How to Conceal Hair Loss

Both men and women can be subject to hair loss. Although you can't do much to prevent it, you can take steps to hide it.

Difficulty: Moderately challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Hair Accessories
• Scarves
• Sporty Hats
• Sun Hats
• Hairstyling Software

1. Consult with a physician or dermatologist before considering any method to conceal hair loss.

2. Think about wearing a hat or bandana, when appropriate, or even a toupee or hairpiece. You can get a hairpiece made to fit your remaining hair or bald head and wear it even during swimming and other athletic activities. However, in addition to the initial cost of the hairpiece, you often have to pay for a plan, which involves payments for maintaining hairpieces over the years.

3. Conceal thinning hair with hair weaves or extensions, available for people of all ethnicities. See your hairstylist for more information.

4. Try one of the medications that help to regrow hair. The two most popular'albeit expensive'products are minoxidil topical (Rogaine) and finasteride (Propecia). Results vary widely for Rogaine, which you apply to the scalp, and Propecia, which is an oral prescription medication.

5. Consider hair transplants. This surgical procedure takes healthy hair from one part of your head and transplants it to a bald area. Keep in mind that a licensed dermatologist experienced in this area must perform the procedure.

6. Investigate other forms of surgery, such as scalp reduction, which involves removing the bald part of your scalp and pulling the remaining portions together, and flap surgery, which involves pulling a receding hairline forward.

Tips & Warnings

• Aside from the products mentioned, no creams, lotions, herbs or other over-the-counter products have been proved to increase hair growth or lessen hair loss.
• Avoid hair transplants in the early stages of baldness'you may look unnatural if you lose more hair down the line.
• Always follow your doctor's advice concerning medication and surgery. Inform your doctor about any medications you take regularly, and find out about side effects and interactions.

Who Can Help:

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[25ballerc]

on 6/2/2008 Great information! I'm going to use this along with some I found at http://baldness1.blogspot.com to regrow my hair.

[jamasol]

on 5/30/2007 Getting hair extensions when you have thinning hair is a very bad idea. Any kind off extension has weight and the weight is pulling on your hair. Even healthy hair will have some breakage, do to friction, where the extension meets their own hair. One thing that does work if you have just mildly thinning hair. Take an eyebrow pencil that is similar and lightly color in your scalp. You can tell the hair is thin because you can see the scalp through it. If the scalp is a similar color to the hair you don't realize you can see it. This only looks good if you are mildly thinning but that all a lot of women are.

on 8/12/2006 I've been losing my hair for about 5 years or so; since my head shape doesn't lend itself to the 'bald and proud' shaved-head look (I would look like a light bulb, or an upside down pear), I decided to look into masking the balding areas and accentuating the hair I still have. Trial and error have led me to a system that works pretty well for me, and is affordable to almost everyone. You need:
1. A masking solution (my favorite is Couvre, but GLH spray works too)
2. A filling agent, like Toppik (but Organin seems to work better for me)
3. A hair dryer
4. A dark-colored hand towel
5. A firm holding aerosol hair spray
6. A bathroom sink, and 5-10 extra minutes every morning

After your shower, pat dry your hair. Then, use the masking solution to cover all the bald spots. Ideally, let this dry for 5 minutes (go pick out your clothes for work or something), then rinse your hair in the sink to take the mask off the hair, but leave it on the scalp. Pat dry with the hand towel; blow dry and comb. Now dust the thin areas with the filler. This will thicken up the areas and creates the illusion of a fuller head of hair. Remove the excess from your forehead, then spray into place.

With practice, this system is mostly undetectable, and the $50 you lay out for supplies should last about 3 months.

on 8/8/2006 Propecia (finasteride) halts, or even promotes, hair regrowth by binding with and rendering harmless an enzyme called 5-alpha-reductase. The 5-alpha-reducatse in its unchanged form can do bad things for those of us sensitive to male pattern baldness. This enzyme breaks our testosterone down into DiHydroTestosterone or DHT. DHT in essence starves these sensitive hair follicles and over time we lose our hair. Since the compound in Propecia blocks the excessive formation of DHT, there is much less DHT around to starve the sensitive hair follicles thus the hair is able to grow more normally.

on 3/2/2006 The drug propecial actually works really well. When you start taking it your hair loss will stop. I don't understand why so few people seem to realize this. I'm 19 and my hair loss has already started pretty bad and I just got prescribed this.

With propecial 80% stop losing hair and about 60% actually grow more hair.