How to Stop Your Hair From Thinning

How to have high volume for your natural hair

Losing your hair can be devastating, but before the onset of any hair loss, there are usually tell-tale signs or actions you engage in that could lead to it. This is why it is important to constantly examine your hair and scalp from time to time.

NOTE: Shedding and breakage are not the same.

If your hair is only breaking, you might still be able to maintain the same volume of hair, but the length would be affected. However, if your hair is shedding, it would reduce in volume.

Do you know the technique behind examining your hair?

Every hair strand that is shed or "broken out" must be thoroughly analyzed from end to end to help ascertain the root cause and determine if there is cause for alarm. It is possible to prevent your natural hair from thinning if you catch it in the right phase and nip it in the bud. Not only would you stop your natural hair from thinning out, but you can also increase the volume of your hair, even if it seems as though most naturalistas are more concerned about length than volume.

Keep reading to find out the ways you can examine your hair and take action before it gets too late.

How to examine your hair

First, your hair can fall off when it gets to the telogen (resting phase) leading to telogen effluvium. This means that the hair follicles are dormant due to stress or other factors. Here, it falls off from the roots and you can observe the whitish tips of the root.

However, during hair breakage, you would find out that both ends of the strands show the roots of the hair. This is how you certify that the hair is broken off.

Therefore, anytime you experience any abnormal hair loss, I mean an unusual volume order than what you normally notice on your wash day (if you take note).

Secondly, you can decide to examine your hair and scalp yourself or visit a Certified Trichologist to get a Trichoscopy. The Trichologist would thoroughly examine it and match it with the necessary parameters for determining healthy hair.

If you decide to self-examine your hair, here are a few things you can do.

On wash days, do not throw away the hair that comes off. Keep this hair in a safe bag or container till your next wash day. You can also decide to take a picture and then record your findings in your hair journal.
Examine the fallen hair, strand by strand, looking out for the whitish roots. This may seem like a time-consuming, daunting task. However, you need to keep in mind the end goal.
If you find out that most of the hair strands have whitish roots, then this means you are experiencing shedding.
If you observe no whitish roots on most of the hair strands, this means that you are experiencing breakage.
Also, take pictures on different wash days to observe the general volume of your hair to see if there is a difference (an increase or decrease)

Remedies for hair breakage and shedding

For hair breakage, this means that your hair strands are weak and deficient in protein or overloaded with moisture.

You need to do a protein treatment
Understand your hair porosity
Moisturize
Do not engage in overnight deep conditioning treatments
Reduce or totally stop heat processing
Regular trimming
Careful detangling
Make satin bonnet/scarf your best friend

For hair shedding, this means that your follicles are not growing new hair and the resting follicles with strands are falling out due to several factors like stress, postpartum hormonal imbalance, diet, or health complications.