Determine if You’re Losing Hair or Length

There is a huge confusion between hair loss and breakage, they are two different things and both have different causes. Hair loss is when excessive amounts of hair’s are released from the follicles and cause thinning all over or in specific regions like the temples, along the hair line or in the crown. It affects your overall density where your ponytails may seem thinner, or you may have bald spots anywhere on the head. Breakage is when your actual hair strand snaps or breaks, however the strand still remains in the follicle. You can still maintain the same density, but your hair never gets longer or seems to get shorter.

Hair Loss can have many underlying causes, I here are the most common reasons:

1. Nutrient deficiencies that most commonly push hairs in to shedding, slow growth and/or grow finer strands are vitamin D, iron and protein. 
2. Hormones have an impact on how your hair grows, sheds and rests. Most common hormones that impact shedding are low estrogen, DHT sensitivity, high or low thyroid hormone (T3 & T4), testosterone (PCOS), and progesterone. Think of the thick, luscious, shiny pregnancy hair which stems from hormones, well when they’re out of wack you get the opposite
3. Stress such as chronic mental or emotional, child birth, or illness may trigger stress hormones like cortisol in the body. Your hair follicles have stress receptors that then push your hairs in to the shedding phase. Your body takes focus away from hair growth to focus on other body functions needed to survive which also is impacted by the stress.
4. Tension can cause temporary or permanent alopecia. Hair styles that are too heavy or pull tight on the roots of the hair will ultimately cause the hairs to come out of the root causing balding. Excessive tension over time can permanently damage the follicle causing hair loss that may never grow back.
5. Aging related hair loss likely happens around age 30+, contributing factors  are genetics, lifestyle, and diet.
   

To Regrow hair, there are a couple of options depending on the reason for hair loss. If you have hair loss that cannot be reversed by a holistic approach, you can look in to red light therapy, PRP, or treatment like minoxidil. The down fall to these types of treatments is they don’t address the root cause of the hair loss, so discontinuing treatment will push all of your hair you grew back into shedding and it will look the same as before treatment.

From a holistic stand point you must first identify the reason for the hair loss (this is the approach I would take), because the hair loss is an indicator of something underlying going on such as a deficiency. Once you implement treatment to regulate, you must allow 3 to 6 months for noticeable results.

Breakage on the other hand can also have many causes, the main ones are:

1. Dryness which affects the elasticity in the hair. It will become very brittle, and instead of the hair being able to stretch and return back to normal, there is no stretch and the hair just snaps. That’s breakage!
2. Lack of protein stems from mechanical damage, hot tool styling or chemical services which break down the protein. It is needed for your hair to be strong and prevents breaking.
3. Manipulation is a main cause to breakage, especially when done excessively. Curly and/or fine hair strands cannot tolerate excessive manipulation such as brushing, and styling because the strands are weaker and more prone to breakage, or tangling around other strands causing snapping and breaking.
4. Lack of trims results in splitting traveling up the hair shaft. The ends ultimately become weaker, dryer, and promote breakage. Trim frequency varies person to person depending on hair health and regimen.
   
5. Damage from heat and chemical services in the hair can make the hair weaker, and dryer. When the bonds on the hair are broken down, in addition to lack of protein and moisture the hair will struggle and break.  

To prevent breakage, it’s importing to maintain a good balance of moisture, protein while also minimizing the amount of manipulation on the hair. Moisture retention stems from washing your hair every 1-2 weeks, using regular or deep conditioner, leave in conditioner and sealing it in with Kayhairapy Oil. Protein can naturally wear down from mechanical damage, if you are on top of moisture and experience breakage you may benefit from protein treatments or products, it’s important to follow manufacturer instructions as over protenizing the hair can also cause breakage. Lastly, minimize manipulation, we have to wash, detangle and style our hair but we also need to be mindful. Be gentle, and choose styles suitable for your hair type that cause the least amount of damage.

Though both hair loss and breakage result in changes to the hair’s physical appearance, I have a hard time understanding how the two get confused. I hope this brings clarity on the differences so you can actually identify your challenge, how to address and treat it.