What Are The Types Of Hair Loss
- Androgenetic Alopecia: It is a medical term of hereditary male or female pattern baldness.
- Telogen Effluvium: It is a type of noticeable hair loss after an emotional shock and stress happening when many hair follicles go into telogen phase .
- Anagen Effluvium: It occurs after chemotherapy or radiation therapy exposure during the anagen or growth phase of hair follicles.
- Alopecia Areata: It is an autoimmune condition in which the immune system attacks hair follicles after a stressful event.
- Scarring Alopecias : It is a skin disease in which Inflammation on the skin causes permanent loss of hair. Before a hair replacement surgery, this condition should be fixed. Otherwise the operation will definetely fail.
- Alopecia Universalis: In this type of hair loss, all hair son the body fall out. Hair follicles do not die and can regrow.
- Tinea capitis: It is a ringworm caused fungal infection resulting in a patchy bald spots on the head. Brittle and broken hairs, itchy,red and ring-like bald spots are some of the symptoms of Tinea Capitis.
It Helps Babies In The Womb
In rare cases, pregnant women can have a biotin deficiency, and so to promote fetal health, its sometimes recommended to take a prenatal vitamin that contains biotin and folic acid while pregnant.
However, taking too much biotin while pregnant could lead to rare side effects that include allergies, acne, or even miscarriage. Always speak to your OB/GYN before taking biotin while pregnant.
It Helps Your Metabolism
Biotin plays an important role in supporting metabolic function. It helps break down and metabolize carbohydrates and amino acids, and also helps break down fat in your body, all of which helps to create energy.
Research has found that biotin, when combined with chromium picolinate, may raise your metabolic rate of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins.
While this doesnt mean that biotin can accelerate weight loss, it does show that biotin is essential when it comes to your metabolism and blood sugar control.
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Does Biotin Only Potentially Help With Hair Growth
No, people do take biotin for other things too which, unlike the link between biotin and hair growth, are backed up with more evidence.15
One of the main benefits of taking biotin is that it can support a healthy metabolism. Biotin converts glucose from carbohydrates into energy for the body and aids amino acids in carrying out normal bodily functions.
What If You’re Deficient
Most people get enough of the nutrients mentioned above through diet, but in rare cases, a medical problem may cause a deficiency or affect your hair, nails, or skin. People who take antibiotics long-term or use antiseizure drugs, for instance, are more likely to be biotin-deficient. An over- or underactive thyroid may cause hair loss and dry strands. Iron-deficiency anemia can lead to brittle, oddly shaped nails.
If youre experiencing chronic hair, nail, or skin problems for no clear reason, talk with your doctor. Its important for your physician to determine whether youre deficient in a particular nutrient, Katta says. Then, if you are, you can be supplemented the correct way. The risk in taking supplements without seeing a doctor first: Getting too much of a nutrientlike vitamin A, for instancecan trigger hair loss just as getting too little can, she adds.
Keep in mind that dietary supplements are not tightly regulated by the Food and Drug Administration and might contain substances not listed on the label or have much less or more of an ingredient than promised. For example, in 2008, one brand of multivitamin was found to have 200 times the labeled concentration of seleniumafter it had caused hair loss and discolored, brittle nails in about 200 people across 10 states.
If you choose to take supplements, can you ensure that they are safe? Some carry one of four seals that might have some merit: U.S. Pharmacopeia, NSF International, ConsumerLab.com, and UL.
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Does Biotin Actually Help The Hair Grow
Hair supplements promising “longer, stronger” hair often contain more than the typical RDA of biotin. But having an excess of biotin doesn’t necessarily provide hair with the benefits you may be seeking. Bhanusali, Samolitis, and board-certified dermatologist Shanthi Colaco all say that biotin is water-soluble, meaning what your body doesn’t use, you urinate out. Although high doses are unnecessary, it’s considered harmless if you take more than the RDA.
Another consensus among the experts interviewed for this story is that there is not enough research to prove that biotin actually aids hair growth. In a case report on the subject of biotin supporting hair health published in the Pediatric Dermatology journal in 2007, it was only found to help a child with a very rare condition called Uncombable Hair Syndrome.
“In order for something to be ‘proven,’ you need to have controlled clinical testing done where one-half of the subjects receives biotin and the other half doesn’t,” explains Dennis Gross, a board-certified dermatologist in New York City. To his knowledge, “there has never been a controlled clinical study for biotin. However, there is a great amount of anecdotal data from subjects who claim it really has helped their hair grow.â
Dosage Preparation And Safety
The FDA has not established a recommended dietary allowance for biotin. According to the National Institutes of Health, 30 micrograms is the adequate daily intake for adults 19 years of age and older. People can usually get this amount through their diet.
Still, people who support its use often recommend taking 2 to 5 milligrams of biotin in supplement form daily in order to strengthen hair and achieve results.
Although biotin is a water-soluble vitamin , the safety of using any amount of biotin in supplement form is unknown.
As with many other supplements, biotin hasn’t been tested for safety in pregnant women, nursing mothers, children, and those with medical conditions or who are taking medications.
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Which Vitamins Help In Hair Growth
In addition to biotin, the other B vitamins are important for healthy hair growth, including Vitamin B6, B12, and folic acid. In fact, Vitamin B12 helps hair cells and hair growth by promoting healthy hair follicles through the production of oxygen-rich red blood cells.
The B vitamins arent the only nutrients important for good hair health. To avoid any vitamin deficiency hair loss, your diet should include nutrients like Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, iron, magnesium, and zinc.
Vitamin D deficiency hair loss is also a problem. Vitamin D nourishes the hair follicles. Vitamin D deficiency is also common in people who suffer from alopecia areata, an autoimmune condition.
Biotin Benefits And Side Effects
Recently consuming biotin has become a trend among women to have healthy skin and hair. But unfortunately, this actually causes problems and side effects. So, it is important for you to know everything about biotin, not only knowing the benefits of biotin but also knowing the side effects of biotin. This is important before you try to take this path to beautify yourself.
Biotin is a group of B vitamins, also known as vitamin H or vitamin B7, biotin is a water-soluble vitamin. Biotin is a component of enzymes in the body whose job is to break down fat, and carbohydrates to convert it into energy. The problem is that the human body does not store water-soluble vitamins, so we need to get them from the food we eat.
This is why, you should include biotin in your diet. According to nutritionist Manisha Chopra, biotin has important benefits for:
- Metabolic processes such as producing glucose and fatty acids in the body.
- Maintain healthy hair, skin, liver, eyes, nervous system and nails.
- Regulate blood sugar levels
- Increases good cholesterol in the body, and
- Improve cognitive function
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Take Biotin Supplements With Food
Taking your biotin supplements following a meal can increase the amount absorbed. Stomach acid levels increase during digestion and these acids help to break down the supplement, making the biotin much easier to absorb. All of this can help to reduce any gastrointestinal side effects from taking too much biotin.3
What Might Cause A Biotin Deficiency
Some people may develop a biotin deficiency for a variety of reasons, including pregnancy, smoking, taking medications to treat epilepsy, consuming excessive raw egg whites, intense physical activity, metabolic disorders, and gastrointestinal difficulties. While the symptoms of biotin deficiency include tiredness, confusion, numbness in fingers and toes, rashes, and depression, the most commonly recognized sign is hair loss.
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The Relationship Between Dht & Baldness
Male pattern baldness can take several forms, from a receding hairline to diffuse thinning across your crown or entire scalp. With a few exceptions , the key cause is always the same: sensitivity to dihydrotestosterone, more commonly known as DHT.
DHT is a byproduct of testosterone. When your body produces testosterone, a small amount is converted into DHT. This DHT can bind to receptors in your scalp and cause the hair follicles to deteriorate over time, resulting in a receding hairline or thinning hair.
Because the hair follicles at the front and crown of your scalphave the most receptors, theyre usually the first to be affected by hair loss.
Everyone has a different sensitivity level to DHT. This is why some men start to go bald early in life while others maintain a full hairline as they age. If youre sensitive to DHT, youll eventually start to lose your hair regardless of your diet and vitamin consumption.
You can learn more about the role DHT plays in male pattern baldness in our guide to DHT and male hair loss. If youve noticed your hairline starting to recede or your hair beginning to thin, its probably the result of sensitivity to DHT.
Since biotin is a vitamin, it doesnt have any effect on the conversion of testosterone to DHT.
However, some research indicates that biotin supplementation may have an effect on hair growth, making it a useful addition to your hair growth supplement stack when used alongside a DHT-blocker like finasteride.
Does It Work For Hair Growth
Biotin has become a popular over-the-counter supplement for hair growth, available in tablets as well as gummies. The real question, however, is whether it actually works.
There is limited evidence to suggest increased biotin intake promotes hair growth, but several studies show that it may strengthen the hair and help reduce shedding. Stronger hair means less breakage which, combined with reduced shedding, could help your hair look thicker or fuller even if you dont actually experience any additional growth.
For some women, thats more than enough.
In one 2015 study, women with thinning hair were given an oral supplement that contained biotin and several other ingredients or placebo twice daily for 90 days.
At the end of the study, participants taking the supplement with biotin and other ingredients experienced not only a reduction in hair shedding, but significant hair growth in the areas affected by hair loss.
A 2017 review of previous research found 18 cases of biotin use for changes in hair and nails. In all cases, the researchers found that patients receiving biotin had an underlying pathology for poor hair or nail growth. All of those cases showed clinical evidence for improvement with biotin supplementation.
Though there are a few small studies that show promising results, the National Institutes of Health has concluded that there is insufficient evidence to rate the effectiveness of biotin for the treatment of hair loss.
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Is There A Natural Solution
If any natural ingredient deserves a little more love, its ashwagandha, an Indian medicine herb that comes from a family of plants called adaptogens, which date back thousands of years in use in traditional Indian Ayurvedic medicine, according to Rupani Goyal. Adaptogens help the body normalize physiologic responses to stress, such as cortisol release, and in this way can be helpful in managing hair loss, Goyal says.
Perhaps because natural medicinal alternatives are not prescribed by most doctors, its tempting to think you can DIY a hair loss solution by buying a few herbs off of Amazon, rolling up your sleeves, and creating elixirs in your kitchen. But Goyal reminds us that herbs are powerful and many of our prescribed medications actually originated in plants.
Safety is a real concern, Goyal says. As such, not only is it vital to have a complete understanding of human physiology before recommending a supplement, but if someone is attempting to actually create an herbal remedy, having the involvement of a plant scientist or chemist is also important.
How Can I Stop My Hair Loss
Eliminating the variables that cause your hair loss is the first step to stopping your hair loss. Be aware that there is not a magical solution. You may start with lifestyle changes and dietary updates. You can reduce alcohol consumption and smoking, and start taking supplementary and pharmacological medications. Most importantly, consult with a dermatologist whose specialty is scalp and hair loss to understand the root cause.
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If Biotin Doesn’t Really Work Then What Does
The modern wellness movement, though trendy in a way that raises some eyebrows and is undoubtedly imperfect , could also serve as a bridge that takes us from the biotin hair loss solution that rarely works to innovative procedures and herbal treatments that really, truly can help hair shedding and encourage regrowth.
One such product that is slowly gaining recognition, though its still far from enjoying the celeb status of biotin, is Nutrafol, a drug-free hair growth supplement that is formulated with a wide variety of natural ingredients that include ashwagandha, hydrolyzed marine collagen, saw palmetto, and biocurcumin. For the sake of full disclosure, after experiencing stress-related hair shedding, I began taking Nutrafol for women . My hair shedding nearly completely stopped after about three months of daily usage this was after I had tried several other supplements prior to Nutrafol, including ingestible and topical biotin.
In other words, all natural hair-loss supplements are not created equal, no matter what buzz you hear about a star ingredient. Its important to address cortisol levels that contribute to stress-related hair loss, as well as any underlying inflammation that can weaken hair follicles.
Inflammation interferes with signaling molecules that control the biological clock of the hair growth cycle, pushing follicles into the resting phase, telogen, Peralta says.
Do Hair Vitamins Really Work
On this topic, Consumer Reports noted that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration does not tightly regulate vitamins and nutritional supplements or all of the claims made about them. So, while Consumer Reports did agree that vitamins and nutrients, such as Vitamin B complex, Vitamin A, etc., can reverse hair loss from a vitamin deficiency, they also caution that it wont correct hair loss from other causes and that some labels do not properly reflect the contents. One example the magazine cites is a brand of multivitamin that had 200 times the amount of selenium than the label listed. While selenium is essential for good hair growth, excessive selenium can cause hair loss.
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