Hair Loss

What Your Symptom Is Telling You

First your barber starts charging you half-price for a trim. Then your wife develops an odd habit of licking her palms and matting your stray hairs into place. Next you find yourself sarcastically referring to perfectly coiffed entertainers and newscasters on the tube as Mr. Hairdo. It's time to face the nearly bare facts: You're probably one of 50 million Americans suffering from male or (women, take note) female pattern baldness—the most common forms of hair loss.

The best way to know for sure: Most people shed 50 to 150 hairs from their heads a day. If you're a man and you're losing twice that many off the top in a broad pattern—and the only thing that has grown back looks like it belongs on a peach—you're a likely candidate. Female pattern baldness, however, doesn't seem to be limited to one particular area, says Larry E. Millikan, M.D., chairman of the Department of Dermatology at the Tulane University Medical Center in New Orleans.

If you've developed one or more coin-shaped bald patches on your head, you may have developed alopecia areata—a mysterious condition thought to be caused by allergies to your own hair, says Ronald C. Savin, M.D., clinical professor of dermatology at the Yale University School of Medicine. The condition is often temporary.

Less mysterious: Temporary hair loss in women who have just had children. Hormones apparently slow natural hair loss during pregnancy but boost it afterward, says Dr. Savin. It resolves within ten months after giving birth.

Drugs and medical treatments—like anti-gout and anti-arthritis medications and antidepressants—and poor nutrition can also spell temporary distress for your tresses. Among the worst: radiation therapy or chemotherapy for cancer, says Robert Richards, M.D., of Toronto, a spokesperson for the American Academy of Dermatologists.

Symptom Relief

If you're trying to hang on to your hair, consider these tips.

Feed your scalp. It won't turn a desert into a forest, but good nutrition—like quality protein and iron—do seem to play at least a minor role in preventing hair loss.

In fact, severe dieting (200 to 400 calories a day) can actually provoke substantial temporary hair loss, says Dr. Savin. Good, low-fat sources of protein are lean chicken, beef and beans. Get sufficient iron from lean beef and enriched cereals, or even a good supplement. Too much vitamin A can actually cause hair loss.

Tricks of the Hair Trade

If growing new hair isn't an option—and it usually isn't—the only other alternative is making the most of what you have.

Have a discussion with your hairdresser. Because female pattern baldness is characterized by thinning throughout the scalp, proper styling can help hide hair loss in women. Men may also benefit. "Appropriate hairstyles and grooming methods can make the hair look much thicker," says Joel Moore, artistic and educational director for Revlon in Savannah, Georgia.

Flip over wigs. Made with real human hair, many wigs and toupees feature two-sided tape that can get wet and still stay in place, says Moore. Before making your selection, consult an experienced cosmetologist.

Wear a weave. During a hair weave, hair is matched and braided to your existing hair in a process that keeps it snug and lifelike. The only drawback: As your hair grows, the weave becomes loose and you have to go back for tightening, says Moore.

Medical Approaches

If you're willing to consider a medical solution, consult your doctor about these treatments.

Regain your hair with Rogaine? While initial reports trumpeted Rogaine's (minoxidil) success in treating male and female pattern baldness, some experts are now more skeptical. Studies show that about 40 percent of the men who use minoxidil, the active ingredient in the prescription hair-growth product Rogaine, will have modest, though cosmetically significant regrowth, says Dr. Savin, who also serves as a consultant for the company that manufactures the drug. In the remaining 60 percent, however, hair loss is merely slowed or stopped by using minoxidil. Women, on the other hand, fare much better: Nearly every woman who uses the drug regrows 12 to 15 percent of her lost hair.

For best results, follow the directions strictly, says Dr. Savin. And instead of using mousse or a styling gel, which can water down the dose, style with hairspray.

If you don't see results in ten months, minoxidil may not be for you. Two to six months after you stop using the drug, "nature catches up with you, and you lose the new hair that you grew," says Dr. Savin. A month's supply, about two ounces, costs between $55 and $70.

Shave some size off that scalp. During a procedure called scalp reduction, doctors actually remove part of the skin from the scalp and then pull the areas with hair closer together, giving the illusion of more hair, says Dr. Richards. Candidates for scalp reduction include those with more vigorous side hair growth.

Plant some old hairs in a new place. During a hair transplant, hair is surgically removed from an area with more prolific hair growth—like the back of the head—and placed in the bald area. Contrary to popular belief, the transplanted hair will not spread. If successful, the hair merely grows—and no one misses it from where it used to be. "In hair transplantation there's no change in the number of hairs. It's just a mechanical redistribution," says Dr. Richards.

Consider cortisone. For the coin-size bald patches caused by alopecia areata, many doctors inject cortisone directly into the bald area. Results are usually impressive, says Dr. Savin. Cortisone injections are also used to grow eyebrows and eyelashes for victims of alopecia universalis, the more serious form of alopecia, says Dr. Savin.