Androgenic alopecia, or pattern baldness, doesn’t just happen to men. A considerable number of women throughout the world have the condition, which is mainly caused by genetic factors. This means that you can inherit androgenic alopecia from your mother, father or their parents, and there isn’t much you can do to stop it happening.
What many women with pattern baldness choose to do, however, is to take control of their hair loss through hair replacement systems. Developed as an alternative to human hair wigs, the following hair replacement systems provide bespoke and personally tailored solutions to help you manage your hair loss and take back control of how you look.
• Medi Connections. This is a hair replacement system designed for people who have experienced fine or thinning hair. This can include women in the early stages of androgenic alopecia. The system uses ultra-fine, light hair extensions to cover areas where hair is lost or thinning, and generally improve the volume and thickness of hair.
• The Intralace System. This system again uses light, fine hair extensions to cover and disguise hair loss, but on a larger scale. It can be integrated with your existing hair to create a natural, healthy look.
After getting a formal diagnosis of your hair loss condition from your doctor, you may be recommended treatment such as medication.
However, with some conditions, treatment of a medical kind is not needed and you simply need to wait for the hair to grow back. For example, hair that falls out after childbirth – the trauma on the body causes hair loss – will generally grow again between six months and two years later.
Regrowth is also expected when hair is lost due to illness, fever, radiation therapy or major surgery, starting when the illness or therapy ends.
It can be a comfort to some people with hair loss to know that their hair will eventually grow back on its own, but what about while you are waiting for it to happen? Hair loss can seriously damage your self-esteem and confidence in your appearance, negatively affecting the way you interact with the world and your home and work life.
Many female hair loss sufferers choose to wear human hair wigs, hats or scarves to disguise their hair loss whilst waiting for the hair to grow. If you have been told by your doctor that your hair may take a long time to return, you could also consider hair replacement treatments which use natural hair extensions to cover bald patches and thinning hair.
If you have been diagnosed with a hair loss condition, one of the first things you are likely to ask about is treatment. As it is unlikely that there will be an outright cure for your condition, you will need to look at other options.
The following are just a few of the hair loss treatment options you can look into:
Medication
Minoxidil is the most tried and tested treatment for hair loss in women and men. In some cases it causes hair regrowth, whilst in others it causes the rate of hair loss to slow down.
Hair transplant surgery
Although the technique has become highly refined over the years, hair transplant surgery can still be a painful and invasive procedure. Mainly used on men, it does have successful results, but people considering this option should put a lot of thought into their decision.
Hair replacement
There are many advanced alternatives to surgery available these days. A couple of new treatments -the Intralace system and Medi Connections – integrate fine, natural-looking hair extensions into existing hair to disguise patches of hair loss.
Human hair wigs
Available in a wide range of styles and colours, a lot of human hair wigs these days are natural-looking and customisable.
If you have decided to choose a wig as a way to manage your hair loss, you are likely to be faced with a lot of decisions before you find the right one for you. Wigs have moved on a great deal in the last few years, meaning that it is no longer a case of ‘one type suits all’.
You can now find wigs in a wide range of different styles, colours and materials, so there should be something available to suit you. Even better, you can get wigs that are personally tailored to you, so they look completely natural right from the start.
The first choice you will have to make when choosing a wig is between synthetic and human hair wigs. To help you choose, here are the pros and cons of each:
Human hair wigs
Pros: They look very natural, can be styled just as you like, and you can generally use them for up to a year.
Cons: Human hair wigs are more expensive than other varieties (due to how natural they look) and it can sometimes be tricky to get the hang of styling them yourself.
Synthetic wigs
Pros: They are less expensive than other varieties, are colour-fast, and come pre-styled. This means you don’t have to style them yourself, as they stay in shape even after washing.
Cons: You can’t change the colour or style of synthetic wigs, they sometimes look false or over-shiny, they can be damaged by heat and they don’t last very long.
Female hair loss can be extremely difficult to come to terms with, as it represents a drastic change to your body and your appearance. Losing your hair can play havoc with your self-esteem and your confidence in dealing with the world.
The psychological and emotional effects of hair loss make many women feel desperate for their hair to grow back, something that can sometimes take a long time. It can often feel like you’re putting your life on hold whilst you wait for normal hair growth to start again.
To help you counter the feelings of frustration and impatience whilst waiting for hair to grow back, it is worth considering hair replacement systems. There are many advanced options available for hair loss sufferers these days, all designed to cover and disguise hair thinning or loss and make you feel like yourself again.
Hair replacement treatments such as the Intralace system or Medi Connections involve the use of natural-looking hair extensions tailored to your hair, which are integrated into any remaining hair so seamlessly that no one would even guess that they aren’t real. As well as being able to wash and style your hair as normal, you can sleep, exercise and even dance in these extensions with complete confidence.
As a woman, losing your hair can be devastating to your self-esteem and your confidence in your looks. However, there are products and solutions available nowadays to allow you to manage your hair loss, whether you want to cover it up or not. These solutions are designed to help you feel like yourself again, until your hair begins to grow back.
There are two main types of non-surgical hair replacement solutions available for female hair loss sufferers – human hair wigs or hair replacement treatments involving hair extensions. The benefits of both of these solutions are detailed below.
Human hair wigs
Human hair wigs have come a long way in the last few years. From ridiculous, artificial-looking hair pieces that were obviously not the wearer’s natural hair, these wigs have become natural-looking, comfortable and secure to wear. They are also customisable and available in a vast range of styles, colours and hair thicknesses, so that the wearer can find something that suits them perfectly.
Hair replacement treatments
These treatments don’t just involve normal hair extensions (which often look fake and tacky); they use natural-looking, fine extensions designed to blend into existing hair to thicken it and cover bald patches. The benefit of these solutions is that you don’t have to put them on and off every day, so you can wash and style your hair as normal and generally just get on with your life.
There are now many hair replacement options out there for women with hair loss, but you need to ensure that the treatment you choose is safe. You also need to choose a solution that won’t damage the scalp or hair follicles any further, as well as allowing hair to grow back in its own time.
Some of the most effective kinds of hair replacement solutions available at present are those which utilise specially designed hair extension systems. For example:
• Medi Connections – This is a system designed to cover patchy hair loss or thinning hair. It uses super-fine, naturally looking hair extensions to disguise hair loss, and can also be used to boost hair volume.
• The Intralace System – This is similar to Medi Connections, but uses a fine mesh to integrate extensions into existing hair. It is suitable for people with moderate to severe hair loss.
Provided you visit a high-quality hair loss and replacement specialist, these treatments should be perfectly safe. They are designed to be breathable and non-damaging to hair, and they also allow natural regrowth.
If you have any doubts about safety, you simply need to check that the bonding adhesive used to attach hair extensions is safe and also milder than the industrial bonding agents widely used in hair salons. You should also ensure that a test patch is done before any adhesives or other substances are applied to the hair or skin.
There are many different kinds of hair loss treatment available these days, some of them painful and expensive (i.e. certain kinds of hair transplants) and others less so. These treatments have varying success rates, as they depend of course on the patient and their particular hair loss condition.
Not everyone wants to put themselves through hair loss treatment, however, which is why there are many alternatives available. These include:
• Human hair wigs – These wigs have come a long way in the last few years, meaning they are now so realistic that no one will be able to tell you’re wearing one. They are comfortable to wear and you can choose from hundreds of styles to suit you.
• The Intralace System – This is a hair replacement treatment, but one that works similarly to hair extensions. A breathable mesh is fitted between your existing hair and your scalp, allowing additional human hair to be added. It looks natural, is made of breathable materials and can be washed and styled as normal.
• Medi Connections – Similarly to other methods, Medi Connections are a kind of very fine hair extensions used to cover smaller areas of thinning or balding.
• Head bandannas and wraps – Some people prefer to keep things as simple as possible, choosing a colourful, attractive wrap or bandanna to cover their heads whilst their hair grows back.
When it comes to hair loss, even the mildest of conditions can cause you to worry and lose confidence in your appearance. Even if you don’t have severe hair loss, there are specially designed solutions available for you, whether you’ve noticed a small bald patch forming or that your hair is starting to thin.
One very effective solution for thinning hair problems or mild hair loss in women is Medi Connections. It is best suited for women who have noticed a general reduction in the thickness and volume of their hair, or those who have always disliked naturally having very fine hair.
Medi Connections works similarly to hair extensions, but are an ultra-fine, lighter version used to cover selective, targeted areas of thinning hair. It is used when a little extra coverage is needed to disguise thinning or balding, boosting the volume of the hair and restoring your confidence. With Medi Connections, you can still wash and style the hair as normal, and it creates no hindrance to natural hair regrowth.
Due to its targeted application, this hair replacement solution isn’t really suitable for heavy use over the whole head. In the case of more severe hair loss, something like the Intralace System or a human hair wig may be more effective.
Suffering from thinning hair or more severe female hair loss, it can severely damage your confidence and potentially affect your whole life. If you aren’t comfortable with the idea of human hair wigs – as realistic and natural as they look these days – you may need to seek out a more permanent hair loss solution.
The Intralace system is a popular hair replacement solution for many women with hair loss. The system works by integrating a hair replacement prosthesis into your existing hair, making it particularly suitable for women with bald or thinning patches caused by female pattern baldness.
The ultra-fine mesh used to make the prosthesis is breathable, which means it will be comfortable and not too hot.
The Intralace process
There are a number of stages to the Intralace process. These include:
1. The Intralace system mesh is gently introduced between the scalp and the existing hair
2. Intralace Panels containing extra human hair are added to disguise patches of hair loss
3. An Intralace Parting is added (there are many to choose from) to make the finished look completely natural-looking
Should you wish to, you can also use Intralace as a human hair wig if you suffer from total hair loss.
