The cold is already here and our hair has felt it. With the arrival of winter, more and more French people are gradually losing their hair. This phenomenon, far from being rare, is especially related to the drop in temperatures and the lack of sun during the day.
If on average we lose between 25 and 60 hairs a day for an adult, the change of season can cause more significant alopecia, up to 100 hairs a day in autumn.
Uneven in the face of alopecia
According to the French Society of Dermatology, we are not equal when it comes to hair loss. Regardless of the seasons, androgenetic alopecia or “baldness” is quite common in men and sometimes begins at puberty or around age 40. 30% of men suffer hair loss after the age of 30, indicates the association.
For women, dermatologists see more hair loss in spring and especially fall.
The reason is simple. Hair grows in cycles, from two to five years in men and three to seven years in women, according to the Vidal medical information center. In summer, the follicle that produces hair is more active and growth is above average (more than two millimeters per week).
Once this phase is over, “the dead hair remains attached to the skull for about three months before falling out,” says Vidal, and another comes to replace it. However, in autumn there is less sun, so hair loss is more important.
“One of the solutions is to provide a structure, a rather clean cut to give the sensation of more material,” Johann Bartoche, a hairdresser from Boulogne-Billancourt (Hauts-de-Seine), explains to BFMTV.
According to Vidal, “it is considered pathological hair loss when the number of hairs lost each day is greater than 100, or when an area of the scalp loses more hair than the rest of the skull.” Then it is advisable to consult a specialist.
How to limit hair loss?
To limit hair loss in autumn, “we can also work on the scalp with specific shampoos,” explains Johann Bartoche. A solution also recommended by the French Society of Dermatology, which recalls that “shampoo gives volume to the hair and allows it to gain volume, which masks hair deficits.”
But you have to be careful not to be fooled, because “there is no true anti-hair loss shampoo, even if the label says so,” the association points out.
Other solutions that should not be neglected: sleeping well and eating well. In fact, certain nutrients should be favored for healthy hair.
“The good thing to take is omega 3, so every day you take a tablespoon of rapeseed oil in your salad, for example,” says nutritionist Béatrice De Reynal.
“And then, the little natural nutritional treasure is baker’s yeast, which you can incorporate in dried flakes into your diet,” he adds.
Indicated mainly in cases of deficiency or seasonally, food supplements can also be very effective, according to the French Society of Dermatology, but maintaining a balanced diet with a sufficient supply of iron. Finally, reducing alcohol and tobacco consumption is obviously essential to strengthen the scalp.
For the treatment of baldness in general, there are numerous treatments in the form of tablets or lotion depending on the pathologies and after consultation with a specialist.
The treatment of alopecia depends on the dermatologist, who remains the hair and scalp specialist, “and not on institutes that can recommend, without clinical experience, products that are sometimes very expensive and do not work well,” underlines the French Society. of Dermatology.
Source: BFM TV
