Myths about hair loss.
You’ve probably been a part of a conversation like this—maybe around the holidays or at a bar with some friends. One friend will tell you: “Jim is losing his hair because he wears a hat all day on the job.”
Usually, comments like that are met with quiet acceptance. Absent with facts at your finger tips, you may be hard pressed to argue with that. But the hat myth, as well as others, makes the rounds frequently. Normally, these are harmless tidbits that don’t have any major effect on health care attitudes about hair loss. However, as a body of surgeons who rely on facts and science to base our practice of medicine on, members of the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery would like to take the time to also debunk these myths on causes of hair loss:
- Poor circulation
- Clogged hair follicles
- Frequent shampooing
- Presence of mites
- Stress (not including stress associated with severe anxiety and other medical traumas)
So, the next time you are caught in a conversation about hair loss, you can kindly inform your friends that in an overwhelming number of cases, the cause is hereditary male pattern baldness. And if you really want to wow them, tell your friends the scientific name is androgenetic alopecia (for more information, see our Women Hair Loss Causes article).
What’s the craziest myth you’ve heard for hair loss?