Health and Fitness

Oi Baldie!  Want to know why your hairs falling out and what option you have to prevent it? 

Hair loss is a common problem. More than 80% of the total hairs in our head are at growing stage. The last 10% are at resting stage. This phase lasts for 2-3 months. After that they fall of and new hairs grow. Therefore, it is quite usual to shed some hairs daily.

There are various causes of baldness in both males and females. A number of medical conditions, hereditary diseases and environmental factors play a significant role.

Pattern type of baldness: commonest cause of baldness both in males and females. As the person gets older, the hairs follicles become shallow. And with little alterations, they fall off. There may be family history of baldness in the persons suffering from this type of baldness.

Hormonal problem: this condition occurs due to androgens. Moreover, if there is surplus amount of thyroid hormone in blood (thyrotoxicosis), hair loss is seen.

Major trauma: after a major surgical operation, patients may experience excessive falling of hairs. This is because of lack of proper nutrition and stress.

Medical conditions: Various diseases can lead to hair loss – alopecia areata, long standing diabetes, lupus, dandruff are the prominent culprits. Some medications also cause hair loss – warfarin, allopurinol, birth control pills, chemotherapy drugs, antidepressants may result into baldness.

Medical management: Minoxidil – it increases blood flow in the scalp. Finesteride – it prevents the conversion of testosterone to its active form DHT, which is one of the greatest causes of baldness.

Surgical procedure: hair transplants are very common nowadays.

Wigs: use of wigs is in practice since the ancient times.

You are making six pack abs, a curved muscular body and working hard with weights. After a couple of months you have shaped your body up quite a lot. Now you have noticed that you are losing your hair and becoming bald day by day. What could be the reason? Does bodybuilding really make your hair fall out? 

The hair follicles produce an enzyme called 5-alpha reductase. Hair is not the only organ where this enzyme is formed. The main organ that produces 5-alpha reductase is the liver. This enzyme reacts with the hormone testosterone (male sex hormone) and produces Dihydrotestosterone. Now this Dihydrotestosterone (DHT – the acronym) is lethal to the bulb of the hair and can damage it badly. Ultimately the hair dies and falls out.

DHT can lead to ‘Male pattern baldness’ or the temporal regression. It affects the fairer gender also. In men, the process starts with a retreating hairline, general thinning, horseshoe pattern baldness or frank baldness. In women, the scene is not so grave. They notice only the retreating hairline or general thinning.

The testosterone is what enables men to build muscle, levels of testosterone are at a maximum just after the weight training time and last for at least one hour. After that, the level decreases gradually.

Just a quick note, DHT will affect the hair growth even when you are not a bodybuilder as this enzyme is naturally produced in our body, body building does increase your bodies testoerone production and so can increase hairloss.