Hair Loss Research

Hair loss is a major problem

In America, the estimated number of people who are suffering from male and female hair loss pattern is as high as 80 million people. This means it affects in about 1 out of 4 people in America alone (estimated US population: 300 million source) and the total number of people affected worldwide is even greater. Hair has long been symbolized as a sign of vitality, good health, youthful and even fertility among people and societies worldwide. Losing hair can thus bring an overall reduced sense of self-esteem and would eventually lead to lack of confidence, which can result into a significant drop in one’s value of life, opportunity and happiness.

According to a survey that was organized by the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery, almost 15 percent of the respondents interviewed said they are more likely to seek and approach a hair specialist when they are faced with the dilemma of thinning hair. The survey also found that shame as well as fear of hair loss acts as a major deterrent for people from seeking professional help.

Another survey observed that close to 90 percent of women respondents are very or fairly concerned about losing a noticeably amount of hair. The number gets bigger especially among women who are in their twenties and have just started with their career. While two third of men respondents felt the same way.

Hair loss is more than just about losing hair

One shortcoming of the hair loss products (an industry that reaches one billion dollars in sales annually) is that the emotional distress a person goes through while losing their hair is not properly (if not none at all) addressed. The idea that a person goes through emotional turmoil because of hair loss gets totally ignored and all attention is focused on the problem of managing or stopping hair loss. It’s a common believe that if you solve the hair loss problem, you will solve the psychological problems as well. Well this is like saying if you heal the wounds of an accident victim, you will heal his/her accident trauma as well. In most cases of hair loss patients, emotional damage have been done and the best way to heal the trauma is to help the patient regain self confidence by giving as much hair locks as possible. Thus giving confidence to patients to move on and take new challenges in their lives. Additional counseling on top of the regular hair loss treatments would definitely help.

It is not hard to imagine that an acute problem of hair loss can lead to a lot of other dilemmas. Research and surveys pertaining to hair loss has yielded the following results and observations. First of all, with the onset of loss of hair, one’s behavior and attitude can undergo a sea of change for the worse in the workplace. It has been noticed in surveys that people are afraid of what others will think of them because of their barren heads. This fear psychosis can further result to depression if the problem is not checked at the beginning. Loss of hair is also synonymous with ageing, and the onset of which can trigger a fear that one is getting old and losing control of one’s own life.

More dollars should be invested in research and awareness programs

Today, more companies specializing in prevention and treatment of hair loss are hoping to introduce new techniques and methods in the near future so that people will have an increased range of treatments to choose from. These advancements would be aimed specifically at men and women, at varies stages of hair loss, many of whom are innocent victims of the societies bad perception to hair loss. Eventually products limitation, effectiveness and treatment waiting period would get reduced drastically and soon it would become an easy affair. After all, celebrities get custom hair replacements as a grooming tool, so why this cant be made affordable not you?

Education of hair loss, their causes and available treatments to the general public can help to eliminate the fear of losing hair. As people get educated and more aware of the hair loss problem, a bigger portion of patients will be willing to go for treatments at an earlier stage. This will translate to bigger sales and thus more dollars could be invested in research and development (R&D) of hair loss solutions. With larger funding hopefully we will get better products and solutions to hair loss. This is a win-win situation for both the consumers as well as manufactures.