Whether you’re afraid of losing your hair or don’t want to lose it anymore, you’re likely to want to prevent hair loss in any way.
The majority of people experience hair loss at some point in their lives. And not knowing if your hair will grow back can be quite scary.
So, to avoid that scenario from happening, it’s only natural to look for ways in which to prevent hair loss in its entirety. There’s only one problem: it’s hard to know what will work.
Here, we’ve compiled a list of all the things that might help you in preventing hair loss.
Can You Prevent Hair Loss?
It’s not possible to completely prevent different types of hair loss, such as:
- Involutional alopecia
- Androgenetic alopecia
- Alopecia areata
- Telogen effluvium (after an accident, illness, injury)
- Hormonal hair loss (pregnancy, menopause, thyroid disease)
- Chemo-induced alopecia
You may, however, be able to prevent further hair loss from these alopecias.
Alternatively, if you’re losing hair because of nutritional deficiencies, damaging hair-care habits, poor lifestyle, and bad hair products, you can prevent it.
How To Prevent Hair Loss?
Here’s a list of things that you can do to prevent hair loss.
Have A Healthy Diet
Your hair isn’t an essential organ. You need brain, heart, kidney, liver, and lungs to survive, so nutrients go to them before they reach your hair.
Keeping that in mind, if you don’t have a highly nutritious diet, it’s going to affect the health of your hair.
Your hair is almost 80% protein (keratin). If you’re not getting enough of it in your diet, you’re going to lose your hair. However, that’s not all that you need. You also need to have the following in your meals:
As far as vitamins are concerned, biotin or vitamin B7 is considered the most important for hair growth.
Research published in Skin Appendage Disorders reports that biotin plays a role in the production of the protein keratin. That’s why it’s important to the growth of healthy hair.
But keep in mind that there’s absolutely no evidence that biotin can prevent hair loss if you don’t have a deficiency of it.
Other than that, many studies have suggested a relationship between low levels of vitamin D and the autoimmune alopecia areata. So, you need to be careful about having enough sources of it in your diet, such as fish, beef, oranges (or just plain sunlight).
In any case, make sure to have a wholesome diet, especially if you’re dieting or fasting. And only take supplements after consulting with your doctor.
Tie Your Hair Loosely
Many people unknowingly lose their hair to traction alopecia. Years of tying your hair too tightly can lead to permanent hair loss. And you can simply prevent it by avoiding tight hairstyles.
Protective styling is especially responsible for this type of hair loss in African women. These include cornrows, dreadlocks, box braids, etc.
The constant tugging of the hair will leave bald patches. Usually, they can be seen around the temples, but they can extend towards the back of the head.
Also, since accessories like headgear, extensions, clips and pins can also put pressure on the hair, it’s important to limit their use as well to prevent hair loss.
Avoid Over-styling
You can very easily damage your hair by over-styling it. Frequent colouring, bleaching, perming, blow drying, rolling and straightening can cause heat and/or chemical damage which can cause hair loss.
They can also cause damage to the skin of your scalp, which will also affect hair growth. Of course, you can prevent losing your hair from this by limiting the use of heat styling tools and keeping your natural hair colour.
Many celebrities choose to wear wigs instead of repeatedly dyeing their hair to avoid damage. You can also consider doing the same.
Using organic hair colour is another option since a few of the chemicals in it are less harsh. Still, it’s not completely damage free.
Try Platelet-rich Plasma Injections
Platelet-rich plasma injections can not only stimulate hair growth but also prevent hair loss.
A review published in the Drug Design, Development and Therapy reported that PRP can be helpful for male and female pattern baldness, alopecia areata and also some types of scarring alopecia.
Keep Your Scalp Clean
Another way to prevent unnecessary hair loss is to avoid buildup on your scalp. While it’s true that you don’t need to shampoo every day, you should still wash your hair 2-3 times a week.
This will help remove the oil, dirt, dust, and other gunk lodged in your hair. However, if it stays in place, it can even lead to an infection, which can cause hair loss.
You should also consider using a clarifying shampoo (although not too frequently) if you use a lot of hair products like dry shampoo, setting sprays, or serums or if you’re exposed to chlorinated water or a lot of dust and air pollutants on a daily basis.
You can also use a chemical or physical scalp scrub to get rid of the build-up. However, be careful about its usage. For instance, you can damage your scalp if you rub a scrub too harshly. And that will mean more hair loss.
Try Laser Caps
Laser therapy offers another way in which to prevent hair loss.
According to a study published in Lasers in Surgery and Medicine, laser therapy may have the potential to increase the number of hairs in the growing (anagen) phase. Additionally, it may have an anti-inflammatory effect (which can help with alopecia areata).
Both of these can help you in avoiding hair loss. However, although this treatment is FDA-approved, more research is needed on its safety and efficacy.
Brush Your Hair The Right Way
It may seem insignificant, but brushing your hair the right way is also important to its health and safety.
For one, don’t start brushing from roots. Start at the bottom, untangle the knots and work your way up from there. You can also use your fingers to loosen knots in your hair if they are too many.
Additionally, it’s better not to brush your hair when it’s wet because that’s when it breaks most easily. Let your hair dry, and then you can brush your hair (and there’s no need for 100 strokes).
Other than that, make sure that you don’t share your brush with anyone. There’s not just the risk of lice. You can also get an infection from someone else through your hairbrush. It needs to be clean.
Use A Good Shampoo
Harsh chemicals in shampoos can cause suck the moisture out of your scalp and cause irritation. One of the biggest culprits in this regard is sulfate. But there are also some other ingredients that you should avoid, such as:
- Parabens
- Phthalates
- Formaldehyde
- Toluene
- Triclosan
- Hexachlorophene
- Retinyl palmitate
Certain types of hair loss can also be prevented by using special shampoos. For instance, if you have androgenetic alopecia, you should consider using a DHT-blocking shampoo. Usually, such shampoos have the following main ingredients:
- Ketoconazole (Nizoral)
- Saw palmetto
- Finasteride
- Rosemary extract
- Caffeine
But keep in mind that a DHT-blocking shampoo will only prevent hair loss if it occurs due to DHT sensitivity.
To be sure about the cause of hair loss, you should always consider talking to your doctor first.
Quit Smoking
If you want to avoid exacerbating your hair loss, you should consider quitting smoking. That’s because there are plenty of ways in which smoking can cause hair loss. For instance, it can:
- Aggravate skin inflammation
- Reduce blood flow through vasoconstriction
- Damage to the DNA of hair follicles
- Hormonal imbalance
- Increased free radical damage
While it can be difficult, you can avoid losing your hair to cigarette smoke by quitting this habit.
Avoid Heavy Drinking
Staying away from too much alcohol will also help your hair stay healthy.
There’s no direct connection between alcohol and alopecia (although there are some mixed findings on the relationship between alcohol and alopecia areata).
Still, just like smoking, there are different ways in which alcohol can end up making you lose your hair. For instance, heavy drinking can cause fatty liver disease, which can cause hair loss.
It can cause hormonal imbalance through thyroid dysfunction. Additionally, it can affect the proper absorption of nutrients like iron and zinc.
So, if you want to prevent unnecessary hair loss, consider avoiding heavy drinking.
Try Hair Loss Medication
If you’re losing hair due to genetic or hormonal reasons, you can prevent it through medication like minoxidil and finasteride.
Minoxidil can slow down the rate of hair loss, and finasteride can stop further hair loss by stopping the enzyme that converts testosterone into dihydrotestosterone – the hormone that causes hair loss.
While these can help, the downside of these drugs is that their results are temporary, you need to keep them taking. Additionally, they come with some serious side effects.
Manage and Reduce Your Stress
Stress isn’t always avoidable so there’s no guarantee that you can prevent hair loss from it. However, in some cases, it might be possible.
This is especially because stress can cause different types of alopecia, such as telogen effluvium, alopecia areata, trichotillomania. It can even trigger health conditions such as lupus which can cause hair loss.
So, by reducing some of your stress, you may be able to prevent hair loss. For that, you can consider:
- Exercising
- Getting a good night’s sleep
- Trying deep breathing exercises
- Eating healthy foods
- Taking the time to take care of yourself
- Taking breaks
- Getting professional help
Hair loss is just one of the many side effects of stress. It’s important that you take care of it for your overall health.
Try Hair Oils With Massages
Among the most popular at-home remedies for hair loss prevention are hair oils.
Coconut oil is the most popular in this regard. A review published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition reported that coconut oil might prevent hair damage caused by grooming and sun exposure.
Other than that, there’s rosemary oil. According to a study published in SKINmed, it’s just as effective as 2% minoxidil in the treatment of androgenetic alopecia.
In general, oils can moisturise the hair, preventing them from drying out and breaking. And if you’re massaging the oils in, it will also increase blood flow to the scalp, which can also strengthen your hair.
Use Onion Juice
Onion juice can strengthen your hair in multiple ways. For instance, it can fight free radicals and infections and promote collagen production, among other things.
According to research published in The Journal of Dermatology, it can also be considered a topical treatment for alopecia areata.
Just make sure to dilute it in water. Apply it and let it sit for 15 minutes before rinsing.
Strengthening your hair is just another way of preventing hair loss.
Try Green Tea
Research published in Biochemical Pharmacology suggests that green tea contains compounds that can inhibit the activity 5-alpha reductase enzyme.
Therefore, it may be able to prevent hair loss resulting from androgenetic alopecia.
Other than that, green tea also has anti-inflammatory properties, which can also promote hair growth.
There are supplements that contain green tea extracts. Some people also rinse their hair with it.
Consider Apple Cider Vinegar
Apple cider vinegar is also believed to strengthen the hair, thus protecting it against breakage. Additionally, it might be able to help with certain infections to restore scalp health.
Just be careful about not using concentrated apple cider vinegar, as it can burn your scalp. Make sure to dilute it with ample water before applying.
Wash Your Hair With Healthy Water
If you want to prevent hair loss, you should make sure that you’re using clean, healthy water.
For instance, it’s important that your water is free of fluoride. According to research published in Biological Trace Element Research, exposure to large amounts of fluoride can have a negative impact on hair growth. Similarly, chlorine in water can also be quite damaging.
To avoid hair loss from this, you can consider using a shower filter.
Other than that, try washing your hair with water that contains silica. That’s because it’s believed to strengthen the hair, which will make it less vulnerable to breakage.
Don’t Delay A Checkup
If you’re already losing a lot of hair and want to prevent further hair loss, you should get yourself checked as soon as possible.
For example, if you’re losing hair due to androgenetic alopecia, your doctor might recommend minoxidil or finasteride to prevent further hair loss. Similarly, if it’s polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), a spironolactone prescription can prevent hair loss.
You may also just be losing hair from a treatable scalp condition like an infection. But if you keep delaying treatment, it’s only going to worsen your problem. And you might not be able to reverse the damage.
Conclusion
While it’s not always possible to prevent hair loss, in some cases, it can definitely be avoided. In addition, you can take steps to stop hair loss from progressing any further.
It is important to remember that hair loss can occur for a variety of reasons. Sometimes, it may not be possible to prevent hair loss despite doing everything possible.
There are surgical options to consider in that case, but make sure to discuss your options with a licensed and board-certified medical professional.
