Hair Loss Medicine

Concealing bald spots is for many patients affected with baldness the only existing option to regain the appearance of a full head of hair, as hair regrowth treatments only work for some hair loss conditions. Non-surgical hair replacement is another term used for covering bald spots by non-surgical means. The two main techniques of non-surgical hair replacement today involve the use of hair systems and hair loss concealers. Various types of hair systems exist, such as full wigs, hairpieces, toupees, hair extensions and weaves. They can all look very authentic and have been used for centuries to cover bald areas. However, their main weaknesses are high maintenance costs and, in many situations, the discomfort of wearing them.

Concealers are a relatively new invention, designed to overcome the difficulties associated with wearing and maintaining wigs, but many people think they are not capable of withstanding adverse external conditions and appear unnatural. This no longer seems to be true, as many of them have greatly improved recently, both in terms of their authentic appearance and their resistance to external influences. It pays to understand how different types of hair replacement products work, in order to estimate their suitability for your current condition and compatibility with your lifestyle.

HAIR SYSTEMS
As for hair systems, there are a number of factors determining the user experience, as well as their price, such as the type of hair, the technology used to make the wig, the foundation of the hair system and how it is attached to the scalp. As far as the type of hair goes, it can be artificial or natural. The latter can be of animal or human origin. Human hair requires more care than artificial hair but it looks more authentic, lasts longer and is more comfortable to wear. Its downside is its higher cost and the fact that it can lose its colour when exposed to direct sun for long hours, or break, as normal human hair does. Secondly, hair systems can be hand-tied or machine-tied. Hand-tied wigs happen to be the more expensive alternative and the more authentic-looking solution. In addition, the foundation of a hair system can be either a polymer or a mesh. The polymer foundation is the more affordable, though less comfortable, option but it lasts longer.

The method of fixing a wig to your scalp and blending it with your existing hair is an extremely important factor. The semi-permanently attached hair systems are either glued to your scalp or woven into your existing hair and can only be removed in a hair salon, once every five weeks for cleaning. The temporarily-attached hair systems use double-sided sticky tape or clips to attach the hairpiece to your scalp and existing hair. You can remove and clean them any time you like but they can also be easily and unexpectedly removed, which can lead to embarrassing situations.

One thing that can surprise many potential buyers is the price. Although you can get a wig for a few hundred dollars, the more authentic-looking pieces cost a few thousand dollars and require regular maintenance costing a couple of hundred dollars a month. In addition, you need to buy at least two identical pieces, one to wear while the other is being maintained by your hair salon.

HAIR LOSS CONCEALERS
Hair loss concealers, also known as hair thickeners, are an alternative to hair systems for people who have some miniaturised fine hair left in their balding area. They are more comfortable to wear than wigs but they can never give a full head of hair to a completely bald person. They also seem to be a less expensive solution compared with hair systems.

There are three hair loss-concealing techniques that do the trick by: a) painting your scalp to match your hair colour, b) thickening your hair by coating and penetrating the hair and trapping moisture and volume-building proteins inside the hair shaft and, lastly, c) there are microfibers that cling to your hair like branches to the trunk of a tree, increasing the hair density. Microfiber-based, hair loss concealers can be typically applied in as little as 30 seconds, as opposed to a minimum of five minutes for hair-thickening concealers. However, microfibers are less water-resistant and it is quite difficult to apply them precisely and, therefore, they are not very good at creating an authentic-looking frontal hairline. Their biggest advantage is that they are unrecognizable in your hair, even with a very close inspection.

Hair thickeners, especially those that also colour your scalp, are extremely water-resistant and excellent for frontal hairlines but they take longer to apply. Their greatest weakness, in comparison to microfibers, is that in direct sunlight it can be visible to a sharp eye that the scalp has been painted. Some hair loss sufferers use a combination of two products simultaneously to overcome the weaknesses of individual products and to achieve the most authentic shade and appearance. Most often a combination of a hair thickener and a microfibrous concealer is used. The results of such combinations are often excellent even in people with very thin hair.

It can be concluded that wigs are more expensive and less comfortable than hair-loss concealers but they can cover a completely bald head, so they can also be used with burn patients and patients affected by alopecia areata, where concealers are of little help. Hair-loss concealers are suitable mainly for special occasions, when you want to look your best but many people use them permanently with good success.

For many women dying their hair has become a part of their monthly routine. Some men have got accustomed to dying their hair using conventional hair dyes, too, but many of them are looking for less noticeable alternatives, such as progressive hair colorants. Progressive hair colorants work slowly by changing the hair color for several days after they have been applied, which makes the change less noticeable and allows the user to control how much gray hair he/she leaves untreated. One thing that both types of treatments - conventional hair dyes and progressive hair colorants - have in common is that all of them contain chemical substances that can present a potential health risk to their users.

Both, hair dyes and progressive hair colorants work by a chemical reaction involving the components of the colorant and also, when applicable, melanin and/or the oxygen in the air. The major difference between the two is that the chemical reaction in regular hair dyes lasts only for a few minutes while the substance is being applied to the hair versus working slowly for several days after washing the hair in progressive hair colorants. The substances that fuel these chemical reactions are usually poisonous and can trigger allergic reactions.

PPD, which is an acronym for p-phenylenediamine, is considered to be the leading cause of hair color allergic reactions with ammonia, hydrogen peroxide, diaminobenzene and, to a lesser extent, also metallic compounds said to account for their fair share, too. Metallic compounds such as lead acetate and bismuth citrate are found mainly in progressive hair colorants whereas PPD, hydrogen peroxide, ammonia and diaminobenzene are typical of regular hair dyes. One of the recently developed molecules used in progressive hair colorants is 5, 6-dihydroxyindoline that is sometimes described as the most suitable option amongst the chemical molecules contained in gray hair coloring products but it has also been found to cause allergic reactions.

Natural hair dyes might seem to many to be a healthy alternative to traditional, hair coloring products. Unfortunately, the natural hair dyes are no stranger to causing allergic reactions either and were recently found to be even more allergenic than most chemical treatments. Therefore, when choosing hair coloring products you should always consider the potential health risks as most of them contain substances that can cause poisoning if used inappropriately or can lead to severe allergic reactions. You should always conduct a patch test before applying any such product and closely follow the application guidelines in order to minimize exposure to potentially harmful substances.

The potential toxicity of gray hair colorants is one of many topics discussed at GreyHairLoss.com, a resource dedicated to educating the public on the treatment options for premature white hair and hair loss and encouraging its readers to share their experiences with hair care products they have used.