Hair Loss Advice and Hair Loss Information

Scientists say they have pinned down a DNA mechanism that gives rise to a rare but distressing form of baldness that strikes before adulthood.

Jan 2009

A team from Peking Union Medical College led by Xue Zhang have uncovered a DNA mechanism which results in Maria Unna hereditary hypotrichosis (MUHH), a baldness that strikes before adulthood.

MUHH is a rare inherited condition characterized by hair loss that starts during childhood and it affects both men and women - children born with the condition have very little or no hair at birth and have wiry or coarse hair in childhood which they progressively lose at puberty.

Victims often have no eyebrows or eyelashes, very little armpit and pubic hair and poor nails and women often have normal thickness hair which does not grow very long and loss of hair on other parts of the body.

The culprit in MUHH are flaws in the gene U2HR located on Chromosome 8, which acts as a key switch in the process as it controls a small peptide that in turn affects a protein called the human hairless monolog, or HR, which is crucial for the regeneration of hair follicles.

The discovery was made by trawling through the genome of 19 Chinese families with a history of MUHH, which is how the team found that mutations of U2HR led to increased levels of HR.

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4 Natural Ways To Help Prevent Early Hair Loss

Hair loss occurs in a progressive nature. Most men have a specific pattern in which hair starts to fall out and then over the years increases down the same route. Women on the other hand, do not typically have the same experience. Unlike a receding hairline, or a particular bald spot forming on a man’s scalp, a woman will generally experience broad hair thinning throughout the entire top of her head. In both cases, men and women, the pattern in which air falls out increases in time.

Many people assume that losing hair as we age is just a normal part of life. This same group of people also assumes that we have no responsibility when it comes to the cause of hair loss or the increased of the amount of hair that is lost in time. However, this is a wrong assumption. Below are a few examples of how people can directly cause the loss of their hair, whether they realize it or not.

1. Wearing hats most of the time: It is very fashionable these days to sport head coverings and tight caps. However, because hats can affect the blood flow to the scalp, this may cause hair loss. This is especially true if you wear tight hats. The result of hair loss due to covering your scalp with a hat does take time to make it’s effects known, but once it starts, the pattern of loosing your hair speeds up faster than if you had never started the hat-wearing habit.

2. Oily scalp: Here is another example of a condition that can be directly related to the decrease amount of blood flow that is available to your hair follicles. By not washing your scalp enough a build up of natural skin oils can affect your hair. Regular washing can help reduce this problem.

3. Brushing your hair too much: This is one issue that I have personally experienced myself. I was once told by a hairstylist that if I want to grow my hair long then I should brush it with 50 strokes every time I went into the bathroom. Needless to say, after about six months, I noticed severe thinning in the areas that I was brushing. Once I stopped, the hair eventually started to come back like normal. Unfortunately, I set forth in motion a pattern that caused my hair to grow back thinner in that area for the rest of my life.

4. Brushing your hair too little: Opposite of brushing your hair too much, by not brushing your hair enough, you may not be stimulating the right amount of blood flow needed to retain growth in hair follicles. It doesn’t take much, but just brushing your hair with a few strokes that hit the scalp will be enough stimulation.