Apparently, we're all going bald: extrinsic factors

In my last post, I discussed the fact that our the changes we experience in our hair as we age appear to be part of the natural aging process. Because they are the result of diminishing hormone levels, there isn't really anything you can do about them unless you're willing to take medical steps. 

So, short of getting a hair transplant or starting to use Minoxidil (still the gold standard for encouraging hair regrowth) what can you do? 

Well, there are the nostrums and serums and speciality shampoos that I see advertised all over Facebook Instagram, and YouTube (yes, I know; I need to get a life.) 

But let's say that like me, you are either cheap or skeptical or both. 

What can you do to preserve your hair now, without going crazy buying new and unproven stuff?

Environmental factors you can control

First of all, I've already done the best thing I could do, which is stop dyeing my hair. 

Me in September, 2022, posing with a glamorous friend who has also grown out her gray. If you look closely, you can see about six inches of extremely faded color at the ends

Me in December, 2022, trying to pass as a blonde with my singing group. With a few more months of growth, I'm much more gray. I've also changed my part--more on that later.

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I don't mean to burst anyone's bubble, but dyeing your hair damages it. Even if you're dyeing it a nice, not-very-showy brown. I mean, we all know that going platinum blonde fries your hair. But lifting the outer cuticle of your hair in order to deposit pigment damages your hair, even if you're not making a dramatic change in color.

Also, dyeing your hair is an ongoing, accelerating process. Once you've started using permanent color--let's say, to cover gray--your hair continues to get grayer. And this means you dye it more frequently and maybe keep the dye on longer so that the color will deposit better. I went from getting a root touch up every six weeks to being at the salon every two and a half weeks. That is a lot of time spent with  chemicals on my hair. 

Far be it from me to tell you what to do about your hair color. Just don't believe it if your hairdresser assures you that color doesn't damage your hair. Maybe it doesn't when you're 35 and you're using a semi-permanent shade, but by the time you're in your sixties, half of the hairs on your head are gray, and it takes a lot of processing to change that.

Also, anything that changes the texture of your hair, like permanents and straighteners, damages it. Even Keratin treatments, that use natural protein and make it sound so healthy and conditioning and blah blah blah, leave out the part where the stylist seals the protein onto your hair by flat-ironing it into a coma. 

Other hair stressors

Other environmental stressors include heat styling, UV exposure, using harsh products, and rough handling.

Heat styling

Air-drying is obviously safest, but when I air-dry my hair it ends up a frizzy, partly straight and partly wavy mess, so I blow it out it twice a week. 

Not mine, This is the original.
I bought the cheap copy from a Facebook ad, and yes, I should know better

But a lot of hair tools get extremely hot. My not-Revlon blowdryer does. I mean, I've seen steam rising off my hair when I use it at the highest temperature, which is the point where damage definitely occurs. So I'm going to make sure I never use it at the maximum heat setting, and I'm going to let it air-dry a bit longer before I start drying. 

The secret to making air-drying work is figuring out what products work for you. I recently tried R+Co's Park Avenue Blowout Balm, and it is fabulous--it tames, smooths, adds body, and doesn't weigh down my hair or make it get dirty faster. 

I don't use a curling iron or flat iron often--usually just when I'm traveling. Mostly I use my giant Conair heated rollers, and I wrap each strand in a tissue before I roll it up, like old-fashioned curling papers, so I think I'm OK there. 

But I hereby pledge to only use heat on my hair twice a week. And I'll keep it to a civilized temperature.

UV Exposure

To think that all this time I've been shielding my girlish complexion against the sun while letting my hair flap around in the breeze like one of those blow-up guys they use in used car lots. 

Not to mention hanging out in chlorine pools, spending hours on the beach, taking hour and a half long walks--all with no hat on ... I'm surprised my hair and I are still on speaking terms.

Well, no more. Baseball caps it is!

Shampoo, conditioner, and other products

You've probably already heard that you should steer away from shampoos containing sulfates. Sulfates increase a shampoos ability to lather, but they don't really help to clean your hair. They're not necessary, and they strip color and can be very drying. Even if you don't color your hair, because they're very drying, they can contribute to hair breakage. 

I rejoiced like crazy when I no longer had to protect my hair color by using expensive Oribe products. With a gladsome heart, I started buying Suave shampoos. 

But then I realized that maybe I should start using something less harsh and sulfate-y. I've already popped for some magically expensive Miriam Quevedo products, so that takes care of that.

Shampooing, brushing and combing

Gently does it. I solemnly swear to treat my hair like the Hermes scarf it is, instead of the dust rag it isn't. This means no scrubbing, no rough toweling, no brisk detangling, no enthusiastic plying of the hairbrush.

Traction Alopecia

I notice that a lot of us have a degree of thinning at the temples. Maybe it's inevitable? But since that's the first place that turns gray, maybe that's where our hair is most fragile. All I know is that that's the shot that appears in every video about expensive hair serums. They always pull their hair away from their faces and zero in on the hairline at the temples. 

I noticed my hairline is looking less lush, especially on the side my part is on. So I decided to first of all switch my part from one side of my head to the other. I want to give that side a chance to grow back. 

Also, no more wearing my hair in a ponytail all damned day long. I used to put it in a ponytail to do yoga or workout and then kept it that way for hours. From henceforth, that has to stop.

Also, I'm using looser scrunchies and bobby pins instead of relying on covered elastic bands.

In conclusion

Here's TL:DR version of this drivelathon: Even if when you were young, you had hair so long, strong, and lustrous that you could use it to swing from tree to tree a la Tarzan, that is probably no longer the case. If the new normal is finer and thinner than it used to be, you need to stop taking your hair for granted and start pampering it.