Worried you're going bald? Eat nuts and have a fried breakfast

The good news for men is that scientists have discovered a cause of baldness — the failure of hair-producing cells to develop properly.

The bad news is that effective treatment could be a decade away. While your genes play a major role in hair loss, what many men don’t realise is that their everyday habits could be exacerbating the problem.

Here, Britain’s leading hair experts reveal the simple steps to help minimise it:

DON'T BRUSH TOO HARD

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Laser Hair Loss Therapy Advice From The Consulting Room

The history of baldness cures that don’t involve some form of surgery can be summed up rather succinctly. From prehistory to the late 1980s, nothing worked. All baldness cures were figuratively and often literally snake oil.

Then came Minoxidil (marketed in the UK as Regaine®) followed quickly by Finasteride (marketed in the UK as Propecia®); see the hair loss drugs section. These products can prevent hair loss and in some cases, grow new hair.

Genes are behind most of the bald and thinning heads out there, male and female. You can inherit baldness from your mother or your father. Baldness is not passed only through the mother's side, a quick look at the countless number of bald fathers and sons will nullify this myth.

There are now a wide range of products, from custom hair replacement systems to laser hair loss therapy devices, (both in salon and at home hand-held comb devices) available on the market, which claim to provide a solution to hair loss.

The use of low-level laser therapy (LLLT), although shown in some studies to be effective in improving the thickness and fullness of hair on its own*, is often combined with proven scalp and hair re-growth products, (see the hair loss drugs section), for a full hair loss treatment program.

Low-level laser hair loss therapy is now recognized throughout Europe and in the United States as an effective treatment for most forms of hair loss, including male and female pattern baldness. It is suitable for anybody who is in the early stages of thinning.

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Can You Reverse Hair Loss with a Laser?

Hair loss treatment with low level laser light therapy can be traced back to 1964 when Professor Andre Mester of Budapest conducted an experiment using low level laser light rays to heal the wounds of laboratory mice. He discovered that the laser rays stimulated blood circulation and caused hair located in the area of the wound to grow thicker and longer.

Low level laser light therapy is now widely used around the world as a treatment for hair loss. Laser light rays are applied directly to the scalp and penetrate deeply to activate blood circulation around the hair follicles, halting hair loss and stimulating new growth.

Until recently, this treatment was only available under medical supervision in clinics and was very costly, but the miniaturisation of the technology and stringent, international safety and quality requirements have led to the exciting development of affordable hand-held hair loss treatment lasers for personal use at home.

What Type Of Hair Laser Will Be Most Effective?

Currently there are many different types of hair laser available on the market but how do you choose which is going to be the most effective in treating your hair loss?

Each different laser light used in hair loss treatment lasers has a specific treatment and penetration depth into the scalp. The blood capillaries in direct contact with the dermal papillae lie in the hypodermis, the deepest inner layer among 3 layers of skin (scalp) tissue. The dermal papillae nourish the hair follicles and play a pivotal role in the cycle of hair formation and growth.

Does the Wavelength of the Lasers Matter?

Lasers around the 650nm / 670nm wavelength are the most commonly used in hair loss treatment lasers since their light is a clear, bright red which is immediately visible to the naked eye. It is easily observed to be working in treatment and in fact, it actually does have a beneficial therapeutic effect. They are also cheaper to use in manufacture than longer wavelength, infrared lasers. However, light at this wavelength mainly treats the surface of the scalp and does not penetrate deeply enough so, used alone, is not sufficient for effective hair loss treatment.

The more expensive infrared (invisible light) lasers which use 780nm wavelength are able to penetrate and energise deeper within the skin tissue and are more effective in treatment, although substances within the skin tissue such as melanin, water and haemoglobin absorb and weaken the energy of the laser light. Due to their cost, these lasers are rarely used by manufacturers of hair loss treatment lasers.

Laser light at 830nm wavelength is the least absorbed by the melanin, water and haemoglobin in the skin tissue and therefore able to retain more of its beneficial power to energise the hair follicles and so more light energy can be absorbed into the blood cells. This increases blood circulation and the delivery of nutrients and oxygen to the hair follicles.

Multi Wavelength Hair Loss Treatment Lasers

The most effective hair loss treatment lasers use a combination of 670nm, 780nm and 830nm lasers, such as the Wellay Personal Hair Laser which uses 21 low power multi-wavelength lasers, in 7 groups of 3 lasers at 670nm, 780nm and 830nm. The 3 different wavelengths irradiate the same area of the scalp simultaneously, each working at different layers of the tissue, maximising the benefit and proving a more effective hair growth treatment.

In clinical trials, regular treatment with a Wellay Personal Hair Laser stops the progress of hair loss in 85% of users, increases blood supply to the scalp by 54% after only one treatment, stimulates hair follicles to activate re-growth and improves the quality of the hair shaft resulting in a 25% increase in hair volume and shinier and thicker hair. It also gives noticeable hair growth in as little as 12 weeks. With continuing use, the hair will carry on growing and improving in health.

Patented Technology

The Wellay Personal Hair Laser from beauty-lasers uses world-first patented technology and is the only genuine multi-wavelength hair treatment laser for home treatment of hair loss and scalp conditions. It has CE approval, ISO 9001, ISO 14001, and ISO 13485 and FDA (Korea) approval. It has been designed to the highest international safety and quality standards.

There are many scientific studies for each laser wavelength that show how effective it is in therapeutic treatment - you can read more about the different effects of each wavelength on the website of the Swedish Laser Medical Society.

Losing it: Tamara Beckwith falls victim to the curse of the hair extension.

.. just like Naomi Campbell.

It was a condition first spotted in public when Naomi Campbell stepped out with what seemed like an alarmingly large bald patch on the side of her head.

And now another celebrity appears to be suffering from what experts are calling the curse of the hair extension.

Blonde It Girl and TV presenter Tamara Beckwith, 40, was spotted out shopping last week with her scalp showing clearly on the side of her head.

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