Healthy Hair is the crown of your head. But, most importantly, your hair highlights your hair hygiene, the cosmetics you use, the food you eat and especially your overall health. Hair Care is not just for your hair, but, it also means that you are also taking care of the rest of your body. Knowing your hair and scalp type is equally important as choosing the right product for your hair type. You need to know the right things for your healthy hair so that you can differentiate between healthy hair and unhealthy hair in order to maintain your shiny, bouncy and healthy hair.
Your hair is a fantastic scale to measure your general health. Unhealthy hair, might not just be a hair problem, it can be a hidden sign regarding your health.
It’s not always what you put on your hair that is healthy for you but rather what nutrients you put inside your body.
There are signs and symptoms of certain hidden health issues, illness or other deficiencies that your hair health highlights. You may feel irritated by an itchy scalp or dandruff. You might also be noticing more hair in the drain while you take a shower. Or you might be seeing more grey hair in the last few months. The changes can be an alarm of deteriorating health which can be due to nutrient deficiencies and other hormonal issues.
Table of Contents
Alarming Hair Problems
Just a Few Grey Hair
You might be noticing a few grey hairs and thinking it’s in genes or due to age. This may be true but the leading factor of grey hair is stress. Stress can make your hair lose pigment. It affects the stem cells that are responsible for the regeneration of hair pigment. Stress also contributes to high blood pressure, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, weak gut health, weak immune system and various other health issues.
Premature Hair Greying
Premature Hair Greying is more than just stress. Vitamin B12 Deficiency is infamous for taking the life out of your hair and causing the loss of pigment of your hair. Vitamin B12 Deficiency can lead to other serious health issues. To avoid premature hair greying you need to add vitamin B12 rich foods- fish, milk and milk products, eggs, poultry and meat to your diet.
Excessive Hair Fall
It is normal to lose about 100-150 hair strands daily. In fact, this is a sign of healthy hair. Hair fall also increases with the age or in pregnancy, you can control this by improving your diet and nutritional intake. However, excessive hair fall can be alarming. It can be due to issues of hormonal imbalance, chronic stress, diabetes or weak immune system. One simple method to help you check if your hair fall is normal or not is by combing your hair with fingers from roots to the tip and analyze your hair fall by following steps
- Excellent hair condition if only 1-2 hair strands are lost
- Good condition if 3-5 hair strands are lost
- Something is wrong if more strands are lost
But before you jump to a false conclusion, it is better to consult a dermatologist regarding your hair loss concern.
Excessive Oil-Greasy Hair
Your hair naturally produces sebum or oil. But, excessive oil in your hair can be a sign of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome known as PCOS. It is a condition linked to females, in which ovaries start developing numerous small collections of fluid. Due to PCOS, the body of a female starts to produce more “Androgen hormone” It is a male hormone, in particular, that makes your hair scalp over-oily. If you are suffering from PCOS, you’ll suffer from other symptoms—increased body and facial hair, acne and body weight. So, apart from the greasy hair, you need to look out for the other symptoms in regard to PCOS. Excessive greasiness can also be the symptom of other hormonal problems and liver issues so if the oily scalp is beyond normal, do consult your doctor.
Dandruff
Dandruff- the ultimate nightmare for your hair. The itchy scalp due to dandruff not only hurt your image in the public but can badly affect your confidence. Excessive dandruff leads to excessive itching, if left uncontrolled, it leads to infection.
The cause of dandruff can be different and also tells different health issues. It can be due to using harsh chemicals, or other hair products that don’t suit your scalp. These products can be carcinogenic. Nutritional intake affects your dandruff as well. Dandruff is basically caused when the microflora of your hair scalp is disturbed due to certain foods. If you are observing quite a lot of dandruff lately, then you need to reduce bad fats from your diet that even includes chocolate and certain dairy products. Dandruff is also due to stress, gastrointestinal problems and immune deficiency.
Yellow dandruff, in particular, is associated with a skin condition known as “Seborrheic Dermatitis” and it is not corrected by using hair products and you need to visit a dermatologist.
Itchy Scalp
Your hair needs minerals, vitamins and trace elements to nourish properly. The deficiency of zinc leads to an itchy scalp. Zinc is needed by your body to process proteins, fats and carbohydrates that are essential for your hair growth.
Thinning of Hair
Apart from the itchy scalp, thinning of hair is due to “Hypothyroidism”, it is an underlying condition, in which the production of “thyroid hormones” is reduced by the thyroid gland. Certain thyroid disorders are further linked with auto-immune hair loss condition known as “Alopecia Areata”. In this condition, you’ll have empty patches of sudden air loss. The immune system in this condition is attacking your hair follicles.
Therefore, it is necessary for you to take care of your hair, eat for your hair and for health concerns visit your doctor. In order to achieve strong, bouncy and beautiful hair, you can reach out to the best dermatologist all over Pakistan through Healthwire. pk.
