The ancients often used "three thousand troubles" to describe sorrow. For modern people, hair volume has become a luxury, replaced by a gradually rising hairline.
According to the "2021 Chinese Scalp Health White Paper", about 200 million Chinese people are plagued by hair loss, of which 84% have hair loss before the age of 30, 20 years earlier than the previous generation's hair loss age.
Life Times (search for "LT0385" within WeChat to follow) interviews experts, teaches you to measure the height of your hairline with one hand, and gives daily hair care guidance.
Experts interviewed
Yang Shuxia, Chief Physician of the Department of Dermatology, Peking University First Hospital
Hu Zhiqi, Chief Physician of Plastic and Aesthetic Surgery, Southern Hospital, Southern Medical University
The "health bottom line" of the hairline: 4 fingers wide on the eyebrow
The total amount of hair in normal people is about 80,000 to 100,000, and 50 to 100 hairs are lost every day. The height of the hairline is a more intuitive way to measure whether hair loss is done or not than the amount of hair.
Although the hairline changes slightly over a person's lifetime, its height also has a "health bottom line." Measured by hand, the height of the normal hairline is 4 fingers wide from the upper eyebrow distance, and some people who are born with a large forehead (commonly known as the "brain gate") are about 5 finger widths.
If the width is increasing on this basis, it may be a manifestation of androgenic baldness.
Hair loss cannot be generalized and usually comes in several types:
Telogen hair loss
Mainly affected by nutrients, diseases, hormonal disorders and other factors, it is manifested as a period of time, the hair falls off a lot, and then it no longer grows.
The thickness of the hair that falls out of this type of hair loss is normal, and the amount of hair that falls out each day does not change much. As long as the influencing factors disappear, and then through diet, sleep adjustment, hair can be regenerated.
For example: postpartum hair loss, hair loss before and after exams, hair loss after dieting and weight loss, or hair loss after suffering from hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism and other diseases belong to this category.
Seborrheic alopecia
That is, often referred to as "Mediterranean" hair loss, its incidence ranks second, but the number of visits is the first, because it has a great impact on personal image.
Seborrheic alopecia is mainly related to heredity, male hormone secretion, seborrhea, characterized by slow progression, small amount of hair loss, and soft, short hair, or just grown out.
In male patients, 20% are genetically induced and usually cannot be cured, and acquired factors can only determine the speed and number of shedding.
Alopecia areata
The incidence is not high, but the disease can be mild or severe. Alopecia areata is an "attack" by the autoimmune system against the hair, which may cause the hair to fall out completely.
Some people develop coin- or egg-sized alopecia areata, but they do not see a doctor in time to develop a full shedding. In tumor treatment such as radiotherapy and chemotherapy, patients also develop alopecia areata problems.
In addition, hair loss can be caused by trichotillomatism, lupus erythematosus, tinea capitis, abnormal nervous system development, hirsutism, and angliness, but are rare.
Health risks associated with regressed hairline
The regressed hairline not only makes you look older than your peers, but also hides many health problems.
Abnormal levels of estrogen in the body
Common androgenic alopecia is closely related to androgen metabolism, and in the scalp of such alopecia patients, dihydrotestosterone levels increase, disrupting the growth cycle of the hair, losing more hair every day, losing more, growing less, and causing baldness in the long run.
Factors such as insufficient estrogen levels, hypopituitarism, thyroid dysfunction, and adrenal tumors are all responsible for the upshot of the hairline.
Indicates coronary heart disease
In 2021, a joint study by Jiangsu Provincial People's Hospital and the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University found that a shifting hairline may indicate coronary heart disease.
Compared with those without hair loss, the risk of coronary heart disease in people with severe hormonal alopecia increased by 1.1 times, and the risk of coronary heart disease in people with premature hair loss increased by nearly 1.3 times; the status, severity and timing of alopecia were all associated with the severity of coronary atherosclerosis.
Or increase the risk of certain cancers
A South Korean study enrolled more than 660,000 patients treated for hair loss between 2007 and 2014, with an average age of around 40.
After adjusting for possible interfering factors such as age, sex, diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, income level, etc., the researchers found that the overall risk of cancer in patients with hair loss was higher, with the risk of thyroid cancer in the total baldness/baldness group being higher than that of the alopecia areata group and the general population, while prostate cancer and bladder cancer were more dangerous for alopecia areata patients.
There are 3 conditions that may be precursors to hair loss
Hairline movement is not achieved overnight, and observing the details of falling hair in daily life can find the clues of hair loss in advance.
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The number of hair losses increases, but the shape and thickness are normal
This is an increase in "transient alopecia" caused by a number of factors, which may be mental, emotional problems or lack of sleep, malnutrition, or systemic diseases such as hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism.
An increase in hair loss occurs 2 to 4 months after these causes occur, and it takes 3 to 6 months after the causes are eliminated before the hair can fully grow back.
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Thin, short hair, or thinning of hair on the top of the head
If the number of hair losses is normal, but the hair quality is in the above state, most of them are characteristic of androgenic baldness (seborrheic alopecia).
Yang Dingquan, chief physician of the Department of Aesthetic Dermatology of China-Japan Friendship Hospital, said that in the case of male baldness, men show that the anterior hairline moves back, the hair on the top of the head is reduced, and finally the top is lifted; the female hairline does not change much, but the hair on the top of the head is reduced.
It will get heavier and heavier without treatment, and it will get better after drug treatment.
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Hair is noticeably reduced in a short period of time
The sudden sharp increase in the number of bald spots or hair loss should be taken seriously.
Alopecia areata is common, but it may also be a rare alopecia skin disease, such as hairy lichen planus, discoid lupus erythematosus, tinea cephalus, syphilis, etc., mainly caused by immune problems or infections.
If the above symptoms are found, they should be diagnosed as soon as possible, and most of them can be improved and recovered.
Daily hair care follows two principles
Hair quality is mainly determined by heredity, physical state, daily care and other three aspects, of which daily care is a detail that many people are easy to ignore, it is recommended to do two things:
Choose the right shampoo and hair care products
If the soft hair is to look fluffy, it is necessary to remove some more oil, and the greasy hair care ingredients should be less;
Oily hair should choose a wash product with more de-oil cleaning ingredients and relatively few hair care ingredients;
Damaged hair requires more hair care ingredients. Do not de-oil excessively, otherwise the hair will appear dry and the scalp will be damaged.
Comb less hairstyles that involve the scalp
If the hair is tied too tightly, it will be chronically pulled, and tractional baldness will occur, and thinning hair at the front and sides of the hairline is common.
In the long run, the affected hair follicles may be completely destroyed, resulting in a decrease in the number of local follicles and a permanent decrease in hair volume. Changing the hairstyle multiple times can avoid this, or allow the damaged hair follicles to gradually recover and grow new hair. ▲
Editor of this issue: Zhang Yu
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