Why does hair get thin as we get age?
It feels a little like a betrayal.
As our facial skin begins to crease, body skin starts to crinkle and get dry in areas that suddenly look saggy (or did we just not notice?!), hair starts to get thinner and loose lustre., becomes more brittle and loses colour.
In some cases, hair fall increases, especially for men who begin to get an outgoing tide happening for the hairline.
There are a couple of things happening here, all connected with chronological ageing and happily reversible.
Firstly, hair loss. DHT is am androgen hormone that can cause increased hair fall and impacts men more than women. DHT can shrink follicle size and reduce the hair’s growth cycle.
While DHT is primarily impacts men, it is not exclusively a male issue. Under certain conditions such as continued high stress and during menopausal years, DHT can also impact female hair.
Hair starts to come out in your hairbrush and under extreme circumstances, comes out in clumps causing small bald patches. it’s very distressing.
The other primary factor impacting hair growth and strength for both men and women is scalp health.
People forget that the scalp is skin – skin with a high density of hair follicles.
As we age, all skin comes under pressure – it thins, often received less nutrition as it’s a lower priority than some other organs, the net outcome being reduced nutrition to follicles and reduction of lustre in hair.
Loss of hair colour is reducing levels of melanin being synthesised in the skin.
So there you have it, we product less melanin for the hair, less nutrition is available for the skin it grows in and the skin itself is thinner and more fragile (and can get itchy as a result).
Sound familiar?
Here’s the solution.
Look after the skin on your scalp. Look at the ingredients in your shampoo and check if any of them are likely to increase skin fragility. I recommend a hair mist with hyaluronic acid, with will boost scalp health and hydration in its own right.
If you want to retain colour, seek products with the appropriate peptides such as Skincare Lab GreyAway. We use Greyverse – a peptide that enables melanin synthesis in the hair. Gradually you’ll note the colour becomes richer and the grey less prevalent, while hair becomes progressively thicker and more vibrant as scalp health progressively improves (hyaluronic acid).
To reduce hair fall, look for products that help block hair fall and promote both scalp and follicle health such as SkincareLab HairHero or Baliba Hair Recovery Mist (HairHero has additional hair growth peptides for hair length and strength, but both have key peptide Procapil, which blocks DHT while also improving follicle health. Both these products also have hyaluronic acid to further boost scalp health.
Let’s not forget our eyelashes, which are just hairs with a relatively short lifecycle – they fall out much sooner than head hairs. Treating eyelid skin in the same way (with a lash brush rather than a mist) helps lashes morph from stubby to sensational in a few months (it takes longer than when you were 30 – everything slows down, but it will happen!). Skincare Lab Lash Hero delivers longer, thicker lashes in 2 – 3 months with noticeable effects within a few weeks.
Restoring lashes and hair to their former glory (or even close to it) has a huge impact on confidence. Restoring hair along with skin helps you feel like you again (only possibly wiser and maybe going to bed a fraction earlier than a few decades ago)!
