Keep your hair, quit smoking

Keep your hair, quit smoking

If you’re a male and you’ve tried to quit smoking but you’re having trouble, would an appeal to your vanity help a little?

When Taiwanese researchers interviewed more than 700 men (all were middle aged or older), they found that subjects who smoked were considerably more likely to experience hair loss. And men who said they smoked more than 20 cigarettes each day were at even higher risk of losing their hair.

Researchers believe that smoking may set in motion a biological reaction in the body that corrupts hair follicles or harms some other mechanism necessary to keep hair healthy.

All of the subjects in the study were Asian, which doesn’t bode well for Caucasians, who are generally at greater risk of androgenetic alopecia – the most common type of hair loss in men. Androgenetic alopecia is thought to be hereditary, but some scientists believe that environmental factors may also be involved.

Want to increase your chances that you’ll keep your hair? In the e-Alert “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes” (11/8/07), you’ll find three non-drug methods that have been shown to help smokers quit their habit. http://www.hsionline.com/ealerts/ea200711/ea20071108a.html

Source:
“Thinning Hair? Blame Smoking!” Ivanhoe Newswire, 11/21/07, ivanhoe.com