10 Myths About Hair Loss

Hair loss is now an established science, however, even today we still don’t have a full and holistic understanding of this all too common cosmetic affliction. This lack of knowledge has left the door open to beliefs about the causes of hair loss that are completely false-thus leading the hair loss suffer to incorrectly conclude that their hair loss was somehow their own fault. Myths are useful for remembering stories and the lessons they teach, but myths about hair loss leave the sufferer vulnerable to opportunists and hucksters. Below we’ll discuss ten myths about the causes of hair loss that are simply untrue:

1. Frequent hat wearing- At least 50% of patients under the age of 30 presenting to our medical offices believe that their hair loss was a result of wearing baseball caps. When asked why they believe this, the answer is invariably: “the build up of sweat and the lack of sunlight.” They believe that the hat prevents the sweat from evaporating and that this, by some unknown mechanism, causes their hair to thin and fall out. To their minds, sweat is “bad” and if it’s not allowed to dry out then it will have a caustic effect on the hair roots.In reality, the hair roots are deep in the skin of the scalp and are never in contact with sweat accumulating on the surface. Similarly, the lack of sunlight due to cap wearing has nothing to do with follicle health or vitality because humans are not plants and do not need direct sunlight to grow and thrive. As long as some part of the skin anywhere on the body is receiving sunlight, vitamin D and other products will be produced and shipped to the scalp via the bloodstream.The irony here is that while some sufferers honestly believe that their baseball caps are the cause of their hair loss, they still insist on wearing them anyway because it conceals their hair loss-thus leading to some self blaming for their own progressive hair loss . When it is explained to them that neither sweat nor lack of sunlight are mechanisms of hair loss they seem almost disappointed because they come to realize that if the cause of their hair loss isn’t as simple as putting on a cap, then the cure/treatment for hair loss can’t be as simple as taking one off. Of course they know this intuitively, but the desire to believe the simple “solution” is overwhelming.An easy way to dispel this myth is to simply look at the number of baseball players who have been wearing hats frequently since childhood all the way up to their 40s and beyond while playing professional baseball and have incredibly good heads of hair.
2. Frequent sweating – Similar to hat wearing, many patients wrongly believe that because they are physically active and sweat a lot that this “clogs the hair follicles” blocking the hair from getting out and that this, by some mysterious mechanism, causes the hair root to weaken and die. Again this myth leads to wrongful self-guilt because it makes the sufferer believe that because they are “indulging” in sports that they are causing their own hair to fall out. In reality it doesn’t matter how much a person sweats, it doesn’t affect the hair follicle at all. An easy way to appreciate this is by noticing that no matter how much a man with a lot of body hair engages in sports and sweating, the body hair never diminishes. Consider how sweaty a shirt and pants are after a good baseball game. The player takes their hat off often during the game, but very rarely takes off their sweat soaked shirt or pants, and yet hair growth from the neck down is unaffected. This is because the follicles cannot be blocked by any amount of wet or dried sweat. In fact, one could smear wax over the skin, scalp or otherwise, and the hair would grow right through it. The follicle wouldn’t even notice the presence of a layer of wax, much less some dried sweat.
3. Frequent showering- When patients understand that sweating in and of itself does not cause hair loss, their concerns often move to how much they shower. This makes sense considering most people who sweat a lot tend to shower more. They believe the physical action of rubbing the scalp vigorously with and without shampoo is somehow physically damaging the root. But the root is deep in the skin and even if they inadvertently rip out the hair, the root is unchanged and will simply grow a new hair. A way to simply destroy the myth of frequent showering causing hair loss is to, again, notice how many professional athletes there are who have full heads of hair. If this myth were true, most pros would have significant hair loss, but the opposite is true.
4. Frequent Brushing/Combing- This is a very common myth and we’ve even had patients who believed it so deeply that he literally did not comb or brush his hair in as long as 4 months. Sure, it makes sense because we all feel our hair being pulled and even ripped out during grooming. We also notice that we are often scrapping our scalps quite hard. So surely there must be some damage, right ? No. The follicles are well anchored within the skin and the skin is durable and flexible. It can take any amount of normal brushing and combing and not even notice the activity. As for our patient who hadn’t combed his hair in months I combed it on the spot and out came many filthy hairs thus putting the this myth to rest. We ultimately did a hair transplant on him and it grew fine and he combs his hair everyday without any hair loss.
5. Cheap shampoos- As mentioned in the myths of “ frequent showering” and “frequent sweating” as reasons for hair loss, shampoo also does not contribute to follicle damage nor death. The simple chemistry of shampoos is this: “like dissolves like.” This means that if you have an organic material, like oil and debris from your scalp, it takes an organic solvent to dissolve them into solution. And that’s what a shampoo is: an organic solvent, as opposed to an inorganic solvent like water. That’s why showering with just water doesn’t remove old dirty scalp oil. During a shower, the shampoo dissolves the dirty oil into solution and the mass action of the water washes it all away and down the drain. It doesn’t take much shampoo to accomplish this, but don’t tell the big manufacturers you know this. Even if a shampoo contains questionable products like sulphates, there usually isn’t enough to cause any problems. And since it gets washed away with water it’s unlikely to have any cosmetically significant effect. Even shampoos that leave a residue will not cause hair loss.It’s worth taking a moment to point out that several companies have taken advantage of this myth by offering shampoos that will “strengthen hair and add luster.” This kind of advertising is deceiving because the average person believes that the shampoo will some how “revitalize” the follicle leading to stronger and shinier hair. In reality, however, these advertisers are really only talking about the hair itself not the way the follicle produces the hair. Contrary to popular belief, hair is NOT alive. It never was. So how does the shampoo “treat” hair loss ? Simple, the shampoo will coat the shaft of the hair with clean oil making it physically thicker. Doing this to a single hair has no overall effect, but do it to a few thousand hairs and you can see a cosmetic difference along with a shine. However, these benefits are only temporary as that new oil will eventually become dirty again and need to be washed out. This is actually perfectly fine, but when advertisers say it will have a cosmetically significant effect on the hair follicle itself, they are being deceptive. Only one type of shampoo can claim to affect the follicle and those are the ones that include minoxidil in it. But these manufacturers are tricky, for marketing purposes many won’t put the brand or generic name for minoxidil on the shampoo bottle. Instead they use it’s long unpronounceable chemical name to, we believe, fool the public into believing they are selling a new product- and can therefore charge a premium. Meanwhile you can go to your local box store and by the same generic minoxidil for a fraction of the price and put it into your own low cost shampoo or apply it afterward. That said, we are not fans of minoxidil for reasons we’ll get into in another article.
6. Failure to take vitamins- This is a very popular myth and has made a lot of money for unscrupulous companies. The truth is, it’s not well established that vitamins beyond the daily recommended amounts, even make a difference in hair loss. Most people in America are not deficient of vitamins so using vitamins beyond the recommended levels probably only results in expensive urine as unused vitamins are simply urinated out. Most products nowadays are “fortified” with vitamins that often go beyond the recommended daily dose. Why is this done ? For marketing purposes. Most people don’t understand that when the body has acquired enough coenzymes (vitamins), the rest is simply eliminated from the body .But that doesn’t stop manufacturers of food products from throwing vitamins into the box anyway and printing on the box “contains X vitamins for health.” There are so many sources of vitamins, at least in the Western world, that it is practically inconceivable that an otherwise healthy and normal person could be vitamin deficient to the point that it significantly affects their hair.
7. Poor diet- It doesn’t take much to realize this is a massive myth. It would be nice to believe that one’s poor diet is the cause of their hair loss and can therefore be remedied through a change of diet. However, this is not the case. Even an obese sedentary person who eats the worst things will not likely suffer hair loss.
8. Poor Hygiene- As already mentioned, hygiene really doesn’t play much roll in hair loss. Even those who fail to shower and groom should have no change in the cosmetic appearance of their hair. We’ve all seen the homeless person who, even though he lives the hardest life possible, has an incredible head of hair. Poor hygiene, no shampoo, no brushing, poor diet, and still the hair can grow magnificently.
9. Too much/too little Sun- This myth is usually brought up by chronic hat wearers but is also expressed by those who simply who don’t like their skin regularly exposed to sunlight-usually due to the fear of burning. It is also brought up, conversely, by those who love to be out in the sun a healthy and safe amount of time and use sunblock as needed. The truth is, the follicles don’t care about sunlight. They are never directly exposed because they are deep in the dermis. Even a bad sunburn will not reach the follicles. As far as those who believe too little sun causes hair loss, believers of this myth fall prey to those who sell “red light” treatments for hair loss. This quakery is also called Low Laser Light Therapy or LLLT. This “therapy” simply produces monochromatic light of 770 nm that is shined onto the scalp. The quack theory is that somehow the red light “stimulates” or somehow otherwise reinvigorates the follicles. But it’s not true. You can get plenty of 770nm light at high or low levels by simply walking outside in the sunlight. Nature provides it for free as the natural spectrum of light. But it doesn’t do anything. If so called “ red light therapy” actually worked we would be implanting fiber optics into people, especially those afflicted with serious health problems, and lighting them up like an internal Christmas tree. But we don’t do that because there is no substantive physiological benefit to shining light on living tissue.
10. Daily Stress of Life- Almost every single patient who has visited the practice for consultation believes that the stress in their life is at least partially the reason for their hair loss. This is a myth. Few people have more stress than professional soldiers in combat, athletes and students studying in college or graduate schools. Yet most have incredible heads of hair. It is true that stress can lead to significant hair loss, but not the kind we all deal with on a day to day basis. It’s stress from rare events like physical trauma, grief from losing a loved one, or even severe heartbreak that can affect the hair. Fortunately, hair loss from these great stressors is usually temporary.

There are even more myths related to the causes of hair loss, but these are the main ones. The thing that concerns me about these myths is that it makes the sufferer believe that he/she is the direct reason for their hair loss and they aren’t. Hair loss is usually based on genetics. Your fate is basically sealed the moment your DNA is formed. There are other reasons for hair loss such as trauma to the scalp, trauma to the body, autoimmune disorders, and endocrine disorders like an improperly functioning thyroid gland. But we will cover these topics in another article. Be careful, do not fall victim to people who tell you any of the myths above are real and then try to sell you something to remedy it. Knowing what is myth and what is real can save you a lot of money and headaches.