July 30, 2021
Hair Loss Among Athletes
If you’re an athlete experiencing hair loss, you may be wondering if your sport is somehow a contributing cause. There’s a lot of debate out there about hair loss in athletes and lots of confusion about possible causes. The important thing to know is that no matter what your hair loss level or cause, there are plenty of effective hair replacement treatments that can help you take control. Here are some facts about hair loss in athletes that will help you understand some possible causes.
Simply put, there are several possible reasons why athletes might experience hair loss. Some of these are temporary, and others need more permanent hair replacement treatments.
Stress. Competitive sports can be both exhilarating and stressful, especially when you’re in the middle of important competitions. Whether we’re professional or amateur athletes, we all want to push hard to do our best. But sometimes excessive exercising, as well as nervousness that comes from some competitions, can cause added stress. Prolonged stress can negatively affect your health, and that includes the health of your scalp and hair follicles.
Sweat. If you’re an athlete, sweat is part of your everyday life. Working hard at your sport and your exercise routine is important and sweat goes hand-in-hand with both gym workouts and sports competitions. But without property hair care, that sweat can clog the pores on your scalp and lead to an inflammatory response that can cause some hair loss.
Hair tension. If you have long hair, whether you’re male or female, you’ll often tie back your hair so you can participate in your favorite sport. But if you tie it back too tight too often, this can cause traction alopecia or hair loss due to pulling. The constant stress on your hair from pulling can cause some hairs to break free from the scalp.
Nutrition. Most serious athletes also take their nutrition very seriously, but sometimes there are pounds to shed for competition or other factors that might cause you to fall short on some very important nutrients for hair growth. Over time, some nutritional deficiencies could lead to hair loss.
Chlorine damage. Swimmers have a special concern for hair loss because they’re constantly in contact with chlorine in swimming pools. Over time, excess chlorine exposure can affect your hair’s structure and make it more likely to shed before your follicle is ready for more hair growth.
Genetics and other factors. Of course, hair loss can also be contributed to factors that have nothing to do with your athletic activities. A high percentage of hair loss is due to genetics, giving many people a predisposition to male or female pattern baldness. In those conditions, hair loss happens in a generally predictable pattern. For men, the hairline recedes and there is a spot of hair loss at the back on top of the head. Over time, this hair loss becomes more pronounced. For women, the “pattern” is usually that there is no pattern, with general hair loss widespread across the entire scalp, leading to thinner hair.
Today, there are many proven and effective treatments that can stimulate hair growth or replace hair in thinning areas of the scalp. The expert hair loss professionals at the Hair Restoration Institute in Minnesota provide a wide variety of options so you can get a personalized hair replacement treatment plan that works for you. Some options include:
- Hair transplantation – FUT and FUE
- Non-invasive Dermal Lens hair replacement
- PRP hair loss treatment
- Low-level laser light hair therapy
- Scalp micropigmentation
- Effective hair loss prevention products
- And much more
