A Holistic Approach to Treating Hair Loss
Author: Sam Razi

Use the world 'holistic' and half the people in the room will assume you're into quackery. When it comes to hair loss treatment, I think the word is a valuable one. I like to apply it in terms of overall health. I am not implying that if you are healthy you won't lose your hair, but I am firmly of the belief that if you are NOT healthy then you are not in the position to obtain optimal results from your hair loss treatment regimen.

If you have read many of my articles you'll probably see that I have made it a bit of a theme to take a multi-modal or holistic approach to achieving maximum results when it comes to combating your hair loss. Here is the gist of an email I sent in response to a question from someone asked me about whether I think natural, plant-based foods and treatments can help with hair loss:

I believe that these have a broad spate of benefits, and indeed some of them are probably very helpful in fighting hair loss. For instance, recent scientific research has shown that both broccoli, soy and green tea have been shown to have properties that can be beneficial. I don't think that eating broccoli by itself will do much, or drinking green tea by itself will do much. But I do think that if one takes a cover-all-the-bases, holistic approach, the effects are probably synergistic (in that the cumulative effect of all the actions you take outweigh the sums of the individual parts). I think if one does the following things, in conjunction with using Minoxidil and either a good topical DHT buster or internal treatment like Finasteride (in the form of Propecia), the cumulative effect will be greater than just taking the meds alone:

Daily cardio (a study several years ago showed that running for 20 minutes a day helped to modulate androgens)
Daily moderate weight-lifting (to naturally boost HGH levels)
Quality sleep (it's very important not to skimp or cut short on sleep)
Drinking green tea
Taking grape seed extract
Eating a well-balanced diet (keeping the sugars in check!)
Maintaining a positive outlook
Eating lots of leafy greens and cruciferous veggies (like broccoli)
Perhaps taking DIM supplements (DIM is the name of the molecule in broccoli shown to inhibit DHT)
Perhaps using L-Arganine (an amino acid shown to be helpful for healthy hair)
Reducing stress as much as possible (doing what you love!)
Maintaining a healthy social life (hey, it can't hurt)

A well-balanced life combined with foods that fight DHT and activities that boost HGH and improve general health, combined with Minoxidil and Propecia will give you the best bet of staving of your hair loss. I think that's about as winning a combination available at the moment if you still have enough hair that it's worth trying to keep what you have.

I also think a good helping of essential fatty acids (as in flax seed oil, or evening primrose oil) may help, as these contain prostaglandins and may be beneficial in keeping DHT in check.

There is much that you can do if hair loss bothers you, but as I always like to stress: do your research first! The Internet is a great resource for finding information on hair loss and the latest news on treating it. Just make sure you don't trust everything you read. In particular, pay attention to whether the sites you visit are trying to sell you a product, or provide you with good information. Don't trust sites that promote products that have no scientific research backing them up. There are really only a handful of worthwhile products to use.

Check out if the site has a good support discussions forum and start participating by asking questions. Usually a guru (or two, or three) will be willing to help you out. Last but not least, once you've done your research and picked your regimen, stay consistent in sticking with the program! A general rule of thumb is that you should give yourself at least 6 to try out a treatment (barring any unforeseen side-effects). Good luck, and remember to take care of your whole self.






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Sam Razi is the author of the web-award-winning hair loss information and education site, www.morphollica.com. He spent several years researching and trying the best treatments for hair loss and has written many editorials and articles on the subject.

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