Have you ever noticed that you need to go around more with the elastic when you tie your hair? Or that many strands fall out when you comb? These could be signs of hair thinning, a problem that can lead to complete hair loss if not treated properly. Dr. Claudia Marçal, dermatologist member of the Brazilian Society of Dermatology and the American Academy of Dermatology, explains below what is happening and how you can treat this problem.
What is hair thinning and how does it happen? What are your causes? Is it more common in men or women? Why?
Hair thinning is a physiological manifestation of androgenetic alopecia or male pattern baldness, which occurs in genetically predisposed individuals leading to “hair loss”, which undergo a miniaturization process. Genetic inheritance can come from the paternal or maternal side. Androgenetic alopecia is the result of stimulation of hair follicles by male hormones that begin to be produced in adolescence (testosterone).
Upon reaching the scalp of patients with a genetic tendency to baldness, testosterone undergoes the action of an enzyme, 5-alpha-reductase, and is transformed into dihydrotestosterone (DHT). It is DHT that will act on the hair follicles, promoting their progressive reduction with each hair growth cycle, which will become smaller and thinner. The end result of this process of decreasing and thinning hair strands is baldness.
The main characteristic of androgenetic alopecia is the continued loss of hair, replaced by increasingly thinner and smaller hairs, until growth stops, leading to thinning of the hair and moving the implantation line backwards.
The progression of the condition leads to male pattern baldness, characterized by the absence of hair on the top and front of the head, sparing the lateral and posterior areas, increased oil production and scalp flaking due to seborrheic dermatitis (dandruff), although they can also being present following the condition, has nothing to do with the process of hair loss and thinning. Women can also be affected, but only very rarely do they reach total baldness. In general, they present a picture of diffuse rarefaction of hairs that also become thinner.
Hormonal changes such as the thyroid gland, increased cortisol, prolactin, androgens, iron and ferritin, zinc and magnesium deficiency can cause and accentuate the hair loss process. A very restrictive diet poor in proteins and with long periods of fasting make the situation worse!
In addition, all the hormonal alterations present, such as those of the pituitary, thyroid, and adrenal glands, alterations in perimenopause or climacteric with a decrease in female hormones, polycystic ovaries, endometriosis, directly modify the health of the hair, changing its protein structure, density, resistance, and growth of the hair shafts. capillaries. Just like in stress frames.
In the salon, how can the professional hairdresser identify the problem and what precautions should he take?
The professional or the patient himself can identify the problem when noticing that the rods come off spontaneously, in a number equal to or greater than 100, if there is a loss of density and proteinization of the threads, if the capillary volume decreases sharply or the fall persists for a long time over 60 days or even the appearance of faults.
What can or cannot this professional do in relation to chemical procedures (coloring, straightening, discoloration, etc.), when there is hair thinning?
Any chemical can aggravate the fall, yes, since there is a process of deproteinization of the hair, leading to a chemical cut, to a cleavage, a process of fiber rupture, so there is an aggression of the cuticle, the cortex, the capillary medulla. When we do progressive brushes, balayage, use of dyes, we are always attacking the capillary structure in some way. If the hair is already in a phase of falling out, this must be avoided until the condition is controlled.
In what way can this professional collaborate with the improvement of the thread thickness? Is it possible to recover it?
This patient should seek dermatological and trichological medical help. The female picture of androgenetic baldness, once it has been diagnosed, there is a family characteristic, it will be treated exactly in the male case. We will provide nutritional support (Exsynutriment, cysteine, Bio-Arct, cystine, ornithine, arginine, taurine, methionine, pyridoxine, biotin, lysine, zinc, folic acid, calcium, magnesium, copper, collagen peptide, iron, Vitamin D, Vitamin A, derivatives of complex B and omega 6); make use of specific shampoos; lotions for local use with minoxidil, latanoprost (another active that is widely used today in addition to minoxidil), growth factors and hormone replacement in place.
But all of this is done after the clinical investigation of that patient with laboratory dosages, with a trichological examination to find out what phase the hairs are in (anagen, telogen, catagen), and at the same time many times performing a biopsy of the scalp to confirm that this patient she has androgenic baldness of familial and hereditary pattern. So, the treatment will be case by case and always the specialist dermatologist will choose the best conduct.
The patient comes to the cabin, where local application treatments are performed, with microneedling, with non-ablative fractional lasers, subsequent application of drug delivery where minoxidil is applied, vitamins such as biotin, pyridoxine, b-panthenol, there is a mix a lot of vitamins that we use right after the procedures, use of led light and it is something chosen for each patient, customization is made. There is technology available today, we use it to complement home treatment with faster, more expressive results, and we have responses that last much longer. And at home we do complements for maintenance.
Are there other problems resulting from hair thinning?
The genetic problem can manifest itself until complete loss of wires, if there is no adequate treatment. There is a hair follicle miniaturization process. The dermal papilla stops making cell proliferation, the rod becomes increasingly thinner, until there is a stop, a complete role of atrophy of this dermal papilla. And there is no longer the formation of threads, of capillary rods. This is more common in men than women, but it can happen in both cases, despite being prevalent in men.
Regarding cosmetic products, what is indicated and what is not indicated when there is hair thinning?
How can they make the situation worse?
Can treatments such as hydration and reconstruction be performed?
Our scalp must be treated in an extremely efficient way, so as I say to my patients: those who practice sports every day can and should wash their hair daily, but never sleep with it wet; those who have no other option than washing at night should dry their hair before going to bed; preferably wash your hair in the morning; use shampoos recommended by dermatologists, as people with thinner, less dense or oily hair should use shampoos that are more botanical, transparent, rich in plant extracts and vitamins; the man in general just the shampoo itself is enough; avoid shampoos that are very rich in sodium lauryl sulfate; if I have a patient who has hair loss, he can use the pre-shampoo, which must be applied before the shampoo as a treatment shampoo and must be in continuous massage for about three minutes and then we can use the shampoo thread treatment along the thread and the conditioner just at the tip.
When we use the conditioner along the entire strand and on the scalp, we create a weight of gravity much greater than the strand can support and many times we predispose this hair to fall, in addition to the fact that the wet strand is less anchored and also ends up falling more. So the right thing to have a healthy scalp is to use shampoos that control the microbiota of the scalp and we have several actives today that are concerned with this, maintaining a healthy flora, where we have several species that are not pathogenic and control pathogenic species ; these products must remove waste from the hair and scalp without excessively damaging it, maintaining the water and lipid layer; and that these shampoos are of good quality, removed with warm water, avoid hot water too much. And obligatorily doing that sequence already mentioned: at the end of washing the hair, it is ideal that they are dried without being twisted, the excess of humidity must be removed, use the special combs for when the hair is wet or wait for the strands to dry to then comb. Use leave-on substances or thermoactive substances to protect against the action of the dryer or the flat irons themselves.
What assets are indicated? How can you contribute?
Assets such as Defenscalp, Bioex Capilar, Arct-Alg, Capillisil HC and Capixyl are essential for the health of the scalp and the improvement of hair anchorage. For hair restoration and restructuring, Amisol Trio, Liponutrium Hair and Repair are indicated. Capillary anti-aging products such as Hydra.Sil, which contains organic silicon, is important for maintaining and protecting internal capillary hydration; AMDM is another very important asset as it promotes increased cell oxygenation and cell energy production, which improves the flow of nutrients and helps protect the hair.
In addition, the oral complexes with Exsynutriment, FC Oral, Bio-Arct and Glycoxil collaborate a lot so that there is an effective antioxidant action to protect against these damages. Anyway, there are many options and the dermatologist can be consulted to help with this process of restructuring the wires, when this damage is already installed.
What’s more modern to improve the condition of the tuned wire?
In addition to the treatments already mentioned, the Capellux led cap and the Capellux i9 helmet are important tools for improving the condition of this fine hair, as they emit red light, which provides energy to the cells – which directly contributes to nutrition and follicle health, stimulating hair growth.
This red light in the length of 660 nanometers provides energy, as the cellular structure located in the membranes of the mitochondria (lung of cells) are stimulated to produce more ATP (energy). With more energy and nutrients, the cells operate in optimized conditions in the performance of their functions, which promotes an increase in the amount and volume of the threads, which also become thicker.
