Hair Loss Treatments: How to Find the Best for Your Pattern

What Are the Main Causes of Hair Loss?

Losing your hair can feel stressful and personal. The first step toward finding a solution that works for you is to understand why it’s happening.

Hair loss can come from many different factors, and each one needs a special approach. The cause could be your genes, hormone changes, stress, things in your environment, or even your immune system.

Finding the right treatment starts with figuring out the specific cause. Since different types of hair loss respond better to certain treatments, getting the right diagnosis is key to seeing results.

By learning about common causes, like pattern hair loss or stress-related shedding, you can feel more confident about choosing your path to regrowth. Let’s explore the different types of hair loss and the most effective treatments for each.

What Is Androgenic Alopecia (Pattern Hair Loss)?

Androgenic alopecia is the most widespread kind of hair loss, linked to your genes and hormones. It affects both men and women and is often called “male pattern hair loss” or “female pattern hair loss.”

This condition is tied to the androgen hormone and usually starts after puberty. It becomes more common as we get older. According to the American Academy of Dermatology, it can cause hair to shed noticeably, leading to thinning over time.

You might see more hair in your brush or notice that the part in your hair is getting wider. This occurs when new hairs don’t grow back to replace the ones that have fallen out.

While genes are the main cause, some studies point to a connection between androgenic alopecia and autoimmune issues like thyroid disease and lupus. Having these conditions at the same time can sometimes make hair loss happen faster or become worse.

Can Stress Lead to Temporary Hair Loss?

Telogen effluvium is a type of temporary hair loss that happens after your body goes through a lot of physical or emotional stress. It is your body’s way of reacting to a big event.

Common triggers include surgery, a major illness, giving birth, or times of high anxiety and depression. Some medicines, hormone problems like thyroid issues, and not getting enough nutrients can also cause this condition.

With telogen effluvium, many hair follicles enter the resting (telogen) phase too early. This leads to shedding and thinning all over the scalp a few months after the stressful event.

The great news is that this kind of hair loss is usually not permanent. As the American Academy of Dermatology notes, once the cause of the stress is gone, hair often starts to grow back on its own.

How Can Hairstyles and Scarring Cause Hair Loss?

Sometimes, hair loss comes from outside forces that put physical stress on the hair and scalp. These factors are often related to hairstyling and can lead to conditions like traction alopecia and CCCA.

Traction alopecia is caused by constant pulling or tension on the hair follicles. It is often linked to hairstyles like tight braids, cornrows, weaves, and extensions that pull on the hair for a long time.

This constant pulling can damage the follicles and cause hair loss, especially along the hairline. According to the Cleveland Clinic, changing your hairstyle early on can often fix the damage. It is important to know this is different from Trichotillomania, a mental health condition that involves an urge to pull out one’s own hair.

Central centrifugal cicatricial alopecia (CCCA) is a more serious condition that involves scarring on the crown of the head. This can lead to hair loss that is permanent. It is most common in women of African descent and is tied to both genes and styling habits.

Things like chemical relaxers, hot combs, and tight braids are known to contribute to CCCA. These practices can cause swelling and scarring on the scalp, which destroys the hair follicles for good.

How Do Medical Conditions Affect Your Hair?

Some medical treatments and autoimmune diseases can interfere with the hair growth cycle, causing a lot of shedding. Two of the main examples are anagen effluvium and alopecia areata.

Anagen effluvium is known for sudden hair loss that happens when hair follicles are damaged during their active growth (anagen) phase. This is most often caused by medical treatments like chemotherapy and radiation.

As a study in the Annals of Dermatology explains, these strong therapies target cells that divide quickly. Unfortunately, this includes the healthy cells in your hair follicles, causing hair to fall out fast and in large clumps.

Alopecia areata is another health-related condition, but it is an autoimmune disorder. In this case, the body’s immune system accidentally attacks its own hair follicles. This causes hair to fall out in small, round patches.

For both conditions, treating the health issue is the most important step. Once medical treatment is over or the immune system is under control, hair often begins to grow back, but everyone’s recovery looks different.

What Are the Best Treatments for Hair Loss?

Once you know why you’re losing hair, you can look into the many modern treatments designed to restore growth and confidence. Each therapy works differently and is designed to reverse hair loss in its own way.

The main treatment options include gentle therapies, specific medications, and surgery. The best one for you will depend on your diagnosis, lifestyle, and what you hope to achieve for your wellness.

Some of the most popular and effective hair loss treatments include:

• Red light therapy
• Topical medications like Minoxidil
• Oral medications such as Finasteride
• Hair transplant surgery

Let’s take a closer look at each of these options to see how they work and who they are best for on the path to hair wellness.

How Does Red Light Therapy Promote Hair Growth?

Red light therapy, also called photobiomodulation or low-level laser therapy, is a gentle treatment that uses light to encourage healthy changes in your cells without any cutting or chemicals.

This therapy uses special wavelengths of red and near-infrared light to give energy to the mitochondria inside your cells. This creates more adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is like a battery pack for your body.

This new energy can wake up sleeping hair follicles, prompting them to leave the resting stage and return to the active growth phase. This leads to a natural, slow-but-steady return of hair growth.

As many clinical studies show, you can usually see real results from red light therapy after about six months of regular use. It’s a great choice for anyone looking for a way to regrow hair without side effects.

What Is Minoxidil and How Does It Work?

Minoxidil, often sold under the brand name Rogaine, is an FDA-approved topical medicine for treating some kinds of hair loss. You apply it right onto your scalp to wake up hair follicles.

It was first created to treat high blood pressure, but researchers discovered it also helped grow hair. It works by making blood vessels wider, which boosts blood flow to the hair follicles.

This extra blood flow brings more oxygen and nutrients to the follicles, helping to bring them back to life. As confirmed by plenty of research, Minoxidil also helps keep hair in the anagen (growth) phase for longer.

It works best for androgenetic alopecia and is sold over-the-counter in different strengths. Using it consistently is important, because if you stop, the new hair will likely fall out.

How Does Finasteride Treat Hair Loss?

Finasteride is a prescription pill that is FDA-approved to treat male pattern hair loss (Androgenetic Alopecia). It works by targeting the hormonal cause of this condition.

The medicine stops testosterone from turning into dihydrotestosterone (DHT). DHT is a hormone that makes hair follicles shrink, which leads to thinning hair and eventually hair loss in people who are genetically prone to it.

By lowering DHT levels in the scalp, Finasteride can slow down hair loss and, for many people, help new hair grow. It is taken as a pill once a day.

Like any medicine that affects the whole body, Finasteride does have potential risks. While most people handle it well, some men might have sexual side effects, such as a lower sex drive or erectile dysfunction. The FDA gives detailed information about these risks, and it is very important to talk about them with a doctor before you start treatment.

When to Consider Hair Transplant Surgery

For those who want a permanent and noticeable change, hair transplant surgery offers a solution that lasts. This procedure involves moving hair follicles from one area of your scalp to another.

The surgery works by taking healthy hair follicles that are resistant to DHT from a “donor site,” usually the back or sides of your head. These follicles are then carefully placed into the areas that are thinning or bald.

As the American Academy of Dermatology explains, this can give you natural-looking, permanent results because the transplanted hairs keep their genetic ability to resist balding.

Hair transplant surgery is a more invasive and expensive option than medicine or light therapy. However, it is a fantastic choice for people with enough donor hair and more advanced hair loss who want a final solution.

How to Choose the Right Treatment for You

Finding the right hair loss treatment is not a one-size-fits-all process. It’s about matching the therapy to the specific cause of your hair loss. For Androgenic Alopecia, caused by genes and hormones, treatments like Minoxidil, Finasteride, and hair transplants often work very well, but they can have side effects.

In this same category, red light therapy stands out as a strong alternative. It has a high success rate for androgenetic alopecia without any known side effects, making it a great choice for those who want a safe and natural method.

For Anagen Effluvium, which is often from chemotherapy, medicines like Minoxidil can work well, and red light therapy shows good signs of helping recovery. Hair transplants are also an option once your overall health is back on track.

When hair loss comes from physical stress, like Traction Alopecia, the first thing to do is stop the hairstyle or habit causing the pulling. After that, Minoxidil can help encourage regrowth, and surgery is a good choice if the hair loss is widespread.

In cases of stress-related Telogen Effluvium, adding more stress with surgery is not helpful. Here, Minoxidil can help with regrowth while your body recovers. Red light therapy may also help by reducing stress on the follicles.

For scarring alopecias like CCCA or conditions where follicles are permanently scarred, there are fewer treatment options. Red light therapy and medications might work, but only if the follicles are not already destroyed.

Begin Your Journey to Healthier Hair

Choosing the right hair loss treatment is a personal decision that starts with knowing what’s causing it. For genetic hair loss like androgenic alopecia, solutions include proven medications and life-changing surgeries.

Red light therapy has found a special role as a powerful, non-invasive treatment cleared by the FDA for androgenetic alopecia. It gives you a way to regrow hair without the side effects of other options, though more research is needed on how well it works for other types of hair loss.

Your hair is part of who you are, and taking steps to care for it is a form of self-care. We hope you feel empowered by this knowledge as you move toward healthier, fuller hair.

Always talk to a healthcare professional or a dermatologist to get a correct diagnosis. They can help you build a personal treatment plan that fits your health and wellness goals, making sure you take the best steps for your unique situation.

References

• https://www.grecohairrestoration.com/hair-restoration/non-surgical-prp-crp/photobiomodulation/
• https://www.hairdoc.com/blog/how-effective-is-low-level-laser-therapy-lllt-for-hair-loss
• https://www.ohiohairrestoration.com/blog/low-light-laser-therapy-lllt-for-hair-loss-the-hype-vs-reality/
• https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12274-022-5315-1
• https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38150056/
• https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hair-loss/symptoms-causes/syc-20372926
• https://www.aad.org/public/diseases/hair-loss/types
• https://www.niams.nih.gov/health-topics/hair-loss
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6691938/
• https://www.fda.gov/drugs/postmarket-drug-safety-information-patients-and-providers/finasteride-propecia-and-proscar-information