but hide in bed. As it turns out, there might be something to that: hair loss and sleep are connected on multiple levels. From the impact of sleep apnea to the role of circadian cycles, there is much to learn from the relationship between hair loss (particularly androgenetic alopecia) and sleep.

We’ve put together the article below to explain hair loss, illuminate the relationship between hair loss and sleep, and inform you of your options in treating both hair loss and sleep dysfunction.

Keep reading to learn more

One of the well known underlying causes of thinning hair, and receding hairlines is having an iron deficiency. One way to measure iron in the human body is to take the ferritin levels, which can correlate to the amount of iron the body stores.

Ensuring your body maintains appropriate ferritin levels will help prevent the onset of further loss of hair in some cases. Low ferritin levels can preclude more serious health conditions, and should be addressed.

What is A Low Ferritin Condition?

According to the Mayo Clinic, having low ferritin levels is essentially having low iron in your blood.

Ferritin is a blood cell protein that contains iron, and a test that shows low ferritin can help medical professionals understand how much iron your body is storing.
Anemia is a serious medical condition, and having low ferritin levels can be a sign of iron deficient anemia which may also be a precursor to hair loss.

Low ferritin can occur for a variety of reasons including; inadequate intake or nutritional deficiency, malabsorption due to disease or the body’s reduced capacity to absorb iron, excessive loss of iron through various issues including menstruation or gastrointestinal losses, and functional iron deficiency in which iron is stored, but not adequately supplied to the bone marrow.

If you believe your hair loss might be associated to issues of low ferritin it will require a blood test to make that determination and then some medical work up to understand what is actually causing the iron deficiency in the body.

How Does Low Ferritin Impact Your Hair?

Having low ferritin levels, or being iron deficient, has been shown to cause thin, lifeless hair. Iron deficiency can lead to anemia, which puts the body in a state of survival and causes accessory functions such as maintaining and growing hair to cease.

While losing small amounts of hairs on a daily basis is normal, having low ferritin levels can accelerate symptoms of hair loss and thinning hair.

In fact, low ferritin is one of the more common causes of hair thinning seen in women.

Hair is unable to grow in a healthy manner and is likely to fall out before reaching any significant length, which leads to individuals complaining of ability to only grow short hairs in some areas.

As hair is merely falling out prematurely, this issue is reversible once the levels of ferritin are addressed within the individual.

In the 2013 article, Iron Plays a Certain Role in Patterned Hair Loss, the authors discuss their research on the role of low ferritin in hair growth.

As hair is a consistently proliferating organ, it requires sufficient blood supply to grow full, long, and healthy.

The research found that when matched for age and sex, those individuals with low ferritin were more likely to have symptoms of thinning hair.

Participants who took an iron supplement to address low ferritin levels showed improvement in hair density and hair length when compared to the control group.

Another impact of low ferritin on the hair is related to the body’s reduced ability to produce red blood cells, which will reduce the overall red blood cell count in the body.

According to the University of Rochester, red blood cells require iron to form normally and to carry oxygen throughout the body.

At the base of each hair follicle, there is a network of blood vessels that connect to the root of each strand of hair (See Fig. 1 above).

Red blood cells typically carry oxygen to the hair through these systems of blood vessels, which carry oxygen and supports healthy hair growth. Hair is not typically able to sustain normal or healthy growth without adequate supply of oxygenated blood.

Side Effects of Low Ferritin

Having low ferritin levels, or essentially being anemic and low in iron, can lead to a variety of negative symptoms.

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute states that the type and severity of symptoms related to low ferritin will vary depending on the level of iron deficiency.
One of the most common signs of low ferritin is fatigue, or feeling tired.

Other symptoms of low ferritin levels are associated with the poor transfer of oxygen throughout the body including dizziness, headaches, or shortness of breath. Further signs include brittle nails and sore or swelling of the mouth and tongue.

One unusual side effect of low ferritin is that it can cause the unnatural craving of non-food items such as dirt or paint, a symptom referred to as pica.

Symptoms of Low Ferritin

• jaundiced, pale or yellow skin
• extreme tiredness
• dizziness
• heavy menstrual cycles
• digestive tract bleeding
• blood in the stool
• shortness of breath
• chest pain
• brittle nails
• hair loss
• pounding or “whooshing” sound in the ears
• restless leg syndrome
• craving non-food items

Ways to Increase Low Ferritin Intake

The only way to determine whether or not you have low ferritin levels is to consult a physician, who will have to perform a blood test in order to ascertain ferritin levels.

If it is determined that you do have low ferritin, this issue can be relatively easy to address.

While low ferritin levels can be addressed through diet, individuals who are known to have deficiencies would likely benefit from some measure of supplementation.

There are many ways to increase the ferritin levels in your body, including eating foods with high levels of iron and taking prepared supplements that are available on the market or in the form of a prescribed medication.

Numerous common food items have varying levels of iron, many of which can be incorporated into a healthy diet.

While there are supplements and medications to help increase ferritin levels in the body, this should be done so in consultation with a medical professional.

Eating a healthy diet, high in iron and other essential nutrients, will help support positive overall wellbeing which reduces the symptoms of hair loss and hair thinning associated with anemia, and a poor diet.

What Are Some Ferritin Rich Foods?

• Red Meat: the largest food groups that contain high amounts of iron to help raise ferritin levels in the body is red meat. While most meat contains some iron, the highest concentration of iron levels will be in the organs such as the liver, heart, and kidney. I wouldn’t recommend too much red meat as it is hard for the body to digest. Some people can thrive on red meat and for others it doesn’t suit their body type at all.
• Nuts: most nuts contain iron levels, and are generally a healthy snacking option that can be eaten on the go
• Dried Fruit: containing high quantities of iron, commercially available dried fruits are a healthy snack to address low ferritin
• Iron Fortified Foods: many foods have had iron added during the production, a simple means to address low levels of ferritin in many people. Many breakfast cereals, and enriched flour, have been fortified with iron

Conclusion

Having low ferritin levels can be a sign of more significant health issues, but may also lead to hair loss or hair thinning without progressing to more serious cases of iron deficient anemia.

There is significant evidence to suggest that low ferritin levels may be associated with hair loss, as it can affect blood flow and oxygenation of the hair follicle.

There are numerous ways to ensure your body has enough iron to maintain high levels of ferritin, including making some healthy adjustments to your diet or using a daily supplement.
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Ensuring your body does not have low ferritin levels is important for your overall health and having strong, resilient hair.
 
This information was found at Hairguard
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​When I wake up every day, I find many strands of hair on my pillow. I also have the habit of cleaning my house every other day since hair is responsible for half of the dirt and grime on floorboards. Just two years ago, I had never even thought that my lustrous hair would one day fall out or turn grey. Given the thick patches my parents had before they turned 50, the reason for my hair loss being genetic didn't seem very likely.

Many of my colleagues, some of whom are years younger than I am, have the same concern. The pressure from working in the news cycle may be a reason, but we are not alone. A recent survey by the China Association of Health Promotion and Education reveals that China's hair loss population stands at a whopping 250 million, most of them between 20 and 40 years old.

Among this population, men accounted for 160 million – that's some 23 percent of Chinese men. The majority of them are reportedly starting to deal with hair loss at 30, two decades earlier than the previous generation.

"When we make the clinical rounds, we can see more young patients with thinning hair, so it does exist," Yang Shuxia, a dermatologist at the Peking University First Hospital, told CGTN.

A white paper by Alibaba Health Information Technology Company last year showed that the post-1990s generation accounted for 36.1 percent while the post-1980s made up 38.5 percent of the hair-shedding population.

Baldness is becoming increasingly common among university students. According to a study at Tsinghua University in late 2017, 60 percent of students reported thinning hair and 40 percent claimed to notice receding hairlines. The survey, which polled 4,000 students, defined stress, insomnia and irregular living patterns as major causes for going bald.

Another survey, conducted in 2015, concluded that the bald patches on Chinese men added up to one quarter of Beijing's land area. This "bald wave" has spawned a new lucrative business – the hair loss treatment industry. Statistics from health departments show that consumption by China's urban residents on hair care is rising each year at a fast clip of 30 percent. In the next decade, the country is expected to see an annual growth rate of 260 percent in the business of hair nutrition, restoration and transplantation.
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Take a closer look at the consumer data: On JD.com, sales of hair-growing shampoos surged by 136 percent in the first quarter of 2018 year on year. Another e-commerce giant Taobao reported in 2017 that hair products, including vibrating hair brushes, herbal remedies, Minoxidil and adhesive hair pieces, were among its top 40 bestselling lines, over 40 percent of sales of which were made by consumers under 30 years old.

Actually, many millennials are aware of the reasons for hair loss. Many of them interviewed by CGTN attribute the condition to irregular daily routines, staying up late and stress amid hectic schedules at work and pressure from a high cost of living in a metropolis.

"Excessive anxiety can, in a way, interrupt the normal growth cycle of hair," said Yang Shuxia. However, she underlined that if you notice excessive hair loss, you don't have to panic. Instead, try to notice if you've undergone significant changes for the past few months such as experiencing constant anxiety, signs of fever, irregular daily routines or rapid weight loss, and then wait for three months to see if those symptoms go away. 

If so, then hair loss may be due to external factors – notably a scalp disorder called "telogen effluvium," which could be managed with changes to habit. If that's not the case, then you should consider seeing a doctor.

Reasons for hair loss can be many, from genetic to environmental. Pattern hair loss is inherited while alopecia is due to problems with your immune system, but loss as a result of stress or other habits are not permanent. For many in the fast-paced modern workplace, it's simply a part of growing up. Less anxiety may help bring your lush look back. 
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This article is from CGTN