Starve your way to a shiny pate

Subjecting your body to a crash diet is the best way to become thin and bald, writes Shwetal Kamalapurkar.

“Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let your hair down.”

If this sentence sends shudders down your spine for fear, don’t feel let down, you are not the only one. Hair loss is a common problem faced by thousands of men and women across the globe. The reasons are few with poor nutrition topping the list, says Dr Anil Abraham, professor in dermatology and dermatosurgery.

Dr Abraham said that poor nutrition aced the cause list for diffused hair loss experienced by most people.

Poor nutrition includes lack of adequate nutrition brought about by crash diets.

“Want to be thin and bald? Go on a crash diet!” he says. “Most people go on diets that they read about on the internet that are absolutely ridiculous. The body does not get adequate nutrition and so, to make up for the lost nutrients, it takes away nutrition from the hair root and uses it for more vital organs.

This loosens the hair root and causes hair fall,” he explains. Most people are unable to relate abnormal hair loss with crash diets because hair loss occurs about three to six weeks after the diet regime is completed.

The next most common reason for hair loss is stress. Topping the list of stress-related hair loss are software engineers, followed by call centre employees and Hair Loss makers.

The survey conducted by Dr Abraham goes on to identify three forms of stress; work related stress, domestic stress and commuting stress.

Finally, says Dr Abraham, “repeated parlour procedures on the hair cause hair loss.” These processes remove or damage the cuticle i.e. the protective covering on the hair thereby rendering the hair open to the environment. Once the protective sheath has been removed, the chances of hair damage are very high.

For those who are suffering hair loss, all hope is not lost. Regular medication along with de-stress training programs helps rejuvenate the lost hair. A study by Dr Abraham has revealed startling results.

He studied 3218 patients between the age group of 12 and 86. The maximum patients with a hair loss complaint fell in the age group of 25-35 years.

For more serious cases, there is always hair transplant, hair implant and hair weaving. “Most dermatologists discourage hair weaving since, in the long run, it actually causes hair loss,” he says.

On a lighter vein, he says that “evolution suggests that eventually we may all be bald. It started out with lots of hair and slowly but steadily, we are moving towards lesser and lesser hair on our bodies. Even sci-fi movies show the future races to be bald!”