Using products that are designed to nourish the scalp and hair can definitely speed up this process, but on average you'd be looking at six months to a year to fully see a difference in your hair's condition.
There are a lot of products out there — conditioners, serums, shampoos — that promise to heal and restore dry, damaged hair. Sadly, there's really no way to heal damaged hair. Hair is not a living tissue with regenerative abilities, so it can't heal. It has no nervous system, blood, or living cells.
Adding iron, B vitamins (particularly B6), omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin E, and zinc into your diet can help to repair damaged hair strands. Scalp massages with essential oils like peppermint or rosemary can keep hair follicles healthy.
Unfortunately, once your hair follicles have been deeply damaged, it is permanent. Your best bet is to spend your time, energy, and resources focusing on protecting and caring for the healthy follicles.
If you damage your hair follicles after an injury, they can repair themselves and your hair will grow back. It could take up to four years before you see new hair growth out of damaged hair follicles, depending on the severity of your injury.
Thinning hair, excessive shedding and hair loss, constant itchiness, oiliness, flakes, redness and irritation—these are all signs that your scalp is in poor condition.
Hair doesn't naturally grow in scar tissue because there aren't any hair follicles in a scar. Hair follicles are capsules underneath the skin that hold and regrow hair. Blood vessels under follicles help them grow and regenerate. But when a scar forms on damaged skin, hair follicles don't grow back.
The first step to treating contact dermatitis is to figure out which product caused the reaction. Cut out one thing at a time to see if your symptoms clear up. After 2-4 weeks off the product, your dry scalp should improve. While you figure out the cause, try not to scratch your scalp.
For most people, the most obvious sign of hair follicle damage is hair loss. As your follicles become damaged, they may stop growing new hairs, resulting in a receding hairline, bald spot at your crown (the area at the top of your head) or diffuse thinning.
Symptoms such as itching or pain in the scalp associated with hair loss may indicate scarring alopecia. A physical exam of the scalp coupled with a scalp biopsy will confirm a diagnosis. Once confirmed it is treatable for the vast majority of patients.
Even light scars can take months to fully disappear, and deep scars will often last for years – or for a lifetime. Scarring on the scalp – whether it was caused by an accident, surgery or previous hair treatment – can be frustrating to live with.
Lifestyle factors could include using certain hair products, wearing your hair up too tightly, experiencing high stress levels, or not getting enough of certain vitamins and minerals in your diet. People who have immune system deficiencies could also have thinning hair.
For the most part, hair damage is permanent because hair is actually a collection of dead cells, making them beyond repair. The only real cure is time, a pair of shears, and taking steps to prevent new damage.
Under normal conditions, the World Trichology Society reports that hair grows about a half-inch (1.2cm) per month. This means that you could grow about 6 inches (15.24cm) of hair per year. But this varies from person to person, with some people naturally growing hair more quickly and others more slowly.
Look at your scalp carefully (or have a loved one do it). You will want to look for areas with bumps. Red bumps and, in some cases, white-headed bumps, can develop in areas where significant inflammation exists. These tend to occur in small clusters on the skin.
The scalp should be free of itchiness and feel smooth and supple." A healthy scalp is also free from pain, sun damage, excessive hair loss and hair thinning. A huge red flag is if your scalp feels dry to touch.
If you've shed hair because of scalp inflammation, it should begin to grow back after you treat the underlying cause of the inflammation. Make sure to talk to your healthcare provider to find out what you can do to keep your hair healthy while you recover.
It had been thought that most hair found in the sink or shower, on the brush etc. was broken hair due to damage and weathering. Studies have now shown this not to be the case. In fact at least 80% of hair loss is from the root, not breakage.
Without stitches, it may take 3 weeks or more for a wound to heal. Prolonged healing time isn't only a nuisance, it's also an infection risk. The risk of a wound infection continues as long as the wound hasn't healed. This is especially important to keep in mind if you have diabetes or you are immunocompromised.