Blood-thinning medications, oral contraceptives, drugs for depression, anti-inflammatories, and beta and calcium channel blockers can all lead to thinning hair or baldness. Too much vitamin A and vitamin A–based drugs called retinoids can cause hair loss as well.
“Vitamins are essential for healthy hair growth and may help in preventing hair shedding and thinning,” says Michele Green, M.D., a cosmetic dermatologist in New York. “The best vitamins for hair growth include B vitamins, vitamin D, vitamin E, zinc, biotin and iron.
Seeing a visible scalp is often a sign of fine hair, and genetics can be the primary cause for this type of hair loss. However, other common causes of thinning hair include stress, hormone imbalances, certain medications, illness or infections and malnutrition.
To promote hair growth, you need to increase your protein intake, especially by consuming food like fish, beans, nuts, and whole grains. Hair follicles are mostly made of protein, and the lack of it promotes hair loss. Proteins 'feed' the hair from the inside.
Telogen effluvium hair loss — the type of hair loss linked to stress — typically affects your scalp and may appear as patchy hair loss. However, it can also cause you to shed more body hair or notice less hair on your body than you normally would.
It's possible to keep hair loss from progressing, thanks to a number of noninvasive treatments. Hair loss doesn't typically cause pain, but it can be emotionally distressing when you realize that your hair is thinning, especially if you can see space in between hairs and your scalp peeking out in places.
Hair thinning is not hair fall. It is the drop in diameter of the hair as a result of the thinning of the hair shaft. On the other hand, hair loss causes hair to fall. Hair thinning lays the foundation for hair loss and balding.
We suggest eating a portion of high-protein food with every breakfast and lunch — fish, chicken, lean meat, eggs, beans, quinoa, tofu, seitan, legumes, nuts or Greek yoghurt are all good sources, making them the perfect hair growth foods. Ferritin (stored iron) levels are extremely important for hair growth.
'The big 3' in hair loss usually refers to the main products that are used to reduce hair loss. These products are Minoxidil (Rogaine/Regaine), Finasteride (Propecia) and Ketoconazole (Nizoral) and today we're looking at all three medications.
Fine or thin hair: "Fine hair will need to be shampooed as often as every other day to provide it with the moisture it needs to flourish and grow," Courtney says. Cleansing also helps remove buildup and oils that can weigh fine or thin hair down.
Can thin hair become thicker again? A person cannot change the texture of their hair. However, the hair may grow back after chemotherapy or pregnancy, for example.
Sometimes simply addressing a medical condition prompting hair loss will be enough for the hair to regrow. In other instances, a woman might consider a medication like minoxidil (Rogaine), which helps with certain types of hair loss, or another treatment to replace or regrow lost hair.