How Can You Tell If You Have Naturally Thin Hair Or Are Experiencing Hair Loss? I"ll Tell You
The other day, I received an email from someone who wrote: "I've always had fine, thin hair, but lately it appears a lot thinner to me.
I wonder if this is just a natural part of aging when you have my type of hair or if I have some hair loss that I need to be concerned about.
" This is not at all an uncommon question.
Often we don't notice anything that's overly troublesome or we chalk up a loss in density as a normal part of aging, but one day we wake up, look in the mirror, and see a drastic and troubling change.
Or sometimes, we feel this change if we try to put our hair up and notice that there just isn't as much to pull back or we run our fingers through it and just don't feel as much as we used to.
In the following article, I'll tell you some things to look for to help you determine if what you are looking at and experiencing is normal for you or if it's something that you may want to take a closer look at.
Did You Have Fine Or Thin Hair As A Child?: Often the easiest way to tell if your hair is relatively normal for you is to go back and look at pictures of yourself at various ages throughout your life.
Often, your hair texture even at an early age will be a clue.
Once a kid is passed about 4-5 years of age, they should have the texture that they're going to have for the rest of their lives.
And, this can be very different, even in families.
My oldest son has hair that is so course that you could floss your teeth with it, while my youngest son has texture that is more like mine, fine and thin.
If Your Hair Is Fine And Thin, Do You Still Have A Lot Of It?: Generally, folks who have hair that is of a finer texture will have more hairs per square inch to make up for that fact.
Hair dressers used to say to me: "you have fine hair, but boy is there a lot of it.
" When I used to get perms (which would help because of my strand's texture) it would take hours because there was just so much of it to roll.
So while it can be quite natural for your individual strands to be thinner than others, you should generally have enough to have a decent density that isn't so noticeably different that it isn't registered as noticeable to others.
Sure, your pony tail may be smaller in depth, but it doesn't stand out as having something seriously wrong.
The over all effect is still quite acceptable.
For example, the actress Naomi Watts has fine, thin hair, but most would still categorize her as someone who has "good" or "pretty" hair.
The over all effect is still quite pleasing, even though she's probably well aware that she must take her texture into account when she cuts or styles her hair.
Her hair doesn't appear flyaway, skimpy, or that it won't hold a curl or style and it's still quite pleasing to the eye.
Thin, Finer Hair As The Result Of Hair Loss With Miniaturization: If the overall effect that you are experiencing now is not one of a decent density and volume, then it's possible that you are experiencing androgen or medical related hair loss with aggressive shedding or loss and compromised regrowth or miniaturization.
Usually this is a combination of losing density because of shedding hair and then the regrowth being negatively affected so that it comes in more thin and more fine and no longer offers sufficient coverage.
If this is the case, it's best to address this as soon as possible.
The longer this issue goes on, the more difficult it will be to regrow all of the hair that you have lost and the harder it will be to reverse the miniaturized texture.
I wonder if this is just a natural part of aging when you have my type of hair or if I have some hair loss that I need to be concerned about.
" This is not at all an uncommon question.
Often we don't notice anything that's overly troublesome or we chalk up a loss in density as a normal part of aging, but one day we wake up, look in the mirror, and see a drastic and troubling change.
Or sometimes, we feel this change if we try to put our hair up and notice that there just isn't as much to pull back or we run our fingers through it and just don't feel as much as we used to.
In the following article, I'll tell you some things to look for to help you determine if what you are looking at and experiencing is normal for you or if it's something that you may want to take a closer look at.
Did You Have Fine Or Thin Hair As A Child?: Often the easiest way to tell if your hair is relatively normal for you is to go back and look at pictures of yourself at various ages throughout your life.
Often, your hair texture even at an early age will be a clue.
Once a kid is passed about 4-5 years of age, they should have the texture that they're going to have for the rest of their lives.
And, this can be very different, even in families.
My oldest son has hair that is so course that you could floss your teeth with it, while my youngest son has texture that is more like mine, fine and thin.
If Your Hair Is Fine And Thin, Do You Still Have A Lot Of It?: Generally, folks who have hair that is of a finer texture will have more hairs per square inch to make up for that fact.
Hair dressers used to say to me: "you have fine hair, but boy is there a lot of it.
" When I used to get perms (which would help because of my strand's texture) it would take hours because there was just so much of it to roll.
So while it can be quite natural for your individual strands to be thinner than others, you should generally have enough to have a decent density that isn't so noticeably different that it isn't registered as noticeable to others.
Sure, your pony tail may be smaller in depth, but it doesn't stand out as having something seriously wrong.
The over all effect is still quite acceptable.
For example, the actress Naomi Watts has fine, thin hair, but most would still categorize her as someone who has "good" or "pretty" hair.
The over all effect is still quite pleasing, even though she's probably well aware that she must take her texture into account when she cuts or styles her hair.
Her hair doesn't appear flyaway, skimpy, or that it won't hold a curl or style and it's still quite pleasing to the eye.
Thin, Finer Hair As The Result Of Hair Loss With Miniaturization: If the overall effect that you are experiencing now is not one of a decent density and volume, then it's possible that you are experiencing androgen or medical related hair loss with aggressive shedding or loss and compromised regrowth or miniaturization.
Usually this is a combination of losing density because of shedding hair and then the regrowth being negatively affected so that it comes in more thin and more fine and no longer offers sufficient coverage.
If this is the case, it's best to address this as soon as possible.
The longer this issue goes on, the more difficult it will be to regrow all of the hair that you have lost and the harder it will be to reverse the miniaturized texture.