Thinning hair and bald patches are often a sign of damage to the scalp rather than
the advancement of age. In cases of scalp stress leading to hair loss, it is possible to remedy the problem without having to resort to hair replacement surgery or other medical solutions.
You can remedy thinning hair naturally and enjoy strong, healthy, natural hair again. The methods involved are not arduous, just simple and straightforward solutions to repair the damage to a stressed scalp, and encourage natural regrowth.
Tight Hairstyles Lead to Bald Patches
Whenever a tight hairstyle is worn, the hair is pulled unnaturally taut. This puts incredible strain on the hair root and can often lead to individual strands being pulled out. In addition, the strain on the hair follicles is intense.
When the hair follicles are subject to this level of strain, they quickly deform and become unable to function correctly. The telogen or rest phase of the growth cycle increases as the cells attempt to repair the damage they have received. When the damage is extensive, the cells become dormant and bald patches appear on the scalp.
Tight hairstyles should be avoided for anyone with thinning hair, as they will
only make the problem worse. Tight ponytails and extensive braiding are common sources of hair loss; especially on the crown in the case of ponytails. Braiding and weaves are notorious for causing hair loss along the hairline, as that is where the hair roots are naturally weakest.
Avoid Stressing the Scalp
Scalp stress is one of the principle causes of hair loss through traction alopecia. When the scalp is stressed, it becomes inflamed; which leads to rubbing and scratching the inflamed area. This adds to the damage and also causes damage to the hair follicles in the stressed area.
In turn, the follicles become deformed and unable to function correctly. They enter a dormant phase, during which time hair will not grow from them, until the body has time to repair the damage. The repair process can take months or even years, depending on the extent of the damage done.
Scalp stress is caused in two ways. The most common method is through the use of haircare products that cause rashes and irritation. There are many different formulas of haircare product on the market, from shampoos and conditioners to hair relaxants and regenerative lotions. Not every person can use every product, our bodies react to them differently. Find a product that does not cause your scalp to itch or become inflamed.
In addition, avoid using hair relaxants, at least until your hair has fully grown back in. Hair relaxants damage the bonds between the keratin molecules in your hair, permanently weakening the strands and causing the roots to become less strong. As a result, chemically-straightened hair snaps easily, which makes the effect of hair loss more noticeable.
Also, avoid wearing hats that fit tightly to the head. These rub against the scalp, causing more irritation. While it’s not always possible to avoid some hats, such as safety helmets that must be worn when bike riding or hard hats in some workplaces, consider carrying your hat when you are in a place that does not require it to be worn. This will greatly reduce the time the hat can stress the scalp; which shortens your recovery time.
Eat a Healthy, Balanced Diet
While it may not seem all that important for hair care, a balanced diet is essential if you want to remedy thinning hair. Hair loss is often caused at least in part by a lack of the nutrients needed to repair the damages of scalp stress, and also because the components of healthy hair are missing from a person’s diet.
Strong, healthy hair requires a lot of protein. Protein is needed to repair the damage to hair follicles that causes traction alopecia, and it is also the main chemical in keratin. Keratin is the chemical that gives your hair its strength, so a low-protein diet results in weak hair that breaks easily.
Eat plenty of protein-rich foods such as eggs and nuts to strengthen your hair the natural way. Your hair also needs plenty of iron, selenium, magnesium and zinc. These are found in abundance in spinach, red meats, eggs, peanuts and fish.
Vegetarians should look to mushrooms and soy as alternatives to meat and fish; as these also provide the nutrients essential to healthy hair. The alternative is to take hair growth supplements that contain the right balance of amino acids and vitamins required for healthy hair growth.
By maintaining a healthy diet you will not only improve your hair’s health but your general well being at the same time. Combining this with good general hair care and scalp massages, and using a less intensive styling for your hair will quickly show results. With a new regimen in place, your thinning hair will soon become luscious and healthy once again.
To find scalp massage techniques described in detail, we invite you to request our FREE E-book – see sidebar.





tension. Essentially, the hairstyle is continually pulling on hair and this leads to damage to the hair follicles. When hair is pulled, the follicles get pulled too.
contains. The typical result of traction alopecia is bald patches where the follicles are too damaged to continue to grow hair. All is not lost however, as growing healthy hair is possible despite the stresses to the scalp.
other areas also occurs, particularly with people who use hair extensions repeatedly for long periods of time. As a first step in treating traction alopecia, you should stop using
causes dandruff. It is easily treated. Natural products that 
add volume, colour and texture to hair and they change the wearer’s appearance dramatically.
hair extensions is the sew-in weave. This method features hair tightly braided into “tracks” along the scalp, with the extensions sewn into the braids. The tracks must be braided very tightly if they are to withstand the extra weight of the hair extensions; which puts a lot of pressure on the follicles. As new hair grows in, the extra growth is pulled on by the weight of the hair extension, further damaging the follicle and eventually resulting in traction alopecia.
wait for the hair to recover and re-grow. Traction alopecia differs from other forms of hair loss because it is caused by physical action: the hair follicle is damaged by excess weight being placed on the hair. In other words, we’ve pulled our hair excessively, repeatedly, and damaged our scalps as a result.
hair follicles related to high-tension hairstyles. It is common among, but not exclusive to black women. Black women tend to wear hair extensions and treat their hair with chemicals more often than other groups of women. Traction alopecia usually starts at the front hairline, and then receding occurs with a general thinning all over, which makes it appear like male pattern baldness. People often underestimate or mistake hair loss in African American women related to traction alopecia for other types of hair loss.
The main cause of this form of hair loss occurs from sleeping in hair rollers, and braiding the hair too tightly, particularly in children. Constantly wearing hair extensions in the form of weaves both sewed-in and bonded or glued-in extensions, drawstring ponytails and clip in hair extensions add to traction alopecia.

