Hair Loss
Midlife changes in their body chemistry cause hair loss in both women and men. Genetics probably influence the severity of their thinning or baldness, but both genders may blame their hair issues on androgens and estrogens. In their early forties, the balance of testosterone and estrogen changes in a man’s body; androgens, male hormones, increase.
Image by Luke H
The increase preserves men’s stamina and vitality, but when testosterone derivatives hit hair follicles, hair lets go. Similarly, as women enter peri-menopause, their estrogens decrease, and androgens male-up the difference. Same bio-chemical result: in the absence of androgen blockers, women’s hair thins and falls out.
Men and women often thoughtlessly aggravate their hair loss. Although men show the same vanity about their hair as women, they frequently neglect its basic requirements—cleansing, conditioning, and trimming. Women, inspired by vanity and fashion trends, often ravage their hair with bleach, curling chemicals, straightening chemicals, and all kinds of hot irons and styling tools.
Believing advertisers’ boasts and exaggerated claims, both men and women typically buy the most popular hair care products instead of the best. The most popular shampoos and conditioners make hair “billowing, shiny, silky, and radiant” by pumping waxes, petrochemicals, and silicone into hungry shafts and follicles. The products create the illusion of healthy hair, insidiously inflicting damage.
The best products always are simple, all-natural, enriched with essential botanicals, and not much more expensive than the toxic waste in the brightly-colored commercial containers.With just a little help from your local boutique or a trustworthy online vendor, you easily can make your own all-natural shampoos and conditioners, mixing the restoratives and fragrances you like best.
Lavish your locks with herbs that rock.
Okay, it’s true that “herbs” here refers to all the good stuff that grows in the garden and helps your hair. Several herbs have proven themselves in challenging double-blind clinical studies, but many “essential botanicals” have proven themselves in centuries of everyday use. In fairness to your hair, a respectable list must include all.
Two of Nature’s humblest herbs hold the greatest medicinal power. To reverse serious hair loss without resorting to finesteride or minoxodil, look for natural solutions of bergamot and burdock. Especially burdock, which in many places gets treated like a pesky weed, has proven its potency in tests with cancer patients.As they recovered from radiation and chemotherapy, one group received treatment with a topical solution of burdock; the control group received a placebo.After six weeks, nearly 85% of burdock users had significant improvement in hair density, thickness, and length. Only 30% of the control group had any hair growth at all.
Look for knock-out nutrients. Avocado oil and aloe vera work wonders on dry, brittle, damaged hair, the kind that easily can break or fall out. Rich in triglycerides—essential fatty acids—vitamins A, D, and E, avocado oil and aloe vera nourish your hair with exactly what it needs to grow thick and develop natural luster. Some “green” stylists recommend using aloe vera gel instead of mousse or styling gel, because it adds body and holds curls as well as the plastic stuff, and it heals your hair as it gives the glam.
Image by Dr_Alan_Bauman
Look for the best botanicals. Lavender, which takes its name from the Latin word for cleansing, strips all those sticky-gooey additives out of your hair, helping it breathe and take-in nutrients. Especially in combination with citrus, lavender cleans like a little brigade with mops and buckets, and it nourishes as it cleans. Lemon, lime, and mandarin orange reinforce lavender’s cleansing action, and they infuse anti-oxidants into your hair, stripping away damaged cells, and protecting hair against free radicals. All the best natural cleansers also act as anti-bacterial, anti-microbial agents, preventing dandruff, and defending hair against airborne pathogens and toxins.
Look for potent herbs and flowers. Rosemary, a powerful germ fighter, nourishes hair with vitamins and minerals. It makes hair “billowing, shiny, silky, and radiant” according to Nature’s plan—not something the boys with their beakers and Bunsen burners brewed in the lab. Sage, Rosemary’s natural partner and complement, also cleanses, nourishes, and fortifies. And their fragrances mix deliciously.
