Fast Help for Men and Women with Thinning Hair

It's a shock to discover you can see your scalp through your hair. You wonder how it happened without your being aware of it. Or maybe, as in my case, you noticed your hair falling on the floor, your neck and clothes and a large amount in the tub when you washed it. Even worse, a friend will pick hair off your shoulder and say, "Did you know you're shedding?"

You begin to count hairs having heard that everyone loses approximately 100 hairs per day. You stress that maybe you're losing more than that. A really desperate friend of mine actually counted all her hairs in a 24 hour period before she made an appointment with her dermatologist.

You rush to the internet wondering which of countless hair loss solutions you should pursue.

Before you spend money on supplements, products or hair clubs, please read my recommendations to avoid finding yourself separated from your money by various "solutions" that don't work.

The first thing to do is try to determine why you're losing your hair.

Thinning hair or a receding hairline in men in their 20s or early 30s is usually hereditary unless the loss can be traced to medications which cause hair loss. It's best to consult a dermatologist.

Thinning hair among women is not unusual, especially after menopause when hormonal changes may cause "female pattern baldness" marked by thinning of hair all over the head without a receding front hairline.

Hair loss in both sexes can be due to severe stress, hair care treatments, styling or even a habit of twisting of pulling your hair either with your hands or in a pony tail.

Some prescription drugs that can cause hair excessive hair shedding are blood thinners and medications for gout, arthritis, depression, heart problems and high blood pressure.

You also might ask your doctor to test you for thyroid disease which can also cause hair loss. If this is the problem, treatment should result in hair regrowth.

In my case, I suffered the common occurrence of excessive hair loss after stopping birth control pills, then later after the birth of each of my children. While my hair grew back, it was a stressful time anyway and hair problems just compounded my anxieties.

How I wished I'd had available the product I'm going to recommend to you. It is your first line of defense.

The miracle product is called Toppik and can be purchased from the Spencer Forrest company. Go to www.toppik.com and you'll read about a number of their products but the one you want is Toppik. The product comes in a container that you shake over the thin spots. You choose the color closest to your own hair color. Keratin protein fibers fall into your hair and bond electrostatically. It is totally undetectable. Just don't get so enthusiastic that you use too much. A little goes a long way.

I used the spray maximizer for a while since my hair is thinnest in front. I liked it but after two years it clogged up and I went back to just tapping the container. I prefer to hold the container upside down with my middle and ring fingers and tap it sharply with my pointer (index) finger. You can also hold your hair sideways with your hand and shake the fibers toward the roots and even along the hair strands. This gives fine hair more body and makes it easier to style.

When you wash your hair the product washes out. So after blow drying you shake some more in. It's very easy and you'll never be without it. Hair spray is recommended to "hold" the fibers but I've never seen any of them fall. It will never show up on your pillowcase or shirt or anywhere. Don't buy special hair spray. Any kind you like is fine.

The most amazing part of my testimony to the value of this product is that I've never seen it advertised in any magazine or on TV. Only once, about 10 years ago, Spencer Forrest had a full page ad in USA Today.

My husband and I travel extensively so I often get my hair styled with a different person. I always take along my container of Toppik, explain how to use it and generate interest from not only my stylist but everyone around me. No one has ever heard of it before and I get oohs and ahhs from other women and all the stylists. Never in all my salon visits has anyone heard of it or seen it before.

My next article is going to cover excellent supplements you can take to speed hair regrowth. I'll describe the relative merits and disadvantages of products you may have encountered such as Minoxidil (the brand name is Rogaine) Nioxin, and more.