If you’re a lady experiencing hair less, let us first assure you: you’re not alone! Women can experience hair loss for a number of reasons, including stress, genetics, autoimmune diseases, bad diets, the list goes on. And while hair loss can be an emotionally devastating hit to your appearance, many women are able to effectively disguise and cover thinning hair while seeking or undergoing treatment. Whether their treatment lasts weeks, months, or even if the hair loss is not treatable, we’ve got 5 great tips to help you cover your hair loss so that you can continue to live life normally.

Each of these tips may not be a permanent fix, it can still help create the appearance of a full head of thick and even luscious hair. (If you are looking for our top hair loss shampoos, click here).

Tip #1: Hair fibres for thinning hair

Hair fibres are made from a very fine powder that clings to your hair and makes it look thicker. Most often used to hide thinning hair, it also happens to be one of the most convenient and popular disguises used.

To use hair fibre, simply choose a shade that matches your hair colour. The shades vary by company, but most often come in blonde, light brown, dark brown and black. Once you have matched your colour, simply sprinkle the hair fibre powder over your balding or thinning areas. You will notice that the powder latches onto your hair strands, which creates a thicker and fuller appearance.

Here are three of the top selling hair fibre products on the market.

1. HAIR ILLUSION – 100% Real Human Hair Fibers
2. STRAND MAXIMISER – Fill In Powder Hair Fibers
3. TOPPIK Hair Building Fibers

Tip #2: Use hair spray and your hair dryer to create volume

Ever noticed how when you leave a hairdressers, your hair looks voluptuous and full? And three days later, it’s back to looking flat? It’s no mystery- hair dressers are masters at creating volume with hairspray and a hairdryer!

To do this yourself at home, simply blow dry your hair by letting it fall to one side. Use your fingers to move your hair at the roots to the tip of your hair to ensure the whole head is dry. Then, pull your hair back and gently brush it with a hair brush. We recommend a boar bristle hair brush as it is gentle on the hair and scalp.

For added body, before you pull your hair back, spray it from a distance while your hair is on one side, and then style as usual.

Note that using hair spray and hair products too frequently can actually encourage hair loss, as certain chemicals in hair products can be toxic and bad for scalp health. With this in mind, use products like hair spray sparingly and infrequently. 

Choosing the best brush

Here are our top recommendations for brushes to stimulate your scalp.

1. Rolencos Hair Scalp Brush Shampoo Massager
2. Marvy Shampoo Brush and Scalp Invigorator
3. Kent – SH1 Shampoo Brush

Tip #3: Think about your hair colour

Unfortunately, hair loss can seem even more obvious when our hair colour doesn’t match our scalp. So if you’ve had a lifetime of dying your hair dark and you have light or pale skin, it may be time to change your hair colour.

Generally, matching your hair colour against your skin can make it more difficult to see your scalp, which somewhat hides the fact your hair is thinning. So, if you have a light scalp, choose a lighter shade to colour your hair. Similarly, if you have a dark scalp, choose a darker shade.

Tip #4: Cut layers into your hair

Layers can do wonders when it comes to adding thickness to your hair. It’s like an instant magic trick, as it gives your hair shape and volume to your hair without even trying. If you have long, fine hair, next time you visit your hairdresser, ask them to add layers to your locks and see the difference!

Tip #5: Wigs

While not many women like to admit to wearing wigs, there’s nothing wrong with using them! Wigs do a great job at hiding hair loss, particularly when the loss occurs around the temples or forehead. They can either cover the entire scalp, or be partial hair pieces that only cover thinning spots.

While some cheaper wigs look just chat – cheap, there are premium wigs that you would be hard pressed telling the difference between real or natural hair. Varying in length, colour, texture, quality, and style, they can change your appearance and bring back your self esteem almost instantaneously.

Alternatively, hair pieces that just cover thinning spots also come in a variety of shapes and sizes. From weaving or bonding hair pieces into your natural hair, to clip on hair pieces or interlocking or straight comb pieces.

Here are some of our top recommended wigs and hair pieces.

1. Synthetic Wigs
2. Human Hair Wigs
3. Clip in hair extensions for women
4. Toupee for men

It’s pretty fair to say that no one wants to lose their hair- especially women. Unless you’ve got the bone structure of Sinead O’Connor, it’s also pretty fair to say that baldness in women is not what many of us aspire to.

Yet, nearly 21 million women in the US are affected to some degree. So girls, if your hair feels like it’s falling out, you’re not alone!

While female hair loss is relatively common, it’s still a taboo topic. Not many people associate hair loss and baldness in women. What pops into our minds when we think of hair loss is middle-aged men with beer bellies and back acne, sprouting a shiny dome up top… a far cry from the feminine image society projects where women have luscious long locks. So it comes to no surprise, then, that about 46% of sufferers keep their problem a secret.

You’re Not alone! Baldness in women is common.

Did you know 80% of women experience noticeable hair loss by the time they are 60? While society tells women that female hair loss is not normal, it is in fact very common and nothing to be embarrassed or ashamed about! Many women develop thinning of the hair over the scalp as they get older. While thinning starts in some women’s teens or early twenties, by the age of 50, more than half of all women have thinning hair.

What causes thinning hair?

Menopause: After a woman goes through menopause, the thinning of the hair becomes more noticeable. This is because as a woman goes through menopause, the presence of oestrogen and progesterone drop, causing the hair to thin out and grow more slowly.

Stress: Hair loss can be triggered by major shocks to your emotional or physical health. Whether you’ve had a death in the family, had surgery or serious relationship issues, it is fairly common to lose more hair that you are used to in the following three months after the event. This scenario is called telogen effluvium. Hair can grow back after several months, so the loss is not permanent.

Nutrition: If your body is lacking certain nutrients such as protein, iron or zinc, the deficiency can cause hair to fall out. Ensure your diet is healthy, balanced and nutritional and you should see this start to correct itself.

Side effect to drugs: Some drugs and prescriptions have hair loss as a side effect, and you should consult with your doctor if you are taking drugs hat include lithium, beta-blockers, warfarin or heparin.

Alopecia: This is an autoimmune disease where the immune system mistakenly attacks healthy cells thinking that they are a virus. In this instance, it attacks the hair follicles and can cause partial or total baldness, either temporary or permanent. There are many types of alopecia, find out more about alopecia areata here.

Pulling or treating your hair: Women who braid their hair tightly, colour or use hot curling irons on their hair can make hair brittle and more likely to fall out. It’s recommended that you give your hair time to recover from any treatments/colouring or fastening, lest you make it worse.

Fungal infections: If you have a fungal scalp infection you may find that the hair breaks off at the scalp. We recommend you speak to your doctor or dermatologist about oral medication for fungal scalp infections.

Age: It is common for people have thinner hair as they grow older than when they were young.

How to prevent hair loss in women

Depending on the cause of your hair loss, there can be many different preventative treatments for hair loss in women.

These include:

• Eating a healthy and balanced diet.
• Switching medication that is the cause of your baldness
• Not sharing combs, brushes or hats with others to avoid contracting fungal scalp infections.

How to treat hair loss in women

We recommend you consult your doctor if you notice immediate hair loss so they can determine what is the cause. They may decide to take a hair sample for testing fungal infections, blood tests for nutritional deficiency, or mental health professionals if you are compulsively pulling out your hair. Some examples of treatments include:

Diet: If you are low in iron, you are more likely to suffer from hair loss, particularly if you are a vegetarian or vegan. While you will need a blood test from your doctor to determine if this is indeed the cause of your hair loss, you can make a start by eating iron rich foods such as dark green leafy vegetables, as well as increasing your intake of vitamin C, which helps your body absorb iron.

Hair care: Products such as hairspray can disguise your hair thinning as they provide body and lift to your hair. Colouring your hair can make your hair more brittle, as well as treating your hair with hot irons or curling wands. If you use these treatments, ensure you protect your hair first with a hair colour or heat protector which will maintain the moisture in your hair and not dry it out. Find out our top recommendations on how to cover thinning hair here.

Regaine: Using a hair loss treatment product such as regain can be effective in stimulating slight hair regrowth in about 50% od women with thinning hair, and moderate regrowth in 13% of women with thinning hair, after 32 weeks of treatment. Regaine works to partially enlarge the hair follicle, reversing the process of miniaturisation, which causes hair to thin or stop growing. By enlarging these follicles, more hair follicles are in the growth phase simultaneously and stimulates thicker, fuller looking hair with improved coverage across the scalp.

Hair transplants: While it may seem extreme, if your thinning hair is giving you grief and the above solutions do not hep, you could consider hair transplants which can be done on both make and females.

If you’ve made your way here, you’re probably on the hunt for some shampoo to prevent, treat or, dare we say it, cure hair loss.

Lucky for you, once you finish reading this guide, you’ll know everything there is to know about the best hair loss treatments available on the market – and how you can get your hands on them!

In this article, we’ll cover what actually causes hair loss, what different solutions there are, and what great products are on the market that can help you with your balding woes!

What causes hair loss?

There are a number of factors that can trigger hair loss. These range from easily solvable issues like lack of iron, poor diet or in some cases, stress, to more difficult triggers such as auto-immune problems, genetic pre-dispositions or thyroid problems. While the shampoos we list below can significantly improve your hair quality and thickness, other issues that are identified by your doctor may require different treatments. For example, iron deficiency, thyroid issues and poor diet can be easily treated, whereas auto immune diseases may require additional treatments from your doctor or healthcare professional.

Hang on, I’ve heard most hair loss shampoos don’t work!

You’re 100% right, my friend! Shampoos that claim to penetrate hair follicles are usually not as effective as leave in treatments. This is because the time the shampoo is in contact with the scalp is too short the for the active ingredient to penetrate to the hair follicle and remain there long enough to have a therapeutic effect. What this means for you, is a whole waste of money!

Even more importantly, there are actually some shampoos that encourage hair loss! Have a look at the ingredients list on your shampoo bottles. Many ingredients that are added to make the formula look shimmery, or that have conditioning benefits can actually be detrimental to the health of your hair and scalp. For example, shampoos that have silicone, conditioning agents or pearlising agents can clog your hair follicles, which can interfere with new hair growth. Your ideal shampoo should have no residue after you wash your hair and scalp with it.

Ok, so are there any shampoos that DO treat hair loss?

When it comes to products to treat hair loss, it’s important to remember that there is no miracle hair product, and some treatments may work better than others for different people. Most shampoos that you encounter are designed to focus on the latter, by cleansing the scalp and creating the best environment for hair to grow. Or, some shampoos are designed to thicken hair strands which boosts the texture of thinning hair. These can have wonderful effects on your hair appearance, scalp and hair health and overall thickness of your hair. So while they may not stimulate the follicles, they can do a wonderful job at preventing future hair loss and enhancing the hair left on your head!

How to choose your hair growth shampoo 

1. Understand what type of hair and scalp you have, as this will help you choose the correct hair loss shampoos for your particular case. Is your hair fine, or thick? Is your scalp oily, or dry?
2. Ensure that harmful chemicals like paragons and sulphates are kept far, far away from your shower! These chemicals may harm your hair instead of doing it good, so keep this in mind when searching for your shampoos.
3. Do your research! There are hundreds of hair loss shampoos on the market that claim to transform your scalp into a lush head of hair – and a lot of these don’t deliver on their promises! Do your research and find brands that are well known, have good reviews and have studies or research that backs their claims. The silver lining here, is that we’ve done the research FOR you! So you can skip this if you like 😉
4. Look for products that have ingredients that are good for the scalp, such as essential oils, minerals and vitamins. These will do half the work for you and the richer they are in these ingredients, the better likelihood they have of working.
5. Remember: your hair loss could be caused from a number of factors, and shampoo is only one part of your hair loss treatment. Consider your nutrition and lifestyle; are you eating the right foods, are you in a high stress environment, are you getting enough vitamins in your diet? You may need to consider these lifestyle factors alongside your shampoo treatment.

How to correctly use hair growth shampoos

The complexity of hair growth shampoos is all INSIDE the bottle – which means it’s ridiculously easy to apply once it leaves the bottle. Before you begin, check the back of the bottle for exact instructions. Most likely you will need to apply it like normal shampoos. Simply wet your hair and apply the product to your hair and scalp. Let the product soak a little longer than you would a normal shampoo (to allow the nutrients to absorb into your hair and scalp) and then rinse with water.

Some shampoos may require you to let it soak in and absorb the nutrients for longer than others, so ensure you follow the instructions on the back of the bottle before you begin to apply it to your scalp. 

Having said that, here are 10 of the best Shampoos that work towards preventing Hair Loss and work to stimulate New Hair Growth

10 BEST HAIR LOSS CURE AND TREATMENT SHAMPOOS :

“I have small round ball spots – what’s going on?!” My friend, it sounds like you have Alopecia areata.

Alopecia areata, also known as spot baldness, is an autoimmune disorder that causes a patch of hair to fall out on the body. This is most commonly seen on the scalp, and can be about the size of a coin. While ‘uncommon’ amongst the majority of the population, it affects about 4.7 million people in the United states –to men and women equally, and it’s causes are unknown, though can be triggered by illness or stress.

First of all, is alopecia areata permanent?

The good news is that alopecia areata is usually not permanent, and that hair can eventually grow back for some people. However, just because you suffer from it once does not mean that it will not reoccur again. The disease varies from person to person and it is very difficult to predict when, and if, the disease will strike again.

For some unlucky people, the bald patches are permanent and the hair doesn’t grow back, no matter how many oils you rub on the spot. You’re more likely for the condition to be permanent if:

• There is a family history of the condition
• The condition occurs for more than one year, or arises before puberty.
• You have extensive hair loss
• There is abnormalities to your fingernails or toenails, including colour, shape, texture or thickness
• You are prone to allergies
• You have other autoimmune diseases

Where does alopecia occur on the body? 

While the hair loss is most noticeable on the head, it can occur anywhere on the body, from your legs, arms, back, chest or beard. The hair loss associated with alopecia areata can be unpredictable and random. The size and extent of the hair loss can vary from person-to-person and can be difficult to predict where and when it will occur next.

What causes alopecia areata?

The condition is triggered by an abnormality in the immune system that results in autoimmunity, when the immune system mistakes healthy cells for foreign substances. Normally, your immune system defends your body against viruses and bacteria, however with alopecia areata, the immune system mistakenly attacks hair follicles, making them become smaller and stop producing hair leading to hair loss and bald patches. The disease is not contagious.

The exact cause of this condition is still not known, however certain factors can increase the likelihood of you contracting this disease. This includes:

• Those who have a family history of autoimmune diseases (eg diabetes or arthritis)
• Those who have affected family members (suggesting the heredity may be a factor)

Alopecia areata is rare before the age of 3 years, but can affect all age groups, occurring most often in adults between 30 – 60 years of age. In fact, 50% of people who suffer from alopecia areata develop their first episode of hair loss before the age of 18.

How do I know if I have alopecia areata?

The signs and symptoms of alopecia areata are small, circle areas of hairless skin. They can be the size of small coins and you may start with one or two bare patches where hair once was. While most often seen on the scalp, it can occur wherever there is hair on the body; the beard, eyebrows, even eyelashes.

Bald patches are not the only way to diagnose the condition. Other signs to look out for are fractures hairs, short, thin hairs, grey hairs in bald areas, and yellow areas of skin deposition at the follicular orifice. Often, a medical professional will want to perform a biopsy on the scalp to confirm the diagnosis.

 What is the treatment for alopecia areata?

There are a variety of treatments for this condition, however none of the treatments can accurately predict or impact the course of the disease. Some options are steroid injections, which can be helpful in restarting the hair growth cycle in affected areas, or steroid creams, lotions and shampoos.

What can I do to hide my bald spots?

As the emotional effect of balding spots due to alopecia areata can be significant in both men and women, one of the best ways to manage alopecia areata is to camouflage the area. Here are some things you can do to reduce the effect on your looks:

• Try wearing a wig, hairpiece, hat or scarf
• Use hair coloured crayon, cream, or powder and apply to the scalp to make the hair loss less obvious

Physical dangers associated to alopecia areata

If you suffer from bald spots, there are considerations you’ll need to make to ensure you reduce your discomfort or physical dangers you may encounter. These include:

• If your eyelashes or eyebrows are missing, wear sunglasses to protect your eyes from dust, debris and sun.
• If your nostril hair is missing, apply antibiotic ointment inside your nostrils to keep the germs out.
• Use sunscreen to protect the exposed skin on your scalp and face.
• Wear scarves, hats or wigs to protect your scalp from the sun or keep your head warm in cool weather.