What to do about hair loss?

I was chatting with a friend today, and she talked about the trouble of hair loss. She used to have good hair, but later she started to lose hair for unknown reasons. She has tried many methods recently, but the results were not obvious, so she asked me to help her think of a solution. So I started with the amount of hair loss, talked to her about it, and shared it with you by the way.

01. How to define hair loss?

Regarding hair loss, we should first make a simple distinction based on the specific situation, that is, how much hair is lost per unit time? For example, if you do not wash your hair for 3 days or a week, you can roughly estimate the amount of hair loss. If the number of hair loss is about dozens, then there is no need to worry, because normal people also lose dozens of hairs every day. Therefore, if dozens of hairs accumulate in a few days, it is actually normal metabolism and there is no need to worry.

If the number of hair loss is hundreds, then this is a more troublesome type of hair loss. In this case, if there is a significant decrease in the amount of hair on the scalp, it is recommended to go to the hospital for treatment. The hospital has good prescription plans to deal with hair loss.

Hair loss in the middle is a very common situation. It is neither so severe that the hair volume is significantly reduced to the point where you have to go to the hospital, nor is it a normal metabolism situation. This situation is very common. After all, there are many factors that cause hair loss, such as environmental factors, living habits and eating habits, which can affect hair loss, not to mention the current fast-paced era, where young people are under great pressure, so hair loss can occur. Another situation is scalp damage, which can also cause hair loss. Let's talk about scalp damage.

02. Why does the scalp get damaged?

The scalp is where the sebaceous glands of the human body are densely distributed. As the name suggests, sebaceous glands are where the oil is secreted on the surface of the skin. In this location, the performance is more obvious. In fact, oil secretion is a good thing for the human body, because the oil itself can form a protective film on the surface of the skin, which can protect our skin from the influence of the external environment and play a role in moisturizing and retaining water.

Under normal circumstances, sebum metabolism is actually a dynamic equilibrium process, so there is no need to worry. However, if the sebum secretion of sebum by the sebaceous glands is unbalanced due to lifestyle, diet or hygiene, then a large amount of sebum will appear at this time. Fats can be oxidized (you can imagine the smell of oil that has been stored for a long time, which is actually fat oxidation). Especially the scalp is directly exposed to sunlight. Sunlight containing ultraviolet rays will cause sebum oxidation, resulting in the scalp becoming the hardest hit area for sebum imbalance. Sebum imbalance will not only trigger a large number of oxidation reactions, but also cause an imbalance in the skin's microbial ecology, causing a large number of lipophilic microorganisms to multiply. As a result, the balance of the skin is destroyed, the scalp is damaged, and hair loss begins to occur.

Therefore, the best way to deal with this type of hair loss is to eliminate its excessive oxidation.

03. How to deal with scalp damage?

What should we do when facing scalp damage? We humans happen to have substances that can solve this oxidation problem, that is, tocopherol and its derivatives.

Tocopherol has strong oxidizing and photoprotective properties, which can effectively remove reactive oxygen and reduce the generation of free radicals. As shown in the figure below, different concentrations of tocopherol can effectively inhibit the concentration of free radicals [1].

Therefore, it can alleviate the oxidation problem of the scalp, thereby avoiding scalp damage, reducing hair loss, and achieving the effect of preventing hair loss. Moreover, compared with other antioxidants, tocopherol is a fat-soluble vitamin, so adding it to shampoo can show fat solubility and permeability to the scalp, thereby promoting the skin's absorption of tocopherol. In addition, tocopherol itself is a moisturizer, so it can further produce a scalp erosion effect. Therefore, it is widely used in scalp care. Whether it is scalp care oil, shampoo or conditioner, this ingredient can be added to inhibit scalp fat oxidation.

It can be seen that in terms of principle and application, tocopherol and its derivatives are indeed in line with the logic of modern science. Containing high-purity tocopherol, it continuously replenishes antioxidant ingredients, stimulates the healthy growth of hair follicles, and enhances the activity of hair follicles. It specifically solves the problem of hair follicle blockage caused by scalp oxidation, thereby achieving the effect of effectively reducing hair loss through scalp antioxidants.

04. How to choose shampoo?

In fact, there are a large number of products for preventing hair loss on the market, especially various shampoos that focus on hair loss, which have won the favor of many people. However, whether these shampoos are effective or not has always been a question mark. Some people say that the effects are very good, while others think that they are meaningless. We will not discuss this here, after all, there is a lack of relevant big data statistics. But there is one thing that I believe many people must have noticed, that is, the anti-hair loss shampoos on the market are often Chinese herbal formulas, containing various Chinese herbal ingredients that are "supposedly" able to promote hair growth and nourishment.

I believe that for netizens who advocate science, it must be a little bit uncomfortable. After all, many Chinese herbal medicines have complex ingredients, unclear toxic side effects, and even lack relevant research evidence. They rely more on "ancient prescriptions". In this case, it is indeed difficult for us to recognize the effectiveness of these anti-hair loss shampoos. So is there no scientific shampoo formula to deal with hair loss?

Of course, as a young biomedical researcher who works in front of a computer every day, I am worried about many of my colleagues who start losing their hair in middle age, so I started preparing early. Therefore, for those who have hair loss, you can also choose some of these shampoos. When I buy, I never listen to the advertisements, but I must understand the ingredients, especially for some anti-hair loss mechanisms that target scalp oxidation problems, I will give priority to them.

[1] Han Jingjing, Tian Dandan, Gao Yuxing, Xiao Chunxia. Effects of tocopherol and its derivatives on protecting biomacromolecules from free radical-induced damage and inhibiting proliferation of HepG2 cells[J]. Food Science, 2018, 39(13): 144-152.