Preventing Hair Loss: The Possibilities and the Limitations

In order to really appreciate the prevalence of hair loss, all you need to do is take a walk down any busy street in any city and observe the people who are passing by. Evidence of the scope of the problem will quickly become obvious, as balding heads and baseball caps meant to cover the truth will surround you on all sides.

Of course, most of us are too conce
ed with ourselves to really notice others when we are not making a deliberate attempt to pay attention. But the result of that inward orientation for those experiencing hair loss is a self-consciousness that makes it seem as if everyone must be staring at them when they walk down the street. Hair loss is not a health problem in the normal sense, because it does not cause physical suffering and, even if left unaddressed, will not lead to further health complications. But it is a serious problem nonetheless because of the persistent feelings of psychological discomfort that those suffering from hair loss almost always experience at least some of the time.
The Futility of Prevention

It would be great if there were some kind of magic formula that could allow people to prevent hair loss before it could ever start. Men in particular who are in their twenties and early thirties, just before hair loss usually begins, would love to find lotions, gels or anything else they could get their hands on that could stop hair loss when massaged into the head. Or conversely, they would love to find the perfect kinds of foods that would deliver so many nutritional benefits that disorders like androgenic alopecia - the scientific name for male pattern baldness - could never gain a foothold.

But unfortunately, male pattern baldness, the most common form of hair loss, is caused by changes in body chemistry that are related to genetic factors, and there are no special nutrients, pills or healing lotions that can prevent the onset of this disorder in the over 50% of men who inherit hair loss genes.

Or at least, this is what everyone thought up until the last few decades. As it turns out, the picture is more complex – and less hopeless – than this.

Preventing Hair Loss: The New Game in Town

It remains true that there is no way to stop the onset of male pattern baldness or, more correctly, the changes in the body that lead to the development of this disorder. While androgenic alopecia in particular cannot be stopped before starting, it can be stopped from doing the kind of damage it is capable of doing when left to run free. In fact, it can be stopped from pretty much doing any damage at all. The three types of hair loss treatments that have been discovered and developed – minoxidil (the lotion), finasteride (the pill) and natural supplements (the special nutrients) – are all capable of reversing hair loss associated with male pattern baldness. But if treatments with any of these hair loss remedies are begun immediately after the signs of hair loss first appear, not only can early hair loss be reversed, but the process can be halted in its tracks before it has the chance to do any more damage. This is not prevention in the pre-emptive, right from the beginning sense, but in a broader proactive sense, hair loss can be prevented from happening if remedies are taken as early after symptoms manifest as is possible.

Battling Against DHT

The ultimate cause of androgenic alopecia is dihydrotestosterone (DHT). This substance is produced in the body naturally, but genetic factors cause this process to run out of control in many men, which causes excess DHT to accumulate in the hair follicles. This damages the ability of the follicles to produce healthy hair, and they continue to atrophy until anything that is produced is so small and thin that it is all but invisible – and then, finally, it is gone. But logic would tell you that if DHT molecules could be either reduced in number or kept from damaging hair follicles when they congregate, hair loss could be prevented from continuing after it has begun. In fact, this is exactly what hair loss products do: Minoxidil keeps DHT from causing havoc when it reaches the follicles, finasteride moderates its production in the body and natural supplements work by doing some of both.

Doing What Must Be Done

As has often been said, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. In the case of hair loss, the interesting thing is that what prevents and what cures is the same thing. It is just a question of how and when hair loss products are used that determines whether one would call it a preventive measure or a cure.