Is Hair Loss Prevention Shampoo Effective?
Your biggest questions about hair loss prevention: answered.
When you are dealing with hair loss, it’s easy to start wondering if there really is an effective treatment out there. You may feel overwhelmed by the abundance of products on the market and feel unsure of how to choose the right one for you. Fortunately, there is a rhyme and reason to the process of building a hair care regimen that works if your hair is thinning or falling out.
In this post, we will walk you through the ingredients to look for in a hair loss prevention shampoo. These ingredients can have a major impact on your hair’s thickness, fullness and speed of growth.
Not all hair loss prevention shampoos are created equal, and some ingredients can even have a negative effect on your hair, drying it out and making your scalp more prone to irritation and flakiness. With the proper balance of good ingredients, you can maintain healthy hair and a healthy scalp while reducing hair loss.
What causes hair loss in men and women?
The causes for hair loss can vary, but for many men and women in the later half of life, there is one primary cause for thinning and baldness in certain parts of the head: androgenic alopecia.
Androgenic alopecia, also known as pattern hair loss, is the most common underlying cause of hair loss in men and women over the age of 50. Androgenic alopecia affects half of men and a quarter of women over 50.
The primary cause for androgenic alopecia is a hormone called DHT. DHT is present in the bodies of both men and women. However, DHT is an androgen, a male sex hormone (it is short for dihydrotestosterone). It is found in higher amounts in the male body, and DHT, along with other androgens, is responsible for many of the key differences between the male and female body.
When a young man hits puberty, the production of DHT in his body increases, causing his voice to deepen, facial hair to start growing, and more changes to occur.
For the majority of your life, regardless of your gender, DHT is unlikely to have any negative effects on your health or appearance. However, as you get older, DHT levels continue increasing in your body, which can cause the hair on your head to grow slower and shorter, even thinning out and balding in certain parts of your head.
The pattern hair loss caused by DHT often looks different in men and women. For males, pattern hair loss often causes what is often called a receding hairline, thinning out the part of the head just above the forehead. In addition to a receding hairline, male pattern hair loss often causes the crown of your head to thin out and eventually go completely bald, leaving many men with the classic bald patch at the top of their heads.
For women, pattern hair loss often causes a thinning out of the hair overall. This thinning is especially visible in the part between the two sections of a woman with androgenic alopecia’s head.
Although fewer women experience pattern hair loss than men, the condition is more common for women than many may think. The high standards for beauty and presentation can make it difficult for women to talk about hair loss without feeling self-conscious. However, regardless of your gender, hair loss is nothing to feel ashamed of. It can happen to anyone, and is often the result of genetic factors that are tough to predict or prevent in advance.
Can hair loss prevention shampoo help?
Hair loss can be frustrating and can have a negative impact on your confidence, but there are some powerful ingredients that can make a big difference in your ability to prevent and even reverse it. There are even some ingredients that have been shown to block DHT’s negative effects on your hair’s ability to grow well.
These ingredients are a few that you definitely want to look for in a hair loss preventing shampoo. They have numerous benefits for your hair and scalp, helping your hair not only to grow but to look and feel great.
DHT-Blocking Ingredients
These ingredients can help to block excess production of DHT, working to increase your hair’s ability to grow well.
- Hairgenyl: Made from a yeast-like substance extracted from azalea flowers, Hairgenyl is an ingredient with major benefits for your hair and scalp. Its primary purpose in a shampoo is to stimulate your dermal papilla cells. These are cells in your scalp that play a key role in your hair’s ability to grow well.
- Planoxia, also known as Korean red ginseng, is an ingredient that helps to work against one of the negative effects of DHT on your hair’s growth rate. Planoxia helps signal to your hair that it is time to start growing, shortening the interval period between hair growth that can be lengthened by high levels of DHT production.
- Redensyl can help to get your hair growing again when excess DHT has interrupted your hair growth cycle. Like Planoxia, Redensyl helps to shorten your hair’s rest phase and lengthen its growth phase.
- Capixyl is another DHT-blocking combination of ingredients that can also soothe your scalp. If you are treating hair loss with minoxidil, also known as Rogaine, Capixyl’s ability to soothe your scalp can help work against any dryness or irritation caused by minoxidil.
Growth-Promoting Ingredients
- Caffeine: More than just the active ingredient in your favorite morning drinks, caffeine can also help to stimulate hair growth by boosting your hair cells’ metabolism.
- Saw Palmetto: A naturally-derived ingredient with growth-promoting benefits and inherent DHT-blocking qualities, saw palmetto is one ingredient that is ideal for keeping your hair healthy and growing.
- Argan Oil: Derived from the argan tree native to Morocco, argan oil is an ingredient that has long been used to stimulate hair growth, as well as to moisturize and hydrate the scalp, helping to prevent irritation. If you are using Rogaine to prevent hair loss, using a shampoo that contains argan oil can help to reduce irritation and dryness that may come as side effects of minoxidil.
- Pumpkin seed extract: With a natural ability to block DHT, pumpkin seed extract is a perfect addition to your hair loss prevention regimen.
- Stinging nettle: This natural ingredient can help promote a healthy scalp, which can boost your hair’s ability to grow at a healthy rate.
- Niacinamide: Niacinamide can help to boost the supply of necessary nutrients to your hair that keep it producing the proteins that it needs to grow strong and healthy.
- Biotin: An antioxidant that can help to balance out the negative effects of oxidative stress on your hair, biotin is an extremely beneficial ingredient for your hair and scalp. Your hair can weaken as you get older due to oxidative stress caused by excess free radical activity in your body. Free radicals can slow down your hair’s production of proteins like keratin, which keep it strong and reduce breakage. Antioxidants like biotin can help to prevent breakage, split ends and other problems that you might run into as a result of oxidative stress.
These ingredients are all found in groMD’s Hair Growth Shampoo and Conditioner. Our formula is science-backed and has produced results for many men and women struggling with hair loss.
If you have been looking for a solution to your struggles with androgenic alopecia, look no further!
Dr. Amir Yazdan, MD, is an internationally renowned hair transplant surgeon, expert guest on Dr. Phil and The Doctors, creator of the GroMD hair restoration product line, ISHRS member, accredited member of the IAHRS and a visceral advocate for patient care. Learn more about Dr. Yazdan or read rave reviews from his patients.
Sources:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4174066/
https://www.cancer.gov/publications/dictionaries/cancer-terms/def/dht