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Hair Loss Facts and Myths
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Myth: The gene for male pattern baldness comes only from the mother.
Fact: The truth is that the gene may be passed to a child from either parent, not
just the mother.
Myth: Losing an average of a hundred hairs per day is normal. Don't worry about it.
Fact: It's true only if you don't have MPB. The hairs that fall out will soon be replaced by new hairs sprouting from the hair follicles. If you are experiencing MPB hair
loss, however, even losing the "normal" hundred hairs a day can be a concern because many of those hairs are being shed by follicles that are in the process of
shrinking, and therefore the new hairs those follicles make will be progressively thinner until the follicles are only capable of making fine hairs. Eventually those follicles will die and no longer produce any hairs at all.
Myth: You can increase the number of hair follicles by using drugs or other methods.
Fact: No. The number and diameter of your hair follicles is completely out of your control--it's
hereditary. Nothing you do will alter the quantity of hair follicles.
Myth: Cutting or shaving hair can make it grow back faster and thicker.
Fact: No. Hair grows at an average rate of half an inch per month. Because each hair shaft is slightly thicker at its base compared to its
tip, hair can temporarily appear thicker for about a week after it has been significantly cut. But cutting hair has absolutely no effect on each strand's thickness or on the number of hairs that will sprout from follicles.
Myth: If left uncut, my hair will just keep growing and growing.
Fact: No. Length depends on your hair's natural cycle, which is unique to you. The longer the hair's growth
phase, the longer the hair will grow. If you have a naturally long growth phase, you
can grow your hair to well below your waist. If you have a naturally shorter growth
phase, your hair will be shed before it grows that long and only grow to a certain length. The duration of your particular growth phase is based on heredity and is affected by nutrition.
Myth: Wearing a hat causes hair loss.
Fact: As long as you don't regularly wear a hat that's so tight that it restricts circulation--blood flow to the hair follicles--this will not cause hair loss. It
can, however, damages hair because of the effects of sweat, dirt, and skin particles that can clog pores.
Myth: Blow-drying can causes hair loss.
Fact: No. But it can dry, burn, and damage hair that may then fall out,
to be replaced by new hair that will sprout from the follicle during the growth phase.
Myth: Bald men are sexier.
Fact: There is rarely any evidence of excess levels of testosterone or related hormones in bald men; the belief that baldness makes you more virile than a man with a full head of hair is, unfortunately, without scientific foundation.
Myth: If you wash your hair too often you will go bald.
Fact: Frequent shampooing itself has no effect, positive or negative, on hair loss.
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