Hair Care Tips for Fine & Thinning Hair

A word to the wise: some hair styles can damage your hair. Here are some practical hair care tips for men and women with thinning hair or who are starting to experience hair loss.

Avoid using clips or elastics, or hairstyles that pull on the scalp tightly. For instance, cornrows, plaits, tight braiding or ponytails, are hard on your hair and scalp.

If you love these hair styles, alternate them every few weeks to give your hair and follicles a needed rest.

Also avoid winding your hair very tightly onto rollers, especially if they are heated. Hairstyles that pull and stress the scalp can cause more than breakage. A serious type of hair loss, traction alopecia, can result from the continuous strain.

Even if you love to color your hair, try to wait at least six to eight weeks between treatments. Consider going for highlights sometimes, instead of full coverage.

One of the best hair care tips for thinning hair is to keep in mind that the less heat you use when styling your hair, the better. Heat from hair dryers or curling irons can weaken the proteins in fine or thinning hair and cause breakage or brittleness. If you use heated styling tools, use the lowest possible heat setting. You may want to avoid using a metal heat absorbing brush when blow-drying your hair.

Not only can high heat settings on hair dryers and curling irons cook your hair but burning your scalp can do serious damage to your hair follicles. So be careful and let your hair air-dry as much as possible.

Use the best hair care products available that you can afford.  Many hair loss treatment products are especially formulated for fine or thin hair.

Brushes made with metal or hard plastic bristles can cause breakage. Try a brush with gentle boar bristles, or those made of flexible nylon.