Battle Against Bald | A Battle Against Hair Loss Through Hair Restoration

Food Going Straight To Your Head?

What’s the most important meal of the day? On the subject of hair loss, it’s all of them. After reading WebMD.com’s article about ten foods that encourage healthy hair I found myself a bit more aware of how I eat. Come to find out…

“If you're tempted to drop pounds fast with the latest fad diet, it could leave you with less-than-healthy hair – along with a growling stomach. Low-calorie diets are often low in some of the most important nutrients for healthy hair”

Ok, the last thing anyone needs is an excuse not to diet, but that isn’t really what we’re after here. While the late afternoon “microwave special with cheese” keeps the growling down, it may in fact be discouraging your hairline. Below is a quick list of WebMD’s ten “healthy hair” foods. Check out the entire article to find out some of the finer details of a balanced diet.

Salmon
Dark Green Vegetables
Beans
Nuts
Poultry
Eggs
Whole Grain
Oysters
Low Fat Dairy Products
Carrots

Also, if you’re like me and find the kitchen a bit intimidating, iVillage has a great recipe finder. Search for recipes based on ingredients, difficulty, and cooking time. I don’t know about you but I’m running out of excuses.

Hair loss expert

At Battle Against Bald we love spreading the word about other hair loss and hair restoration resources we come across. Just this week we were introduced  to Hair Loss Expert, a UK web site helping people understand hair loss, alopecia and baldness. Battle Against Bald, in our opinion of course, is still the most comprehensive resource on the web for consumer grade hair loss and hair restoration information, not to mention seeing hair restoration results in real-time. But in respect to the straight facts about hair loss and its many causes, Hair Loss Expert might just be our new favorite.

Hair Loss Expert is an all-encompassing reference point for understanding hair loss. Information comes in the form of features and articles written by professional journalists and experts who have a particular interest, or a background in, a specific area. Here are a few of our favorite Hair Loss Expert features:

• Diet and hair loss—For most, hair loss is inevitable, but diet can, in many cases, play an important roll in preventing or slowing down hair loss.

• Temporary hair loss—Contrary to popular belief, not all hair loss is permanent. Some people experience temporary hair loss, which has many causes. Stress is probably the most common cause of temporary hair loss, but there are a few additional types.

• Coping with hair loss—For women, losing their hair can be quite a traumatic experience. Hair Loss Expert puts things into perspective for women suffering from hair loss and helps them battle their baldness.

The Bald Report: Weekly Hair loss and Hair Restoration News

Once again, it was another busy week in the world of hair loss and hair restoration on the Web. Last week's hair loss and hair restoration news was all about testing mice for the sake of a hair loss cure. Now this week's news isn't as exciting as a potential cure for baldness, but it's insightful and entertaining to say the least. Without further adieu, here is the news:

• Apparently  smoking doesn't just cause cancer, it causes hair loss too —The myriad of chemicals in cigarettes (over 4,000 to be exact) prevent the right amount of oxygen from getting carried to cells in the users body, including your hair follicles.
• Bald men go to great lengths to get girls —At least that's what our friends at Propecia tell us in their newest ad. Apparently, the only thing bald men need in order to get girls is, well, hair.
• Cure for hair loss remains in sight, or, does it remain in mice? —The BBC reports on the biggest story in the world of hair loss and hair restoration, the hair loss cure that brings hope to baldness.

Another cure for baldness in sight

Today the most effective way to regrow lost hair is hair restoration surgery, but a surgical procedure to restore lost hair is not for everyone. Some people can't stomach the thought of shelling out thousands for cosmetic hair restoration and opt for less extreme treatments like Rogaine and Propecia, in some cases even sporting a toupee or worse—spray-on hair. That said, there's no easy way to restore your hair, any route you take is going to cost time and money. It comes down to how important having hair is to you. All that aside, a recent scientific discovery has uncovered good news for bald men and women, as there's another cure for baldness in sight.

Last week I briefly reported on wounded mice being used in studies to discover new hair loss treatments. Well, it seems as though the poor little mice didn't suffer in vain after this week's announcement of a potential hair loss cure. Researchers leading the study say they've developed a way to re-activate dead hair follicles, which cause balding. It's yet to be determined if this is another surgical procedure or medication. Either way, don't get too excited just yet—this proposed new "baldness cure" has about 10 years of research, testing and approvals to go through before it's ready for the consumer.

The Bald Report: Weekly Hair Loss and Hair Restoration News

This week on the Web was a busy one in respect to the amount of hair loss and hair restoration news circulating. Each morning I make it a habit to scour news sites and my RSS reader in search of relevant content for Battle Against Bald. I'll usually find at least one or two articles of new hair loss resources worth blogging about each week, but this week has been difficult because of all the choices I've had. For this reason I decided it would be a good idea to summarize and consolidate my finding. That said, here's this week's hair loss and hair restoration scoop:

• Is  mom to blame for male pattern baldness? - I blogged about this very topic earlier this week, but here is another authors perspective of who in the gene pool is to blame for hair loss.

• Balding isn't just for men, women suffer from hair loss as well - Female pattern hair loss is on the rise, fortunately there's almost as many hair loss treatments for women as there are for men.

• Wounded mice may lead to the discovery of cure for baldness - This is great news for bald men and women, but terrifying news for injured mice preferring the bald look.
  

• Mice continue to sacrifice for the sake of discovering cures for hair loss - At least they were already injured and are receiving free hair restoration. Most humans have to pay upwards of $10,000 for the treatment.

• Thinning hair got you down? Find out about the causes and cures of hair loss - This is probably nothing new to regular Battle Against Bald readers, but a good review nonetheless.

Top Five Hair Loss Myths

The roughly 80 million men and women in the world suffering from hair loss, methods for correcting hair loss, and/or restoring lost hair has turned into a billion dollar business. There are hundreds of different opinions when it comes to determining why men and women lose their hair, and rightfully so. Why? Because there isn't one reason specific cause for hair loss. We know hair loss in men is usually influenced by genetics and female hair loss is not so much heredity or genetics, but rather factors involving diet, stress, hair care and overall health.

There are a number of myths scouring the minds of hair loss victims that aren't necessarily true. Here are 5 hair loss myths worthy of debunking:

1. Hair loss is predicted by looking at your mother's father - Not so much. Baldness is inherited, but from both your mother's and father's genes.
2. Hair loss slows and eventually stops as you age - In retrospect, hair loss is a progressive trait that doesn't stop at any particular age.
3. Special shampoos and hair care products can "unclog" follicles and prevent baldness - There is no scientific proof that hair follicles become "clogged" and prevent hair growth. That said, even if there were products that claimed to "unclog" follicles we wouldn't need them.
4. Hats or helmets can cause hair loss - Wearing something on your head has no effect on hair loss. Although hair pieces and weaves that pull and strain your natural  hair may cause traction alopecia.
5. Brushing or massaging the scalp reduces hair loss - Again, there isn't sufficient evidence to conclude that brushing or massaging the scalp prevents or reduce hair loss.

Follicle Five - Hair loss treatment results at six months

Earlier this week I blogged about the five most popular treatments for hair loss and the Dateline NBC special, The Follicle Five, which put the five treatments to the test. If you don't remember or haven't seen it, the Dateline special tested Propecia, Minoxidil, Viviscal, the Laser Comb and Hair Transplantation Surgery, separately, on five male volunteers. Six months after their treatments, each male subject had his head analyzed by a doctor to determine which of the five hair loss treatments worked the best. Below you'll find the results episode, which aired six months after the test began.

I think you'll agree that the results of the Dateline hair loss treatments test aren't very surprising, rather merely reassuring for those of you already considering hair restoration.

The Follicle Five - Which hair loss treatments work best?

With all the options available for treating hair loss, the only lingering question among the follicular challenged is which hair loss treatment works the best. I venture to guess the majority of men battling baldness know the five popular (Hair Restoration Surgery, Propecia, Viviscal, Laser Comb and  Minoxidil). However, what many of us don't know is which hair loss treatment works best; this isn't an easy question to answer, mostly because the implications of individual hair loss treatments differ based on factors including time, price, commitment and potential side effects. 

There's no question that a lot of the hair loss solutions from above will yield some sort of positive result, which varies from person-to-person. In an effort to give the most comprehensive comparison of the options for stopping and preventing hair loss, as well as regrowing already lost hair, Dateline NBC put the Follicle Five to the test. After  a quick search on YouTube I was able to track down NBC's featured hair loss story, which you can check out below in two parts. I will follow up later with the hair restoration results episode which aired six months later.

Why Do We Go Bald and Gray?

The question posed in the title of this entry might sound redundant, probably because it is. After all, I've spent the past 7 months blogging about hair loss and the reasons why men and women go bald. But don't be fooled, that's just the title of an article I found about why people go bald and gray. Like most articles on the behavior of human hair, this one covers all the basics, but adds additional hair facts the others don't.   

Here are a few fun hair facts covered in the article:

• It's a myth to assume that the hair loss is inherited from your mother's father
• A third of white men over the age of 30 suffer from some amount of male pattern baldness
• Gray hair is a result of age, which decreases melanin and the pigment that's in the hair strand

Cortisone Injections to Stop Hair Loss

I've blogged a lot about the differences between male and female pattern baldness; surprising to some, they aren't the same. Causes of hair loss in women are drastically different than those in men, as are the treatments for hair loss. I recently came across another possible option for women battling baldness, it's cortisone injections and they are said to prevent hair loss in some women. Unfortunately, cortisone injections don't stop hair loss in a all women, as only a select number of women respond positively to cortisone. Cortisone works when injected into the area of the scalp affected by baldness.

Mary Van Voorhas is one of many women has stopped her hair loss with cortisone and her story of dealing with hair loss is particularly interesting.