Is Your Hair Aging Faster Than You?

We are often concerned about how our face ages as we get older, but how many of us think about our aging hair? Really, what says “youth” more than shiny, luxurious, bouncy hair? If you are over 30, there’s a good chance you are starting to experience signs of aging hair. See where you fall on this list.

Signs of Aging Hair

• Thinning – often called the “skinny ponytail syndrome”, you’ve noticed a definite thinning in the hair strands. You may have noticed that your part is getting wider or more scalp is noticeable.  You may experience more hair in your shower drain or brush.
• Dullness – the shine is definitely gone. In large part, this is caused by a decrease in oil production, but over processing and heat styling don’t help.
• Split Ends – these can occur at any age, but tend to be more prevalent as we age – especially if we are adding chemicals or heat styling every day.
• Increased Frizziness – if your hair has some natural texture, you may notice it is frizzier because older hair does get curvier and lose moisture.
• Slow growth or stops growing – this is also common because the hair growth DOES slow down as we age.  Oil production on the scalp decreases after age 45, which also slows hair growth.
• Graying – typically starts around the face, but can occur anywhere. There is a hereditary factor, but other environmental factors such as stress, play a part in gray hair.

These “aging” hair problems are partly caused by our natural aging process but can be greatly exaggerated by blow drying, heat styling and chemical processing such as coloring or perms.

What are the Remedies?

The most obvious solution would be to stop heat styling and coloring your hair. But who’s going to do that? Although there are a greater number of women opting to “go natural”, for most of us that is not an option. So let’s look for some more practical solutions:

1. Get your hair cut or trimmed regularly. This is the best solution for split ends and will help maintain a fresh look.
2. Avoid putting your hair into a tight ponytail – especially every day.
3. Deep condition your hair with a hair mask or natural oil (coconut oil works well) once a week.
4. Be gentle with your hair – especially when it’s wet. Use a wide tooth comb.
5. If you do use heat styling, prep your hair with heat protective styling products.
6. Try changing your shampoo and hair care products to some of the age-thickening formulas.  These may or may not work for you, but remember that most of them take several months to see results.
7. Have a great diet – good for both you and your hair. You know the drill – more fruits and veggies, less junk food and processed products.
8. Stop smoking! This should be a no-brainer, but smoking is also bad for your hair.
9. Supplements – there are some hair growth supplements out that may worth trying – check with your doctor. Biotin, Viviscal, Vitamin D and Saw Palmetto Extract are popular options.
10. If your thinning hair is a real problem, you may want to check out other options, such as Rogaine.

 

Hair Extensions To Help With Thinning Hair

Hair extensions may seem like a great choice for added fullness, but be careful to use only the clip-in type of extensions that you can take out every night. Semi-permanent extensions methods such as heat fusion or skin weft can damage your hair from the aggressive pulling and rubbing causing a condition called traction alopecia – a type of hair loss. Aging is a natural part of life and a lot can be said about “aging gracefully”, but it doesn’t have to include dull, lifeless and thinning hair if you take some extra steps to prevent problems before they become real issues. Just like a good diet, exercise and a healthy lifestyle is good for your physical aging, preventative steps can be good for your aging hair as well.