What causes African American Women and Mens Hair Loss: How to Grow Long Hair
Posted: Monday, July 09, 2007
by Jenny Olabode
Crazy Over You Hair Boutique
If you are an African American man or woman and won’t to know why your hair is falling out don’t despair. Hopefully this article will help you understand why you are having trouble with your hair and offer you some valuable solutions, such as vitamins that you can take for hair growth, products for hair loss, and foods that you can eat. To start let’s make it clear that African Americans do not go bald or experience hair loss for different reason than other races. Regardless of your ethnicity you need to see a doctor if you are losing copious amounts of hair very suddenly.
Trichotillomania — compulsive hair pulling. Hair loss due to trichotillomania is typically patchy, as compulsive hair pullers tend to concentrate the pulling in selected areas. Hair loss due to this cause cannot be treated effectively until the psychological or emotional reasons for trichotillomania are effectively addressed.
Alopecia areata — a possibly autoimmune disorder that causes patchy hair loss that can range from diffuse thinning to extensive areas of baldness with "islands" of retained hair. Medical examination is necessary to establish a diagnosis.
Triangular alopecia — loss of hair in the temporal areas that sometimes begins in childhood. Hair loss may be complete, or a few fine, thin-diameter hairs may remain. The cause of triangular alopecia is not known, but the condition can be treated medically or surgically.
Scarring alopecia — hair loss due to scarring of the scalp area. Scarring alopecia typically involves the top of the scalp and occurs predominantly in women. The condition frequently occurs in African-American women and is believed to be associated with persistent tight braiding or "corn-rowing" of scalp hair. A form of scarring alopecia also may occur in post-menopausal women, associated with inflammation of hair follicles and subsequent scarring.
Telogen effluvium — a common type of hair loss caused when a large percentage of scalp hairs are shifted into "shedding" phase. The causes of telogen effluvium may be hormonal, nutritional, drug-associated, or stress-associated. Loose-anagen syndrome—a condition occurring primarily in fair-haired persons in which scalp hair sits loosely in hair follicles and is easily extracted by combing or pulling. The condition may appear in childhood, and may improve as the person ages. Diagnosis and Treatment
Steps to Prevent Hair Loss for African Americans
Step #1: Avoid hair styling techniques that pull the tight. Hair pulling and twisting styling techniques used by many African Americans can lend themselves to hair loss and balding. That is why it is important that African American men and women reduce the wearing of tight braids. This can lead to Scarring alopecia— hair loss due to scarring of the scalp area. Scarring alopecia typically involves the top of the scalp and occurs predominantly in Black women. The condition frequently occurs in African-American women and is believed to be associated with persistent tight braiding or "corn-rowing" of scalp hair. A form of scarring alopecia also may occur in post-menopausal women, associated with inflammation of hair follicles and subsequent scarring. If you are going to wear your braids then please request that your stylist does not pull or plat them so tightly. Remember it is better that your hair come loose, than it fallout.
Step #2: Try using natural herbs and natural oils to stimulate hair growth. Try buying Vitamin E oil and Coconut Oil to massage into your scalp daily. Both of these oils work great. If you do not want to use chemicals like Rogain or Propecia, then try Beauty 4 Ashes Super Hair Growth System. Beauty 4 Ashes “A Double Portion" hair growth products contain rosemary, castor, fenugreek. They formulas work because they come from Indian and African herbs that have been used for years to regrow thinning hair. You can find them online at wwwdiscoverb4acom
Step #3: Start eating more foods that are rich in Omega 3 and Omega 6, such as fish. Also, try drinking protein shakes and more water. Eat leafy vegetables and foods that are reach in B-Vitamins. It is important to understand that hair is made of protein hair loss and needs proper nutrition to grow.
Step #4: Let Your Scalp breathe. Do not wear baseball caps, wigs, and weaves everyday. Stop using glue for your hair weaves.
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More commentsEveryone read the article coz of the message,so if your reading to correct sorry this is not the place,you read because you were interested in the messge, so whats the need of correcting after getting certisfied..certisied,,,, I think you meant Satisfied~also I beleive the person made the plesant comment to "HELP" it is sad that others take offense and make her kind suggest,which was done in good taste, the main message! and not the article she wrote. I think info was helpful , but must admit I too found it a little hard to take as a knowledgable source written in that form, but I continued to read on and realized it's just typo's or grammacal error's. Starting w/ the man in the MIRROR~Peace,Luv & ToFu~
JENNY, YOU ARE OBVIOUSLY REPRESENTING BEAUTY 4 ASHES.JUST WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY AFRICAN AMERICANS AND 'POOR DIET HABITS'? PLEASE ELABORATE.
I can see how Darlene's criticism can be taken the wrong way. Using capitalized fonts can be interpreted as though someone is shouting.Jenny provided excellent information; however, like many of us, we are quick to hit send before proof reading our material. After 1 error, I, also, begin to question the author’s credibility. This should be a learning experience for all of us.Jenny, I will be experimenting with Castor oil.Thanks,
This article was very helpful to me!One morning after spending all afternoon in the hair salon getting the tracks removed from my hair I got up and looked in the mirror and noticed my hair was so thin on the sides. I wanted to cry because this was only the second time I had allowed my beautician to put tracks in my hair and now my hair is thinning and it was damaged. I was told that using the glue was safe but it was not.I thought wow I need to do something fast before I loose the rest of my hair. I went to the internet and searched for hours for products to re-grow my hair and came across this article. I had to take a second look at my diet and I will start to add more protein and Omega3 and 6. I will try these methods mentioned and comment on my results in 30 days-Thanks…Bea
First of all, i'm 17 years old and I have more common sensethan most of you. The comment box is for your reviews of the article. NOT for you bickering, menopausal women who have nothing better to do than sit around and cause dissension on the Internet! You people crack me up.But, then again before I clicked in this site, I did leave another one because of the poor grammar. So, yeah bad grammar questions credibility. BUT, BACK TO THE POINT!This is a great site and I found it quite helpful. I will try to improve my diet and take more "healthy" vitamins and herbs that are natural! Thank You for this awesome article......Nice work Layna, you wrote exactly what I was thinking. Constructive critism is great, but come on...
I agree wth Layna. You all are losing site on the purpose of this article and thats to assist in getting out hair growing stronger and healthier. I appreciate this site, for I am in pre-menopausal stages in my early 30's, and my hair is beginning to thin out. I have been wearing braids and weaves for some time now because my hair has never been able to take too much heat and hard hair styles using spritz and gels. Braids used to grow my hair but seems to now being doing the opposite. So I look forward to further suggestions in helping getting my hair growing back to its healthier state. So Jenny keep doing what you are doing and you will be blessed for it..Thanks so much!
The author is absolutely correct. Diet is most important. The hair reflects our overall health. One thing - Beauty 4 Ashes did not work for me. The shampoo & conditioner I used made my hair soo nappy, I could not easily get my comb through my hair, which resulted in more hair loss. my hair is in such a mess - I'm going on a fruit juice diet statring tomorrow in a effort to cleanse my system. Hair loss indicates something is wrong in my sytem. I've done much research on this topic.
I read the article and sure, some corrections were necessary, but the article was very informative. I thought the "Comments" were going to be informative as well, but they were not. Let's move past the crit·i·cism! Are there any success stories? What are you doing to promote hair growth? I'm seeking information to help with my hair loss. Thanks
If you live in Charlotte NC you can call Chanel at 704-641-6489 tell her Keta sent you. Chanel is the best sylist, she uses her own protein for the hair and I have been going to her for a little over a year and that protein she uses makes your grow so long and strong, she specializes in healthy hair. Go let her do your hair and see for your self.
I believe we are who we are!! So can write and articulate well while others try and fail, but at least they had the nerve to make a comment!!! Look at the point, HAIR!!! This isn't ENGLISH 101, let's get it together. Don't be so quick to judge;"If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude. Don't complain."Did you catch it or where u so wrapped up u missed it? That RIGHT, I did it!!! I miswrote a word on purpose, but you still got my POINT, right? OK, let's move on...
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