A healthy hair follicle (singular) grows about one centimeter per month and continues to grow for two to six years. This is called the anagen or growth phase. Ninety percent of the hairs on your noggin are in this phrase at the moment. The other ten percent are in the catagen, or transition phase. These hairs hang around for a few weeks before the follicle shrinks and the hair is shred. The follicle then goes through a Telogen, or resting phrase before the cycle starts anew. Hopefully.

As we all know, for some people, their hairs tend to get stuck in this resting phrase for the rest of their adult life.  This loss of hair is known as alopecia, or baldness.

Here are some facts that you should know about hair loss:

• It is perfectly normal to lose around 50 to 100 hairs from your head per day.

• Too much washing will not lead to hair loss.

• Hats do not make you “go bald”, neither do wigs for that matter.

• If you want to spend an hour giving your hair 100 brush strokes daily, go ahead. It will not hurt you, and might even help improve blood circulation to your follicles.

• There are no products out there that will really make your hair grow faster or thicker, no matter what the cosmetic company’s commercials say.

Here are some of the main causes of hair loss:

• Genetics is one of the biggest causes of hair loss. Androgen alopecia, or male pattern baldness, affects 70 percent of all men sometime in their life.  Women also are known to suffer from pattern baldness, but in a much smaller percentage.

• Hormonal imbalance is said to be the biggest factor in genetic hair loss. In men: the male hormone androgen binds with an enzyme in the hair follicle, creating DHT, which keeps the follicle from restarting the growth phase.

• The female hormone, estrogen, can also cause hair loss and many women can suffer significant hair loss when using birth control pill.

• Many women also suffer from hair loss after giving birth. This is caused by the caused by the hormonal changes occurring within the body of the new mother and is only temporary.

• Stress can cause a lot of bodily problems, hair loss being one of them. While hair loss caused by stress is only temporary, it can be the trigger for the onset of permanent, genetically based hair loss.

• An unhealthy diet can also cause hair loss, especially a diet that is high in saturated fat and lacking in hair friendly vitamins and minerals. A healthy hair follicle needs thins like iron, zinc, protein, and vitamin B6 in order to stay healthy.

• Drinking too much coffee, tea or alcohol, or eating too many processed, fried, spicy, greasy or sour foods can reduce the amount of nutrients that a hair follicle is getting.

• Certain drugs, medication, or treatments like chemotherapy can cause hair loss. These are usually temporary and your hair grows back once you stop taking the drugs or getting the treatment.

• Some fungal infections like ringworm or the STD: Treponema pallidum can cause hair loss. Dandruff, however, does not.

• Hair loss could be a symptom of an underlying disease such as diabetes, or lupus.

• Getting old is another way to suffer from hair loss. Losing hair is a side effect of the ageing process.

Treating hair loss is dependent upon the cause. Simply switching medications, or ending treatments can treat a lot of hair loss cases. Diagnosing and treating the ailment can cure hair loss caused by infection or disease. Time and patience will usually take care of hair loss caused by stress or giving birth and switching birth control pills might help woman suffering hair loss caused by hormonal imbalance. Genetic hair loss however, is a little bit harder of a problem to tackle

Here are some possible treatments for genetically based hair loss:

• Proper diet and exercise will help keep your hormones in check and stave off androgen alopecia.

• Choosing a good barber or hair stylist might help you hide your thinning hair from your peers. Just stay away from Donald Trump’s hair dresser.

• Hair transplants have come a long way as have wigs and weaving methods.

• Minoxidil, the stuff found in Rogaine and Provillus, is the only substance approved by the FDA to regrow hair. The catch is that you need to continue using it if you want to keep your hair.

Tips for healthy hair:

Your hair can tell you what is wrong in your body.

• If you have excessive hair loss, check your thyroid gland. Also, make sure that you get enough vitamins and minerals.

•  If your hair is fragile, check your bowels.

• If your hair grows very slowly, your nervous system is very weak.

• If you started getting gray hair fast, check your heart and pancreas. Another reason could be a hormonal dysfunction.

• If you get a few grey strands of hair, it could be a genetic defect – dysfunction of hair nerve.

• The reasons for getting grey hair at a young age are high acidity, getting a lot of salt with foods, diabetes, stress, constant fatigue, lack of enzymes, disorder of sex functions and poor blood circulation in your heart.

• A cause of getting half of your hair or all of your hair grey is severe stress or shock.

• If your hair is very brittle, you have not been getting optimal nutrition for a long time.

•  If a woman gets bald spots on her temples, it could be early climax, dysmenorrheal and hormonal dysfunction.

• If you had light hair and it started getting dark fast, check your liver and gall bladder.

• If your hair got dark only on the roots, it could be a head skin disease.

• The cause of baldness could be rheumatism or gout.

• If you got round bald spots, you have serious anemia.

• If you have dandruff, limit the amount of salt, sugar, coffee and dairy in your diet.

Eating a well balanced diet that contains adequate amount of vitamins, minerals, and proteins is one of the best ways to ensure that your hair is getting enough of what it needs to stay lustrous vibrant, and worthy of a Vidal Sasoon commercial. Vitamin deficiency can lead to hair loss and cause an early start to hereditary pattern baldness. If you are unable to maintain a healthy diet and succumb to the modern American diet that high fat, sodium, and processed sugars,, there are supplement available that will ensure that your hair looks great and even  maybe, provide the rest of your body organ with a bit of nourishment.

You Hair Essentials

Protein is essential thing number one. Like your finger nails, your hair is made from the protein keratin. In order to keep the hair factory going, a constant supply of raw materials in the form of protein is needed. This hair factory, however, does have a limit on its production output, and will only take in the protein that it needs, no more no less. Thus, taking in copious amounts of protein will not make force your hair to grow. This protein will end up going to other body parts that need it.

Vitamins are the essential building blocks to all of life. The Vitamins A, B, and C are all important to healthy hair, especially those found in the B family. Vitamin A is important in preventing hair follicle blockage, yet too much can also lead to hair loss. Everything found in the B-complex Vitamin group is extremely important to a healthy head of hair. A lack in vitamin B can result in dandruff and riboflavin (B-2) deficiency has been linked to enlarged sebaceous glands, which can lead to follicle damage. Vitamin C is important in circulation and your scalp's blood supple will suffer if you do not get enough of it.

Both your body and hair need trace amounts of essential minerals in order to stay healthy.  If you do not get enough iron, your blood will not be able to carry enough oxygen throughout the body resulting in Anemia. People suffering from anemia suffer from slow hair growth.  If you  lack adequate amounts of sulfur, you will have weak hair strands. Copper is important in keratin formation as well as hair color.  Zinc, calcium, chromium, molybdenum, nickel and selenium are are extremely important minerals in the keratin synthesis process.