Keeping Your Hair as You Age

Debra Murray

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• aging damaged hair genetics hair loss massage thinning hair

Having a bad hair day? Aging hair doesn't just mean turning gray. For women between the ages of 25 to 35, you may start noticing the loss or thinning of hair. Unlike loss of hair in men where patches of hair fall out over time, female hair loss can mean loss of hair and volume. As we age, our hair can lose as much as 50% of its overall volume. This causes your hair to become fine, brittle, and look flat.  

Many factors can cause hair loss such as: 

• Genetics 
• Heat (Flat and curling irons) 
• Coloring 
• Stress 
• Medications 

In recent studies, 90% of hair loss is genetic. Taking a good look at your family tree may help you discover if this will be a future issue.  

Hair loss is not just for men. Men and women affected by hair loss can suffer psychologically. Along with hair loss may come loss of self esteem. We all want to look our best, there are many ways to help maintain and improve our hair. 

Conditioning 

If you are not currently using a conditioner, you should be. For people with fine hair it is essential to use conditioner. Because fine hair gets dirty faster, people with fine hair need to shampoo more often which can cause hair to become more dry and subject to breakage. Conditioners help hair retain strength, moisture, and improve manageability. Remember to apply conditioner to the body of your hair. When conditioner is applied to the roots of your hair it can cause clogged pores and lead to excess build up. With excessive build up your hair will not grow properly.

Coloring 

Coloring your hair is a very common solution to improve your appearance. Colored hair may look better in appearance but may be damaging to your hair.  There are three categories of hair dye. 

1. Temporary dye- Dye coats the surface of the hair and does not penetrate the hair shaft. Temporary hair dye is D.I.Y. color found in a box for at home use. 
2. Semi-permanent dye- Contains smaller color molecules that penetrate the hair shaft. This causes the hair to retain the color longer. 
3. Permanent dye- The harshest dye for your hair. This type of dye actually breaks up the natural pigments in your hair and replaces it with the new color.  

If you choose to color your hair, be sure to you a high quality conditioner. This will allow your hair to maintain the color longer along with keeping your hair from becoming unhealthy. 

Heat 

The use of blow dryers, flat and curling irons are a necessity for some types of hair. Fine hair is very easy to over dry with the use of these tools. Limiting the use of heating tools can help your hair's appearance and strength. If you cannot avoid using these tools there are things you can do to help with damage. Try using a broad round brush at the roots when blow drying your hair. This will help improve the volume of your hair. Regular haircuts improve your hair's ability to regrow faster and help to decrease split ends. 

Massage 

Scalp massage helps to improve the circulation of your scalp and helps begin the process of exfoliation of the pores. To begin massaging your scalp, start at the hairline above your forehead and work your way back to the base of the skull. With medium pressure from your fingertips, begin massaging in a small circular motion. Once you have reached your neck line, return to your temples and finish massaging the sides of your head.  Giving your head a massage for 5-10 minutes is not only relaxing but beneficial to improving scalp health. 

Healthy hair can give you an appearance of not only looking good but feeling good. Remember to: 

• Regularly condition hair and practice scalp massages 
• Limit or avoid coloring 
• Limit extreme use of heating tools

With the use of this information and tips you can be on your way to "Having a great hair day!"