Parents need to understand that adolescence is a crucial period for every teenager. During this transitional phase, children undergo many physical changes that contribute to their holistic growth and development. Their bodies also start maturing, paving their journey towards adulthood. Yet, when irregularities do happen, they can affect one's health condition.
You may think that losing hair strands is a common problem amongst adults. In reality, many teenagers are susceptible to hair loss. As a matter of fact, adolescents can experience premature hair shedding at an early age. Because of this hair fiasco, teenagers are affected physically, mentally, and socially. It can lower one's self-esteem and may affect one's interpersonal relationships. Therefore, it is of utmost concern to determine the root of the problem and solve it as early as possible.
As parents, you need to learn about how adolescence works and affects one's health. If you're wondering about your 13-year-old daughter's hair fall problem, you need to investigate more about hair loss.
Causes of Teenage Hair Loss: Why Does It Happen?
What triggers hair loss among female teenagers? Here's a list of the plausible causes of teenage hair loss.
1. Disrupted Hair Growth Cycle
To further explain how adolescence affects your child's hair condition, you need to understand first how hair growth works. Growing your hair involves three stages: anagen (growth phase), catagen (transitional phase), and telogen (resting phase).
During the anagen phase, hair follicles grow and thrive for three to five years. After that, they start regressing in the catagen phase, which can last for 20 days. Then, these follicles begin resting during the telogen phase, thereby stopping any means of follicle nourishment. As a result, your hair shaft becomes susceptible to stress and damage, leading to hair shedding.
Many factors can disrupt any of these phases, which can trigger early hair loss problems. Therefore, an adverse change in your tresses can be a sign of a disturbed hair growth cycle.
2. Hormonal Changes
Estrogen, the female sex hormone, is essential in promoting hair growth. During the adolescent years, the brain releases a chemical messenger called gonadotropin-releasing hormone. GnRH pushes the pituitary gland to produce other hormones, such as follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) that trigger the production of sex hormones.
FSH and LSH command the ovaries to release female sex hormones. Thus, the body experiences a change in hormonal levels, causing undesirable physical and emotional changes, such as mood swings and hair loss.
If a female teenager's ovaries have not yet fully matured, it could also mean that the estrogen production isn't still in its fullest potential. Therefore, estrogen levels could not be enough to maintain healthy hair growth.
3. Traction Alopecia
Many female teenagers love sporting trendy hairstyles as a way to make themselves look fashionable. However, many hairdos, such as braids, buns, and ponytails, can trigger traction alopecia, a hair loss problem caused by the repetitive and extreme pulling of your hair. The tugging sensation can irritate and damage the roots and follicles underneath the scalp, resulting in hair and scalp conditions.
If you see swollen bumps and flaky, reddish patches on your daughter's scalp, have your child checked by a dermatologist for early intervention.
4. Hereditary Alopecia
Baldness is a trait that can run in the blood. This means that even your daughter can lose her hair at a young age because of your family tree's hereditary hair loss.
This inherited condition occurs when there is a surge of male hormones in the body. Having high androgen levels can shorten the follicles' stay in the anagen phase, thereby reducing the time for active hair growth. This results in hair thinning, receding hairline, and ultimately hair shedding.
5. Alopecia Areata
Another hair loss condition known as alopecia areata is a common autoimmune disease among children and adolescents. This happens when the immune system malfunctions, thereby attacking even the healthy hair follicles. Thus, they get damaged, and the hair growth process is severely affected, causing round bare patches on the scalp.
6. Being Anemic
Blood circulation is also an important factor in stimulating hair follicles, and being anemic is never good news to hair growth. Anemia is a condition of having insufficient red blood cells to deliver oxygen and nutrients to the different body parts, including your hair. As it turns out, this lack of RBC can impede hair nourishment, leading to follicle miniaturization and hair shedding.
7. Unhealthy diet
As teenagers, they need ample vitamins, minerals, and proteins to keep up with puberty changes. Unfortunately, many adolescents are fond of eating desserts and junk foods, which are all considered risky to the body. This unhealthy diet can lead to adverse health conditions, including hair growth problems. Your daughter may experience thinning hair and frequent hair shedding as a result of having poor-quality locks.
8. Medical Treatments
Hair loss can also be an adverse effect of some medical treatments. For instance, consuming antidepressants can push your hair follicles to rest in the telogen phase, a condition known as telogen effluvium. Hormonal pills and anti-acne drugs can also cause hormonal imbalance, thus affecting the hair growth cycle. Besides certain drugs, radioactive therapies can also trigger hair loss. Radiation targets cancer cells but may kill the healthy ones during the process, including hair cells.
Know the Symptoms: Is Your Daughter Suffering from Hair Loss?
What are the most evident signs that your daughter is having hair loss problems? Assess your daughter's condition by checking out the list of symptoms below.
1. Excessive hair shedding
Losing more than 250 hair strands in a day isn't considered normal shedding. Thus, if your daughter often leaves excessive hairballs on the floor, you might want to examine her hair's health.
2. Thinning Hair
Suppose your daughter has been experiencing thinning hair problems despite being a member of a thick-haired family. In that case, you must take her hair issue seriously, for it might be an early sign of female alopecia.
3. Small hairless patches
The appearance of small hairless patches is an evident symptom of female-pattern baldness. Therefore, it would be best to bring your daughter to a dermatologist for immediate hair loss treatment.
How to Treat Your Daughter's Hair Loss Problems
If your teenage daughter is showing symptoms of having alopecia, you need to treat it immediately. Here are some therapeutic ways to treat your teen's hair loss problem.
1. Include an abundant supply of nutritious foods in her everyday diet.
It is a must for the parents to keep an eye on their children's nutrition. Being mindful about what your child eats is essential because the body needs enough energy for hair growth, which your child can get from your diet. Thus, your daughter must eat her everyday meals enriched with vitamins, minerals, and proteins that contribute to hair growth.
What should you include in your daughter's diet? Since protein is an essential nutrient for building her hair's structure, you need to fill her plate with protein-enriched foods, such as dairy products, fatty fishes, and chicken eggs. Your daughter also needs vitamins A, B, C, D, and E to keep her locks' in excellent condition.
2. Cut off her sugary food and beverage consumption.
No matter how much you love your daughter, you have to be strict about her nutrition. Sugary foods and drinks have high sugar levels, which can prevent healthy blood flow. As a result, your hair follicles may not receive enough nourishment for hair growth. Therefore, cut off soft drinks, sweet desserts, and junk foods in her everyday diet.
3. Let her sleep for eight hours a day.
Sleeping adequately allows the body to regenerate and refocus the nutrients to the most vital biological processes. A healthy sleeping habit also stabilizes hormonal production, thereby preventing hormones from acting up. Thus, a good night's sleep can give your daughter the healthy-looking locks that she deserves.
4. Choose the best hair growth products for your daughter's hair restoration.
Parents are responsible for choosing what's best for their children's health, including the best hair growth products. You have to ensure that only the best and safest ingredients are included in her shampoo and conditioner.
What ingredients should be included in hair growth products? Plant-based sources such as citrus fruits, blueberries, almond nuts, coconut oil, and aloe vera are not only vitamin-enriched, but these ingredients are safe and fragrant for your daughter's hair. You can also use natural honey, coconut milk, and plain yogurt for her hair conditioning treatments.
Protect Your Daughter from Experiencing the Hair Loss Catastrophe.
No parent would want her teenage daughter to feel embarrassed due to hair loss problems. Therefore, keep her hair away from damaging factors. Help her fight against female alopecia's catastrophic effects by selecting the most effective yet harmless hair growth products for her lovely mane.
Fight for What Is Right.
Fight for your daughter's right in having the best-looking locks ever. Let her use Thicktails Hair Growth products to keep her mane long and healthy. If you choose the best hair growth shampoo for her, she will no longer witness her hair falling out again.