Dermatologist Responds To Hair Care Questions & Myths

I always say time is hair, so don't waste it.

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Hello, I'm Dr. Angelo Landriscina,

and I'm a board certified dermatologist.

Looking for medical information online

could be unreliable or anxiety-provoking.

So today, I'm gonna be answering some of the questions

that might be getting under your skin.

Are there any products or treatments

for thinning hair that are actually legitimate?

Yes, absolutely.

Hair loss is one of the most common conditions

that I see as a dermatologist,

and part of the reason for that is that

everybody will experience it at some point

if we're lucky enough to grow old enough.

The primary condition in which we see hair thinning

in most people is something called androgenic alopecia,

and really, it's more of a trait

than it is a condition or a disease process.

It is kind of complex

because it does have to do with our genetics.

However, the basis of it is that as we grow older,

the actual hair shafts on our head

become thinner and thinner and smaller and smaller

and miniaturize until they become what we call vellus hair.

That's like the peach fuzz

that you might see on other parts of your body.

Some of the products or treatments

that may work for this kind of hair loss include minoxidil,

which is available as an over the counter drug

in the United States.

It's also available as an oral drug by prescription,

and part of the way that that works

is by lengthening the growth phase of the hair,

meaning that more of the hair on our head

will be growing at any one time.

And also, it results in a thickening

or a conservation of the diameter

of the individual hair shaft.

So essentially doing the opposite

of what androgenic alopecia does.

There are other procedures that could work,

including something called platelet-rich plasma injection.

That's when your provider draws some of your blood,

extracts part of it that's rich in growth factors,

and then injects it back into the scalp.

However, what I would caution people about

is automatically going for a treatment, a supplement,

or an over the counter medication

without knowing why their hair is thinning.

There are some disease processes in which hair loss

can be progressive or cause scarring,

and once hair tracts are scarred over,

there is no chance that hair will grow in that area again.

There are also medical conditions like vitamin deficiencies

or chronic inflammatory diseases that can cause hair loss.

So what I always tell people

is if you notice your hair thinning,

definitely try to see a dermatologist if you can,

even discuss it with your primary care doctor,

because there may be some underlying medical condition

that needs to be addressed.

Also, time is of the essence.

The earlier you get treated,

the more likely you are to preserve your hair.

I always say time is hair, so don't waste it.

Stress-related hair loss,

hair loss after giving birth,

these are really common things that people do notice.

This can quite often be due to a condition

called telogen effluvium.

I know, that's kind of a mouthful,

but essentially, what it is is a mash shedding

of the hair following a specific event.

Now, it could be a stressor.

This is something that we saw a lot

during the pandemic, because things like high fevers

or severe illness could cause this.

And usually, what happens is after the stressor takes place,

it takes a few months to notice the hair shedding.

Other things that could cause it

are obviously psychological stress,

and the most common condition

that we see it is in post-pregnancy.

That classic idea of having gorgeous hair

during pregnancy, and part of the reason for that

is that most of the hair stays in its growth cycle

due to the hormones.

So yes, during pregnancy you may notice

that your hair is thick and luscious,

and then after you give birth, you may notice

that your hair is starting to come out in clumps,

and that is the hair cycle

of the different hair shafts kind of normalizing.

Are there treatments to help with this?

Again, I don't wanna sound like a broken record,

but topical minoxidil is one of the great

treatments that we have for this.

I would say, again, this is something to talk about

with your specific doctor,

and I always advocate that people talk to their doctor

before starting any over-the-counter medications.

If you're starting to see gray hair in your 30s,

are you going to be completely gray

by the time you're in your 40s?

I wish I could tell you hair graying,

just like a lot of other features

of our skin, hair, and nails

is something that's partially genetically determined.

And interestingly, as we're learning now,

probably related to your environment too.

For a long time, it's been suspected

that stress could cause hair graying.

There is new data, though it is kind of low level data,

showing that stress can be correlated

with seeing gray hair.

Decreasing your stress may reverse some hair graying,

which is really interesting to me.

I know that it's difficult to say,

Hey, decrease the stress in your life,

but it may be a way to prevent more hair graying.

I know a lot of people pluck their grays.

However, if you over pluck your hair,

like that hair may never grow back,

and eventually, when your entire head is gray,

maybe you'll miss those hairs.

Your hair will look a little bit thinner.

Dyeing is definitely an option,

but it does come with potential downsides,

such as changes in your hair texture,

damage to the hair, hair breakage.

If you're not particularly sensitive to hair dyeing,

it shouldn't be a problem.

There are some new products on the market with peptides

that have shown maybe a little bit of promise

when it comes to turning back hair graying,

but I'm not really convinced yet

that that's an across the board solution for everybody.

No wrong answers, except don't pluck them.

How to work out regularly,

keep your hair clean, not over wash it,

I wish there was one good answer I could give everybody,

but there's not.

It's gonna be a little bit of a trial and error process.

Depending on your hair type,

washing your hair every day

or after every workout may not be feasible.

It could lead to dryness, breakage,

and other issues with the hair.

There are some tactics you can use to extend

the life of your hair wash,

even if you're working out regularly.

The first is using something like a dry shampoo,

which is gonna absorb some of the oils on the scalp

and help to keep the hair cleaner between true shampoos.

Take a little bit of caution with that

just because overuse of dry shampoo can lead to some issues

with hair dryness and breakage itself.

Also keep in mind that you're supposed to be

removing as much of that dry shampoo as possible.

The way that you could do that is either brushing it out

through the hair, or another way to do it

that might be a little bit easier

is using a blow dryer on the cool setting

to just kind of blow it out of your roots.

In addition to that, it is possible

to actually just wash your scalp and not wash your hair.

It is a little bit of a challenge,

but if you're able to get in there

with something like a tint bottle

that's used for hair dyeing

and just get some of that lather on the scalp,

wash it out without really fully washing

the lengths of your hair, that could be an option too.

I hope this has been helpful.

However, keep in mind everybody's different,

so make sure to check with your own doctor

who knows you before making any changes.

You can find me on all social media at DermAngelo.

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