How to Regrow Hair Fast and Naturally

Male Pattern Baldness

The ugly truth is that most men that deal with thinning hair and eventual hair loss deal with the issue labeled male pattern baldness. This type of hair loss usually shows up early and is something that many young men expect after seeing the men in their family experience the same thing. The only advantage to MPB is that it typically occurs slower than other types of hair loss. There are also things that can be done to slow down the loss.

Medical Treatments

There are several medical treatments or procedures that can lead to hair loss. Most people are familiar with hair loss due to cancer treatment. Both chemotherapy and radiation have been known to cause temporary and sometimes permanent hair loss.

There is a long list of prescription medications that have been known or suspected to cause hair loss. These include some medications used to treat cholesterol, depression, blood pressure, and inflammation. Check with your pharmacists if you are concerned if any of your medications may be affecting your hair

Hair Loss From Rapid Weight Loss

In our weight loss fueled society, there is a growing number of people that are learning that rapid weight loss can have a big impact on your hair. This type of hair loss is likely due to insufficient proteins, and vital nutrients in the body, the necessary building blocks of your hair.

The good news is that in most cases this type of hair loss with remedy itself if you return to eating a healthy diet. Those who need to lose more weight should make sure to maintain a diet complete with appropriate levels of proteins and vitamins to avoid hair loss.

Stress

There is actually a term for stress-related hair loss, it is called telogen effluvium! This refers to a rapid loss of hair following a period of extreme stress or traumatic event. However, stress can cause hair loss even if it does not fit the level necessary to be diagnosed with telogen effluvium. One way is that increased stress can cause high levels of cortisol. (NEXT)

Cortisol

Cortisol is a weird hormone that has both good and bad qualities. It gets really difficult when both excessively low and high levels of cortisol can result in increased hair loss. Basically, cortisol is important in the stimulation of hair follicles, too little cortisol = not enough stimulation, resulting in hair loss and decreased growth. On the high end, it is believed that the adrenal gland, which is what produced cortisol, is so busy keeping up with the high demand for cortisol it fails to produce enough of the other hormones necessary for hair growth, like testosterone.

Scalp Massage

Sometimes controversial, scalp massage has several benefits that may improve the growth rate of your hair as well as improve the thickness. These results are probably due to the increase in circulation provided by the massage. Besides, it definitely couldn’t hurt, right?

Topical Treatments

There are several options for topical treatments that may help you to regrow hair. Here are just a few of the most commonly used options.

Coconut Oil

Coconut oil is perhaps one of the best things you can use on your head; whether you are the one dealing with hair loss or not. Coconut oil has the ability to penetrate deeply into the hair and follicle to protect from losing essential proteins. The restorative properties also allow the hair follicle to repair itself in many cases, allowing you to grow stronger, healthier hair from the inside out.

Aloe Vera

Aloe Vera is one of those miracle plants that have been used for thousands of years to treat all kinds of issues. While it is not sure if Aloe Vera can improve hair growth, it is known to help soothe the scalp and calm irritated and inflamed hair follicles. This would then allow the hair follicle better able to grow healthy hair.

Onion Juice

Don’t curl your nose up yet… Onion juice, though not pleasant to the nose has been found to treat alopecia areata, an autoimmune disorder that results in round patches of hair falling out. Onion juice has also been found to improve blood flow and keratin in test animals. At least you don’t have to drink it, just put a few onions in the blender, puree it and then separate the liquid. Put it on your scalp (and hair) for 15 minutes or more and follow with a good shampoo.

Rosemary Oil

Rosemary oil has repeated been shown an effective treatment for increasing the actual number of active hair follicles. Though you should use rosemary with caution, as many individuals experience a high level of itch when using rosemary.

Geranium Oil

Geranium Oil is often found in natural shampoos that work to improve hair regrowth. Geranium not only helps regrow hair but helps to prevent further hair loss from occurring.

Lemon Juice (or Oil)

Lemon in either juice or oil form has been found to improve hair health starting with the scalp and hair follicles. This leads to better chances for hair regrowth and the hair that grows is healthier and stronger.

Essential Oils

Several essential oils have been shown to increase the hair growth rate and thickness. One study with participants that suffered from hair loss tested a mixture of essential oils and jojoba oil massaged into their scalp against similar participants with no intervention. The study reported 30% more participants to experience improvement of the control group. Source: American Medical Association through the JAMA Network

Dietary Supplements

We should all be eating a perfectly balanced diet, packed with nutrient-rich foods that contain everything we need to be healthy and grow a great head of hair. The reality, however, is that most people do not obtain all of the crucial nutrients that we need from their food alone. That is where dietary supplements come in. They help to fill these voids in nutrition. While there are probably dozens of nutrients including vitamins and minerals that can help regrow hair in some way, these are the nutrients that are known to directly impact hair regrowth.

Iron

Iron is extremely important in the capacity to regrow hair, though we do not completely understand why. Individuals that suffer from iron deficiency are of the highest percentage to also suffer acute hair loss. Therefore, reversing the condition by making sure you have adequate levels of iron can restore your natural ability to regrow hair.

Zinc

Zinc is a mineral that affects the structure of the hair. Lower zinc levels lead to brittle dry hair, so it can be assumed that the hair follicle and potential for hair growth are affected as well. Zinc is one of the supplements, like iron, that can offer several benefits to your overall health in addition to improving your hair growth.

Fish Oil and Flaxseed

Both fish oil and flaxseed contain high levels of omega-3 fatty acids. These are essential fats necessary to hydrate the scalp from with the body. They help to reduce flakes and dryness and restore the scalps overall health. They also contain important B vitamins that improve the strength of the hair and reduces further hair loss.

Ginseng

Ginseng is a funny little supplement that helps with all kinds of things including stimulating hair growth. The funny part is that there is no real understanding of how ginseng works, just that it does. Ginseng has been used to promote healthy hair for centuries, so why question a good thing? Though ginseng can cause side effects in some individuals, so you may want to be cautious if you decide to add it to your supplements.

Exercise

We aren’t going to harp on the benefits of exercise to an overall healthier body. However, exercise has been shown to reduce stress (we’ll explain in a sec), improve circulation, and perhaps most important to hair regrowth – increase testosterone production.

Since we know that testosterone, particularly dihydrotestosterone has a direct impact on the potential for hair growth, anything that naturally improves the levels of testosterone is a good thing.

Destress

See, it was just a sec. Destressing could potentially be the most important thing you could do to help improve your ability and chances of re-growing your hair. Although obviously, it may differ depending on the cause of hair loss. The strange fact is that one of the most common causes of hair loss is stress-related increases in hormones that directly impact your hair growth, including the structure of the hair and health of the hair follicles themselves.

Taking just moments a day to stop and focus on your breathing, allowing the weight of your troubles to subside for even a brief time can allow those hormone levels to drop drastically. Don’t believe us? Ask your doctor.

Minoxidil

Minoxidil, also known by the brand name Rogaine, is a common treatment for thinning and balding hair. It has been shown to be successful BUT with one very serious issue. Once treatment stops so does the hair growth. In fact, many have reported drastic hair loss and even more than before they started the treatment with once they discontinued using Minoxidil.

Finasteride

Approved by the FDA, Finasteride is specifically for men. The drug blocks the enzymes found in hair follicles. These enzymes are responsible for the conversion of testosterone to DHT. Finasteride has shown to be extremely effective for treated hair loss in men with an up to a 60 percent decrease in DHT.BUT this drug also has some serious side effects. The most notable are sexual issues such as erectile dysfunction and decrease libido.

Hormone Therapy

We talked already about the importance of testosterone in hair growth. Some individuals choose to undergo hormone therapy as a way to improve the levels of testosterone and other vital hormones linked to hair growth. We want to take a moment to caution that hormone therapy should not be done as a first option. Except in cases where hormonal issues are proven to be the cause of hair loss, hormones affect too much of our bodies to be manipulated only for hair growth.

Platelet-Rich Plasma – The New Treatment on the Block

In recent years, a medical treatment known as PRP, which involves drawing blood, separating the plasma and then injecting the plasma back into your scalp. It is believed that plasmas natural growth factors can stimulate hair follicles. This treatment is often coupled with one of the above treatments.