Hair loss products
Hair loss is a common problem which occurs, for example, through natural processes or is often chemically promoted through the use of certain therapeutic drugs designed to alleviate conditions such as cancer. Often such hair loss is accompanied by lack of hair regrowth which causes partial or full baldness. Scalp hair loss can be divided into the three main groups and any one group or combinations of said groups may be operating in an individual at any point in time, they include hair loss caused by a reduction in the number of hairs per unit area, hair loss caused by a reduction in the diameter of hair, and hair loss caused by an increase in the number of hairs in the telogen (resting) phase, or an increase in the length of time (latency period) between the end of the telogen phase and the initiation of the next anagen (growing) phase. The pathophysiology of both male and female hair loss is not yet understood. Factors ranging from low scalp blood flow, deficiency of nutrients and hair-related vitamins, microbially-driven inflammatory changes and the like have been considered. Hair loss or alopecia may be caused by a variety of factors including heredity, hormonal deficiencies or imbalances, diet, stress, chemotherapy or aging. The desire to maintain or regain head hair has led to continuing efforts throughout history to discover compositions and methods for stimulating hair growth and for preventing or minimizing hair loss. For most humans, scalp hair has a life cycle of between 1000 and 2000 days, following which there is a short period of rest (the telogen phase), which lasts approximately one hundred days. For the majority of its life cycle, scalp hair is in a growth phase known as the anagen phase. As the new hair grows up the follicle it loosens the old resting hair which is usually dislodged with brushing, combing or shampooing. This cycle continues unless the hair metabolism is disturbed. Since shed hair is almost entirely telogen hair, the loss from the scalp is seen 10 to 12 weeks later. Hair growth cycle is often divided into three main stages which are known as anagen, catagen, and telogen. Anagen is the growth phase of the cycle and may be characterized by penetration of the hair follicle deep into the dermis with rapid proliferation of cells which are differentiating to form hair. The next phase is catagen, which is a transitional stage marked by the cessation of cell division, and during which the hair follicle regresses through the dermis and hair growth is ceased. The next phase, telogen, is often characterized as the resting stage during which the regressed follicle contains a germ with tightly packed dermal papilla cells. At telogen, the initiation of a new anagen phase is caused by rapid cell proliferation in the germ, expansion of the dermal papilla, and elaboration of basement membrane components. Wherein hair growth ceases, most of the hair follicles reside in telogen and anagen is not engaged, thus causing the onset of full or partial baldness. Androgenic hormones promote growth of the beard and of body hair throughout life. The growth of scalp hair also depends on androgenic hormones, but only in early life. With increasing age, androgenic hormones switch from promoting growth of scalp hair to promoting its loss, known as androgenic effluvium and alopecia. In hirsutism and acne vulgaris, an excess of cutaneous androgenic hormones was shown to be the major factor in those complex syndromes. The most common type of hair loss in men is male pattern baldness or alopecia. Usually with alopecia, hair loss happens gradually over many years. It starts out being most obvious on the crown of the head and in the frontal region in men. For women afflicted with alopecia, the hair loss, which provides a thinning effect, is more spread out and is common after menopause. Despite this type of hair loss being common, it is one of the categories that has met with only very limited success on the part of scalp and hair specialists in being able to reverse its effect. Alopecia (hair loss) is a common condition that results from diverse causes. Alopecia, colloquially known as baldness, strictly speaking cannot be considered as a disease but rather a biological dysfunction which produces a feeling of discomfort and/or uneasiness in the affected individual, which may even lead to serious psychological disorders. The most common form is androgenic alopecia, which, among the mammals, affects chimpanzees, orangutans, and other primates, as well as men. The alopecia is essentially due to a disturbance of hair renewal, which leads initially to an acceleration of the frequency of the cycles at the expense of the quality of the hairs, and then of their quantity. There is a gradual depletion of the head of hair through regression of so-called "terminal" hairs at the down stage. Some regions are affected preferentially, in particular the temporal or frontal areas in men, and a diffuse alopecia of the crown is observed in women. In particular, alopecia frequently occurs in cancer patients who are treated with chemotherapeutic drugs such as cyclophosphamide (CY) and/or irradiation. Such agents damage hair follicles which contain mitotically active hair-producing cells. Such damage may cause abnormally slow growth of the hair or may lead to frank loss.
Related products