Smoking and hair loss.What you need to know?

Cigarette smoking is not only well-known to damage health but it may also help make men bald. Genetic hair loss or male pattern baldness, affects an estimated 7.4 million people in the U.S.

Research has,now, shown that puffing on cigarettes may worsen age-related hair loss in men. A study in England has established the link between smoking and hair loss. This study also showed that smokers were 4 times more likely to have gray hair than non-smokers.

Male pattern baldness, which affects two-thirds of men and also some women as they grow older, is known to be partly caused by male sex hormones.

However, it seems that smoking also plays a role, with smokers more likely to lose their hair than others.

A study undertaken on more than 700 Taiwansese men aged 40 and above, also revealed that the more a man smokes, the worse his baldness is likely to be.

According to researchers in Taipei, from the Far Eastern Memorial Hospital , asked the male smokers about the age at which they started losing their hair, whether it is genetic or the baldness is due to their smoking history.

The height and weight were of these men were measured, and blood samples analysed.

The results of the analysis showed that the risk of hair loss increased with advancing age, but remained lower than the average risk for Caucasian men.

The study also revealed a clear link between smoking and hair loss, with the heaviest smokers being most likely to suffer from baldness, even when a family history of the condition was taken into account.

Those people who smoked 20 cigarettes or more a day were more than twice as likely to have moderate or severe hair loss than smokers who had never smoked. The results as published in the journal Archives of Dermatology, clearly showed the risk remained elevated even among those who had quit the habit.

The researchers pointed out that said smoking may damage the genetic structure of the hair follicles, the tiny structures responsible for hair growth. Alternatively, it may even damage cells at their roots that are important for the circulation of blood and hormones.

Hair loss due to smoking usually develops very gradually, typically starting with the appearance of a bald spot in the crown of the scalp and thinning of the temples.

Although such a situation can strike at any time, many men first become aware of it as they approach their 30s.

Such a condition runs in the family, the strongest influence on the mother's side.

We can understand that if a man's mother's father is bald, they chances are he will also eventually lose his hair.

Despite that hair being a supposed signal of virility, hair loss on the other hand can have a devastating effect on self-esteem, with younger men being particularly vulnerable to the psychological effects of their changing appearance.

Although there is no cure for hair loss and smoking being one of the cause, there are several tablets and lotions which can help regrowth and some sufferers opt for hair transplants.

Shampoos can help disguise the hair loss problem by making hair look thicker and fuller, while experts also advice ditching comb-overs for close crops.

More on smoking and hair loss at hair loss treatment